PA Statewide P25 Phase 2 System

u2brent

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also heard an announcement on 11711 "to all Pleasantville and Cherrytree trucks, midnight shift is not coming in". I'm wondering if they have they counties divided into east, west, etc. Anyone else seeing this too?
Yes, They seem to be going by geographical sections, not by a specific stockpile, but one stockpile is usually referred to more often than others in that section..
I believe Lancaster has east, metro, north, northwest, south, & west sections.
11500 Garage or Lancaster
11501 possibly South or Quarryville but not used, 11502 seems to cover it
11502 West or CH30 Columbia, also covers South, may cover some NW as well
11503 Metro or City Line, may cover some NW as well
11504 North or CH50 Ephrata, also covers NW and some East areas
11505 East or Monterey, less used, some flaggers today
:unsure:
 
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Hi guys,

Hi, I'm new to scanning, located Plumstead Township, PA. Can I pick up the PA Game Commission and/or DCNR around here? I can't seem to figure out if they're encrypted or just not very active. I saw some posts saying they MAY be migrating to P25 Phase II but not sure if it will be encrypted or not, is that correct? Maybe I'm not using the right frequencies? I subscribed so I can download whatever you recommend into FreeSCAN. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!
 

mtindor

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Hi guys,

Hi, I'm new to scanning, located Plumstead Township, PA. Can I pick up the PA Game Commission and/or DCNR around here? I can't seem to figure out if they're encrypted or just not very active. I saw some posts saying they MAY be migrating to P25 Phase II but not sure if it will be encrypted or not, is that correct? Maybe I'm not using the right frequencies? I subscribed so I can download whatever you recommend into FreeSCAN. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Others will have more definitive answers for you. I think PGC is "in the clear" and not encrypted. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they have migrated over to the P25 system in your area.

Based upon your general locations, you'll want to look at programming in one or more of the following sites:

Site 1.80 Graterford (800 MHz)
Site 1.81 Willow Grove (800 MHz)
Site 1.82 Willow Grove (VHF)
Site 1.84 Emmaus (800 MHz)
Site 1.85 Center Valley (VHF)
Site 1.88 Buckingham (800 MHz)
Site 1.89 Buckingham (VHF)

Of course, all of this also depends on what you are using to pick up the systems. You may not be able to pull in all of those sites from your location.

Reference: PA-STARNet P25: Pennsylvania Statewide Radio Network Trunking System, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania - Scanner Frequencies

IF you are hoping to hear something, anything, then you might also want to consider enabling ID Search (Unidens) or adding a Group Wildcard (GRE/Whistler). That way, if there are new talkgroups to be heard that aren't documented in the DB, you'll be able to hear them (if they aren't encrypted) and you'll be able to let the forum know what you find.

I'll leave the rest up to somebody in PA to comment on.

Mike
 

sibbley

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I hear the Game Commission on Center Valley and Emmaus sites in the Lehigh Valley. Comms are few and far between, I don't think I've heard anything from them for an hour now. They are not encrypted.

So far PGC is it, except for PSP, in the Lehigh Valley anyway.
 

radio3353

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Hi guys,

Hi, I'm new to scanning, located Plumstead Township, PA. Can I pick up the PA Game Commission and/or DCNR around here? I can't seem to figure out if they're encrypted or just not very active. I saw some posts saying they MAY be migrating to P25 Phase II but not sure if it will be encrypted or not, is that correct? Maybe I'm not using the right frequencies? I subscribed so I can download whatever you recommend into FreeSCAN. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Game Commission (SE Region) has migrated to the new P25 system and no encryption. I am in Montco, though not too far from you. I hear the Game Commission on the Willow Grove VHF (MONY02) repeater. Not a lot of traffic. You may also want to try the Buckingham VHF repeater (BUCK33). PennDOT for our region (SE Region 6) is not yet on the new P25 system. I have the talkgroups in my G5, but no traffic yet. I think this calendar quarter they are moving over. I don't have the DCNR talkgroups programmed so I don't know if they are active in our area on the new system. Hope this helps get you started.
 

GTR8000

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Updated Fact Sheet published: https://www.psp.pa.gov/About-PSP/Documents/PA-STARNet_Fact_Sheet_2020-01-06.pdf

Summary of changes:
  • Coverage: Mobile radio coverage is greater than 95% in all 33 counties installed as of December 2018.
  • Coverage: Mobile radio coverage is greater than 95% in all 45 counties installed as of December 2019.

  • The P25 deployment has demonstrated increased interoperability and is generating interest by counties wanting to join.
  • The P25 rollout is on time and on budget, is demonstrating increased interoperability, and is generating interest by counties wanting to join.

  • In 2018, new connections were made with Luzerne, Potter, and Bradford counties, bringing the total to twenty counties that directly use STARNet microwave for network connectivity.
  • In 2019, connections were made with Butler, Susquehanna, Pike, Chester, Bucks, McKean, Tioga, and Adams counties, bringing the total to 28 counties that use STARNet microwave for network connectivity.
 

redbeard

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Updated Fact Sheet published: https://www.psp.pa.gov/About-PSP/Documents/PA-STARNet_Fact_Sheet_2020-01-06.pdf

Summary of changes:
  • Coverage: Mobile radio coverage is greater than 95% in all 33 counties installed as of December 2018.
  • Coverage: Mobile radio coverage is greater than 95% in all 45 counties installed as of December 2019.

