Swannanoa fire department

[Jakeportland]

I live in Swannanoa North Carolina
Are Swannanoa are they going on the 700 or they're going to keep their VHF system ?

This is what I have for my scanner
154.815 fire pager
155.610 fire comm
151.430 fire ground 2.
154.2800. State fire
-----------------------------------
I would like to program my Kenwood tk280

 

[INDY72]

Buncombe County Fire Services has an TG on the 700, but primarily uses the VHF Conventional still. They also have an patch/RSSI/CSSI set up on the VIPER along with AF/R. I have no idea if they will simulcast both the 700 and VHF, or eventually switch to 700 for primary with dispatch/paging/interop on the VHF. Most agencies when they switch go full time TRS with VHF for paging etc... Right now the entire Buncombe Emergency Services system is in flux with simulcasting on VHF and 700 for SO and Fire, and EMS on UHF and 700. Once they get permanent TG assignments set up for the SO they will go 700 TRS for main and have interop on VIPER, the ATRS, and VHS. EMS will have dispatch and ops on the 700 TRS, and MED TG's on it, as well as the MED patches to VIPER, the Fire - Med patch on the ATRS and the conventional UHF MED's.

Of course this will get even more interesting as Asheville must upgrade in the next couple of years as Motorola is ending support for the Smart Zone systems. Perhaps they will join the VIPER when it upgrades to P25 systemwide, or may upgrade their own system to an P25 and just use the RSSI/CSSI to interface. Only time will tell.

 

[Jakeportland]

Is it going to be a phase 2 ?

 

[INDY72]

The 700 MHz system of Buncombe County must of course be Phase II Compliant/Compatible to meet the mandates for 700 MHz. VIPER P25 because of the 700 MHz sites, will have to become Phase II Compliant/Compatible per the mandates. I do not know if any waivers are filed as of yet to delay implementation of Phase II for the VIPER P25. The mandates are only 2 and 3 years off respectively so many agencies are already filing waivers with the FCC. Compliance/Compatibility does not mean that every user on the system would use Phase II (TDMA) full time (at least to begin with), it just means all radios and equipment on the system must be fully able to do so. (Examples include the TACN, and MSWIN systems which both are now mixed band P25 systems that are Phase II Compliant/Compatible. Most consider 700/800 to be one band, but the FCC Phase II mandates only apply to 700 MHz at this date and time.)

You would also be wise to add 158.8050 103.5 PL As this is the Buncombe County/Asheville Emergency Management Net for mutual aid/interagency coordination for all Buncombe County Fire/First Responders/Emergency Management users.

 

[Jakeportland]

I am using bc436hp
Will I be able to hear ?

 

[INDY72]

Yes, you should hear anything that is not encrypted just fine. In fact, that scanner is so far the best for P25 simulcast systems.

 

[Jakeportland]

Is anything going to be encrypted on the new 700 MHz for Buncombe County

 

[Jakeportland]

Whoops my bad

 

[trumpetman]

Holy crap. The amount of misinformation in this thread is ridiculously overwhelming.

There is no patch to VIPER in Buncombe County.

There is no CSSI/RSSI either (I think you mean ISSI anyways).

There are a few select officers and mobiles that have VIPER IDs for out-of-county response, but the only people I've heard use them are Enka & Skyland during training exercises.

Asheville is not patched to VIPER and does not have the ability to patch. There is a console resource available to talk on the system by itself but last I heard it was not in use.

Buncombe Sheriff is 90% primary on the new 700 MHz system, you can tell there are a few stragglers that are still using VHF due to the MDC squawk following their transmissions.

Most all tactical comms will be encrypted, although no one seems to know if they will pursue complete encryption. BCSO is carrying APX radios and using ADP and they seem to be liking it so far.

There is no plan for Asheville to jump on board with VIPER at this time. Last I've heard there will be a phase I upgrade in the coming years (timeline dictated by budget). AFD is carrying XTS5000s and APD is carrying APX6000s.

AFD is considering 100% encryption when they roll to P25 and APD is unsure how much if any that they're going to encrypt. Be sure to thank the folks that posted the audio of the Capt. Bowen LODD at Mission a few years ago because that is the primary reason for the talks of encryption.

Not sure where you're getting your Phase II mandate info. A link to that tidbit would be appreciated.

VIPER will not be Phase II for a long time as a majority of infrastructure will remain Quantars. My guess is the high traffic areas will be the first to receive GTRs and Phase II may be used to experiment there, but that is purely speculation considering that Quantars are NLA from Motorola. See mhodgson's post in the VIPER forum reference the 700 MHz / Phase II abilities as well, he sums things up very nicely.

