SIMI VALLEY PD moved to UHF Digital

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Radio_Lady

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As of this morning (7/19) Simi Valley PD has moved from their old 160.785 to a P25 UHF system, conventional (not trunked)

At the moment the only frequency I've heard police traffic on is 453.925, P25, with a few messages encrypted but obviously being understood by the other units and dispatch.

Other UHF frequencies to check would be

453.05 (BUT, I'm hearing public works there)
453.525 (Beverly Hills comes in here pretty loud)
453.7
453.725
453.75

470.3125
471.1125
471.1375
482.2125
482.4125
482.6125
 

brandon

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I can hear them on 453.925 but seeing those other freqs makes me wonder are they planning to be on a trunked UHF system like the ICIS?
 

Radio_Lady

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The original plan (5 years ago) was to go trunked, but they changed it in August of 2005 to "PW- Conventional." Not sure what it means just yet, but the 470 & 480 freqs were the ones for which they got concurrence from co-and adjacent channel users in L.A. County for their police system. I guess we'll have to see.

Simi's been using most of their 453 freqs for other non-police activities until now.
 

hotdjdave

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Does anyone have a complete list of the frequency line up (freq, channel, use)?

It sounds like 453.9250 MHz is 1 - Dispatch.

A check with the ULS comes up with:

WQCL798
453.0500 (R)
453.5250 (R)
453.7000 (R)
453.7500 (R)
453.9250 (R)

WQDH479
470.3125 (R)
471.1125 (R)
471.1375 (R)

KNFB476
453.3500 (R)
453.7000 (R)
453.9250 (R)

WPTL512
453.7500 (R)

WPTW444
453.5000 (R)

There are others, but they are either registered as Industrial (IG) or not enough radios to be PD (less than 15).


Also, what you hear that you might think is encrypted might just be P25, but in simplex too far away or too weak of a signal for your scanner to decode the P25 digital signal...maybe...hopefully.
 
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Radio_Lady

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hotdjdave said:
Does anyone have a complete list of the frequency line up (freq, channel, use)?

It sounds like 453.9250 MHz is 1 - Dispatch.
453.925 is definitely "dispatch", at least so far, but I haven't heard it referred to as F1 or Ch-1. Nor have I heard any police traffic at all on any of their other UHF frequencies, nor anybody mention switching to any other channel.

hotdjdave said:
A check with the ULS comes up with:

WQCL798
453.0500 (R)
453.7000 (R)
453.7500 (R)
453.9250 (R)
453.0500 (R) is still Street Maintenance, as before
453.5250 (R) - Beverly Hills comes in very strong, so I doubt they'll want to use this for critical kinds of communications
453.7000 (R) is still Dial-A-Ride
453.7500 (R) not heard
453.9250 (R) Police

WQDH479
470.3125 (R)
471.1125 (R)
471.1375 (R)
All quiet these two days, as have been...

Those three freqs plus base and fixed control stations (16 or fewer of each) on
482.2125
482.4125
482.6125 are also on WQDH478, and it's been less than a month (6/22/06) since the City notified the FCC that construction of those sites has been completed. Correction, 7/21/06:It looks like they have not yet made the completion notification for the "larger" WQDH479 license. So maybe it's not quite ready yet, and with bunches of base and repeater stations, and 650 mobiles, that one is pretty obviously the "primary" license. Unless things change again.

KNFB476
453.3500 (R) nothing
453.7000 (R) D-A-R
453.9250 (R) Police

WPTL512
453.7500 (R) nothing noted

WPTW444
453.5000 (R) nothing noted

hotdjdave said:
There are others, but they are either registered as Industrial (IG) or not enough radios to be PD (less than 15).

Also, what you hear that you might think is encrypted might just be P25, but in simplex too far away or too weak of a signal for your scanner to decode the P25 digital signal...maybe...hopefully.
That's true. The handful of encrypted messages I heard Wednesday morning were definitely encrypted, however - they were very strong, obviously came through the 453.925 repeater, and as I think I mentioned, twice the dispatcher ack'd them with very emphatic "Read you 10-2" or "Copy you 10-2." One of the units was a "F" unit, I don't remember who the others were. I'm way too familiar with weak and garbled digital signals after listening to them for five years, but these weren't them.

