Tega Cay PD & FD

[JimmyJet727]

Hoping someone local can help me. First a little background. Recently retired flyboy looking for a new hobby. Certainly a techie but very new to radios. Been a Linux hobbyist for 30 years.

I bought an RTL-SDR kit with a basic rabbit ear antenna that is sitting in an upstairs window facing the tower on Dam Rd. I’m running sdr-trunk on a Linux Mint PC and all seems to be running nicely. See attached screenshots. I do have an RRDB premium subscription.

My first goal is to listen to Tega Cay PD and FD. As seen in the screenshots, I created a channel in sdr-trunk and I am definitely receiving traffic. Some is a little garbled but if I understand correctly that is simulcast distortion? Some transmissions are quite clear.

Another issue is that I’m also picking up traffic from Fort Mill and Rock Hill first responders. I can confirm this by the street addresses I hear in the transmissions. I’d prefer a channel that picks up TC only. Is this possible?

If I stick with this hobby I would be willing to get a Uniden SDS but don’t want to spend that money unless that is my only option.

Suggestions? Thanks in Advance. JJ

 

[Enforcer52]

As far as the distortion, have you adjusted the PPM, under the Tuner tab, so that the error rate is below 200hz? If adjusted correctly simulcast is not an issue on SDRTrunk.

Have you setup an alias list for the tower you are listening too? (Doesn't appear that you have since IP numbers are showing up in the Alias columns instead of channel names)

If not an Alias List needs to be setup using the RR database. Then you mute any channel you don't want to hear, it will still show as being received but you won't hear anything.

Edit: Also you will need two sdrs to cover all the channels.

 

[JimmyJet727]

Thanks for the quick reply. I took screenshots of the tuner settings and the alias page. Is this where I need to change the settings that you recommended? I really appreciate the help. I'm an absolute newbie with this stuff. And I'm getting addicted quickly.

 

[Enforcer52]

Yes that is where you set the PPM. You have to watch when you receive a transmission and adjust by the amount shown either up or down.

Also you might want to adjust the Master Gain Control upwards if you are getting a low signal or the Control Channel does not lock on, and starts showing Idle.

You have a start on the Alias List but only the PD TGIDs, You need to add the York Co FD Dispatch TGIDs and the Tega Cay FD Talkaround.

The database doesn't indicate which dispatch channel that Tega Cay FD is dispatched on, it can be just one of the 3 channels or on any of the three channels. You will have to monitor to figure that out.

I have created a list for you and will post below. In addition to adding the Fire frequencies you will need to create 6 Blacklists as shown below to block out everything else but Tega Cay PD and FD.


If you only want Tega Cay PD and FD the below listed TGIDs need to be set to Listen

TGID Alpha Tag Description

49601 York Co Disp 2 Dispatch 2
49633 Tega Cay Fd Tega Cay FD Talkaround
49650 York Co Disp 1 Dispatch 1
49831 York Co Disp 3 Dispatch 3
49960 TCP DISP Tega Cay PD Dispatch
49961 TCP PTL2 Tega Cay PD Tac 2
49962 TCP CID Tega Cay PD CID
49963 TCP CONF Tega Cay PD Conference
49965 TCP EMRG Tega Cay PD Emergency
49966 TC ADMN Tega Cay Admin

Add an Alias named Blacklist to block unwanted channels and set to MUTE. Add the below 6 Talkgroup Ranges to that blacklist entry.

Blacklist 1 set Identifier to Talkgroup Range 1 to 49600
Blacklist 2 set Identifier to Talkgroup Range 49602 to 49632
Blacklist 3 set Identifier to Talkgroup Range 49634 to 49649
Blacklist 4 set Identifier to Talkgroup Range 49651 to 49830
Blacklist 5 set Identifier to Talkgroup Range 49832 to 49959
Blacklist 6 set Identifier to Talkgroup Range 49967 to 65535


Enforcer52

 

[JimmyJet727]

Very helpful. Thank you. I will work on these suggestions later today.

 

[JimmyJet727]

As far as the distortion, have you adjusted the PPM, under the Tuner tab, so that the error rate is below 200hz? If adjusted correctly simulcast is not an issue on SDRTrunk.

This brings me to another newbie question. I know that the Uniden SDS radios are best at handling simulcast transmissions. Does this mean that RTL-SDR and SDS radios use a similar SDR technology to process simulcast?

 

[Enforcer52]

I would think so since the SDS series is sdr based. How similar I'm not sure.

 

[qball]

YoCo Dispatch 1 = EMS
YoCo Dispatch 2 = County fire
YoCo Dispatch 3 = Rock Hill Fire


USDD - Automated dispatch system

EVENT 30 = EMS
EVENT 31 = County fire
EVENT 32 = Rock Hill Fire