Northern Kentucky Regional Communications System (NKYRCS)

[scannerboy02]

Looks like the Lawrenceburg application has been submitted.
Application number 0008933004
Frequencies requested,
855.2625
855.6125
856.7875
857.3625
857.9125
858.9125

While I was looking at the application the FCC website appears to have gone down. Of note, it did not appear that they had any RPC documents (this was a reason for why the previous applications were returned) attached to the application so we will see how this one goes.

 

[Newt182]

It seems over the weekend the Florence fire units have been renamed/renumbered. Last night I heard Battalion 31, Engine 31, 32, 33, Squad 31, 32 rather than Engine 101, 102, 103, Squad 114, 115, etc that I am used to hearing. Could this be related to the new system, anyone have any information?

 

[scannerboy02]

All of Boone County was renumbered. It did have to do with the new radio system. Unknown if the other counties will do the same or not.

1->10 - Airport
11->19 - Belleview
20->29 - Burlington
30->39 - Florence
40->49 - Hebron
50->59 - Petersburg
60->69 - Pt Pleasant
70->79 - Union
80->89 - Verona
90->99 - Walton

 

[Hop763]

As of right now the other counties are not changing. It mostly was done so there was not duplicate numbers on the radio system And future expansion of equipment.

 

[JStemann]

Several test counts yesterday on Boone county, TG 10075.

 

[scannerboy02]

It appears they may be programming radios. I am seeing several RID's in the 19007xx range logging into the system.

The radios are affiliating with (or being denied on) talk groups 10075 and 10105.

So far I have logged hits on TG's,
1
2
5
6
7
4500
4501
8735
10075
10105

 

[scannerboy02]

I am definitely seeing an uptick in actively on the system these past few days. As far as I know the Lawrenceburg site is still not on line, the application is still pending and it is not showing as a peer to any of the other sites.

From a somewhat educated guess, I believe the 19007xx radios that are being seen on the system are from a Boone County FD but I could be wrong.

For as long as the control channels have been transmitting with little other activity I am a bit surprised that they are not using the system for car-to-car talk. The system is definitely not ready for mission critical communications yet but it could be used for car-to-car stuff just to give it a little exercise and possibly discover issues that could be fixed right now. It's also using a lot of power to just sit idling for months and months. This is what the Placer County CIRN system did while they were in a long (lasted a few years due to budget issues) holding pattern. They linked a few FD/PD analog channels to the system and allowed public works to use the system before it was public safety ready.

 

[scannerboy02]

Getting encrypted calls on TG's: 20, 10000 and 10004 this morning.

 

[scannerboy02]

I found some documents online that state they are changing the Lawrenceburg tower from 700MHz simulcast to 800MHz ASR. Not sure when the decision was made to have Lawrenceburg as part of the simulcast but the original RFP response from Motorola already had Lawrenceburg as ASR, hope that decision to change and now change back wasn't too expensive ;-). It also shows the original contract value was $19,692,271 and the new contract value is $21,547,069. They also now have a contracted project extension to July 3, 2020.

 

[scannerboy02]

*edit*
The new contract value is $21,550,569.

 

[scannerboy02]

The Kenton County site was very active today, and is continuing right now.

Logged calls in the clear on TG:1, 3, 9, 30000

Logged encrypted calls on TG:60001

Not sure if they were working on the Lawrenceburg tower today or not but I heard several radio checks on Dearborn County FD channel today. May or may not be related to this project.

 

[scannerboy02]

Looks like site 4 'Lawrenceburg' came on line just before 1pm today. It's currently showing as a peer to Boone County with a control channel of 858.9125.

As of this morning the FCC application was still listed as pending.

 

[belvdr]

Looks like site 4 'Lawrenceburg' came on line just before 1pm today. It's currently showing as a peer to Boone County with a control channel of 858.9125.

As of this morning the FCC application was still listed as pending.

Question from someone with little knowledge: how can you tell it is a peer?

 

[Remington12G]

Question from someone with little knowledge: how can you tell it is a peer?

I am assuming he is using PRO96COM, that's what I've used before.

 

[scannerboy02]

Question from someone with little knowledge: how can you tell it is a peer?

I am using UniTrunker to view the system activity.

I have a small "stick" computer attached to my living room TV and use a SDR dongle to feed the control channels into the software. It works very well, I have had the NKY system running with this setup 24/7 since the control channels came on the air.

I also run this kind of setup for the Cincinnati/Hamilton County MARCS sites and the CVG airport system.

 

[scannerboy02]

While I was heading into work yesterday I started getting a very strong signal from the Lawrenceburg site so I decided to take a drive past it and can confirm it is on the air. The signal is currently very strong in most of south-west Hamilton and north-west Boone County.
WACN: BEE00
System ID: 978
RFSS: 1
Site ID: 4
NAC: 971
Modulation: C4FM
856.7875 - Alt CC
857.3625 - Alt CC
857.9125 - Alt CC
858.9125 - CC

As a side note; I have never had great reception of the Lawrenceburg SAFE-T site from my home so being that I was getting such a strong signal from the NKY Lawrenceburg site I decided to check the SAFE-T site and I am now getting a strong signal from that as well so i'm guessing they may have taken the opportunity to do some additional "maintenance" on that tower.

 

[toddnbarbie]

On going testing now on Kenton County site

 

[scannerboy02]

Lots of testing going on this week. My updated list of TGID's

TGID	Use
0
1	Testing
2	Testing
3	Testing
4	Testing
5	Testing
6	Testing
7	Testing
9	Testing
10	Testing
20	OTA Programming?
4500	Boone County ?
4501	Boone County ?
4504	Boone County ?
4518	Boone County ?
4540	Boone County ?
4541	Boone County ?
4544	Boone County ?
4546	Boone County ?
4552	Boone County ?
4575	Boone County ?
4578	Boone County ?
4585	Boone County ?
4605	Boone County ?
4998	Boone County ?
4999	Boone County ?
7472
8192
8735
10000	Campbell County ?
10004	Campbell County ?
10040	Campbell County ?
10051	Campbell County ?
10075	Campbell County ?
10076	Campbell County ?
10077	Campbell County ?
10078	Campbell County ?
10079	Campbell County ?
10084	Campbell County ?
10085	Campbell County ?
10105	Campbell County ?
21588
23812
30000	Kenton County ?
30001	Kenton County ?
30002	Kenton County ?
30004	Kenton County ?
30014	Kenton County ?
30015	Kenton County ?
30030	Kenton County ?
30051	Kenton County ?
30088	Kenton County ?
30136	Kenton County ?
30137	Kenton County ?
30138	Kenton County ?
30463	Kenton County ?
30480	Kenton County ?
48852
60001
65536	BSI

 

[Remington12G]

Here is some audio from testing.

https://soundcloud.com/user-114602645%2F2020-04-16-nky-4999-e

https://soundcloud.com/user-114602645%2F2020-04-16-nky-4999

Courtesy: Jack, AB4WS

 

[scannerboy02]

The FCC application for the Lawrenceburg site was returned today, I don't see any reasons given. If I had to take a guess I would say it was because they AGAIN failed to send RPC approval documents with the application.