The only thing that isn't completely wrong in your post is the last comment about the Mutual Aid net on 158.805. Don't expect to hear much besides a CWID every half hour though, I've never heard a peep on it and haven't seen it programmed in most of the radios I've touched.

 

[trumpetman]

Jake,

Swannanoa does not have a repeater like most of the other departments in Buncombe County, but they do use Barnardsville's frequency with a different PL tone for simplex comms.

Swannanoa Station 6 Ops 155.8650 151.4

 

[Jakeportland]

Why is Asheville fire going to be encrypted ?
You sound mad ?

 

[INDY72]

Not sure where you're getting your Phase II mandate info. A link to that tidbit would be appreciated

PSHSB Extends 700 MHz Narrowbanding Deadline for State of Louisiana | FCC.gov

There is one official reference for you to the deadlines.
Here is an quote from this -
Federal Communications Commission’s (Commission’s) 700 MHz narrowbanding deadline, which
requires licensees in the 700 MHz public safety narrowband spectrum (769-775/799-805 MHz) to operate
using a channel bandwidth of no more than 6.25 kilohertz, or equivalent efficiency, by December 31,
2016

Also see here APCO Project 25 (P25) Radio Frequently Asked Questions « Tait Communications Blog

Quote from that- Q. Do I have to go to Phase 2 and what does this mean for Phase 1?

No, you don’t need to move to Phase 2 unless you are in the USA using the 700MHz band, in which case you must be Phase 2 operational by January 1, 2017.

Also see this: http://www.bonnercom.org/sites/default/files/700/700_AreYouPrepared.pdf

There are also many other places on the net for this data.

And yes I mean all the forms of ISSI including CSSI and DSFI.. Not sure why I keep putting the R in there.

There are VIPER TG's assigned for both Buncombe County interop and primary use if they chose to use them, as well as for Asheville. Including UNC-A.


As for Asheville, and VIPER having to upgrade, that is a given as Motorola is discontinuing support for the Smart Zone systems. In fact they are pretty much doing away with the Legacy Systems period. Asheville has had so many plans to go to P25 that its sad, they first discussed doing this when they went to an multisite Smart Zone ASTRO 4.X system. They voted the purchase of digital radios for PD and FD back then. I was at that City Council meeting. They also brought up the plan of possibly making their system a VIPER site then. As I stated " Perhaps they will join the VIPER when it upgrades to P25 systemwide, or may upgrade their own system to an P25" Again the perhaps.

As for the encryption, All new systems, and subscriber templates for public safety systems from Motorola have encryption turned on as standard features. It is up to the individual agencies to turn off the encryption on any given TG. BCSO has already made the choice to turn off encryption for dispatch, or you would not hear it now.

 

[WA4MJF]

Why is Asheville fire going to be encrypted ?
You sound mad ?

Read post #9.

 

[Jakeportland]

Okay

 

[ts548]

Holy crap. The amount of misinformation in this thread is ridiculously overwhelming.

There is no patch to VIPER in Buncombe County.

There is no CSSI/RSSI either (I think you mean ISSI anyways).

There are a few select officers and mobiles that have VIPER IDs for out-of-county response, but the only people I've heard use them are Enka & Skyland during training exercises.

Asheville is not patched to VIPER and does not have the ability to patch. There is a console resource available to talk on the system by itself but last I heard it was not in use.

Buncombe Sheriff is 90% primary on the new 700 MHz system, you can tell there are a few stragglers that are still using VHF due to the MDC squawk following their transmissions.

Most all tactical comms will be encrypted, although no one seems to know if they will pursue complete encryption. BCSO is carrying APX radios and using ADP and they seem to be liking it so far.

There is no plan for Asheville to jump on board with VIPER at this time. Last I've heard there will be a phase I upgrade in the coming years (timeline dictated by budget). AFD is carrying XTS5000s and APD is carrying APX6000s.

AFD is considering 100% encryption when they roll to P25 and APD is unsure how much if any that they're going to encrypt. Be sure to thank the folks that posted the audio of the Capt. Bowen LODD at Mission a few years ago because that is the primary reason for the talks of encryption.

Not sure where you're getting your Phase II mandate info. A link to that tidbit would be appreciated.

VIPER will not be Phase II for a long time as a majority of infrastructure will remain Quantars. My guess is the high traffic areas will be the first to receive GTRs and Phase II may be used to experiment there, but that is purely speculation considering that Quantars are NLA from Motorola. See mhodgson's post in the VIPER forum reference the 700 MHz / Phase II abilities as well, he sums things up very nicely.

The only thing that isn't completely wrong in your post is the last comment about the Mutual Aid net on 158.805. Don't expect to hear much besides a CWID every half hour though, I've never heard a peep on it and haven't seen it programmed in most of the radios I've touched.

Only thing to add to Chris's post is Buncombe EMS is going fully encrypted.