NYS Thruway

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k2hz

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The Thruway switched to all "cashless tolls" early this morning meaning that all interchanges and toll booths are now unattended.

A final normal roll call of interchanges was done at Midnight for each Division. At 12:50AM a system-wide broadcast from "Headquarters" was done with a message thanking collectors for their service and directing that all cash toll collections cease at 1AM. Division dispatchers then called each interchange to acknowledge the message.

Audio archives of the messages for Syracuse Division (Zone 3) and Buffalo Division (Zone 4) are available on the Broadcastify feeds:
 

rjbegin2

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Does anyone know how the NYSP Tactical channel 155.565 on the thruway page shows a FMN Mode but the same frequency on the NYSP Page shows Tactical Secure with a P25E mode on the same frequency?
 

ak716

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Does anyone know how the NYSP Tactical channel 155.565 on the thruway page shows a FMN Mode but the same frequency on the NYSP Page shows Tactical Secure with a P25E mode on the same frequency?
Not sure the accuracy of the information, as I didn't submit it, nor have ever monitored it, but radios can run in mixed modes, especially with it being a simplex channel, so its definitely "doable". The NAC 917 goes along with the other NAC's submitted, so even with it being encrypted, it's a great clue on who would be using it. There are of course are other ways to verify who's using it to figure out it would be NYSP. The PL tone posted for the analog also jives with what they normally run as well, so seems legit on face value. They could have programmed in the radio's SP TAC P25 Secure, and SP TAC Analog (or something like that), both the same frequency, and just running as two different formats.
 

GTR8000

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155.565 with a NAC of 917 and AES algorithm is 100% SP Tac Secure. I believe 155.565 might still be in some radios in analog mode for a Tac repeater, although at this point it's probably no longer being used.

In any event, I took care of the issue by deleting the VHF frequencies from the Thruway page; they were out of place there anyway, being duplicates of the normal NYSP channels listed on the NYSP page.
 

AlexC

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No more winter hourly checks I guess. I'll miss listening to that on trips across NYS in the winter. I know one of the primary responsibilties of the toll plazas was 911 notifications from the booth. I wonder how they are handling that now considering you won't hear "Buffalo to Henrietta we need EMS to 374.8 W/B for a person passed out."
 

k2hz

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Everything has been handled directly by the dispatchers for some time now calling the appropriate 911 center for Fire, EMS, etc. Years ago, they even had the interchanges call the tow companies but that went away when "long distance" phone calls were no longer a big deal. The idea of our Syracuse and Buffalo Zone Broadcastify feeds is primarily for keeping track of winter driving conditions as well as major events or accidents. I think you will still hear weather discussions between the dispatchers and the maintenance sectors. We are also scanning the maintenance operations channels for the Batavia, Henrietta, Manchester and Weedsport Maintenance Sectors with priority on the main dispatch channel. Things will still get wild when lake effect snow squalls hit the area.
 

AZ645

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Driving down the Thruway the other day, I noticed that the NYSP cars have long whips on them. What frequencies are these used on?
 

k2hz

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Driving down the Thruway the other day, I noticed that the NYSP cars have long whips on them. What frequencies are these used on?
Gain VHF antennas for the regular NYSP frequencies. Troop T cars also have regular NYSP radios and use them for car to car and coordination with adjacent troops.
 

IFRIED91

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What type of radios does the thruway authority use? I can hear the GE-Star tones... I didn’t even know GE-Star still came built into radios from the factory.. I know it can be added later on with a tone encoder board but that seems like a lot of work..
 

gtaman

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What type of radios does the thruway authority use? I can hear the GE-Star tones... I didn’t even know GE-Star still came built into radios from the factory.. I know it can be added later on with a tone encoder board but that seems like a lot of work..

The last version of the EF Johnson 5100 has GE Star
 

ak716

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What type of radios does the thruway authority use? I can hear the GE-Star tones... I didn’t even know GE-Star still came built into radios from the factory.. I know it can be added later on with a tone encoder board but that seems like a lot of work..
Last look at a center console in a troop car, looked like a Harris / M/A-Com / Ericsson (not sure which, I'm not a Harris guy), and not sure the model, but comparing it to google, I'd some something like the M7100 or a XG-75M/M7300. That was the case in both a Troop A car and Troop T car I saw
 

k2hz

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No more winter hourly checks I guess. I'll miss listening to that on trips across NYS in the winter. I know one of the primary responsibilties of the toll plazas was 911 notifications from the booth. I wonder how they are handling that now considering you won't hear "Buffalo to Henrietta we need EMS to 374.8 W/B for a person passed out."
I hear the Thruway Buffalo and Syracuse dispatchers now doing weather checks on the hour with the maintenance sections during storm conditions to replace the interchange roll call. One of the maintenance units just inquired at the 2200 roll call if it would be every hour now and the Buffalo dispatcher said next will be at 2400.
They also still do the periodic roll calls and post assignments of the Troop T units.
 

k2hz

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Are they still using the 453 mhz channels? Seems like i havent heard much of anything on them lately.
Still in use by Troop T and service vehicles. Not as busy as used to be with no manned interchanges now and maintenances has their own 460 channels. See comments above in this thread.
 

KB2GOM

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No more winter hourly checks I guess. I'll miss listening to that on trips across NYS in the winter. I know one of the primary responsibilties of the toll plazas was 911 notifications from the booth. I wonder how they are handling that now considering you won't hear "Buffalo to Henrietta we need EMS to 374.8 W/B for a person passed out."

I run the Commuter Assistance on 146.94 for the Capital Region (Albany, Schenectady, Troy). One of my scanners is locked on the Thruway UHF frequencies. I heard the hourly checkins and road condition reports this AM.

I also have another scanner locked onto the State Police VHF frequencies.
 
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