Official LATIE Thread

[WooBuff]

This is pretty funny really...did they not notice that they could not talk from portable to the truck? Who is handling this, Tomba?

Tomba is handling the hardware installs. The parish radio shop is handing the programming and setup.

It seems like the easiest temporary solution would have been to setup a console patch between the two system. I guess no one there could figure out how to do it.

 

[brscanning]

New Site - 130

I have found a new site on the LATIE system. Site 130 - 765.96875

By rotating the beam it appears to be west of Baton Rouge with a fairly strong signal of 3 bars on the BCD996T. So far I have not heard any traffic.

Edit: Also found site 129 - 774.53125. Weak signal to the west of Baton Rouge.

 

[tippeyb]

New Tower being erected at MSY

There is a new tower being erected on the second floor roof of the main terminal building at the airport.The tower will be about 15 feet in height. A new communications center is being built just below the tower on the second floor of the terminal building. The MSY LATIE system has been in this location since it went on line earlier this year. The new communications office is being built around the room housing the LATIE equipment. The airport is still using its old EDAC system, I think that will change once the communication office is in operation. The current MSY LATIE antenna is close by the new tower in a temporary location. Once the tower is complete the antenna will be moved to its new home, hopefully providing a little better performance and distance. I will update when the new tower and antenna are in operation.

Happy listening,
tippeyb

 

[tippeyb]

Kenner Airport Tower in Operation

The new Kenner Airport Tower is now in use for the airport LATIE site.

 

[Landman]

Does anyone know if and when Iberia and St Mary Parishes will be going to the LATIE system?

And how about the State Police troops. I am still hearing them on 800.

 

[AC0RV]

Programming the 396t for the LATIE

I will be getting a uniden 396t scanner soon and I am setting my files now. How I do set up the files for the LATIE System. I plan on being able to monitor from the Washington Parish. The Region 1 and region 9 areas. Which I believe covers the New Orleans and the Northshore.

Anyone that may have a mem file or info on creating one let me know and a big big thanks.

 

[Landman]

Using the search feature I have found three more control channels that are not yet in the database. I only have the frequencies and area for now. When Unitrunker gets released to use with 700 MHz I will be able to post more. For now:

765.84375. I get two bars in Lafayette and three bars in Crowley on my PSR-500

766.01875 - Two bars in Laf. and four in Breaux Bridge

774.78125 - Two to three bars in Laf., four to five in Breaux Bridge, two to three in Grosse Tete.

A while back I saw a PDF document with a wealth of info about the LATIE system including a map of sites. I don't remember what website it was on but I did notice that the map showed most of the existing 800MHz state sites co-locating with the new 700 MHz sites as well a number of new sites for 700 MHz. One of the new sites is in Breaux Bridge. This site most probably uses the number two or three control channel above. In addition to the existing Abbeville site there is also one further South in Vermilion Parish. This site *may* be the first control channel above. Time and further research will tell. One thing is for sure. This new system will have much better coverage than the existing 800 system and will also have the tremendous advantage of no cell site inteference at least for now. We will see what happens when commercial towers above and below the guard bands begin popping up.

 

[loumaag]

Using the search feature I have found three more control channels that are not yet in the database. I only have the frequencies and area for now. When Unitrunker gets released to use with 700 MHz I will be able to post more. For now:

765.84375. I get two bars in Lafayette and three bars in Crowley on my PSR-500

766.01875 - Two bars in Laf. and four in Breaux Bridge

774.78125 - Two to three bars in Laf., four to five in Breaux Bridge, two to three in Grosse Tete.

A while back I saw a PDF document with a wealth of info about the LATIE system including a map of sites. I don't remember what website it was on but I did notice that the map showed most of the existing 800MHz state sites co-locating with the new 700 MHz sites as well a number of new sites for 700 MHz. One of the new sites is in Breaux Bridge. This site most probably uses the number two or three control channel above. In addition to the existing Abbeville site there is also one further South in Vermilion Parish. This site *may* be the first control channel above. Time and further research will tell. One thing is for sure. This new system will have much better coverage than the existing 800 system and will also have the tremendous advantage of no cell site inteference at least for now. We will see what happens when commercial towers above and below the guard bands begin popping up.

First, I was not aware that UniTrunker had any problems with 700 MHz tracking.

I am guessing that you are using a PSR-500, does it not tell you the tower you are monitoring when searching or holding on the CCh frequency? And if it does, would you please add that information and submit it, we can add the tower number without knowing where it is for sure. When you get any other info, you can submit it as additional info. Since all scanners that can monitor LATIE are CCh Only capable, it is important to get as many CCh's and alts identified as possible.

 

[Landman]

Oops sorry about that. What I should have said was when UniTrunker has full support the the PSR-500 using the control channel dump feature. Its author is working on that now. As for the site numbers it does give them but they don't match what's in the database that's why I am waiting for UniTrunker's PSR-500 support. When I get it up and running I will install it on my laptop so I can check various sites as I roam the state. This will give me better info to report to the database. Hopefully I can find more updated maps online so I can match control channels to sites better and submit them to the database.

 

[loumaag]

... As for the site numbers it does give them but they don't match what's in the database that's why I am waiting for UniTrunker's PSR-500 support. ...

Okay on the UniTrunker comments.

