RFP for New Wicomico Public Safety Radio system

[mdmedicgod]

Today i programmed my G5 with the new system. Much to my surprise I was able to receive the Wicomico p25 system in Bethany Beach DE. I heard talkgroup FG 2 and Salisbury Police. I am using a high gain 7-800 mhz motorola portable antenna but still happy to pick the system up. I didn't even think the system was in use yet.

It went live Wednesday at 10:00 for the county. Salisbury PD went love Tuesday..

What talk group where you able to hear on salisbiury PD? My brother in law who is a corporal there told me he was under the impression all the Pd channels were encrypted.

 

[fireboat61]

It went live Wednesday at 10:00 for the county. Salisbury PD went love Tuesday..

What talk group where you able to hear on salisbiury PD? My brother in law who is a corporal there told me he was under the impression all the Pd channels were encrypted.

The Salisbury PD tkgp I heard is the one listed on the Wicomico county page.

10221 27ed D Salisbury PD Salisbury Police Law Dispatch

 

[maus92]

It went live Wednesday at 10:00 for the county. Salisbury PD went love Tuesday..

What talk group where you able to hear on salisbiury PD? My brother in law who is a corporal there told me he was under the impression all the Pd channels were encrypted.

I saw no encrypted channels in use on the system this afternoon. That doesn't mean they won't institute encryption on some channels once the old systems are shut down and their frequencies transferred over. Salisbury Police were operating on the TG noted in the RRDB, but obviously there is room for a few more TGs (they provided resources for four talkpaths.)

 

[maus92]

The Wicomico County Sheriff seem to have a few TAC channels that were in use today that need further investigation:

10001 - Sheriff Dispatch (already identified)
10011 - possible TAC channel (observed today)
10021 - possible TAC channel (observed today)
10041 - Sheriff Court operations (already identified)

10101 - busy-ish TG in the LE range - 63 channel grants

10221 - Salisbury Police was the busiest TG by far: 396 channel grants over 2-3 hours.
10001 - Sheriff Dispatch was the second busiest with 145 channel grants over the same time period.
10903 - Fruitland Police was third with 85 channel grants.

20021 - Fire SBY: Not sure if this is an admin or response channel for the City of Salisbury, or the airport, but it was the busiest Fire range TG with 27 channel grants. The county dispatch channel had only 4 channel grants.

*******

The Bivalve / Cedar Hill Park site was on-the-air, but was not carrying any traffic. Not sure if this is a temporary condition, or if there was simply no one in the area affiliated with the site - the place is a bit remote. I was able to receive police voice comms on the SDS at Cedar Hill Park, but the G5 was silent. I attribute this to the G5 switching to the Bivalve control channel as the Simulcast cch dropped momentarily, and remained locked to Bivalve. The SDS will scan between the two control channels for the system. If I was located in Wicomico and have a Unication pager, I would consider only programming the Simulcast site cch.

*****

Comparing the 3 radios I had with me:, Nooelec SDR dongle that was the receiver for Unitrunker; G5 that was configured to scan any TG transmitted on the Wicomico P25 system; and the SDS that was configured to hold on the Wicomico P25 system, and scan all the TGs identified in the RRDB. Driving NW from Salisbury and out of Wicomico, the Nooelec was first to lose a useful signal at about Linkwood, south of Cambridge; the SDS lost useful signal between Linkwood and Cambridge; and the G5 lost useful signal at about the Hyatt in Cambridge. All regained signal while crossing the Choptank, and occasionally reacquired something intelligible / useable between Trappe and Easton, but the G5 was clearly the most sensitive receiver.

******

The Salisbury system was not carrying any traffic, and UT2 only received the control channel: 858.7625.

******

The old Wicomico system was on-the-air and showing a small amount of traffic for the Landfill and a SysAdmin for the schools. It was using four freqs: 857.9875; 858.2375; 858.5375 (cch); 859.2375. Note that two of these freqs are configured as alternate control channels on the new system (857.9875, 858.2375.) They were carrying traffic on the old system, but were not carrying traffic on the P25 system, so that must explain how they could exist in both systems / configurations simultaneously.

 

[troymail]

My brother in law who is a corporal there told me he was under the impression all the Pd channels were encrypted.

The old system(s) were analog and the new systems are digital ("encoded").

Obviously, I can't say for sure if this is the case but many people hear the word "encoded" and think "encrypted".