I'm wondering if, and this is another longshot, 453.925 is just a temporary dispatch freq until they get the T-band frequencies completely up and running. This is all pure conjecture (until we hear from somebody who knows something), but it seems possible that SVPD needed or wanted to get onto UHF as soon as possible, but with the late-June construction completion on one license, and none yet on the other, maybe the 470s and 480s just aren't quite ready. I wouldn't bet anything on anything just yet though, especially any of my own half-baked ideas. :)
 
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MCIAD

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I am checking on what the story is. I am actually off-duty through Monday, but I e-mailed a contact to see if I can get some answers.

I'll post back IF I can provide something new. SVPD has been pretty closed mouth over this whole thing, especially what frequency they are using for what. I have asked, for official reasons, and not got much out of them.
 

MCIAD

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OK - I have been able to confirm that SVPD has switched to P25 conventional, but as I suspected, I can not, yet, verify the frequencies.

As stated in an earlier posting, they are keeping what was their Ch. 1 VHF channel as an interoperability channel with the other VHF agencies in Ventura County, i.e. County Fire, and the County Sheriff, etc.

I have been listening to them all day and there is nothing on the VHF frequencies.
 

Radio_Lady

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hotdjdave said:
And let's not forget the 800 MHz frequencies for which they have licences.
Yea, that's a funny situation, isn't it? I was just mentioning it this morning on the SoCalScan group. They've had those frequencies for about four years and as far as I can tell they've never done anything with them. And the freqs look like they'd all be subject to rebanding anyway. Another little meaningless oddity, when I went to look for those freqs I didn't find them under the usual "Simi Valley, City of" licensee name, but I found that for some reason they specifically changed their licensee name on 08/08/2002 from "Existing Value: SIMI VALLEY, CITY OF" to "Requested Value: City of Simi Valley" on both WPUP774 and WPUL247.

The VC Star had an article on the "new digital" system back on 03/24/2004, and it mentioned that "The city of Simi Valley will phase in a $6.4 million digital two-way radio system over the next two years that will provide the ability to communicate with other cities throughout Ventura County [huh?] and the San Fernando Valley in the event of an emergency...

"Two new transmission stations will be installed so that police, public works, transit and water works departments will be able to communicate with one another as well as their counterparts outside Simi Valley. One transmitter will be stationed near a water tank atop Mount McCoy, hidden behind landscaping. Another transmitter will be placed atop Oak Mountain, at the north end of Tampa Avenue in the San Fernando Valley, on land leased by the city...

"Public works, sanitation and water works departments are scheduled to be up and running with the new radio system by March 2005 and the Police Department by December 2005.

"Because of the uncertainty of the city budget over the next few years,
[Councilman Glen] Becerra said, the city was committed to finding alternate funding sources for the radio system, although enough money has been set aside through 2005-06..."

We're all just kind of spinning our wheels on the UHF stuff right now, though. I guess we'll find out when we find out.

I don't know of ANY system (other than maybe a one-frequency operation) that went online in anything near its final configuration. Lord knows how many changes LAPD has made, even in the past two years. Barely even resembles its original channel plan. These things often morph quite a bit as they develop and build out.
 
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MCIAD

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Radio_Lady said:
"Two new transmission stations will be installed so that police, public works, transit and water works departments will be able to communicate with one another as well as their counterparts outside Simi Valley. One transmitter will be stationed near a water tank atop Mount McCoy, hidden behind landscaping. Another transmitter will be placed atop Oak Mountain, at the north end of Tampa Avenue in the San Fernando Valley, on land leased by the city...

Actually, I have seen the Mount McCoy site, which is just east of the Reagan Library, and overlooks all of Simi Valley. It is not hidden at all, but looks just what you'ld think it would look like - a tall radio tower with antenna's all over it. We are actually looking at renting space in their vault and putting an channel or two on the tower also - it is a really good site.

