State of Idaho 700 MHz IIMARS

[stardude]

Thanks for the feedback, as it has helped very much. Since i don't get out of Canyon Co. very much it looks like a scanner upgrade may not be a practical move for me at this time. Yet Dave's input on the possible price reduction on the RS PRO 106 gives me pause to think. Guess they jury's still out. Again, thanks to all.

Hal

 

[SCPD]

Guys, I'm doing some planning for my trip. I took a look at the FCC ULS listings and I'm trying to figure something out.

Under Ada County's FCC ID, this has the listings for Boise, Shafer Butte and Table Rock. Boise/TR are the same freqs but the Shafer Butte isn't the one listed in the database.

Now, I happen to check out Canyon county next and there's a sub-list for Shafer Butte that matches the database. So if that's the case, then what is the Ada county version? The freqs are different. Any ideas?

Here they are:

1 769.09375
2 769.54375
3 770.04375
4 770.58125
5 771.18125
6 771.63125
7 771.94375
8 772.39375
9 772.54375
10 772.84375
11 772.99375

I have noticed that Ada County isn't broadcasting all of the main control channels that should be heard. The frequency list shows only one red color control channel. If you pay attention to the feed around 8-9pm on Friday and Saturday nights one can hear the dispatcher for Boise PD announce "Units bench and valley are split, valley is on Ch.16 and bench is on Ch.15. So we are not hearing all of the BPD cars on Friday and Saturday nights, only the valley and Garden City patrol cars, and of course Ada County Sheriff and Meridian.PD. Kinda Odd?????

 

[thewenk]

I have noticed that Ada County isn't broadcasting all of the main control channels that should be heard. The frequency list shows only one red color control channel. If you pay attention to the feed around 8-9pm on Friday and Saturday nights one can hear the dispatcher for Boise PD announce "Units bench and valley are split, valley is on Ch.16 and bench is on Ch.15. So we are not hearing all of the BPD cars on Friday and Saturday nights, only the valley and Garden City patrol cars, and of course Ada County Sheriff and Meridian.PD. Kinda Odd?????

This is a trunked system so the frequencies used are not individually used as channels. The frequencies used by each transmission are selected from the total list by the system controller. See: What is Trunking? The channels you referred to are really probablyTallkgroups. From what I've observed, most of the using agencies don't understand the difference between frequencies and talkgroups, so they continue to use old terminology. The channel terminology is probably a holdover from the vhf system.

So these TGs need to be programmed into the scanner or the scanner needs to be in ID Search mode (Uniden) or have wild cards enabled (GRE) for these TGs to be heard (assuming they are not encrypted).

Bottom line is frequencies don't directly relate to talkgroups(channels).

Dave

 

[kevinbentley]

The problem with search mode is that we get everything on the trunk. I'd be happy to add additional talk groups, but when I put the scanner in search mode we get all the fire and EMS channels, and there is just too much going on to make it useful. Currently I have the talk groups 1000 and 1100 in the Ada County feed. I have 1100 set to priority.

Any other groups that people want to see?

I'm working on building a software defined receiver setup and I'm going to try to setup multiple feeds for more talk groups. With SDR I can do a lot more than with my uniden scanner.

 

[SCPD]

I have noticed that Ada County isn't broadcasting all of the main control channels that should be heard. The frequency list shows only one red color control channel. If you pay attention to the feed around 8-9pm on Friday and Saturday nights one can hear the dispatcher for Boise PD announce "Units bench and valley are split, valley is on Ch.16 and bench is on Ch.15. So we are not hearing all of the BPD cars on Friday and Saturday nights, only the valley and Garden City patrol cars, and of course Ada County Sheriff and Meridian.PD. Kinda Odd?????

It's confirmed Ada County Dispatch has several channels - When you hear the dispatcher say, "Ch 15 is Bench primary and Ch 16 is Valley" that means they are moving all of the Bench patrol units to Ch. 15 for a separate control channel, so Valley control Ch. 16 doesn't have over 100 officers on one channel. This is done on Fri and Sat nights, we are missing out on everything going on in the Bench area and only hearing Ch. 16 Valley and Garden City primary, also County Control on Ch. 1. I thought Ada County was going to broadcast their main control channels and keep everything else encrypted?

 

[thewenk]

New Ada County Simulcast Sites

Ada county has a pending FCC application to add three additional simulcast sites located at
FAA
BOISE, ID ADA County

STAR SUBSTATION
10769 W STATE ST
STAR, ID ADA County

ADA COURTHOUSE
200 W FRONT ST
BOISE, ID ADA County

ULS Application - Trunked Public Safety 700 MHz - 0005033735 - ADA, COUNTY OF

 

[SCPD]

No Radio Traffic for Ada County Sheriff's

It appears Ada County Dispatch is off-line. I think they made some modifications to the radio system. But, still on the same freq.

