Niagara County Public Safety System

[Ncfirewire]

Dan,
There's a lot of info around, this site and others. Be prepared to be overwhelmed.
I can't say what's better or what's not.
But, take this into consideration, it might be on this thread even...
You might want to make sure whatever you get is apco 25 phase 2 compatible.
Even though they are running phase 1 currently, I'd hate to get painted into a corner if they changed.

I wonder what all the volunteer firefighters are doing... Buying expensive digital Motorola stuff?
NT fire freq 154.130 is dead, so no simulcast there.

154.130 is dead but the NT fire dispatch is now being done by the county so it least the dispatch will still be simulcast on 425.4625

 

[michael14094]

I found it ,new to digital

 

[pmb1010]

154.130 is dead but the NT fire dispatch is now being done by the county so it least the dispatch will still be simulcast on 425.4625

Where did that frequency come from?

Yep that has fire dispatch. Is there one like that for PD ?

 

[Ncfirewire]

Where did that frequency come from?

Yep that has fire dispatch. Is there one like that for PD ?

NT police dispatch is now being done by the county sheriff and the entire police side has switched to the new system and there is no simulcast for the police.

I believe the only reason there is a simulcast on the fire side for the dispatch is that all of the departments pagers for the firefighters are analog and if that changes down the road the fire simulcast would stop as well.

 

[pmb1010]

They are starting to switch channels when arriving at Fire scenes. Heard "Tac 2 Ops 2" so that must be another talkgroup. I had the scanner on trunk scan, and 101, 108, 302, 311, 218 and 219 were there.
Although, some of them did not have any voice recorded. Maybe then can use talkgroups for messages radio to radio? They used 311 for fire training a lot today.

Yes I know that NT is dispatched by Sheriff dept, its been that way for a long time. But as you know, separate frequencies. You'd think they'd want the NTPD cars on their own "talkgroup" so they don't have to listen to all the other state police, town of Niagara, and sheriff dept calls being dispatched.
I don't know.. maybe its supposed to be that way.

 

[Ncfirewire]

They are starting to switch channels when arriving at Fire scenes. Heard "Tac 2 Ops 2" so that must be another talkgroup. I had the scanner on trunk scan, and 101, 108, 302, 311, 218 and 219 were there.
Although, some of them did not have any voice recorded. Maybe then can use talkgroups for messages radio to radio? They used 311 for fire training a lot today.

Yes I know that NT is dispatched by Sheriff dept, its been that way for a long time. But as you know, separate frequencies. You'd think they'd want the NTPD cars on their own "talkgroup" so they don't have to listen to all the other state police, town of Niagara, and sheriff dept calls being dispatched.
I don't know.. maybe its supposed to be that way.

I'm not quite sure of their reasoning but you are right there is a lot going on on one talk group with all the police on the same one.

104
105
108
110
are the fire tac channels they have used so far

 

[postalmcl]

Not receiving N/C Sheriff dispatch

I have a BCD966XT and downloaded the trunking system for radio reference. Due I have to get a different antenna to receive the trunking system. I am receiving the fire dispatch fine but nothing on the sheriffs.

 

[postalmcl]

After messing with it all day I finally got voice on the trunking system by adjusting the squelch. Can not believe that that was my problem. Enjoy listening!!

 

[pmb1010]

Anyone know what "switch to data channel" means? (Could it be Coded / encrypted?)

 

[bigcam406]

data channel is talkgroup 219,its a channel for info and warrants.not encrypted.

 

[AlwaysRock]

I have a BCD966XT and downloaded the trunking system for radio reference. Due I have to get a different antenna to receive the trunking system. I am receiving the fire dispatch fine but nothing on the sheriffs.

I also have the BCD996XT and downloaded the system from RR here and I cant pick anything up. I double checked the squelch and its only set to 1. Any ideas?

 

[Ncfirewire]

I also have the BCD996XT and downloaded the system from RR here and I cant pick anything up. I double checked the squelch and its only set to 1. Any ideas?

