PA Statewide P25 Phase 2 System

[wa3ysu]

New loggings for me:
TG 13466 - RID's 1814094, 1814118 - BUCK33-800 & MONY02-VHF
One side of the conversation: "119 to "95" and then out at an address in Mt Pleasant. Later the same "119" to "95" and out at an address in Greensburg

TG 13472 - RID's 1814070, 1814071 - MONY02-VHF
No conversation captured

TG 30207 - RID's 3200036, 3200092 - MONY02-VHF
No conversation captured

 

[HM1529]

New loggings for me:
TG 13466 - RID's 1814094, 1814118 - BUCK33-800 & MONY02-VHF
One side of the conversation: "119 to "95" and then out at an address in Mt Pleasant. Later the same "119" to "95" and out at an address in Greensburg

TG 13472 - RID's 1814070, 1814071 - MONY02-VHF
No conversation captured

TG 30207 - RID's 3200036, 3200092 - MONY02-VHF
No conversation captured

13466 is the IG Western Region Ch1. 13472 is IG SE Region Ch1. Not sure why somebody keeps putting their radio on the western channel. Earlier this week, I went back through thousands of audio recordings (skipped all the DOT stuff, but focused on some of the unconfirmed channels) checked back through affiliation logs, and have confirmed that there are only a couple radios in this area that tune in that western channel...maybe they're day dreaming of home. Either way, database update is pending...just haven't had the time to enter it. I also have the Central Region Ch1 confirmed via user ID over the air.

 

[IStebleton]

40000 seems to be a West Penn Power main channel. I heard a short conversation that wasn't a radio check for the first time. Maybe this is the Greensburg DCC?

 

[N3BGA]

Anybody in the NW frontier have any confirmations on these sites?

CLEA03

Boone Mtn

ELKC09	Dill Hill
JEFF02	Hays Lookout
MCKE11	Bradford

I was through the area this past weekend. I stopped near ELKC09, but did not capture anything on its licensed frequencies. From here I did capture from the JEFF02 frequency using SDRTrunk (v0.5.0-alpha6):

Activity Summary - Decoder:P25 Phase 1 Normal (C4FM)

Network
  WACN:BEE00[781824] SYSTEM:942[2370] NAC:941[2369]

Current Site
  SYSTEM:942[2370] NAC:941[2369] RFSS:01[1] SITE:81[129] LRA:00[0]  STATUS:ACTIVE RFSS NETWORK CONNECTION
  PRI CONTROL CHANNEL:4-1478/4-3981 DOWNLINK:153695000 UPLINK:159952500
  SEC CONTROL CHANNEL:4-1285/4-3267 DOWNLINK:153212500 UPLINK:158167500
  CURRENT DATA CHANNEL:15-4095 DOWNLINK:0 UPLINK:0
  STATION ID/LICENSE:

Neighbor Sites
  SYSTEM:942[2370] NAC:941[2369] RFSS:01[1] SITE:17[23] LRA:00[0] CHANNEL:4-512/4-2406 DOWNLINK:151280000 UPLINK:156015000
  SYSTEM:942[2370] NAC:941[2369] RFSS:01[1] SITE:80[128] LRA:00[0] CHANNEL:4-539/4-1496 DOWNLINK:0 UPLINK:0
  SYSTEM:942[2370] NAC:941[2369] RFSS:01[1] SITE:8D[141] LRA:00[0] CHANNEL:4-1018/4-3122 DOWNLINK:152545000 UPLINK:157805000

From Kinzua Bridge State Park, I captured from a MCKE11 frequency:

Activity Summary - Decoder:P25 Phase 1 Normal (C4FM)

Network
  WACN:BEE00[781824] SYSTEM:942[2370] NAC:944[2372]

Current Site
  SYSTEM:942[2370] NAC:944[2372] RFSS:01[1] SITE:68[104] LRA:00[0]  STATUS:ACTIVE RFSS NETWORK CONNECTION
  PRI CONTROL CHANNEL:4-506/4-2412 DOWNLINK:151265000 UPLINK:156030000
  SEC CONTROL CHANNEL:4-1872/4-3582 DOWNLINK:154680000 UPLINK:158955000
  CURRENT DATA CHANNEL:15-4094 TS1 DOWNLINK:462793750 UPLINK:462793750
  STATION ID/LICENSE:

