Older edacs without provoice following trunking?

[baxterdmutt]

If I had an older EDACS without provoice and I had it programmed on a ProVoice system, would it follow the trunking commands properly. I realize I would not be able to understand anything, but would it follow the trunking properly. Would I then not be able to run that through software?

If this is a repeat question I apologize. I tried searching but nothing came up. I may not have used the correct terminology.

Thanks.

 

[VE3RADIO]

Nope, it wont... but PV radios have come down in price recently.. however in Vancouver you would need ESK and you cant program the radio properly without ESK..

 

[baxterdmutt]

Nope, it wont... but PV radios have come down in price recently.. however in Vancouver you would need ESK and you cant program the radio properly without ESK..

Hmm. I was told they were not encrypted and that only ERT were. I also read a thread elsewhere in this forum discussing that and that although the police think they are ESK but they are not.

 

[baxterdmutt]

This discussion was back in 2011 and it seems that there are some ESK channels but it didn't sound like a lot.

 

[baxterdmutt]

Have a look here: http://forums.radioreference.com/1656498-post11.html

 

[baxterdmutt]

Hmm. I was told they were not encrypted and that only ERT were. I also read a thread elsewhere in this forum discussing that and that although the police think they are ESK but they are not.

Oops, Sorry I thought ESK was the encryption but as I read more I realize it is not. There seems to be a lot of confusion around though. I read some posts that say provoice can't be decoded and yet their is software to decode it. Then there are post where people are discussing their trunking scanners that they don't seem to have an issue getting it to follow the provoice conversation.

If a trunking scanner can follow the provoice conversation shouldn't an edacs radio be able to follow it also, even though you wouldn't be able to understand it?

I'm confused???

 

[VE3RADIO]

Oops, Sorry I thought ESK was the encryption but as I read more I realize it is not. There seems to be a lot of confusion around though. I read some posts that say provoice can't be decoded and yet their is software to decode it. Then there are post where people are discussing their trunking scanners that they don't seem to have an issue getting it to follow the provoice conversation.

If a trunking scanner can follow the provoice conversation shouldn't an edacs radio be able to follow it also, even though you wouldn't be able to understand it?

I'm confused???

ESK = Edacs System Key - this is a hardware dongle that attaches to the computer that programs the radio. ENC is encryption and I am sure it is on only a few select channels. A old 246 scanner can follow the traffic but will NOT decode the audio.. you would need DSD software and a tapped scanner or a real provoice radio...

 

[baxterdmutt]

ESK = Edacs System Key - this is a hardware dongle that attaches to the computer that programs the radio. ENC is encryption and I am sure it is on only a few select channels. A old 246 scanner can follow the traffic but will NOT decode the audio.. you would need DSD software and a tapped scanner or a real provoice radio...

Thanks. That still leaves me confused. If a trunking scanner can follow the traffic, why wouldn't an actually edacs radio? I understand it would not translate provoice. I can find cheap edacs and I'm only interested in 1 talkgroup.

 

[VE3RADIO]

Thanks. That still leaves me confused. If a trunking scanner can follow the traffic, why wouldn't an actually edacs radio? I understand it would not translate provoice. I can find cheap edacs and I'm only interested in 1 talkgroup.

I dont know... it just wont... I have tried with AEGIS LPE200 to track a PV Talkgroup and no dice.

 

[EnidPuceflange]

On the control channel, the assignment for an analog call is different to the assignment for a digital call, so the analog only radio will simply not "see" the digital assignments.

And yes, Vancouver's system uses encryption on top of ProVoice, so you'd not hear anything even if you had a PV radio. Sorry....

 

[Forts]

As far as ESK is concerned, it's main job is to prevent unauthorized radios from being able to join the system and listen in. Some people see this as a way of encrypting the control channel, but it really was just a different way for the system to authorize radios. So the scanner manufacturers like Uniden and GRE were able to update their radios to work with ESK, but a 'real' radio won't because it's doing exactly what it's supposed to do... prevent an unauthorized radio from being used. The only way around it would be to hack the firmware in the radio somehow and I don't imagine that would be an easy task.

 

[screenersam]

as I understand it your scanner filters out provoice / digital and only allows reg trunk traffic to be processed.
a 'discriminator tap' taps the signal before the filter and can send the provoice/digital into a computer, which may decode with the dsd software.
a stand-alone scanner can not do provoice.