Ottawa EDACS ''West" Site

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Halliganfan

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I was away from scanning and comms for many years and have slowly returned just recently. I have finished setting up my new BC346XT using Freescan...amazing BTW and manually programed a LTR system just to see a manual entry.

I do have a question though it seems all talk groups are assigned to the ''main'' site.

What is the ''West'' site for and do i need in order for the trunking to work correctly? (entered but not currently not scanned as a system)

Also I am trying to program the i0000 wildcard into the EDACS but unsure how to at this time (looked everywhere). Its main funtion being? an example when i am in ID Search i get alot of OC Transpo UID's would this wildcard group control these and simular ID's into that group.

Any help would be great!, Thanks all
 

VE3RADIO

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In my past experience with Ottawa EDACS I have found that the west site seems to carry less traffic than the MAIN site. You do not need the west site programmed but when you get out in to Stittsville you will find the main site is somewhat weak.
 

DaveH

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I concur with WZ, West site carries less (I would say much less) traffic than the
Main site, so to get "everything" listen to the latter if at all possible.

Programming I-call wildcard will bring in tons of OC Transpo bus traffic and any
other I-Call users will get lost. To date I've seen mostly Bylaw using I-calls, and
some OFS activity from dispatcher to station radios. In cases like this it's best
to program the dispatcher LIDs which allows some control; for OC Transpo it's
only seven; i000123 through i000128 and i000120 (possibly one or two more).
This kind of data comes from UniTrunker, although it's been known for a while
but nobody's bothered to confirm/submit.

Dave
 

Halliganfan

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DaveH

Thank you for those LID's just assume have to place them in my OC transpo talkgroup? There is not to much information with regards to how to program wildcards...seems to be the only stumble i have had thus far.

I have also downloaded UniTrunker from RR and am going to get it going down the road, as soon as i learn the software .
 

davidmc36

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What is the ''West'' site for and do i need in order for the trunking to work correctly?
The "West" site is actually several "sites" around the rural area of Ottawa. I get better signal here south-east of the city, but as others said there is not all the traffic carried on it.

As DaveH says, if you let all the OC Transpo iTraffic come through it pretty much hogs the airwaves. I listen from time to time but have to block them out if I am trying to track our flight coming in.
 

Halliganfan

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I do notice that the OC i's take up alot esp when in ID search scan. I have entered in the i's thay DaveH has supplied... ty btw.

I am in the process of mapping the routes and OC Control Operator specific unit numbers ie 101,102,103,104,105,106,107 assosiated with the console i's and the routes allocated to specific control operators, as i know they have shuffled alot of routes. Quite the task ;) It is to bad that the bus ID's and controllers are not assigned to a specific talk group. As my hope is the i's and controller numbers dont change everyday anlong with the i's.

I have only received one TX to date on the EDACS West site, however will keep it programed as i do venture in the rural parts from time to time.

Thanks to all for the help!
 

Jammin_Jay

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There is also a south tower in North Gower. East of Hwy 416, Roger stevens road.
That would explain why you recieve a strong signal south of the city David

Again... Not all talkgroups are simulcast of this tower as mentioned by other users.
But if you do live in South Ottawa in ... Osgoode, Manotick, Riverside South or Barrhaven , you could get this tower easily.
 
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VE3RADIO

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There is also a south tower in North Gower. East of Hwy 416, Roger stevens road.
That would explain why you recieve a strong signal south of the city David

Again... Not all talkgroups are simulcast of this tower as mentioned by other users.
But if you do live in South Ottawa in ... Osgoode, Manotick, Riverside South or Barrhaven , you could get this tower easily.


Why is the South tower not listed in the DB? Is it a simulcast?
 

DaveH

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Why is the South tower not listed in the DB? Is it a simulcast?

South tower is not listed because it is not a system. Actually, complete system consists of multiple TX
and RX sites, something like 17, or was it 23 (some are RX only).

Simulcast isn't the exact term as it applies to simultaneous transmission on the same frequencies
at different sites (separated geographically of course). Networked is accurate.

I recall early EDACS days, there were three systems, 1,2, and 3, having 10/5/5 channels; 2 and
3 were merged into 7, and 1 got more frequencies.

Dave
 
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davidmc36

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There is also a south tower in North Gower. East of Hwy 416, Roger stevens road.
That would explain why you recieve a strong signal south of the city David....
Are there more than that also?

I found the one in Kinburn one day a few summers ago by driving around with the antenna removed from the hand-held. I meant to do some more nosing around to see but never got around to it.
 

DaveH

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I do notice that the OC i's take up alot esp when in ID search scan. I have entered in the i's thay DaveH has supplied... ty btw.

I am in the process of mapping the routes and OC Control Operator specific unit numbers ie 101,102,103,104,105,106,107 assosiated with the console i's and the routes allocated to specific control operators, as i know they have shuffled alot of routes. Quite the task ;) It is to bad that the bus ID's and controllers are not assigned to a specific talk group. As my hope is the i's and controller numbers dont change everyday anlong with the i's.

I have only received one TX to date on the EDACS West site, however will keep it programed as i do venture in the rural parts from time to time.

Thanks to all for the help!

If you program the I-Call groups plus the following TGs, you should hear
everything there is to hear, except Transit Law (Provoice) and the SMS system
for which I don't know if there's any way to decode (not with present tools).

Analog TGs are 193, 196, 203, 205, 209, 225, 226, 234, and 235.

Not sure how the 346 displays I-Call users, but with older Uniden BC780, the
bus ID isn't displayed if the console LID is programmed; but it does save using
the wild card, or trying to program all possible bus IDs (next to if not impossible).

You could try programming the I-Call IDs 14, 19, 21, 120, 122, 129, and 130, may not
hear anything; some are associated with Provoice TG, or analog group calls only.

Some people may have the means to follow trunked Provoice (non-encrypted)
but it's not simple. The old Transit Law TG 202 was once analog, but hasn't been
used since switching to 201. I found a lot of the exchanges on that one a bit goofy,
so don't miss it that much.

The SMS probably works off TGs in the range 227-233 for which I've never seen a
traffic channel assigned; so it could go directly through the CC. Other users including
OFS reported slow response of the system just after OC Transpo switched over,
which suggests CC initailly getting bogged down.

Dave
 

Jammin_Jay

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The south tower, may not be listed in the database, but it still has exceptional range, for those who can"t get the other towers. But yes, the location I mentioned is where the tower is.

Perhaps, we could start a Ottawa area tower map.

West Edacs site, Main ( Central) Edacs site, South tower.
I am sure there are other receivers, a map would be of the interest to create for this purpose.

And yes the South tower does SIMULCAST the West Carleton Tower.
So, if you enter the frequencies for site (7) West Carelton tower, they are the same as... South Tower. near hwy 416

2 different tower locations, with the same frequencies. West, and south towers.
The main site, has different frequencies.

But Both towers, donot broadcast all transmissions of the Main Tower in Ottawa.
 
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