New frequencies for pal 800 sites

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Wnqk784

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Looks like there maybe new frequencies for some of the pal 800 sites in and around the Florence area I have noticed a lot of gaps in transmission's on the Darlington and Florence simulcast and Marion sites I spoke with someone I know with schp he said they were changing some things around with the system guess they are either going dark or getting ready to go phase 2
 

mrat1234

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I have been having reception problems as well with missed transmissions as well as choppy audio all over the midlands area
 

west-pac

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Typically, choppy and missing audio/reception is a sign of simulcast distortion. They may have added more towers to the simulcast cells. Which scanners are you guys using to listen to the simulcast sites?

Also, when programming a P25 scanner, only the CC and the ACC frequencies need to be programmed into the scanner. Voice channels can be added or removed and shouldn't affect your reception of the sites.
 

Wnqk784

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I have a SDS 100 and a pro 96 both do well on the pal 800 I spoke with someone I know with schp and he told me that they were adding 700 mhz to the towers and going phase 2
 

brian

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I spoke with someone I know with schp and he told me that they were adding 700 mhz to the towers and going phase 2

There are already at least 4 active Palmetto 800 sites in the state that are using 700Mhz sites - in Berkeley County, Fairfield County, Orangeburg County and Lancaster County. I haven't seen any evidence that additional frequencies are being added to existing sites to create a mix of 700MHz and 800MHz frequencies on a given site. It's certainly possible, but doesn't seem likely.

You can search the RadioReference FCC database by FRN. From the main database page, scroll down to the "Search FCC data" section. Plug this number into the FRN search: 0001861103. It's the SC Dept of Administration FRN. Not all Palmetto 800 sites and frequencies are licensed by the SC DOA, but a whole lot of them are. You can sort this list any number of ways, but try sorting by the callsign column (click the word "Callsign" in the top row of the list). Generally, not always, the newest licenses to be issued are the "highest" callsign alphabetically. So if you sort by callsign and go to the last page of the list, in theory you'll see the newest licenses. It appears that the most recent license is for a site using 800MHz frequencies in Chesterfield County, with the license issued in August 2020.

You can also see the most recent 250 FCC license grants per county. Go to a county's database page in the RR database, click on the FCC Licenses tab, and click the link for "Display Latest 250 licenses in XXX County." This list is sorted in chronological order, with the newest licenses listed first. This will show modified/updated licenses, which sorting the FRN list alphabetically won't necessarily show.

Neither of these lists is a sure-fire guaranteed way to know every detail about every site on the system, but it can give an indication of changes or additions to frequencies and sites, usually before changes are made. I would be a little surprised to see a lot of frequencies added to existing sites if the switch to P25 Phase II is near at hand. Phase II TDMA effectively doubles the number of talk paths available to the system - it splits each frequency into two channels. It's a much more effective way to expand capacity.

I suspect that there is still a notable number of non-Phase II-compatible subscribers on the network, which would prevent the system from changing completely to Phase II immediately. But it's possible that the system will run, or is running, in mixed Phase I/Phase II mode for some time until those subscribers are all replaced.

Using a control channel decoding application like DSD+, Unitrunker or Pro96Com can reveal if Phase II is being used, in absence of a scanner that supports and displays Phase II transmissions.
 

mrat1234

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I agree with Brian as I have not seen any mix of 700mhz and 800mhz either the site is 700mhz or its 800mhz. But as he said it is possible. I would've thought that South Carolina would wait and go phase 2 (TDMA) after the NC VIPER system does and to give local agencies time to upgrade radios. Did the person you spoke too give a timeline for anything. And to reply to @west-pac I know its not simulcast distortion because I mainly use a Harris P7200 to monitor the system as well as regular scanners and all of them are having the audio issue as well as missing transmissions,
 

Wnqk784

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No he didn't give a specific time line but I work for the county and I think something is happening soon the radio guys were going around and checking radios to see who needs changing out and I know I'm one of them I have an older xtl 1500 in my truck I was supposed to get a new radio when they were changing a while back but didn't because of programming issues so now I'm going to get changed out soon
 

Wnqk784

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Just an update something is going on with troop 5 schp I just heard Florence dispatch center tell all post bravo units that's the ones in horry gtown and Williamsburg counties to go to the new channels for ops preps for the storm I will have to see if I can find what they are on if it's not encrypted
 

mrat1234

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The Midlands/Upstate/Pee Dee are seeing upgrades as well. A few weeks ago a new 6th frequency/channel was added to the Chester site and I just discovered the Lexington county simulcast site has 2 new frequencies/channels added to it. I have submitted them. Also as Brain has noted the Chesterfield county simulcast site (Sites in Middendorf and Hartsville) has had 6 frequencies/channels added to it to up it from 5 to 11 frequencies/channels.
 

Wnqk784

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Yes that's what I thought I'm just wondering if the new ones around my area aren't in the 700 range I can't seem to find anything new in the 800s
 

mrat1234

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Looking at the Florence area it looks like all the sites in the area already have good capacity. He probably meant they are adding new 700mhz sites across the whole state and that troop 5 will be the first area to go phase 2. This is what is seems to me from the info we have. Through out 2020/2021 2 new 700mhz sites were added. Blackstock in Fairfield county and Elloree in Orangeburg county. 3 new 800mhz sites were added. Ember Lane in Lancaster county, ST George in Dorchester county and Myrtle Beach in Horry county. Currently the Ember Lane and ST George sites have not been added to the database. I have not been in the areas of these sites to identify them but they are on the air. In 2019 Berkeley county joined P800 and added a 14 channel/frequency 10 site simulcast site with the 2 former 800mhz sites taken off the air. Another change is a new site has been added to the Greenwood site in Greenwood county to form a 2 site simulcast site using 800mhz. Another new 800mhz site was put in Beech Island in Aiken county and connected to the Aiken site to form a 2 site simulcast site. Their is probably more changes that we are not aware of.
 

brian

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I have no knowledge, only speculation, about changes to Palmetto 800. I have no reason to believe that Troop 5 would migrate first to Phase II, or even that the change to Phase II is imminent. When that happens, it'll be news to me as well. And I will be surprised by it.
 

Wnqk784

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As well to me also I do know that something is going on though I had the radio guys come around checking the radios in our trucks and I told them that if they were getting ready to make changes that my radio would have to go because it's a XTL 1500 and I don't think it can be upgraded to phase 2 if that's what they are doing
 

Wnqk784

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Well now it looks like all of the darco law channels the so Darlington City and Hartsville city pd have all went dark every time my SDS 100 starts to hit one of their talkgroups it skips past it it's getting everything else fine just acting like the darco law groups are encrypted
 

mrat1234

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Have you submitted that all Darlington county law talkgroups are now DE. Also I have found some new talkgroups in the midlands for a few counties still working on them before I submit them. The agency I'm with has been trying to replace all our portables with apx series. We have a mix of 6000 and 4000 series but all our mobiles are xtl1500's with no talk of replacing them anytime soon.
 

Wnqk784

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Most of what is encrypted are the admin and narc and in talk the dispatch channels are in the clear for now the only talkgroup that is not listed is 3258 which is in the clear for now too as far as radios my county did a big upgrade last year and some departments such as mine didn't get new radios so now they are working on doing updates and up grades so they are ready to go to phase 2 that is why the XTL 1500 I have is getting replaced
 
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