OFFICIAL MSWIN Thread

[INDY72]

The entire D-8 HQ project seems way behind as last I knew it was to be done and running by now. Maybe by end of January??? The new tower is an additional linkage/coverage site, and will have both the MSWIN, and hi band on it. Its going to be a short ranger compared to the rest of the MSWIN 400 to 600 foot towers. One great thing about this new contractor on MSWIN is that we will have a fully detailed map of sites. They are amazing in that aspect. From scuttlebutt, the FEMA historical impact studies are so far showing that the current sites are all in compliance. The future sites will move faster now that this will happen in addition to the other impact studies in advance instead of AFTER a zone is done! Still frustrating that FEMA got this whole shebang started, then "forgot" to mention the study until P1 was almost completely ready....

Beauracracy at its finest???

Once this clearance is fully given we should see movement to MWIN by MHP, MDOC, MDOT, F&W, MEMA, and possibly at least one South MS agency. P2 construction can continue as funding will be released, and testing on the I-20 corridor should begin by Hurricane Season. Also expect moderate movement in construction in the rest of P2 until Hurricane Season when agin the rush will be on. Assuming no more surprises in funding lol.

So as of right now the entire Jackson Metro area, then down I-55, and Highway 49 is up and fully operational in Wide Area Trunking awaiting system loading of users. Range tests showed excellent coverage. Also have heard that at least one maybe two sites are in planning in addition to the already contracted sites to increase coverage.

 

[fryan]

Jackson Sites

I believe several of the Jackson sites are now online. I'm hearing traffic on several different control channels now.

 

[dosboot]

So does anyone know the South MS. agency that may join?

 

[KE5TLF]

Hi fryan, and welcome to the forums. Glad to hear from someone in your area. What kind of gear do you have and can you run Pro96com with what you have? Any help you can provide decoding sites and identifying TGIDs in the coming weeks/months would be greatly appreciated.

Of course in return there are several people around here that will be more than glad to help you set things up for you to help with this task if/when needed.

 

[fryan]

KE5TLF,

I have a BCD996XT. I've loaded all the PCCH's for Phase 1. I actually did this like 3 months ago. I live in Jackson, so I use to only here traffic via the Jackson Site. Now I'm seeing signal on other PCCH's thru out Phase 1 just in Jackson. For example, I see a PCCH on the Rock Hill site in Jackson. So there's a site close to Jackson that is using the same PCCH.


I'm not firmliar with Pro96com, can you explain alittle more about it?

Also I have mine setup to do a ID search, so if someone keys up on any TG, I get the ID and also here the traffic. I haven't heard any MHP traffic yet, but I am listening.

Thanks

 

[ffemt601]

Pro96Com

Pro96Com - Control channel decoder for P25 Trunked Radio Systems

 

[KE5TLF]

KE5TLF,
I have a BCD996XT.

Awesome. That radio is relatively easy to use with Pro96com. Thanks ffemt601 for posting the link to the Pro96com homepage. That is a good place to start. There is also a RR Wiki entry here that may help some. Trunked Radio Decoders - The RadioReference Wiki and the Trunking Decoding Software forum as well. Trunking Control Channel Decoding - The RadioReference.com Forums

I assume you have used the serial or USB1 cable to program your radio at some point. To use Pro96com you would hook it up the same way. You'll also have to set Pro96com to use the serial port the cable is connected to similar to any memory manger program. In the menu system of the 996XT there is a setting you have to turn on also to activate the outputting of CC data. Menu > Settings > Set C-CH Output > On

It is relatively simple thing to do these days with the newest scanners. It is also a pretty exciting aspect of the hobby to learn. Give it a try and if you have any problems let us know. Anyone here who can help will be glad to do so.

 

[fryan]

Ok, I've got the software working and it's decoding away... Looks like I'm seeing 4 PCCH in Jackson. So apparently there's 3 news sites online. How would I determine which PCCH belongs to what site?

 

[KE5TLF]

Awesome.
Ok, Under the Pro96com root folder it will automatically create folders for each system logged and within that folder it will create plain text files for each tower site logged. While in an active logging session you can look in the right hand section of the system activity tab and find the System Information area which includes the SysID, Site #, etc. As far as the name and location of the site well that may require a little field research but for the moment once you're happy with your logging submit the information and I may be able to make a fairly well educated guess.

IMPORTANT you have to manually save each tower logging session for it to create the Tower####.txt files. Let it decode for a half hour or so or until it at least logs the CWID freq. (denoted by the usage indicator of i) then save the session (File > Save System Information or alt+F > S). At a very minimum you should have 1 CC (c) 2 alt CC's (a) and 1 CWID (i) freqs. per site. The Jackson site (145) will have more and each channel will have several usage types too. (v - voice, d - data are other possible types)

MSWIN will be in the System2AD folder and within that folder there will be .txt files named Tower0###.txt. You can open those files in notepad and see what you've logged so far. We have at least some information for sites 145 and 203 so compare your findings to what is already in the DB and if there is anything missing in the DB then by all means submit it. As we have no other P2 (2##) towers in the DB yet then obviously submit anything you find on them as well. To make a submission open the Tower####.txt file and copy and paste in it's entirety into the submission form.

