PA Statewide P25 Phase 2 System

Rishayan

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Joined
Jun 2, 2015
Messages
71
Location
Hershey, Pa.
Well, today, for the first time in over 20 years, since they were on 47 Mhz before they moved to OpenSky, I heard transmissions from PennDot, loud and clear on the Ellendale VHF TRS. They sounded very good and clear. So maybe, just maybe, some day soon, we will have some unencripted traffic to listen to on Pennsylvania's STAR Net that me and thousands of other taxpayers are paying for!
 

scnrfrq

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Premium Subscriber
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Dec 26, 2002
Messages
968
Location
Erie, PA
I feel like we go over this on a regular basis. The agency rollouts are happening. Each agency is moving at their own pace. So far, PennDOT has been rolling out new radios following the system rollout (started in NW, moved to SW, then SC). I would imagine that District 5 and 6 will come online during 2020. But, only PennDOT knows for sure. If you're not seeing any talkgroups active for PennDOT, then you just need to sit back, relax, and wait for PennDOT to get their equipment rolled out in that area.

DCNR has been reported active in western PA. Presumably, they will roll out equipment across the southern portion of the state and the NW area during 2020 with the NE and NC areas to transition last since the network buildout is still ongoing there.

So, just keep monitoring and let us know what you hear and when. Nobody here has the migration schedules for each agency. And, if they do, they ain't talkin'.
No DCNR activity here in Erie County yet.
 

One13Truck

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Jul 2, 2004
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916
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My home 20 eating pizza.
Finally heard some counting and audio testing on I believe the Shickshinny site a couple weeks ago. I didn’t have the record activated and only caught the end. I’ve had it set to record since but haven’t heard anything else since then.
 

HM1529

Pennsylvania DB Admin
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Messages
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West of the Atlantic Ocean
DCNR is going to have a lot of talkgroups. I would suggest it be broken up geographically like so:

Statewide
Parks Region 1 (northcentral)
Parks Region 2 (western)
Parks Region 3 (southcentral)
Parks Region 4 (southeast)
Parks Region 5 (northeast)
Forestry Region A
Forestry Region B
Forestry Region C
Forestry Region D
Forestry Region E
 

smorris

WX3PMC/WQWZ815/MOPA-27
Joined
Aug 24, 2007
Messages
187
Location
Arlington Heights, PA
I imported the PA STARNet system to my BCD996P2 and enabled all talkgroups except PSP because they are encrypted. I am using only the Stroudsburg site. I keep getting encrypted PSP traffic even though I don’t have any PSP TG’s programmed. It’s very frustrating. Can someone please assist me?
 

GTR8000

NY/NJ Database Guy
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Oct 4, 2007
Messages
15,417
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BEE00
I imported the PA STARNet system to my BCD996P2 and enabled all talkgroups except PSP because they are encrypted. I am using only the Stroudsburg site. I keep getting encrypted PSP traffic even though I don’t have any PSP TG’s programmed. It’s very frustrating. Can someone please assist me?
So you have none of the PSP talkgroups programmed, and are running in ID SEARCH mode, correct?

That's expected behavior. The scanner is stopping on the PSP talkgroups because they are unknown to the scanner.

Either:

a) Put the scanner into ID SCAN mode so that it ignores unprogrammed talkgroups

or

b) Program all of the PSP talkgroups, then lock them out. You can leave the scanner in ID SEARCH mode so it'll stop on undiscovered talkgroups

B is probably the better option
 
Joined
May 10, 2010
Messages
411
Location
Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania
I've seen info that has this tg as Point State Park in Pgh, along with the same RID 1380001 as the base station radio.

I just reported was was recorded. He did say Ranger 1. Linn Run Park is kinda small. I'm not sure of the how they are setup . Maybe Ranger 1 is for a certain area. The RID's I posted in the WIKI. I tried to upload the recordings and some how they were lost. Thafs why I didnt submit until yesterday.
 

smorris

WX3PMC/WQWZ815/MOPA-27
Joined
Aug 24, 2007
Messages
187
Location
Arlington Heights, PA
So you have none of the PSP talkgroups programmed, and are running in ID SEARCH mode, correct?

That's expected behavior. The scanner is stopping on the PSP talkgroups because they are unknown to the scanner.

Either:

a) Put the scanner into ID SCAN mode so that it ignores unprogrammed talkgroups

or

b) Program all of the PSP talkgroups, then lock them out. You can leave the scanner in ID SEARCH mode so it'll stop on undiscovered talkgroups

B is probably the better option
Thank you, that should help right off. I’m still learning all the features of this unit. It has more bells and whistles than I ever imagined.
 

dlnorth

Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2004
Messages
96
I just reported was was recorded. He did say Ranger 1. Linn Run Park is kinda small. I'm not sure of the how they are setup . Maybe Ranger 1 is for a certain area. The RID's I posted in the WIKI. I tried to upload the recordings and some how they were lost. Thafs why I didnt submit until yesterday.

"Ranger 1" is a job classification, not a radio call sign. Most parks have one or more "Ranger 1" positions. Smaller parks may share these and other positions between several parks. These are visitor services rangers. They hand out maps, work in the park office, and perform other service related duties. "Ranger 2" or what's now referred to as a "DCNR Ranger" is the law enforcement classification. Not all parks have them and they can also be shared among several parks. Park radio call signs start with 1, who is always the park manager, and increase from there in no particular order. If you are hearing someone calling "Linn Run Ranger 1", that probably means that the calling party either doesn't know what the call sign is for the party they are trying to reach or they are trying to reach anyone within a certain group of people...i.e., "Cowan's Gap 1 to a Cowan's Gap Ranger 1".
 

HM1529

Pennsylvania DB Admin
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West of the Atlantic Ocean
DCNR is going to have a lot of talkgroups. I would suggest it be broken up geographically like so:

Statewide
Parks Region 1 (northcentral)
Parks Region 2 (western)
Parks Region 3 (southcentral)
Parks Region 4 (southeast)
Parks Region 5 (northeast)
Forestry Region A
Forestry Region B
Forestry Region C
Forestry Region D
Forestry Region E

Parks Region 4 and 5 seem to be back to just Region 4 (east) again. So, we'll go with four regions. There is a map in the wiki showing the breakdown.
 

redbeard

OH, PA, WV Regional Admin
Database Admin
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Feb 5, 2003
Messages
1,237
Location
BEE00.348-3.1
I've seen info that has this tg as Point State Park in Pgh, along with the same RID 1380001 as the base station radio.
I just reported was was recorded. He did say Ranger 1. Linn Run Park is kinda small. I'm not sure of the how they are setup . Maybe Ranger 1 is for a certain area. The RID's I posted in the WIKI. I tried to upload the recordings and some how they were lost. Thafs why I didnt submit until yesterday.
Looks like I fumbled the number and it's 1383001 as the base.
 

redbeard

OH, PA, WV Regional Admin
Database Admin
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Feb 5, 2003
Messages
1,237
Location
BEE00.348-3.1
Found info that says the current OpenSky tg load for DCNR is:
Statewide
HQ
Penn Nursery
Parks regions 1-4
One primary per forest district
One fire ops per forest district
65 individual park TGs
5 air region TGs
Then all of the talkgroups that link to the VHF repeaters

So that info in combination with what hundeesport412 monitored and HM1529's maps might indicate that 12631 could be either Forest District 4 or Forest Region A. I'd pick the former. Ranger radio traffic at a park in Westmoreland and a park in Allegheny fits.
 
Joined
May 10, 2010
Messages
411
Location
Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania
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