PA 700 MHz Air to Ground System

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ocguard

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Do I need a tap for a 996XT or PSR-500 to do this? Sorry...new to unitrunker.

I hope you are right. A little bird also told me that this 700 system may be a replacement for OpenSky and be merged with a VHF system on the Northern half of the state....

Your PSR500 has a built-in discrimator tap, the same connection you use to program with the PC. Set UniTracker to "inline."

Be assured, OpenSky will EVENTUALLY be discontinued, and all PSP vehicles are being outfitted with dual-band APX mobiles in the VHF/700/800 bands as they are brought into service. This could be YEARS down the road. OpenSky is proprietary and is overall a failure. They'll phase the product out and eventually stop supporting it.
 

dcr_inc

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I bet they get Unity's before they get Motorola's.. This is just one of the "overlay's" that are planned for the OpenSky system.. The 150 and 450's should be next..
 

Blaze36

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You're close to the Reeser's Summit site which I figure is probably going to be the busiest of the sites considering most of the air assets are based in the Harrisburg/FTIG area and/or travel to and from that area. Good location to snag talkgroup affiliations and radio ID's on Unitrunker.


I ran Unitrunker on the Geigertown site for three days and only got two ARNG unit affiliations. I have it running again at home today...will see if anything pops up when I get home.



454 Air Ops Aircraft Surveillance Law Tac

1822 PaANG Bandit PaANG Bandit Ops Military


I have the Reeser Summit in the Scanner and have heard activity on both of these talk groups above in the last three days and picked up a wildcard TG ID yesterday. Talking about Surveillance and a tag number on a car and they think it was recently painted a different color. I will have to post this TG ID if I saved it..
 

GTR8000

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I bet they get Unity's before they get Motorola's.. This is just one of the "overlay's" that are planned for the OpenSky system.. The 150 and 450's should be next..

They are already installing the Motorola APX series in the cars, have been for some time now. Also, the new VHF repeaters for DCNR and PSP are Motorola GTR 8000 series.
 

talviar

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TG 133 was active today. Someone called Gary and asked how the voice quality was. The response was 4/5 and they were pleased with it. They were testing mobile and portable.

Portable ID 5500011
to ask a dumb question. . .

Voice - - -was it coming in as Phase I Digital or Phase II Digital?
 

Blaze36

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454 Air Ops Aircraft Surveillance Law Tac

1822 PaANG Bandit PaANG Bandit Ops Military


I have the Reeser Summit in the Scanner and have heard activity on both of these talk groups above in the last three days and picked up a wildcard TG ID yesterday. Talking about Surveillance and a tag number on a car and they think it was recently painted a different color. I will have to post this TG ID if I saved it..

The TG ID 469..
 

talviar

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The system is Phase I, not Phase II.

Thanks.

Explains a lot. . . . Might have some additional data (besides the initial CC for Southwestern area that I threw out on TRAMA List on yahoo groups a few weeks ago.) soon.

Sounds like it's time for a road trip!
 

Blaze36

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I'm combing through some PDF files I found online, trying to glean a bit more detailed info regarding the sites. One thing I have confirmed is that YORK01 is a site, in fact it was the first 700 site implemented.

7. Aircraft Communications Update

Robert Barnham, Interoperability Manager, OPRS, provided an update on the aircraft communications project. Mr. Barnham stated that the 700 MHz P25 subsystem deployment is operational at one site, YORK01. All ten sites are to be completed by the end of June 2011. The test of YORK01 was successful with communications to the east as far as Philadelphia, and to west as far as Latrobe.

Two transcoders have been deployed to PA-STARNet Regions 6 and 7. All regions will get transcoders that allow P25 and OpenSky® to interoperate. This configuration uses direct internetworking rather than digital-to-analog conversion.

I've matched up two of the other sites with the closest STARNet sites.

I am guessing that the coverage testing was done by aircraft and not by a ground unit to get that amount of distance from Latrobe to Philly..
 

HM1529

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I am guessing that the coverage testing was done by aircraft and not by a ground unit to get that amount of distance from Latrobe to Philly..

The system is designed specifically for use by aircraft. Ground units work with their standard OpenSky STARNET radios. The 700MHz system is tied into the OpenSky system as described above.

Previously, when aircraft tried to operate on the OpenSky network, issues would arise because the aircraft would attempt to affiliate with a multitude of transmitter sites. There are over 1,000 transmitter sites across the state (252 high profile towers and 752 microcell sites).

Having a small number of 700MHz sites across the state greatly reduces this problem.
 
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brey1234

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There recently was a search for a runaway suspect...When PSP chopper came on scene the 911 center tried to patch Open Sky into the county VHF system...nothing but feedback and hum---Finiallly chopper switched to VHF and their comms were loud and clear!
 

hosehead88

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Cumberland uses patches all the time on OpenSky without issue. Sounds like an error in the configuration not the system.
 

GTR8000

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There recently was a search for a runaway suspect...When PSP chopper came on scene the 911 center tried to patch Open Sky into the county VHF system...nothing but feedback and hum---Finiallly chopper switched to VHF and their comms were loud and clear!

Bob, this thread is about the 700 MHz P25 system, not OpenSky and not VHF. Let's not turn this into yet another one of your ubiquitous anti-OpenSky soapboxes. Keep to the topic at hand.
 

rrbum

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Be assured, OpenSky will EVENTUALLY be discontinued, and all PSP vehicles are being outfitted with dual-band APX mobiles in the VHF/700/800 bands as they are brought into service. This could be Hundreds of millions of dollars down the road. OpenSky is proprietary and is overall a failure. They'll phase the product out and eventually stop supporting it.

Forgive me, I just had to modify your statement.
 

jjimenez01

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-A 10 site 700Mhz system was specially built for aviation use throughout the state. They are currently getting 99.5% coverage in the entire state from aircraft at a flight level of 100ft or greater. The OpenSky system does not like when subscriber units affiliate with multiple tower sites. To get around this problem the 700MHz system was built.

More information given in the PA OpenSky thread....

JJ
 

W3DMV

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Observation

I notice this system is listed under each county in the database. I understand this system is specialized to
provide the desired coverage for aircraft and has a very reduced coverage footprint for stations on the
ground. I drove from Gettysburg to Reesers Summit today and was unable to hear the signal until I was less than 8 miles from the site. (PSR-800/BCD996T) and 5/8 wave 800 MHz antenna-roof mounted)

The data base shows a coverage area of 30 miles from Reesers Summit which must be the projected
aircraft coverage. From my home station, using a good 700 Mhz yagi antenna fed with 7/8 harline,and
aimed in the proper direction, there is no useable signal detectable.

With this setup, I'm able to hear several of the stations comprising the new Maryland 700 Mhz
system which a farther away, so I'm sure my receiving setup if operating properly.

? Is anyone aware of additional sites planned for the future, or is the database a little over hyped in
having this system listed in each county. (Aircraft coverage @ 5000 ft, perhaps ?)
 
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