Another tip, you can look at the Site Information tab to find CC's from any neighbor sites that may (or may not) exist. This information is also stored in the Tower####.txt files as well. Also don't be afraid to delete files in the system folder and start afresh too if you think something may be messed up. It's unlikely but it can happen sometimes if you're trying to log a really weak site. Plus doing this may also serve to increase your comfort level with the program by proving your findings are consistantly repeatable. That program is pretty well made and I'm sure that as you spend more time with it it will become fairly easy to understand and use. Just take your time, there is no hurry.

I look forward to seeing your findings and if you have any problems don't hesitate to let me know.

 

[fryan]

I have a quick question...

Does this PRO96 program scan all of the 700 MHz band or just the control channels I have entered?

 

[KE5TLF]

You can only decode one CC at a time and it has to programmed into a system.

With the XT Unindens you can't just key in a freq. and hold on it which is kinda silly and totally counter intuitive. Sorry I forgot to mention that earlier. I use a 106/197 for decoding and you can just tune to a freq. with them.

Probably if I were you I would program me up a custom search for 769-775 MHz and positively identify any CC's you are in range of. Then program them all into a single "test" site. That way you can quickly flip between them.

Hope that explains it well enough. If not let us know.

 

[INDY72]

The awesome thing about Pro96Com is that once your decoding a CC for a site, it will show you all relevant data for that site.. Site Number, SYSID, CC's Alt CC's and sys activity, as well as site nieghbors! If you log each and submit them then we can work with you to get all the data sorted.

 

[KE5TLF]

Finally the December meeting minutes have been posted.

 

[fryan]

Hwy 49

This was captured today from Magee up to Jackson on 49. Hopefully this helps.

 

[INDY72]

TY for the updates... Finally the system grows ..

 

[marvin58]

Raleigh,Mendenhall

Raleigh,Mendenhall

 

[marvin58]

Update Raleigh

Update Raleigh

 

[KE5TLF]

You guys ROCK!!! Keep 'em coming.

A couple of tips.

You should probably stop and start the decoding process between frequency changes a time or two before saving a log.
Be sure you stop on on the indicated control channel too.(the one in green). You can be tuned off the exact frequency a little bit and it will still decode if the signal is strong enough, albeit somewhat unreliably. It will show the actual frequency in the system information tab in green so make sure that matches what you are actually tuned to on your scanner.

I've entered what I believe to be all of the correct information for each site that is doing little more than idling based on the information that was gathered during the data gathering process of P1. I wanted to go ahead and do this to help make it a little easier on you guys with Uniden stuff since you have to have the system/sites programmed in your rigs to use the decoding software. Unlike GRE stuff where you can just key in the freq. in tune mode and it will work.

Now for the critique part of the job. hehe

fryan there were several of your logs that were incomplete in one way or another. Some worse than others. But most did have something useful in them and I greatly appreciate you putting in the effort to learn this and to gather any information you can. I hope you're having as much fun with it as I did when I first started out

Seen a couple of what I believe to be erroneous control channels in a couple of logs too. Obviously a site can have only one active CC at a time. In my experience when starting out, erroneous information can be introduced into pro96com when scrolling through frequencies while decoding is active. So much of how these modern scanners work is automated that the automation sometimes lags behind what you are actually doing at the moment by a few fractions of a second. Quickly "flipping" channels triggers this kind of erroneous information being recorded by pro96com while reading data from the radio is active.

Once an erroneous bit of info is recorded and then saved it will always be there too on subsequent decoding sessions. The only way to remove this is to either manually edit out the bad info in a log or move/delete older logs out of the systemXXX folders created by pro96com. I recommend just moving or deleting them periodically and doing a fresh log every time you feel like firing up a decoding session. Most of the base info is not going to change anytime real soon anyway, but some additonal frequencies or neighbor sites are possible.

You guys are what makes this whole process possible and again all your efforts are greatly appreciated. Keep up the great work. I eagerly look forward to each and every bit of information you guys can provided and thoroughly enjoy deciphering and recording it.

 

[INDY72]

Yes great job so far. Now to reinforce what Mike siad... Be a tad more observant of the active CC when your starting up a log.. Let a site run on Pro96Com for as long as you can on each site. It takes from fifteen to thirty minutes to log a CWID.. (The Morse Code ID that all stations must broadcast) The longer you let it work, the better your data will be and more accurate. Be sure to note and log each site's neighbor list, TGID's.. And the like.

 

[KE5TLF]

January meeting minutes posted. Pretty much all bad news.