 

[SCPD]

The problem with search mode is that we get everything on the trunk. I'd be happy to add additional talk groups, but when I put the scanner in search mode we get all the fire and EMS channels, and there is just too much going on to make it useful. Currently I have the talk groups 1000 and 1100 in the Ada County feed. I have 1100 set to priority.

Any other groups that people want to see?

I'm working on building a software defined receiver setup and I'm going to try to setup multiple feeds for more talk groups. With SDR I can do a lot more than with my uniden scanner.

I think the search mode would be awesome to listen to since the other feed provider hardly ever has fire/ems up and running. I've scanned multiple channels in the past on the old radio system and I could understand just about everything call being dispatched. The other option might be to set the priority on the city radio channel as there are more calls dispatched and officer emergency radio traffic. The other thing that is frustrating is we can't hear the patrol units up on the bench on Friday and Saturday nights, odd. County can become too busy with traffic stops etc. Adding more talk groups sounds good too.

 

[thewenk]

New Lewiston ICAWIN Site

There is currently a pending FCC application for a new ICAWIN site at the Lewiston Grade Port of Entry. This site may be active shortly.

Frequencies assigned to this site are:
769.35625
770.25625
771.71875
772.79375
773.94375
774.90625

Dave

 

[SCPD]

Ada County's radio system sucks! I don't know what has happened, but it has really gone to crap!

 

[thewenk]

Ada County's radio system sucks! I don't know what has happened, but it has really gone to crap!

Any specifics?

 

[SCPD]

Bench Primary Friday and Saturday nights

It's confirmed Ada County Dispatch has several channels - When you hear the dispatcher say, "Ch 15 is Bench primary and Ch 16 is Valley" that means they are moving all of the Bench patrol units to Ch. 15 for a separate control channel, so Valley control Ch. 16 doesn't have over 100 officers on one channel. This is done on Fri and Sat nights, we are missing out on everything going on in the Bench area and only hearing Ch. 16 Valley and Garden City primary, also County Control on Ch. 1. I thought Ada County was going to broadcast their main control channels and keep everything else encrypted?

Does anyone know why we aren't able to hear Bench primary on Friday and Saturday nights? I just found out that channel 15 is not encrypted.

 

[SCPD]

Will be coming down to Boise end of this month... anything exciting happening on ICAWIN?

Also, I haven't seen or heard from anyone in the area -- but has the latest Uniden P25 firmware improved the monitoring of ICAWIN? I always thought the P25 quality was a bit harsh.

It seemed to make a drastic difference up here in the NW (in terms of audio quality.)

I have a PSR800 as well, so I'll bring both to see which one fairs better than the other on the ICAWIN system.

 

[thewenk]

Will be coming down to Boise end of this month... anything exciting happening on ICAWIN?

Also, I haven't seen or heard from anyone in the area -- but has the latest Uniden P25 firmware improved the monitoring of ICAWIN? I always thought the P25 quality was a bit harsh.

It seemed to make a drastic difference up here in the NW (in terms of audio quality.)

I have a PSR800 as well, so I'll bring both to see which one fairs better than the other on the ICAWIN system.

Both the GRE and Uniden scanners have trouble receiving the Ada county simulcast part of the ICAWIN, although I haven't seen any reports on the PSR800 - only the PSR500.

Both the GREs and the Unidens seem to receive fine on all the other parts of the system that are not simulcast, so the Canyon Cnty part of the system should give better reception than the Ada Cnty part. I personally haven't monitored the Boise area part of the system, but have monitored all of the ICAWIN & EICAWIN sites east of Twin Falls at one time or another.

From my own experience, the audio can be problematic if the site being monitored has a weak signal, while the same audio from a strong signal site is great. The remainder of the system, other than Ada cnty, uses multicasting, so it's possible to lock onto a site which is weak and sounds bad, while the same signal is being broadcast from another site on a different frequency and sounds much better.

I didn't notice much difference with the Uniden firmware upgrade. The audio was good both before and after the upgrade. It will be interesting to hear about your results with the PSR800.

Dave

 

[Go-West]

I have a 500 and lived in the Boise area for about a year. The Main dispatch for both Boise PD and Ada County SO are in the clear, the TAC transmissions are encrypted. Good luck with trying to monitor the activity, the State Patrol is in the clear in the 460 Mhz range.

 

[SCPD]

I have a 500 and lived in the Boise area for about a year. The Main dispatch for both Boise PD and Ada County SO are in the clear, the TAC transmissions are encrypted. Good luck with trying to monitor the activity, the State Patrol is in the clear in the 460 Mhz range.

Yes, I'm aware that they're encrypted. I've been monitoring them since BEFORE they were encrypted.

 

[SCPD]

Both the GRE and Uniden scanners have trouble receiving the Ada county simulcast part of the ICAWIN, although I haven't seen any reports on the PSR800 - only the PSR500.

Both the GREs and the Unidens seem to receive fine on all the other parts of the system that are not simulcast, so the Canyon Cnty part of the system should give better reception than the Ada Cnty part. I personally haven't monitored the Boise area part of the system, but have monitored all of the ICAWIN & EICAWIN sites east of Twin Falls at one time or another.