Neighbor Sites
  SYSTEM:942[2370] NAC:944[2372] RFSS:01[1] SITE:02[2] LRA:00[0] CHANNEL:4-3651/4-1908 DOWNLINK:159127500 UPLINK:154770000
  SYSTEM:942[2370] NAC:944[2372] RFSS:01[1] SITE:3C[60] LRA:00[0] CHANNEL:4-536/4-2880 DOWNLINK:151340000 UPLINK:157200000
  SYSTEM:942[2370] NAC:944[2372] RFSS:01[1] SITE:79[121] LRA:00[0] CHANNEL:4-527/4-2433 DOWNLINK:151317500 UPLINK:156082500
  SYSTEM:942[2370] NAC:944[2372] RFSS:01[1] SITE:80[128] LRA:00[0] CHANNEL:4-539/4-1496 DOWNLINK:151347500 UPLINK:153740000

And from Emporium, PA, capturing from Site 119/Truman/CAME05, showing neighbors 140 and 141, not currently listed in RadioReference for the site:

Activity Summary - Decoder:P25 Phase 1 Normal (C4FM)

Network
  WACN:BEE00[781824] SYSTEM:942[2370] NAC:94C[2380]

Current Site
  SYSTEM:942[2370] NAC:94C[2380] RFSS:01[1] SITE:77[119] LRA:00[0]  STATUS:ACTIVE RFSS NETWORK CONNECTION
  PRI CONTROL CHANNEL:4-1319/4-3951 DOWNLINK:153297500 UPLINK:159877500
  SEC CONTROL CHANNEL:4-1175/4-4005 DOWNLINK:152937500 UPLINK:160012500
  CURRENT DATA CHANNEL:15-4094 TS1 DOWNLINK:462793750 UPLINK:462793750
  STATION ID/LICENSE:

Neighbor Sites
  SYSTEM:942[2370] NAC:94C[2380] RFSS:01[1] SITE:78[120] LRA:00[0] CHANNEL:4-404/4-2481 DOWNLINK:151010000 UPLINK:156202500
  SYSTEM:942[2370] NAC:94C[2380] RFSS:01[1] SITE:7B[123] LRA:00[0] CHANNEL:4-2274/4-3600 DOWNLINK:155685000 UPLINK:159000000
  SYSTEM:942[2370] NAC:94C[2380] RFSS:01[1] SITE:8C[140] LRA:00[0] CHANNEL:4-1679/4-3714 DOWNLINK:154197500 UPLINK:159285000
  SYSTEM:942[2370] NAC:94C[2380] RFSS:01[1] SITE:8D[141] LRA:00[0] CHANNEL:4-1018/4-3122 DOWNLINK:152545000 UPLINK:157805000

Based on this, it seems to me that:
ELKC09 is not yet online.
JEFF02 is online and site 129
MCKE11 is online and site 104
CLEA03 is probably site 140

 

[GTR8000]

And the mystery Site 141 with a control channel of 152.545, a peer to both Truman (CAME05) and Lake City (JEFF02).

 

[u2brent]

ULS License - Part 22 VHF/UHF Paging (excluding 931MHz) License - WPVH379 - Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

 

[HM1529]

And the mystery Site 141 with a control channel of 152.545, a peer to both Truman (CAME05) and Lake City (JEFF02).

I'm curious what the current neighbors are being reported for site 128. If they went with Part 22 spectrum for the ELKC09 site, it would likely show as a neighbor there, as well as JEFF02, CAME05, and CLEA03. Odd that JEFF02 wouldn't show FORE07 (Site 8) as a neighbor.

Also, thanks for your efforts @N3BGA . That's a cold time of year for a road trip in NW PA.

 

[GTR8000]

141 has to be ELK09, no other sites make sense for those two adjacent sites.

 

[HM1529]

141 has to be ELK09, no other sites make sense for those two adjacent sites.

I would agree. There are no other missing sites in that area. I just figured data from 128 would seal the deal.

 

[GTR8000]

I agree, the adjacent site list from 128 would be the key. Well, the data from 141's control channel 152.545 would be the most ideal lol, obviously.

 

[IStebleton]

141 has to be ELK09, no other sites make sense for those two adjacent sites.

Could it be CLEA07?

 

[GTR8000]

Could it be CLEA07?

Never say never, but probably not. Any additional site in Clearfield County would be located either in the extreme NE corner of the county, or somewhere towards the center or SE corner. Site 129 being a peer of such a site would make no sense.

 

[IStebleton]

Never say never, but probably not. Any additional site in Clearfield County would be located either in the extreme NE corner of the county, or somewhere towards the center or SE corner. Site 129 being a peer of such a site would make no sense.

View attachment 99034

The FCC license for CLEA07 is just North of Dubois and West of Treasure Lake, I would be surprised if they had sites that close together

 

[GTR8000]

Ah yeah, I didn't even think to check the 800 license to see where the existing CLEA07 is ...but it's right on top of CLEA03. Doesn't make much sense to have VHF sites that close together. I'm not sure how CLEA07 wound up in the wiki as a potential site, but I wouldn't put much stock in that listing.

