Nova Scotia Power

[EricCottrell]

Hello,

I am vacationing in St John, NB and while tuning around VHF, I picked up some NS Power sites.

The information is as reported by the latest version of DSD Fast Lane

Site L7-19 Neighbors: 17, 18, 20
Likely XOK56 Lansdowne, Pictou, NS which also has 165.555
239 CC 157.470 DCC 0

Site L7-20 Neighbors: 18, 19, 21, 22
Likely XML606 Croskill Lake, Annapolis, NS which also has 153.680
243 CC 157.545 DCC 0
246 VC

Site L7-21 Neighbors: 20, 25, 26, 27
Likely XOJ42 Stronach Mountain, Annapolis, NS which also has 152.450
249 CC 162.360 DCC 0

73 Eric

 

[hfxChris]

I am vacationing in St John, NB and while tuning around VHF, I picked up some NS Power sites.

Hey this is perfect, thank you! Those are the three sites in the Annapolis Valley that I haven't been able to personally visit yet, and your observations match my assumptions regarding the site numbers perfectly. Btw, the Lansdowne site would be Digby, not Pictou.

I'll compile this and update the database..

 

[Somontoby]

Guys, please be patient with me. I'm a newbie at DMR and other digital trunking systems. I have a BCD436 with DMR upgrade.

NSP data is showing in RR but not on Sentinel software. As such, I'm trying to program NSP manually using the keypad. So, I'm looking for help on setting this up properly. I realize I shouldn't expect a lot of voice traffic unless there is a storm. I have the 2 control channels setup for the closest site which is Newtonville.

1. Do I have to setup something on each of site, department, unit ID's, dept, channel, TGID's?
2. The color codes in RR are what I used.
3. I used the Analyze function and got the LCN for the primary control channel only.

What else do I need to know and input to get this setup properly? I have ordered an SDR hoping this may help in the future.

Thanks for any detailed help you can provide. I'm running out of hair😬.

 

[mciupa]

I am curious as to what the LCN for Newtonville is on the Analyze/ LCN Finder function on your 436. Did it show up as 65?

 

[pro92b]

It looks like the database channel IDs are in LCN format. So for Newtonville the LCN finder should show up as 131 and 132 for the two frequencies. The attached spreadsheet may be of interest for the system. I love a good puzzle.

 

[Somontoby]

It looks like the database channel IDs are in LCN format. So for Newtonville the LCN finder should show up as 131 and 132 for the two frequencies. The attached spreadsheet may be of interest for the system. I love a good puzzle.

The primary control channel using analyse shows LCN as 10. Now I'm really confused.

 

[hfxChris]

I am curious as to what the LCN for Newtonville is on the Analyze/ LCN Finder function on your 436. Did it show up as 65?

It shouldn't show up as 65; 131 is the LCN of that repeater (164.265), the channel numbers for the two timeslots as DSD+ would report for that repeater are 263 and 264, which I think is what you're getting at.

 

[hfxChris]

It looks like the database channel IDs are in LCN format. So for Newtonville the LCN finder should show up as 131 and 132 for the two frequencies. The attached spreadsheet may be of interest for the system. I love a good puzzle.

Nice list - you're right, the missing channel numbers can likely be guessed based on the sequence they (sort of) follow for sure. Needless to say I've been doing the same here as well, I too enjoy a puzzle.
Regarding the missing sites there, based on TAFL data and site neighbour lists, I'm fairly certain that site 8 is Chaplin near Upper Musquodoboit, 10 is Marinette near Sheet Harbour, 33 is Maple Ridge near Antigonish, 34 is Cochrane Hill near Sherbrooke and 37 is Horton Lake, which is another site near Port Hastings (I have no idea why, when the Creignish site is next door). And of course all of the rest of the Cape Breton sites would be numbered 39 and up.

 

[mciupa]

We have been told previously to list LSN CH ID from DSD+ in the RR Database. Hence, my question. The reason for that is that RadioReference would otherwise be showing a bias towards Uniden consumer products by showing a Uniden LCN.

But not to stray too far off topic, I hope we get Somontoby his numbers so he can actually monitor some voice.