From my own experience, the audio can be problematic if the site being monitored has a weak signal, while the same audio from a strong signal site is great. The remainder of the system, other than Ada cnty, uses multicasting, so it's possible to lock onto a site which is weak and sounds bad, while the same signal is being broadcast from another site on a different frequency and sounds much better.

I didn't notice much difference with the Uniden firmware upgrade. The audio was good both before and after the upgrade. It will be interesting to hear about your results with the PSR800.

Dave

Interesting Dave. I haven't had any issues with my 396XT in monitoring ICAWIN -- just that the audio was harsh-sounding. I'm anxious to see how the firmware helps -- if it even does.

The PSR-800 can be hit or miss with P25 systems. In general the audio is pretty good but we'll see. It does quite well with our local metro transit -- which is X2-TDMA.

 

[thewenk]

Interesting Dave. I haven't had any issues with my 396XT in monitoring ICAWIN -- just that the audio was harsh-sounding. I'm anxious to see how the firmware helps -- if it even does.

The PSR-800 can be hit or miss with P25 systems. In general the audio is pretty good but we'll see. It does quite well with our local metro transit -- which is X2-TDMA.

Ok, I understand your question about harsh. None of my portables have as good audio as my base units which have external speakers attached. Sometimes my 396xt is somewhat harsh, but not all the time. Seems more dependent on the agency transmitting than on the scanner itself. My Pro500 is the same way, but I think the 396xt overall is better than the PSR500. Then again my hearing isn't as good as it used to be, so maybe I can't hear some of the things you can. Anyway post your conslusions after your trip to Boise.

Also I'd beinterested to hear how well your scanners monitor the Ada simulcast, as others seem to have had problems.
Dave

 

[thewenk]

License issued for new Lewistom ICAWIN site

SY WQPY776
STATE OF IDAHO [STATE OF IDAHO GOVERNMENT ACTIVITY]
Control Point 1 - 700 SOUTH STRATFORD DRIVE, BUILDING 6, MERIDIAN ID 208-288-4000 (link) 09/21/2012 License Issued

1 - LEWISTON GRADE PORT OF ENTRY, 3MI N, LEWISTON (NEZ PERCE) ID (map)
769.35625 FB2 100p 150e 8K10F1D 8K10F1E
770.25625 FB2 100p 150e 8K10F1D 8K10F1E
771.71875 FB2 100p 150e 8K10F1D 8K10F1E
772.79375 FB2 100p 150e 8K10F1D 8K10F1E
773.94375 FB2 100p 150e 8K10F1D 8K10F1E
774.90625 FB2 100p 150e 8K10F1D 8K10F1E

2 - (NEZ PERCE) ID Countywide
799.35625 MO 30p 45e 8K10F1D 8K10F1E
800.25625 MO 30p 45e 8K10F1D 8K10F1E
801.71875 MO 30p 45e 8K10F1D 8K10F1E
802.79375 MO 30p 45e 8K10F1D 8K10F1E
803.94375 MO 30p 45e 8K10F1D 8K10F1E
804.90625 MO 30p 45e 8K10F1D 8K10F1E

3 - ID Land Mobile Control Station Meeting 20 Rule
799.35625 FX1 30p 45e 8K10F1D 8K10F1E
800.25625 FX1 30p 45e 8K10F1D 8K10F1E
801.71875 FX1 30p 45e 8K10F1D 8K10F1E
802.79375 FX1 30p 45e 8K10F1D 8K10F1E
803.94375 FX1 30p 45e 8K10F1D 8K10F1E
804.90625 FX1 30p 45e 8K10F1D 8K10F1E​

 

[SCPD]

Ok, I understand your question about harsh. None of my portables have as good audio as my base units which have external speakers attached. Sometimes my 396xt is somewhat harsh, but not all the time. Seems more dependent on the agency transmitting than on the scanner itself. My Pro500 is the same way, but I think the 396xt overall is better than the PSR500. Then again my hearing isn't as good as it used to be, so maybe I can't hear some of the things you can. Anyway post your conslusions after your trip to Boise.

Also I'd beinterested to hear how well your scanners monitor the Ada simulcast, as others seem to have had problems.
Dave

Dave, I don't like saying this but the PSR-800 does have better P25 audio than the 396XT or 996XT with respect to ICAWIN. Despite the new firmware, the audio quality still sounds a bit weird. I honestly don't recall previous years but my initial feeling was that the 396XT did sound better. Compared to the PSR-800 though, it's no contest.

I will post a video later this week and you can hear for yourself.

BTW, there's a reason people might be having problems with Ada County simulcast. The other local sites have changed control channels, etc. The only one that worked from the RR data was the Ada County site. The other (local) sites are off.

When I get enough information I'll submit the updated frequencies.

FYI, it appears Tower 106 (Shafer Butte?) is quite the active site. It's far more active than Ada County. A much better signal too.