San Francisco Public Safety going Digital June 2021

[kg6nlw]

Oakland is on the EBRCS now. They are not on their own system.

They are speaking of CHP not Oakland CITY. CHP is still low-band and off-topic for this thread.

Regards,

-Frank C.

 

[rustyhodge]

Are the digital SFPD "A" channels getting much use yet?

 

[officer_415]

Are the digital SFPD "A" channels getting much use yet?

Not yet.

 

[KD6JEK]

Watching the system take shape continues to be fascinating. TGs seem to come and go from day to day as radios are tested and issued to people on certain tours. There will be hours of silence and then SFFD will come up for the evening. Some SFPD district TGs light up for all-channel transmissions and then temporarily for a shift or two, then go dark.

Some TGs are predictable from the legacy arrangement on the analog system. But there are also TGs, especially between other TGs in the SFPD and SFFD blocks, that are popping up and suggest either new assignments or perhaps errors. Is it typical for odd TGs to pop up in testing but not get programmed into radios?

And does anyone have any confirmed lists other than what you can compile based on air?

My analysis tool is a P25RX running its own software.

 

[KD6JEK]

San Francisco finds an alternative to full encryption of police radios - Palo Alto Daily Post

CORRECTION: In an earlier version, the last paragraph had the wrong price for a police radio. It has been corrected. BY ELAINE GOODMAN Daily Post Correspondent As Palo Alto police [...]

padailypost.com

 

[rustyhodge]

I think I've got my 996p2 programmed properly for the SF P25 Phase II system. I should have all PD and FD talkgroups programmed.
So far what I'm mostly hearing is SFFD A3 (tg929) and a bit of EMS4 (TG959).

And I don't know if it's just me, but I find the digital talkgroups a lot harder to understand than the analog ones.

 

[footage]

San Francisco finds an alternative to full encryption of police radios - Palo Alto Daily Post

CORRECTION: In an earlier version, the last paragraph had the wrong price for a police radio. It has been corrected. BY ELAINE GOODMAN Daily Post Correspondent As Palo Alto police [...]

padailypost.com

Thanks for this. The writer got one thing wrong -- the $300 radios.

 

[footage]

I think I've got my 996p2 programmed properly for the SF P25 Phase II system. I should have all PD and FD talkgroups programmed.
So far what I'm mostly hearing is SFFD A3 (tg929) and a bit of EMS4 (TG959).

And I don't know if it's just me, but I find the digital talkgroups a lot harder to understand than the analog ones.

SFFD A2 and Tac 7 were very active today around an incident at the GGB.

 

[KD6JEK]

I’m curious if there will be simulcast issues

 

[rustyhodge]

So far not hearing anything on 700mhz, just the 800mhz side. (Just adding a data point)
Mostly stuff I'm hearing on digital is SFFD A3 dispatch and some medic unit acknowledgements. EMS4 seems to be mostly ambulances.
Public Works is active too, mostly "going to lunch" and "heading back to yard" type stuff.

 

[rustyhodge]

I’m curious if there will be simulcast issues

How will those manifest themselves audio wise with digital? Garbled digital or just no audio at all?

 

[KD6JEK]

I think I've got my 996p2 programmed properly for the SF P25 Phase II system. I should have all PD and FD talkgroups programmed.
So far what I'm mostly hearing is SFFD A3 (tg929) and a bit of EMS4 (TG959).

And I don't know if it's just me, but I find the digital talkgroups a lot harder to understand than the analog ones.

How so? Is it garbled or broken up? Was it easy to program the new system?

 

[officer_415]

I’m curious if there will be simulcast issues

Seems to be fine so far. I have a big problem with simulcast distortion on EBRCS, but not with SF P25.

So far not hearing anything on 700mhz, just the 800mhz side. (Just adding a data point)
Mostly stuff I'm hearing on digital is SFFD A3 dispatch and some medic unit acknowledgements. EMS4 seems to be mostly ambulances.
Public Works is active too, mostly "going to lunch" and "heading back to yard" type stuff.

All the FDMA (D) talkgroups in the database have been on 700 MHz, and all the TDMA (T) talkgroups so far have been on 800 MHz.

How will those manifest themselves audio wise with digital? Garbled digital or just no audio at all?

Both.

 

[KD6JEK]

Seems to be fine so far. I have a big problem with simulcast distortion on EBRCS, but not with SF P25.



All the FDMA (D) talkgroups in the database have been on 700 MHz, and all the TDMA (T) talkgroups so far have been on 800 MHz.



Both.

What kind of scanner are you using?

 

[officer_415]

What kind of scanner are you using?

Uniden BCD325P2

 

[rustyhodge]

How so? Is it garbled or broken up? Was it easy to program the new system?

No, just the general digital compression sound that reminds me of using old Sprint phones or Nextel radios. My brain is not a fan of low-bitrate digital codecs.

 

[KD6JEK]

Uniden BCD325P2

That's good to know. I was actually looking at that one if it doesn't have any simulcast issues. I don't feel like breaking the bank and getting the SDS-100 if I don't have to.

 

[nokoa3116]

Does anybody know if the unencrypted initial dispatch and disposition transmissions will be done on the P25 system or on the current/old Type 2?

 

[KD6JEK]

P25

 

[N6ML]

That's good to know. I was actually looking at that one if it doesn't have any simulcast issues. I don't feel like breaking the bank and getting the SDS-100 if I don't have to.

All commonly-available scanners except the SDS100/200 are susceptible to simulcast distortion (Unication G-series digital voice pagers are also "immune"). It all depends on your location relative to the transmitters. If you're in a spot where the signal from one transmitter is very strong relative to the others, you may do just fine with a traditional scanner. If you move around, you'll likely have good experience in some areas, and bad experience in others.