SRRCS P25 Broadcastify Calls Node

[scannerboy02]

I am checking to see if anyone in the Sacramento area has plans to setup a Broadcastify Calls node for the P25 SRRCS?

If not I will work on getting one setup but being that I currently live in Cincinnati, Ohio (Sacramento is my hometown) it will be a bit of an undertaking to get the equipment configured (and remotely doing the fine tuning) and shipped out so if someone else already has plans to do it that would be great.

Thank you.

 

[KG7PBS]

Bro there is already live feeds for that system

 

[scannerboy02]

Bro there is already live feeds for that system

But not a Calls node.

 

[bigRoN18]

I guess I haven't been paying attention to the Calls feature... I have just applied to provide a Calls node for Roseville and see that someone has beaten me to the Placer County system (granted, I have no desire to listen to the transit busses or road crews). I am awaiting my application for an API to be approved for my Roseville node.

 

[scannerboy02]

I guess I haven't been paying attention to the Calls feature... I have just applied to provide a Calls node for Roseville and see that someone has beaten me to the Placer County system (granted, I have no desire to listen to the transit busses or road crews). I am awaiting my application for an API to be approved for my Roseville node.

Your node seems to be working great! I did notice that TG:105 is labeled as RFD Command 3 but was referred to as "Tac 4" over the radio.

 

[ScanningHertz]

I guess I haven't been paying attention to the Calls feature... I have just applied to provide a Calls node for Roseville and see that someone has beaten me to the Placer County system (granted, I have no desire to listen to the transit busses or road crews). I am awaiting my application for an API to be approved for my Roseville node.

Does this require 1 SDR per Talk Group? Or is it 1 SDR that scans, landing on a Talk Group to be heard and published to Calls?
For example, if one wanted to feed Sac PD, would it require 4 SDR to feed their 4 Patrol channels?

 

[scannerboy02]

Does this require 1 SDR per Talk Group? Or is it 1 SDR that scans, landing on a Talk Group to be heard and published to Calls?
For example, if one wanted to feed Sac PD, would it require 4 SDR to feed their 4 Patrol channels?

It depends on the bandwidth of your SDR. The cheap RTL-SDR's will cover ~2.4 MHz of bandwidth each so if you want to cover 851.0 - 854.0 (the bandwidth of the SRRCS countywide simulcast) you would need 2 dongles and those 2 dongles could record EVERY radio transmission on the ENTIRE site.

 

[ScanningHertz]

I'm just digging into this, but I assume you can customize the tags and labels for Talk Groups and transmissions. Patrol 1 doesn't really explain what you're monitoring. Wonder if you can label the ID Numbers (9213003) too?

 

[scannerboy02]

I'm just digging into this, but I assume you can customize the tags and labels for Talk Groups and transmissions. Patrol 1 doesn't really explain what you're monitoring. Wonder if you can label the ID Numbers (9213003) too?

View attachment 88362

View attachment 88363

The alpha tags match what's in the Radio Reference database so you could submit an update to the database.

This is something I have noticed with the Calls platform, they really need to make some changes to how channels are labeled in the database so they display better on Calls.

 

[scannerboy02]

I should add, the Calls platform is meant to capture an ENTIRE site not a select handful of talkgroups. While you can send just a handful of talkgroups it's much better to setup your node to send the entire site and then the Calls user can setup a custom Playlist for the talkgroups they want to hear. The custom playlist can also include talkgroups from more than one site so you could setup a playlist to include some Sacramento TG's, some Placer TG's, some Roseville TG's and some Davis TG's, or whatever you want to hear.

 

[ScanningHertz]

I should add, the Calls platform is meant to capture an ENTIRE site not a select handful of talkgroups. While you can send just a handful of talkgroups it's much better to setup your node to send the entire site and then the Calls user can setup a custom Playlist for the talkgroups they want to hear. The custom playlist can also include talkgroups from more than one site so you could setup a playlist to include some Sacramento TG's, some Placer TG's, some Roseville TG's and some Davis TG's, or whatever you want to hear.

So has RadioReference changed their policy on allowed Talk Groups?

Feed Provider Terms of Service - What can and cannot be broadcast

Feed Provider Terms of Service - What can and cannot be broadcast Feed Providers are not allowed to broadcast: "SWAT type" operations if on channels or talkgroups dedicated to those op...

broadcastify.zendesk.com

 

[scannerboy02]

So has RadioReference changed their policy on allowed Talk Groups?

Feed Provider Terms of Service - What can and cannot be broadcast

Feed Provider Terms of Service - What can and cannot be broadcast Feed Providers are not allowed to broadcast: "SWAT type" operations if on channels or talkgroups dedicated to those op...

broadcastify.zendesk.com

So how this works is YOU upload everything and THEY filter out the stuff they don't want on the public facing website, but being that YOU are uploading everything YOU will have access to everything that is uploaded from YOUR node.

wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Broadcastify-Calls
"Broadcastify Calls makes available to call ingest providers ALL calls they send to us, but limits public access to calls covered by our Feed Provider Terms of Service"

 

[bigRoN18]

So how this works is YOU upload everything and THEY filter out the stuff they don't want on the public facing website, but being that YOU are uploading everything YOU will have access to everything that is uploaded from YOUR node.