Is the radio showing the tower numbers in HEX? The old GRE RS brands (Pro-96/2096) shows them in HEX. Project 25 systems will display the tower info on the last line like this on a Pro-96:
96:XXXXX nn%

• Where the 96 indicates a 9600 bps control channel
• The XXXXX is a changing display of 3 items:
  1. BEE00-Indicating P25 WACN (Wide Area Comm Network) BEE00 in Hex
  2. SY1BD-Indicating System ID 1BD in Hex
  3. T0115-Indicating a Tower in the 01 sub-net on site 15 (Hex or 21 Dec) This would be the Lafayette Tower which we display in the RR DB in decimal form (Site 121)
• nn%-Indicating the approximate decoding rate

Is this something like what you see on your PSR500? (I have not seen one yet.)

 

[Landman]

Thats it exactly! I figured it might be hex but I wasnt sure. The example you gave for the site number matches what it gave me for the Lafayette site. I don't know how to convert but Excel does. I will just make an Excel spreadsheet with the formulas in one column to convert the hex to decimal as I find each site.

You also answered my question as to what that doggone BEE00 meant.

Now it's time to get to work.

 

[kevins669]

Three additional sites that I know were under construction were in Iberville, Breaux Bridge, and Vermillion. They were not operational in September, so construction may be completed now. Probably sites 128 and 129 are two of those.

-- Kevin

 

[Landman]

That's probably them Kevin. What I get from the control channel analyzer is:

766.01875, site 129, This is the one that I got 4 bars on in Breaux Bridge

In a post above David Hitchner submitted another frequency of 774.53125 for site 129

774.78125, also shows site 129, I got a strong signal in Breaux Bridge on this one. I also got decent readings in Grosse Tete. This one *may* be the tower in the Southern part of Iberville Parish

The above three appear to be different towers that are part of the same "site" as some sites are controlled as one but have multiple towers.

765.84375, shows site 121, same as Lafayette. I get just so-so readings on this one in Lafayette and Crowley. I have no idea where it might be.

 

[loumaag]

This is a bit off topic, but I thought I read (somewhere in the piles of posts on the PSR500) that the Pro96Com software will actually work with the radio as long as you are looking at a Project 25 system. If this is true, why don't you download it and see if you can get it to communicate with your radio. You will get a lot of information and it also takes care of those nasty conversions for you. :lol:

 

[Landman]

Good suggestion. I got it up and running. The software confirmed the site numbers that the radio gave me.

 

[kevins669]

Surely you are not hearing the CC for site 129 at the *same time* on both frequencies, right?

Also, every site so far has been it's own... I have not seen any other simulcast sites, except for the two that are part of the Region 1 system.

-- Kevin

 

[loumaag]

Good suggestion. I got it up and running. The software confirmed the site numbers that the radio gave me.

Hmm; zip up the tower files you have gotten and post them here.

 

[Landman]

Okay, here's the weird part. When I fed the control channel dump to pro96com for each of these two frequencies:
774.05625 and 765.84375
the pro96com display on my monitor showed 774.05625 as the control channel. 765.84375 did not even show up although pro96com showed a 99% 40 out of 40 decode rate as I fed that frequency to the software.

The same happened for site 129. When I fed 766.01875 and then 774.78125 to the software it showed only the second one, 774.78125 as a control channel no matter which frequency I fed to it. I had decode rates in the 90's for all frequencies above. I even verified that the decode rate went to zero as I scrolled through the frequencies and then back to the 90's as I got to the next one I wanted to analyze. I even made sure that all of the frequencies had active talkgroups showing including the ones that did not match what the display showed as the control channel.

So to sum it up, the scanner showed as site 121:
774.05625 and 765.84375 both frequencies had active control channels at the same time and each had activity. The software showed each as site 121 but 765.84375 showed up as 774.05625 on the display instead.

The scanner showed as site 129:
766.01875 and 774.78125
Both frequencies had active control channels at the same time and each showed activity. The software showed both frequencies as site 129 but only 774.78125 showed up.

 

[AC0RV]

Washington Parish Updated needed

Ok gang I need an update on the LATIE system for the Washington Parish and surrounding area. Any files would be appreciate a lot.

 

[loumaag]

Okay, here's the weird part. When I fed the control channel dump to pro96com for each of these two frequencies:
774.05625 and 765.84375
the pro96com display on my monitor showed 774.05625 as the control channel. 765.84375 did not even show up although pro96com showed a 99% 40 out of 40 decode rate as I fed that frequency to the software.

The same happened for site 129. When I fed 766.01875 and then 774.78125 to the software it showed only the second one, 774.78125 as a control channel no matter which frequency I fed to it. I had decode rates in the 90's for all frequencies above. I even verified that the decode rate went to zero as I scrolled through the frequencies and then back to the 90's as I got to the next one I wanted to analyze. I even made sure that all of the frequencies had active talkgroups showing including the ones that did not match what the display showed as the control channel.

So to sum it up, the scanner showed as site 121:
774.05625 and 765.84375 both frequencies had active control channels at the same time and each had activity. The software showed each as site 121 but 765.84375 showed up as 774.05625 on the display instead.

The scanner showed as site 129:
766.01875 and 774.78125
Both frequencies had active control channels at the same time and each showed activity. The software showed both frequencies as site 129 but only 774.78125 showed up.

I am travelling right now and not checking the board very often. Based on what you have posted, I think what you are experiencing is an image problem. The proper frequencies are the ones that show up in the tower files, the other ones are images on the scanner.