What area are you in? and are you using the antenna that came with it or do you have one on your roof?

 

[mjmurphy61]

See my post this thread June 25 and 27. I also have a 996XT. Live in Erie County. First time I down loaded nothing worked. I deleted it and did another download and now it works fine.

 

[AlwaysRock]

metzreic, in the middle of the county with outdoor antenna and strong signal.

mjmurphy, I was actually able to get it working by turning on AGC Digital on in the system setup.

Have any of you played with the P25 Adjust mode? Mine is set to 8 which is recommended but it seems to have lots of problems decoding the voice.

 

[pmb1010]

metzreic, in the middle of the county with outdoor antenna and strong signal.

mjmurphy, I was actually able to get it working by turning on AGC Digital on in the system setup.

Have any of you played with the P25 Adjust mode? Mine is set to 8 which is recommended but it seems to have lots of problems decoding the voice.

I have a 536hp which I bought a while back, and recently a 436HP for a portable.
Am a quarter mile away from one of the towers, so I know my signal strength is perfect.

With that said, both units get "weird" audio once in a while. maybe 1/2 the time.
Almost like they are talking underwater.
There was a suggestion to set the squelch to 0, that didn't seem to help.
I also saw the post about adjusting the P25 settings, I did try setting to manual and minor adjustment but it didn't seem to help. I put it back to auto, and kinda watch this thread in case someone has similar issues and suggestions. From what I read, I can infer there is something with "Simulcast" transmissions they are using for this system, but I'm so close to this tower I cant see my unit even trying another tower.

 

[Ncfirewire]

I have a 536hp which I bought a while back, and recently a 436HP for a portable.
Am a quarter mile away from one of the towers, so I know my signal strength is perfect.

With that said, both units get "weird" audio once in a while. maybe 1/2 the time.
Almost like they are talking underwater.
There was a suggestion to set the squelch to 0, that didn't seem to help.
I also saw the post about adjusting the P25 settings, I did try setting to manual and minor adjustment but it didn't seem to help. I put it back to auto, and kinda watch this thread in case someone has similar issues and suggestions. From what I read, I can infer there is something with "Simulcast" transmissions they are using for this system, but I'm so close to this tower I cant see my unit even trying another tower.

I think the problem is on their end and they have had radio repair doing quite a bit of testing. I have heard the :underwater talking" as well and soon after that i hear radio repair doing testing.

 

[pmb1010]

Yeah, I heard some Fire Dept testing today on their talkgroups.

obviously I have a $500 radio compared to the multi thousand $ units they use,
but its odd I hear a car call back to dispatch, it's totally unreadable audio to me and dispatch says "received".

also varying levels of modulation. I set the scanner so dispatch is just about listenable on the table next to me, and then some car comes blaring in 2x volume and the wife looks over and gives me stink eye for interrupting her TV watching

I dunno... call me old school but this tinny digital NFM doesn't hold a candle to good old wideband FM.

 

[pmb1010]

I got a new Whistler 1040 (for free actually!) and I cant seem to get it to work on this trunk group.

Using PSREdit500 software, I can send a new config to the radio.
Setup "Site 1" as the trunk name and populated the control channel freqs...
Picking "P25 Auto" and NFM. Unchecked Digital AGC and SuperTrack.. Mult site mode is off.

Created 2 talkgroups 218 and 219. Doesn't look too complicated.

Upload to radio, set it "Scanning". Nada, never stops scanning. Fiddle with squech, nothing.

Anyone have a hint?

 

[pmb1010]

Making progress.. 1) found firmware update to take radio from 2.4 to 2.9. Didn't seem to help. 2) put alkalines on it and off the wall wart and outside. Got something from it. Must be lots of overload from computer or something. Getting it to talk now anyway.

 

[michael14094]

Have Home Patrol 2 , Lockport. Had to create a Favorites List of 37 freqs for fire , NCSD and LPD in order to receive . Full data base even with a lot of avoids was too much. Touchy antenna position also important for digital.

Never had to have a outdoor antenna for basement location , but will get one for this digital scanner.