  • The P25 deployment has demonstrated increased interoperability and is generating interest by counties wanting to join.
  • The P25 rollout is on time and on budget, is demonstrating increased interoperability, and is generating interest by counties wanting to join.

  • In 2018, new connections were made with Luzerne, Potter, and Bradford counties, bringing the total to twenty counties that directly use STARNet microwave for network connectivity.
  • In 2019, connections were made with Butler, Susquehanna, Pike, Chester, Bucks, McKean, Tioga, and Adams counties, bringing the total to 28 counties that use STARNet microwave for network connectivity.
I sure hope my county goes with STARNet vs ICORRS when the time comes. It would be such a waste to build new, overlapping coverage out in the county when it already exists with STARNet.
 

Railbender

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I sure hope my county goes with STARNet vs ICORRS when the time comes. It would be such a waste to build new, overlapping coverage out in the county when it already exists with STARNet.

Erie County just had to have their own system rather than STARNet. Only costs us 27 million dollars and a year late.
 

ffemt134

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I sure hope my county goes with STARNet vs ICORRS when the time comes. It would be such a waste to build new, overlapping coverage out in the county when it already exists with STARNet.

I've been curious how this works with counties electing to use it for their public safety communications as opposed to completely building out their own. Obviously with only a handful of tower sites in each county on STARNet, portable coverage isn't going to be the greatest. Can counties add additional infrastructure to suit their needs, coverage-wise?
 

HM1529

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I've been curious how this works with counties electing to use it for their public safety communications as opposed to completely building out their own. Obviously with only a handful of tower sites in each county on STARNet, portable coverage isn't going to be the greatest. Can counties add additional infrastructure to suit their needs, coverage-wise?


I'm sure they could elect to build their own towers. But, to provide portable coverage, Commonwealth agencies like PSP utilize vehicular repeaters or they just work on mobiles mainly with less robust portable coverage. Obviously, mobile only would not be acceptable to a county in this day and age. I would imagine vehicular repeaters would be their default answer to a county. It lays the costs on the county/locals without adding to the ongoing infrastructure maintenance costs the state is trying to reduce. But, really, if a county has spectrum and real estate available, it would only make sense to build out additional coverage as that would benefit not only county entities, but also state agencies. I suppose it would be a county by county decision.

As Warren is the only county currently migrating, we don't have a lot to base anything on as of yet. Columbia, Montour, and Mifflin will all be migrating eventually.
 

KB3KBR

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Our county was thinking about moving to the state system but we were told that PSP has the number 1 priority slot. So if multiple things are going on at the same time theres a chance we could get bonked. Not a chance we wanted to take with life and death calls.

On another note. Heard a unit on the 700 system on Air watch Center tgp 37 state they were on 800 asking for a radio check. Also saw 10090 show up on the Phase 2 system. Noticed it came up a couple times yesterday as well. Pretty sure this is the patch between the 2 systems.
 

talviar

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I sure hope my county goes with STARNet vs ICORRS when the time comes. It would be such a waste to build new, overlapping coverage out in the county when it already exists with STARNet.


And lose all the interop advantages with the neighbors...??

Starnet is a Mobile only coverage system. Yes including the Phase 2 VHF 7 8 and U sites they are deploying. Portable coverage for PSP is being provided by in vehicle repeaters.

By providing their own infrastructure they can ensure they get the coverage they want. This applies in ICORRS as well as PA Starnet. So if they decide to deploy their own infrastructure- they would probably go with ICORRS since #1, the network backhaul to the Mastersite in Greensburg for ICORRS is already in place at their 911 center..... and #2, the interoperability with Butler and Lawrence.

Just my $.02 and as always YMMV and no warranty expressed or implied.
 

maus92

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I've been curious how this works with counties electing to use it for their public safety communications as opposed to completely building out their own. Obviously with only a handful of tower sites in each county on STARNet, portable coverage isn't going to be the greatest. Can counties add additional infrastructure to suit their needs, coverage-wise?
On Maryland FIRST, local jurisdictions joining the system can fund additional tower sites to fill in coverage if desired. The standard on Maryland's system is 95% portable on-street, on-hip, 1/2 wave antenna, which is a higher QOS level than Pennsylvania's STARNet from what I understand.. Two counties have elected to fund additional tower sites, and another county uses DVRS to extend portable coverage into buildings. Users of the state's system will use ISSI to roam onto local systems in the metro DC counties to enhance coverage.
 

IStebleton

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I sure hope my county goes with STARNet vs ICORRS when the time comes. It would be such a waste to build new, overlapping coverage out in the county when it already exists with STARNet.
What county are you in?
 

HM1529

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Anybody get any voice comms from 117xxxx units, yet? I had two units affiliate to Devault at different times this week.

1170023 and 1170037 both on TG 13452.

I only recently started paying attention to Devault again and these are the only units to show up that were not PSP/PGC/DOT. The DOT units all appeared to be Ephrata based vehicles.
 

redbeard

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P25, BEE00.942, 13450, 1170000, 50, Normal, 2, 2019/12/30 9:44, ""

Probably seen on Allegheny Simulcast.
 
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