Rock County

[stevejacobson]

@ jfpolacko

Digital (P25) testing is set to begin next Wednesday

June 13, 2012 (Beloit Police Department) 7:00am - 3:00pm

June 14, 2012 (All other Law Enforcement Agencies) 7:00am - 3:00pm

June 15, 2012 (All Fire/EMS Agencies) 8:00am - 3:00pm

 

[jfpolacko]

@ jfpolacko

Digital (P25) testing is set to begin next Wednesday

June 13, 2012 (Beloit Police Department) 7:00am - 3:00pm

June 14, 2012 (All other Law Enforcement Agencies) 7:00am - 3:00pm

June 15, 2012 (All Fire/EMS Agencies) 8:00am - 3:00pm

I was informed today that Rock county as of June 15th will be making the switch to digital and all analog traffic will be silent.. Is this right or am I hearing wrong?? Does anyone know anymore information?

 

[stevejacobson]

I'm not sure were you're getting your intel, but the schedule I posted above is correct and accurate. The three dates I posted are for testing only and the switch won't happen until all testing is complete and successful.

 

[jfpolacko]

Rock County will cease all analog communications by the end of June! This is from a press release from the Rock County Sheriff's department! soo anyone with a analog scanner will then need to purchase a digital scanner in order to monitor Rock County Communications.. At this time the only channel that won't switch to digital is Rock Co Fire Paging which is Frequency 154.310000... As for the other channels including Rock Co Sheriff and City of Beloit and City of Janesville will be using the same Frequency with a NAC code of 540 this is also for Rock Fire South Repeater and North Repeater for anyone who already has a digital scanner....


http://www.co.rock.wi.us/images/web..._releases/061812_digital_radio_conversion.pdf

 

[jrkorth]

New Frequencies

I have added the new frequencies on our website at Clinton Police Department - Home Page

 

[box23]

Rock County will cease all analog communications by the end of June! This is from a press release from the Rock County Sheriff's department! soo anyone with a analog scanner will then need to purchase a digital scanner in order to monitor Rock County Communications.. At this time the only channel that won't switch to digital is Rock Co Fire Paging which is Frequency 154.310000... As for the other channels including Rock Co Sheriff and City of Beloit and City of Janesville will be using the same Frequency with a NAC code of 540 this is also for Rock Fire South Repeater and North Repeater for anyone who already has a digital scanner....


http://www.co.rock.wi.us/images/web..._releases/061812_digital_radio_conversion.pdf

In that press release it is mentioned:

the Study recommended that Rock County public safety voice communications move to a hybrid VHF-UHF digital trunked voice radio system.

From what I have read, you all have only been reporting conventional use. Do they really not know what kind of system they have, or am I just missing a piece of the puzzle?

 

[stevejacobson]

Technically, right now it is a hybrid system. You can use analog or P25 in Rock Co. right now and they will both work. In the future, the analog path (voters, T1 lines etc) will be removed making it P25 digital only.

The county and Janesville are VHF, Beloit is UHF.

 

[box23]

Technically, right now it is a hybrid system. You can use analog or P25 in Rock Co. right now and they will both work. In the future, the analog path (voters, T1 lines etc) will be removed making it P25 digital only.

The county and Janesville are VHF, Beloit is UHF.

Yep, got all that. The press release specifically says "trunked."

 

[stevejacobson]

I missed that part. Yeah, it's not even close to trunked.

 

[jfpolacko]

Rock Co had a study done for the radio equipment and they recommended Rock Co move to a trucked system... but Rock Co didn't vote for the trucked system cause it would of cost the county to much money and it was cheaper to just convert all the analog channels to digital P25 so they voted to convert everything over to P25 Digital which was less cost effective for the county... All analog communications with the exception of Fire Paging has ceased and have been abandoned by Rock County Communications as of June 27 at 8:30 A.M and Rock Co Fire South Repeater (At Freq 151.26500) has also been taken offline and eliminated and all Fire Ops are done on either North Repeater and Central Repeater with that said Rock County will no longer be using analog communications again and they will NOT be converting to a trucked system cause that would require the County to get all new tower's,repeater's and equipment for the communications center...

 

[jfpolacko]

Rock Co had a study done for the radio equipment and they recommended Rock Co move to a trucked system... but Rock Co didn't vote for the trucked system cause it would of cost the county to much money and it was cheaper to just convert all the analog channels to digital P25 so they voted to convert everything over to P25 Digital which was less cost effective for the county... All analog communications with the exception of Fire Paging has ceased and have been abandoned by Rock County Communications as of June 27 at 8:30 A.M and Rock Co Fire South Repeater (At Freq 151.26500) has also been taken offline and eliminated and all Fire Ops are done on either North Repeater and Central Repeater with that said Rock County will no longer be using analog communications again and they will NOT be converting to a trucked system cause that would require the County to get all new tower's,repeater's and equipment for the communications center...

This is the study done for Rock County Communications Center and what the county decided to do..


http://www.co.rock.wi.us/images/web...11/countywide_communications_system_study.pdf

 

[johnoconnor98]

So my mom, who lives in Janesville called me and said her scanner doesn't work anymore. She sais she usually monitors "Rock County". I live in Tennessee, is Janesville in WI?

Looking here, it looks like Rock County is going P25. Are they encrypted? If not, which scanner can I buy that has a BIG display for my mom to be able to see.

 

[w9bsd]

Tons of radio trouble this evening. Sheriff and fire portables were not working at all, and dispatch and mobiles regularly could not hear each other. Sheriff ended up switching to Fire Central repeater and simplex on Special Events.

This is the first time I've listened since the digital switch and the audio sounded awful on my 396XT. Janesville sounded okay, but Sheriff was really bad. For those that listen regularly - is that normal, or was it extra bad tonight?

 

[cpd38]

I'm not positive, but it sounds like Rock CO traffic on 158.7375 with a NAC of 540. I show that as a mutual aid VHF channel. It sounds super clear from just north of Madison.

Related to the radio issues that were just mentioned from the other night?

 

[w9bsd]

They are using 158.7300 (Rock Tac Repeater) for dispatch today. Last night they were using 154.8000 (formerly Municipal, now a repeater). Fire is still on the Central repeater as well.

They had interference issues on the Sheriff channel a couple years ago when they switched CTCSS tones. I wonder if that's messing with the digital signal now?

 

[cpd38]

Yeah I noticed that channel as well as the channel I mentioned were being used. I was hearing radio shop testing Sheriff 1.

Also I noticed Janesville PD was back operating on analog.

 

[cpd38]

I found this online about switching back to analog for the time being.

"Rock County public safety agencies to switch back to analog radio" by Latest News -- GazetteXtra

 

[jfpolacko]

I found this online about switching back to analog for the time being.

"Rock County public safety agencies to switch back to analog radio" by Latest News -- GazetteXtra

Do we have any updates on how long Rock Co Sheriff and Janesville PD are gonna stay analog or did they already fix the issue and they go back to digital cause I hear them go back and forth from analog to digital?
Just wondering

 

[johnoconnor98]

Is there any update on Rock County? My mom is still complaining. We got her a PRO-197 for her birthday but she says it's hard to program??? Is there a program update for Rock County?

I'm 1000 miles away, but I still get blamed!

 

[cpd38]

Everything I'm hearing(Sheriff, fire and Janesville PD)., minus the fire/ems paging, has been on digital. I haven't heard them back on analog for a little while now.

I'm not sure if anyone that lives in Rock CO or monitors them more than me has anything more to say.