As far as the other site, the reporter got it wrong - it is not "Oak Mountain", but "Oat Mountain". There are alot of antenna towers on that site, and it is used by everybody from Public Safety to Amatuer Radio, Commercial to Private. Very good coverage of Eastern Ventura County and excellent coverage of all of the San Fernando Valley.
 
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Radio_Lady

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Simi Valley Frequency Line-up

The new SVPD radio lineup, at least the "Zone 1" (primary) frequencies have been posted in the database at http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&aid=629

They are:
453.92500 - SVPD-1 APCO-25 - (Dispatch)
482.41250 - SVPD-2 APCO-25
482.61250 - SVPD-3 APCO-25
460.02500 - CLEMARS FM
453.35000 - SVPD-5 APCO-25
458.35000 - SVPD-6 APCO-25
484.23750 - SVPD-7 APCO-25
483.58750 - RTC-1U FM - (aka LASD Mutual Aid 1)
484.08750 - RTC-2U FM - (aka LASD Mutual Aid 2)
483.78750 - RTC-3U FM - (aka LASD Mutual Aid 3)
484.13750 - RTC-4U FM - (aka LASD Mutual Aid 4)
484.06250 - RTC-5U FM - (aka LASD Mutual Aid 5)
484.43750 - LAPD AX FM - LAPD Access (analog)
483.56250 - LASO AX FM - LASD Access (analog)
482.21250 - LG Inter APCO-25
463.26250 - SVTC Sec FM - (Simi Valley Town Center - Private Security)
 

Beavis

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So, encrypted or non encrypted, I guess thats the $500 question. I guess my old scanner is now a paperweight here in the SV...


Thanks for the info all, I will keep watching to see what shakes out. I can't let loose on a $500 digital scanner until its known to be non encrypted.
 

brandon

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So far in the clear but it has been reported one of the dispatch consoles is in the encrypted mode, so occasionaly you will hear encrypted comms. Let's hope they stay UNencrypted and only use encryption for sensitive things such as SWAT and narco investigations.
 

Beavis

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brandon said:
So far in the clear but it has been reported one of the dispatch consoles is in the encrypted mode, so occasionaly you will hear encrypted comms. Let's hope they stay UNencrypted and only use encryption for sensitive things such as SWAT and narco investigations.



Im ok with the sensitive stuff being encrypted-nobody need to get hurt for my boredom... Hopefully the other calls stay open.


What are you using to listen to digital by the way?
 

abr02

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New Simi PD Frequency-No Radio Traffic

I have been trying to listen to the new Simi Valley PD, but all I hear is a constant carrier,
and an occasional short louder carrier, but no voice. Does anybody else hear anything, I have the old dispatch in my scanner and it's not active either.
 

Radio_Lady

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abr02 said:
I have been trying to listen to the new Simi Valley PD, but all I hear is a constant carrier,
and an occasional short louder carrier, but no voice. Does anybody else hear anything, I have the old dispatch in my scanner and it's not active either.
Where are you listening from, and what model of scanner are you using? It has to be a digital-capable scanner to decode their new transmissions.
 

viper12

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pro96 help

Hello

i just got a pro 96 and am able to get svpd dispatch on 453.9250 when in the srch freq mode, but when I try and save it into a normal bank for scanning with other channels I do not get anything on that channel. I 'm sure I am missing a step somewhere but I have tried everything and am getting a little frustrated

Thanks for the help
 

brandon

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Make sure the radio is in MAN mode and not PGM. I find the PRO-96 set in PGM mode will not pick up digital transmissions for some reason.

Also verify there is no PL tone programmed in --- possible if you programmed it via the search mode and maybe it saved a PL from Bell Gardens PD disp... long shot but you never know :)
 

jtbunny

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Viper, I had the same problem on my 96, Try changing the mode from MO to FM on 453.9250

JT
 

viper12

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Thanks that worked

does anyone have the correct feq for sv ambulances and fire?


Thanks Again
 
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