I feed the Roseville system... with the legacy feed of Roseville Police and Roseville Fire as well as the Calls. I know in the feed, I was told I could not send law enforcement tactical channels due to their legal issues. This is why I feed my own private IceCast server, so I can listen to unencrypted tactical. I just started my Calls node last week and I selected the same talkgroups as the feed... do they now allow me to send the police tacticals so that I personally can hear them but no one else can?

 

[bigRoN18]

I'm just digging into this, but I assume you can customize the tags and labels for Talk Groups and transmissions. Patrol 1 doesn't really explain what you're monitoring. Wonder if you can label the ID Numbers (9213003) too?

View attachment 88362

View attachment 88363

I have aliases for each of the talkgroups with names other than what shows up here and have alias for all of the dispatchers to show that it is dispatch speaking, but none of this translates to the Calls. I have been curious also why it shows "Patrol 1A" instead of "Patrol 1" too. My alias for this talkgroup is "Roseville Police Primary". The ID number of 9213003 is the dispatcher, yet it does not indicate that except it does on SDRTrunk, which is feeding the Calls information.

 

[scannerboy02]

do they now allow me to send the police tacticals so that I personally can hear them but no one else can?

Yes. You will have access to everything you send to Calls under your login.

As long as you have the technical capability, you should really send the entire site to Calls, doing this allows the users to create their own playlists of whatever they want to hear and Broadcastify will filter out the stuff they don't want made public.

 

[scannerboy02]

I have aliases for each of the talkgroups with names other than what shows up here and have alias for all of the dispatchers to show that it is dispatch speaking, but none of this translates to the Calls. I have been curious also why it shows "Patrol 1A" instead of "Patrol 1" too. My alias for this talkgroup is "Roseville Police Primary". The ID number of 9213003 is the dispatcher, yet it does not indicate that except it does on SDRTrunk, which is feeding the Calls information.

The Calls aliases come from the Radio Reference database so if you have a better way to alias a channel you should submit that to the database and hopefully they will update it.

As for radio ID's, Radio Reference doesn't track those in a database so they will not be displayed. It could be something for the future though.

 

[mcjones2013]

The Calls aliases come from the Radio Reference database so if you have a better way to alias a channel you should submit that to the database and hopefully they will update it.

If anyone knows the "official" radio display alpha tags, please submit those, as long as they reasonably allow the user to know what the channel is used for. Since most on-air references call the channels as they are displayed, I tend to use the official channel alpha tags in my programming. The DB handbook says this: "Alpha tags should reflect the actual talkgroup name as shown on a radio transceiver programmed for a specific conventional or trunked system, unless that name is unreasonably difficult to understand. Alpha tags shall be written to be useful to scanner users and furthermore they shall be clear to novice scanner users to the extent possible. "

As for radio ID's, Radio Reference doesn't track those in a database so they will not be displayed. It could be something for the future though.

It seems to be coming, as this section is new to the DB handbook:

Adding and Editing Radio IDs
Radio IDs will be shown on a specific tab for each radio system, and will contain the following information:

• Radio ID (maximum 8 numerals)
• ID Alias (maximum 16 characters). Alias names must be as descriptive as possible but like talkgroup IDs must be unique.
• ID description (maximum 30 characters)

Like a talkgroup alias, a Radio ID alias must be descriptive, unique and stand on it’s own. The format for the alias name is somewhat flexible but shall show at least agency name or abbreviation and the radio ID (or a portion of it); standard abbreviations for mobile (M) and portable (P) radios may be used.
IDs for law enforcement and other sensitive occupations such as federal agencies shall contain only the agency name/abbreviation and the radio ID (or a portion of it). Personally identifiable information such as (but not limited to) names, badge numbers, car numbers, beat/precinct numbers or patrol districts shall not be shown. This also applies to portable radios assigned to a specific individual in other services.
Fire/EMS alias names may contain the apparatus name and in the case of portable radios assigned to a vehicle, the apparatus name and radio designator. Specific position descriptions such as "pump operator" and "officer" shall not be part of the radio ID alias but confined to the description field.
Dispatch consoles and control stations may be identified as such.

 

[DARTSac]

I am checking to see if anyone in the Sacramento area has plans to setup a Broadcastify Calls node for the P25 SRRCS?

If not I will work on getting one setup but being that I currently live in Cincinnati, Ohio (Sacramento is my hometown) it will be a bit of an undertaking to get the equipment configured (and remotely doing the fine tuning) and shipped out so if someone else already has plans to do it that would be great.

Thank you.

Send us a message and we might be able to set something up (with all of your expert help of course!)

 

[scannerboy02]

Thank you to whomever put the Calls node online. Looking forward to seeing more talkgroups soon.

 

[DARTSac]

Thank you to whomever put the Calls node online. Looking forward to seeing more talkgroups soon.

I noticed it looks like only primary law TGs. Do you know if BCFY will allow multiple Calls nodes for the same system if we wanted the entire SRRCS on a node?