I heard it in Elk County the last few days as well off the SB Elliot site.
I'm in Pittsburgh and it comes in every so often thru the Allegheny Simulcast Site.
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- May 19, 2017
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PA HART is operating a plane crash in Westmoreland County, any clue if they are on OpenSky still or if ops are on the WEST30 P25 site? I am out of range for WEST30 or WEST03 700 tp try to log transmissions
Why were they a requested element?
Plane makes emergency landing at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Latrobe
To answer the comms question...like everyone else, assets are in transition. There was a HART asset working out this way during Ida. No comms on the P25 were noted (so maybe still OpenSky at that time). Tactical comms at the rescue were simplex, which was available in OpenSky radios as well as in the new P25 radios.
smorris
WX3PMC/WQWZ815/MOPA-27
Why would the state need so many sites when VHF signals travel so much farther than the 800MHz system? Especially when using P25 in fringe areas.
Of the 150 or so total STARNet P25 sites currently on the air, only around 85 are VHF. That is not a lot for a state the size of Pennsylvania.
There is a lot more to it than simply "VHF travels further". You have to take terrain and topography into account, as well as the distance the lower power mobile/portable inbound signals can travel back to a high power mountaintop site, and of course any critical locations that may be required to have in-building coverage.
There is a lot of engineering that goes into these systems. What may not seem like a big deal to the average person may in fact be fairly complex, especially when you have to deal with FCC requirements for controlling RF propagation and the like.
Bottom line is that sometimes it ain't as simple as you might think it is.
RID 89 "J2 DispB" on TGID 10160 "J2 Avondale"
Heard some rare in the clear PSP today..
Heard some rare in the clear PSP today..
This is interesting. So the P25 system is operating as an overlay network? How long can the OpenSky network last as it is a legacy technology? I would think that the P25 system will eventually supplant the OpenSky system, and reuse frequency resources currently used by OpenSky sites.
I think they are replacing OpenSky as soon as it is possible.
All the Penn DOT trucks I've noticed changed antennas.
Who said anything about "overlay"? It has been stated clearly since Day 1 that the P25 system will replace the OpenSky system entirely once all users have migrated.
I have been monitoring the Allegheny Region Simulcast site for several years with a 436/536 without issue. As we know the 436/536 cannot truly handle simulcast. It appears that they have actually started to simulcast this site or have added a site close to me and I am actually hearing more than one site. I pretty much hear nothing on this site starting about mid- Oct. using the 436/536. I guess it is also possible they are having a problem with this site, but I doubt.
Anybody notice a change?
I should note that Procomm96 has a problem decoding the data stream. Very choppy and slow decode
Anybody notice a change?
I should note that Procomm96 has a problem decoding the data stream. Very choppy and slow decode
So are they installing P25 sites in area currently lacking coverage from OpenSky, or are they actively decommissioning OS sites as the P25 sites in roughly the same coverage areas come online - or both?
I'm not sure what you're confused about here. This has been an ongoing process since 2016. Don't get hung up on buzzwords like "overlay". The simple fact is that the mixed-band P25 system is replacing the 800 MHz OpenSky system. The majority of users are already operating on the P25 system, and once that reaches 100%, they'll completely shut down OpenSky. It has been reported that some OpenSky sites here and there are already decommissioned, but it's certainly not all of them. The P25 system was built out alongside the OpenSky system, and is essentially fully built out at this point. As is common with most systems of this size, they will add sites here and there going forward to provide better coverage in certain areas.
I'm not confused per se, I'm trying to get some clarity. If the P25 system is fully built out (excluding potential coverage improvement sites,) what is delaying the decommissioning of the Open Sky network? Is it a subscriber unit deployment issue, or a coverage issue?
I would suggest contacting the Statewide Radio Network Division, as only they can provide that answer.
PA-STARNet | State Police | Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
<p>The Pennsylvania Statewide Radio Network (PA-STARNet) is the Commonwealth’s wireless voice and data network for public safety and emergency response communications. Initiated by Act 148 of 1996, it replaced multiple incompatible radio systems used by various state government agencies.</p>
www.psp.pa.gov
A new Fact Sheet was recently posted on the commonwealth’s website, and although it's dated 9/1/2021, the actual date of the document is 10/25/2021
talviar
Member
Purchasing radios at $5-8K a piece times several hundred to several thousand... combined with installation... combined with Covid 19 restrictions and lack of people working......
I'd love to see a higher quality copy of that map
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I was up in Erie yesterday. I seem to pick up ERIE80 better than ERIE40 while on Presque Isle, even though ERIE40 is on the peninsula. That seems odd to me.
While on the way back, I managed to get the Site NAC's for 2 of the Sites on I79 (Already submitted).
Also, I am getting nothing out of the WEST03 tower. I checked from 750MHz-900MHz and got nothing other than the OpenSky CC for WEST03, no P25 stuff.
While on the way back, I managed to get the Site NAC's for 2 of the Sites on I79 (Already submitted).
Also, I am getting nothing out of the WEST03 tower. I checked from 750MHz-900MHz and got nothing other than the OpenSky CC for WEST03, no P25 stuff.
Erie 40 is VERY directional with poor reception on most areas of the park.