Otago Trunking

[rocky28965]

Any Trunking used in Otago area ?

 

[rocky28965]

I assume by the response, either this is a silly question, or no one knows.

 

[Kiniutech]

You are Premium Subscriber anything here RRDB | New Zealand

 

[Kiniutech]

I assume that Southland will also cover your area
RRDB | Canterbury Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

 

[rocky28965]

Nothing listed for Otago or Southland.
There's a lot of trucks in both areas, I was assuming they would have some means of communication.
Hence my original question.
Or maybe they all use mobile phones.

 

[Kiniutech]

some DMR Here Otago Region - RadioWiki
Other sites
- They're watching...
www.john.geek.nz - Scanner Frequencies
Teamtalk MPT1327 - RadioWiki

 

[rocky28965]

Thanks, the Teamtalk on RadioWiki looks promising.
Saw that on RadioReference, but it didn't have any southern region like the Wiki does.

 

[rocky28965]

Resulting from that I used ProScan & installed the TeamTalk ActionNet (Canterbury) from RadioReference & added the 4 southland frequencies from RadioWiki

It’s been scanning all frequencies for several hours
Havent had any bites yet.

I am not sure if I have done something wrong or just out of range.
My location is Wanaka & my antenna is a Discone 25 MHz - 1300 MHz
Using Uniden BCT15X

 

[scottjpalmer]

ActionNet is MPT1327 so the Uniden won't follow them but you should hear the analog voice traffic if there is any and the control channels. Vital (used to be called TeamTalk) are replacing their FleetLink and ActionNet analog networks with their new DMR Tier III network as detailed on these pages Otago, Southland and Canterbury. It is a digital network though so you will need to upgrade your scanner or use an SDR to hear the audio and follow the trunking. I don't know how far along they are with migrating users across but at a guess there won't be much traffic still on the analog networks.

With any of the 3 networks you should hear the control channel if you tune to it and it is receivable in your area. If you hear beeping graunching noises that aren't voices on any of the frequencies on the above pages then you are in range of the base station. Try a search from 414Mhz to 420MHz, if you hit the control signal on any frequencies you can look on the above pages to see which one it is. RSM Licence Search is another useful tool.

 

[rocky28965]

Thanks
I'll work my way through that.

 

[rocky28965]

Ok an update on this.

I will try to be careful & not divulge too much info, frequencies, ID's etc

I've scanned both 400 & 800 MHZ for control channels.
Came up with 2 only, both in the 400 MHz range.
One is MPT1327 protocol.
Other is DMR protocol.
I have identified them & their TD numbers.
I've installed Unitrunker, DSDPlus & Virtual Cable.
I'm using 2 RTL2832U SDR's
Set them up in Unitrunker as signal & voice
I have tried both the channels in unitrunker.
Both have strong signals & show 100% health.
Only the MPT1327 channel will open the viewing window.
In the top section, the control frequency shows with one other line below with 0.00000
The bottom section steadily fills up with various Joins & Calls, about 50 in 2 hours.
There is no voice audio. Both SDR's show as running & ready.
SDR1 with role of signal, shows status of decoding.
SDR2 with role of voice, shows status of parked.

Questions:
Should I be hearing voice ?
Is my setup not able to track the DMR channel ?

 

[scottjpalmer]

I haven't used Unitrunker but at a quick glance it won't do DMR, you'll have to use DSDPlus for that.

 

[rocky28965]

I had DSDPlus & Virtual Cable running as mentioned in post #11
So have given up on Unitrunker

Have moved on to SDRTrunk.
Spent half a day watching how to videos.
Couldn't get that to do what I wanted either.

I'm sure both of these programs would work just fine in a big city or high traffic area.
But I'm in a rural type setting where neither of the 2 available trunking control channels are listed on the RadioReference database.
If I could just work out how to manually program a control channel in SDRTrunk it might help.

 

[Kazzaw]

You can manually edit files that aren't in the RRDB. I've configured all mine his way

 

[scottjpalmer]

I had DSDPlus & Virtual Cable running as mentioned in post #11
So have given up on Unitrunker

Have moved on to SDRTrunk.
Spent half a day watching how to videos.
Couldn't get that to do what I wanted either.

I'm sure both of these programs would work just fine in a big city or high traffic area.
But I'm in a rural type setting where neither of the 2 available trunking control channels are listed on the RadioReference database.
If I could just work out how to manually program a control channel in SDRTrunk it might help.

No harm in posting the frequencies you can see control data on. Or send me a private message if you like, I'm curious to know which ones you're listening to.

 

[rocky28965]

It's Vital at Long Gully

 

[scottjpalmer]

Thanks. I wouldn't expect there to be much voice traffic down there, it was all very quiet when I was down there a while ago. You're seeing calls being placed though so maybe it's a config issue stopping you hearing them?

 

[rocky28965]

I've got a Uniden BCD996P2 on order, maybe that will hook onto something.

 

[rocky28965]

I now have my BCD996P2 but are having some difficulty getting this trunking system setup correctly.
There are two local systems I am after. They are not in the RR database, but I assume, are part of a national system.
Using Freescan, I have installed both systems from Canterbury, which are listed in RR.
I have added the local site & control channels to these.
The protocol is MPT1327, so I am assuming the radio will handle that.
It has been scanning quietly for most of the afternoon.
So either I’ve not done it correctly or no one’s talking.

My next plan of attack will be to crank up my SDR’s on unitrunker & check for traffic that way.

Any help or advice is always appreciated.

 

[scottjpalmer]

I now have my BCD996P2 but are having some difficulty getting this trunking system setup correctly.
There are two local systems I am after. They are not in the RR database, but I assume, are part of a national system.
Using Freescan, I have installed both systems from Canterbury, which are listed in RR.
I have added the local site & control channels to these.
The protocol is MPT1327, so I am assuming the radio will handle that.
It has been scanning quietly for most of the afternoon.
So either I’ve not done it correctly or no one’s talking.

My next plan of attack will be to crank up my SDR’s on unitrunker & check for traffic that way.

Any help or advice is always appreciated.

Uniden scanners won't trunk track MPT1327 as it is analog.