It could also be that someone who has always listened to voice on an old analog scanner or other radio is now hearing digital noise and incorrectly assuming that means it is encrypted.

Fingers crossed... that it remains unencrypted..... but I wouldn't be surprised to find a few talkgroups that are/will be - but that's a good thing/best case scenario these days.

 

[maus92]

Crunching some data this morning. Two frequencies remain to be ported to the Simulcast site from the old system: 858.5375 (which is the current cch for the old system) and 859.2375. There are two stray / orphan frequencies in the RRDB that don't appear on either system currently, or on the FCC license WPMU653: 856.9875 and 860.2375 - however 856.9875 was active back in July. I think the FCC license data contains data from both systems, and may not be entirely accurate at this point. The license has been existent since 1999 and has been modified multiple times.

 

[maus92]

Adding to the above, 856.9875 is licensed for one site as a conventional frequency using WPOX337; not sure why it was in use on a multi-site trunking system.

 

[guyiv]

I have found 2 encrypted SPD channels. It appears all of their day to day stuff is unencrypted.

10101 is WCDC DISP (Detention Center)
20021 is Fire SBY which is the primary fire response channel for SFD

I need to find time to submit more information.


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[mdmedicgod]

I have noticed that there are ZERO EMS talk groups. Have those been encrypited?

 

[guyiv]

I forgot to post them.


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[mdmedicgod]

I forgot to post them.


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I was referring to no EMS channels in the RR database on the P25 system

 

[maus92]

I was referring to no EMS channels in the RR database on the P25 system

I think that's the system he is referring to, and he's found some other TGs as well. Now he has to find the time to post them.

 

[guyiv]

I think that's the system he is referring to, and he's found some other TGs as well. Now he has to find the time to post them.

You are correct I submitted them just after I posted.

On another note SPD is patched to FiRST on Tac 2.


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[maus92]

You are correct I submitted them just after I posted.

On another note SPD is patched to FiRST on Tac 2.


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We're waiting for the mods to publish your additions to the RRDB.

Can you be more specific about the "patching" to FIRST? Is the SPD dispatch channel "patched" to a FIRST TG, or is a FIRST TG patched to Salisbury PD Tac 2? Or some other arrangement?

 

[guyiv]

Salisbury PD (10221) is patched to the FiRST talkgroup Tac 1 (8114). Sorry I miss posted as Tac 2.


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[mdmedicgod]

As anyone noticed that fire side isn’t dispatching county fire departs on the P25 system. Only thing I’ve seen on the Disptach TGID is the city of Salisbury fire/ems

 

[maus92]

Salisbury PD (10221) is patched to the FiRST talkgroup Tac 1 (8114). Sorry I miss posted as Tac 2.


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Patches to Maryland Tac channels are usually temporary and event oriented. There is some sort of festival that's taking up parking lots in Salisbury, so maybe it's related to that?

 

[guyiv]

As anyone noticed that fire side isn’t dispatching county fire departs on the P25 system. Only thing I’ve seen on the Disptach TGID is the city of Salisbury fire/ems

Only Salisbury Fire and EMS are being dispatched on the P25 system right now. They are Cross Patching the Dispatch channel to the the appropriate Fire or EMS channel. So if they are dispatching Salisbury Fire they patch it with Fire SBY (20021) and if they are dispatching Salisbury EMS they patch it with EMS SBY (30011). For Salisbury they are currently using warbles. I am not sure if this is permanent.

The rest of the fire departments are being dispatched on the old system to go over the VHF frequency (154.325).

It used to be all dispatches went over both VHF frequency. County Tac channels were rebroadcast over 154.325 and Salisbury Tac channels were rebroadcast over 154.385. Right now all are being rebroadcast over 154.325.


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[guyiv]

Patches to Maryland Tac channels are usually temporary and event oriented. There is some sort of festival that's taking up parking lots in Salisbury, so maybe it's related to that?

The National Folk Festival is going on this weekend in Salisbury. I just figured I would let everyone know that they are being patched. Incase they heard it and didn't know what it was.


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[troymail]

The old system had several schools related talkgroups that weren't in the database as far as I know. There seems to be even more of these on the new system. They are quite active but I suspect it would take some time and effort to determine the facility and purpose for each one. There were a couple others detected when I was in the area that are probably not school related.

50081 mentions airport
50121 sounds like a patch


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