TDMA on TxWARN

[jetscanner]

There's one Talkgroup under TXWarn I can't pickup.

I have a full signal and steady trunking data with the site they *should* be connecting to. The site is literally named after the city of the department.

The only thing I notice is the Mode is T for TDMA. Most others are D (digital). Could this affect things?

Scanner is a radioshack pro-668

Texas Wide Area Radio Network (TxWARN) Trunking System, Various, Texas

Texas Wide Area Radio Network (TxWARN) Trunking System Profile

www.radioreference.com

 

[KevinC]

What TG and what site?

 

[jetscanner]

What TG and what site?

Houston Public Safety Iowa Colony
TG 78 + 80 - Iowa Colony Police

 

[KevinC]

Houston Public Safety Iowa Colony
TG 78 + 80 - Iowa Colony Police

What site are you using?

 

[RaleighGuy]

Houston Public Safety Iowa Colony
TG 78 + 80 - Iowa Colony Police

The issue is not TDMA Phase 2, as your scanner will decode Phase 2 audio, however it looks like that is a simulcast site and if so the PRO-668 doesn't play nice with simulcast.

 

[RaleighGuy]

What TG and what site?

3 (3)

012 (C)

Houston Public Safety Iowa Colony

Brazoria

771.18125c

771.65625c

771.81875c

771.96875c

772.15625c

78	04e	T	Iowa Colony PD	Iowa Colony Police	Law Dispatch
80	050	T	Iowa Colony PD 2	Iowa Colony Police 2	Law Tac

 

[KevinC]

Disregard my site question, I see the answer. That's the wrong site, use a RFSS 1 site, either the Brazoria County Simulcast or the Ft Bend Simulcast. But as noted, that scanner isn't the best for simulcast.

 

[KevinC]

The issue is not TDMA Phase 2, as your scanner will decode Phase 2 audio, however it looks like that is a simulcast site and if so the PRO-668 doesn't play nice with simulcast.

That site isn't simulcast.

 

[jetscanner]

Disregard my site question, I see the answer. That's the wrong site, use a RFSS 1 site, either the Brazoria County Simulcast or the Ft Bend Simulcast. But as noted, that scanner isn't the best for simulcast.

Ok sooooo why is it the "wrong" site? Not challenging your knowledge (I know you know you're stuff), just curious why the FB Simul or Brazoria simul site will definitely have it, being many many more miles away?

I do catch Pearland and Manvel on that Iowa Colony site.

 

[KevinC]

Ok sooooo why is it the "wrong" site? Not challenging your knowledge (I know you know you're stuff), just curious why the FB Simul or Brazoria simul site will definitely have it, being many many more miles away?

I do catch Pearland and Manvel on that Iowa Colony site.

It's complicated, but they are a Harris County "customer" so they are on RFSS 1 sites. If they were a City of Houston customer they would be on RFSS 3. Manvel and Pearland are CoH customers, hence them being on RFSS 3 (or Zone 3 in Motorola speak).

 

[jetscanner]

It's complicated, but they are a Harris County "customer" so they are on RFSS 1 sites. If they were a City of Houston customer they would be on RFSS 3. Manvel and Pearland are CoH customers, hence them being on RFSS 3 (or Zone 3 in Motorola speak).

Oooooooooh

When I last fiddled with the scanner years ago I was able to get the Fort Bend site with a yagi. This time I can't seem to get trunking data (which is why I never got the chance to even discover if iowa colony is on there)

Brazoria simul is basically unreachable unfortunately.

 

[Echo4Thirty]

The way the system and talkgroups are partitioned, along with what sites a given talkgroup are allowed out of makes this system complicated to program.

Think of it as two seperate systems that happen to share the same system ID. RFSS 1 and 2 are one system (Harris county) and RFSS 3 is another (CIty of Houston).

Now you have to figure out what TGs come out of what system. Typically 4 digit HEX ids are CoH but there are exceptions. Then to figure out what sites. on both "systems" i would avoid the non simulcast sites and think "what simulcast cell makes sense for this agency to come out of based on their location?"

This should get you really close.

 

[jetscanner]

After intense scanner placement testing, I've managed to attach to the Brazoria simul and the Fort Bend simul sites

I have about 4x4 inches of wiggle room at each location. Pretty fun

I sure wish the pro-668 could log TGs

 

[KevinC]

After intense scanner placement testing, I've managed to attach to the Brazoria simul and the Fort Bend simul sites

I have about 4x4 inches of wiggle room at each location. Pretty fun

I sure wish the pro-668 could log TGs

And keep in mind Iowa Colony doesn’t talk all that much. 😉

 

[RaleighGuy]

I sure wish the pro-668 could log TGs

You could always turn on recording for the TGs and wildcard and use the recorded audio as a log, since it includes the TG and RID in playback through EZ Scan

 

[jetscanner]

And keep in mind Iowa Colony doesn’t talk all that much. 😉

So far they don't talk at all. It's a small city, but sheesh. Not a single transmission.

Are the TGs submitted and identified purely from user research or is there an FCC database (or something) that confirms the IDs?

 

[KevinC]

So far they don't talk at all. It's a small city, but sheesh. Not a single transmission.

Are the TGs submitted and identified purely from user research or is there an FCC database that confirms the IDs?

I’ve heard them there.

 

[jetscanner]

I’ve heard them there.

Ok just got chatter!

 

[jetscanner]

I’ve heard them there.

Its been a challenge locking into the Brazoria simul site. There is literally a 4x4in point area on a window where I can get a steady trunk symbol. As feared, it seems to get unsteady at certain times of the day.

Everything everywhere else is all bars (No T) or fluctuating bars.

To find a better signal:

I've done the whole yard walk, tested every location with a yagi (vertically), tested with the ole paperclip (it seems to help a little), tried various dsplevel settings, adc, etc. I should mention my pro-668 has the RadioShack 800mhz antenna. I even tested the handheld at 30 feet. And ofcourse the ole directional tinfoil

Kind of amazing I only have that one spot.

I've done quite a bit of reading about the distortion/lsm issue etc. Some of it is from older posts. I guess I'm hoping there's some new miracle fix discovered.

 

[Harold]

Its been a challenge locking into the Brazoria simul site. There is literally a 4x4in point area on a window where I can get a steady trunk symbol. As feared, it seems to get unsteady at certain times of the day.

Everything everywhere else is all bars (No T) or fluctuating bars.

To find a better signal:

I've done the whole yard walk, tested every location with a yagi (vertically), tested with the ole paperclip (it seems to help a little), tried various dsplevel settings, adc, etc. I should mention my pro-668 has the RadioShack 800mhz antenna. I even tested the handheld at 30 feet. And ofcourse the ole directional tinfoil

Kind of amazing I only have that one spot.

I've done quite a bit of reading about the distortion/lsm issue etc. Some of it is from older posts. I guess I'm hoping there's some new miracle fix discovered.

Uniden SDS100 or SDS 200 or some other form of SDR dongle with software such as sdrtrunk.