 

[N3BGA]

Odd that JEFF02 wouldn't show FORE07 (Site 8) as a neighbor.

It looks like I did not post the complete neighbor list from for JEFF02. Looking at the decoded message logs it appears that the neighbors are 8, 23, 128, 140, 141. The details tab that I had copied from sdrtrunk does not refresh itself automatically, and I failed to manually refresh it first.

For MCKE11 the posted list appears complete. For CAME05, I don't seem to have logs to verify against, so it is possible there are additional neighbors that I missed.

 

[bearcat]

Anyone else now hearing D11-1 Crew 40 Monroeville on 11012, Crew 70 Bridgeville stuff on 11011, and Crew 50 Lovedale stuff on 11014? It seems like they may have swapped channels around.

First off PennDot uses just about anything that moves them. I have heard Flaggers on the Statewide and Global Tac TGs.
From previous posts, PennDot TGs are related to the Supervisor # more than a location. So for example if Supervisor 70 is working and Supervisor 50 is not working then you might find all of Crew 50 on Crew 70. I am sure they did not swap anything. There does not appear to be any rhyme or reason to what they use!

 

[IStebleton]

Is it possible to set up separate sub-groups in the database for Penn Power, West Penn Power, MetEd, and Pennelec? I understand that we don't have many talkgroups confirmed right now but I wasn't sure if that was what was going to happen or not.

 

[GTR8000]

Is it possible to set up separate sub-groups in the database for Penn Power, West Penn Power, MetEd, and Pennelec? I understand that we don't have many talkgroups confirmed right now but I wasn't sure if that was what was going to happen or not.

I can't and won't answer for the PA admins, but as a general rule, we like to use talkgroup categories to define geographical areas for the range settings (for location based scanning). If it turns out that the FirstEnergy talkgroups are defined by subsidiary, then yes it would make sense to break them out into separate categories. At the moment, though, a single category is the best approach until there is enough activity to be certain of the exact usage of each talkgroup.

 

[HM1529]

I can't and won't answer for the PA admins, but as a general rule, we like to use talkgroup categories to define geographical areas for the range settings (for location based scanning). If it turns out that the FirstEnergy talkgroups are defined by subsidiary, then yes it would make sense to break them out into separate categories. At the moment, though, a single category is the best approach until there is enough activity to be certain of the exact usage of each talkgroup.

I would agree with this assessment. I have been kicking around what to do with FE. As GTR said, though, there just has not been that much activity to really figure out what is going on. 40000, for instance, seems like it is systemwide. In addition to that one, I see 40130 and 40165 frequently with affiliations in the Met-Ed end of the state. But, I have seen radios affiliating with multiple talkgroups that seem to be in use elsewhere in the state making it seem like they either have universal programming across all the PA subsidiaries or multiple shared talkgroups.

It's gonna be hard to figure out if they stay as quiet as they have been.

 

[HM1529]

I was perusing the wiki and see that 40000 got tagged Greensburg DCC. A while back, a facility was heard answering a unit calling on this channel using "Fairmont Dispatch" and the woman had a distinctly WV accent, leading me to believe it was the Fairmont TCC.

Here is a list I started putting together of FE facilities for PA. I'm not sure of the significance of the "service center" versus "line" tag. I mined these locations from various web sources. Some of them just had the location name which I appended with "line" if it didn't specify based on the talkgroup listing on the regional FirstEnergy TRS covering WV, MD, NJ, etc. If anybody wants to wiki this up, feel free. I'm in PECO territory, so I haven't heard electric utility comms in a decade or more since they went encrypted. The only time I'll be particularly interested in FE comms is if I travel across the state. My evening boredom gets you this starter for further talkgroup speculation:

FE Regional Transmission Control Centers (TCC)
Akron, OH
Fairmont, WV (heard "Fairmont Dispatch" answering a field unit on 40000)

Met-Ed
Reading DCC
Boyertown Service Center
Dillsburg Line
Easton Service Center
Hamburg Service Center
Hanover Line
Lebanon Line
Middletown Line

Penelec
Erie DCC
Alexandria Line
Bradford Line
Clearfield Line
DuBois Line
Erie Line
Indiana Line
Johnstown Line
Lewistown
Mansfield Line
Meadville Line
Montrose Line
Oil City Line
Phillipsburg Line
Shippensburg Line
State College Service Center
Towanda Line
Warren Line

Penn Power
???

West Penn Power
Greensburg DCC
Arnold Service Center
Boyce
Butler Line
Charleroi Service Center
Jeannette Service Center
Jefferson Service Center
Latrobe Service Center
McConnellsburg Line
Pleasant Valley Service Center
Somerset Line
Uniontown Line
Washington Line