 

[EricCottrell]

Hello,

It depends on your viewpoint. I will suggest that the RRDB is strongly biased toward DSD Plus. DSD Plus uses a similar format as Motorola for only their Capacity Plus system. DSD Plus applies this to every DMR Trunked System. Even Motorola pairs the channels in their Capacity Plus software (1/2, 3/4, etc). Uniden does use their own format for Capacity Plus based on the DMR standard. The DMR standard treats the Logical Frequency Number and Slot as two separate fields. Everyone other than DSD Plus uses the LFN value for trunked systems other than Capacity Plus.

I have also noticed the LFN sequence. One method used for LFN assignment is take all the frequencies in a system and assign a LFN to each frequency. Every site that uses the same frequency will use that frequency's LFN. This system is interesting because the same frequency, like 152.990, has different LFNs depending on the site. So it is safe to assume that if each site has two LFNs, then they are in an odd-even sequence. So if the control channel is 117 then the other frequency is 118.

I logged the LFNs of the neighbor list's control channels when I was in Saint John. This should fill in some gaps.
Site 17 115
Site 18 117
Site 19 119
Site 20 121
Site 21 124
Site 22 125
Site 25 132
Site 26 153
Site 27 155

BTW, I am staying in Bedford, NS for a few days and hope to monitor some more NS Power sites.

73 Eric

 

[hfxChris]

This system is interesting because the same frequency, like 152.990, has different LFNs depending on the site. So it is safe to assume that if each site has two LFNs, then they are in an odd-even sequence. So if the control channel is 117 then the other frequency is 118.

For the most part that seems accurate for this system, however there have been a few sites where I've noted the CC on the even/higher channel number.

I logged the LFNs of the neighbor list's control channels when I was in Saint John. This should fill in some gaps.

Awesome, thank you!

 

[Deziel0495]

Not to go too far astray from NS, but PEI's Maritime Electric is also rolling out a Cap Max system. I'm not sure at this time if it is a separate system or an expansion into the Province similar to MPSRN. Guess I'll have to buy the DMR upgrade for my 325P2 so I can keep an eye on it.

 

[hfxChris]

Not to go too far astray from NS, but PEI's Maritime Electric is also rolling out a Cap Max system. I'm not sure at this time if it is a separate system or an expansion into the Province similar to MPSRN. Guess I'll have to buy the DMR upgrade for my 325P2 so I can keep an eye on it.

Hopefully they're a bit more talkative than they are here...

 

[EricCottrell]

Hello,

I am back from my wonderful trip to NS. I reviewed the DSDplus logs and found some additional information:
L7-12 added L7-23 to the neighbor list, so it is now 11, 13, 18, 22, and 23.
L7-13 has a neighbor list of 11, 12, 14, and 18.
The LFN for 152.450 MHz at L7-21 is 123.

The only activity I saw in the logs are private data calls involving radio id 64250. I did not see any voice traffic.

73 Eric

 

[_DeS_]

So I'm going to pull the scab off this old thread lol but it ties in with this.

I was able to identify the "Lingan Generating Station Site" at 158.4900. I let LCN analyze that and currently listening for two weeks.
The site ID is 49 and seems to fit logically with the sites in the database geographically.

So, I'm kind of confused. Assuming I have everything set up correctly, my SDS100 continually blinks "DT3 Slot 2, sometimes Slot 1" with "Color Code: 0"Net If "7h"
It quickly fluctuates between that and "1h." The site ID bounces around constantly as well. I have very strong signal strength with this site as it is very close to me. Is what is displaying normal ?

Also, although I have not heard any voice traffic, activity has been logged on TGID "156" "215" and "220". All are only 3-7 seconds.
The only thing I can say with certainty from monitoring this site was the digital machine gun noise of a trunked systems control channel for a brief second. I have the SDS set to record but no audio is ever recorded.

Judging by the previous comments in order to find out more about this site i.e Control Channel etc. and DMR scanning in genera,l I should grab DSD ?
If there is more info needed before submitting that to the database let me know, if it seems in order I can certainly make the submission.

Thanks !

 

[marcanradio]

An update to my post about site L7-33 at Maple Ridge,
Location: 45.6875 -62.1171
Callsign: XML569

After some monitoring I confirmed it's user channel as 152.990 MHz with lots of good LRRP data.
(Vehicles around Antigonish)

Control channel is 152.420 MHz, Ch ID=333, and 152.990 MHz is Ch ID=332 as per DSD+ logs.

NL=32,34,35,36,37,39,40 (one of the largest neighbour lists)
-Ron