The state of Tennessee Advanced Communications Network (TACN)

[tbzep]

Was the TACN representative also involved with a potential vendor? Encryption is a very expensive venture with nothing more than some software clicks that make it different from open, at least with our new radios. The ability is built in. As for liablilty, it seems to me that lawsuits would have already been flying every which way if that was a true legal concern because there are still far more open systems in TN than encrypted. You know lawyers would jump on it if it was a consistently winnable situation.

 

[KK4ELO]

If anyone wants to keep an ear out, Union County is currently demoing four Motorola APX NEXT radios with active SIM cards. There were reportedly some coverage or connectivity issues in the Sharps Chapel area initially, but they later appeared to be working properly. TACN also gave a presentation at either the April or May Union County 911 Board meeting. From what was discussed, the TACN representative seemed to strongly recommend encryption for law enforcement communications and potentially EMS as well, citing CISA guidance regarding personally identifiable information (PII), NCIC data, and ummm some HIPAA-related concerns (❓❓❓). I am not sure which talkgroup or channel they are conducting the testing on, but it may be worth monitoring for anyone interested.

Mcminnville Pd here in Warren County are already using those, they bought all the supervisors and up one, patrol got either 7 or 8000. Sheriff bought Harris, and EMS bought Tait. Don't know what we will ebd up with on county fire, but we have a Hodge podge of stuff. And of course they had to use the "but they said it has to be encrypted" statement to block everything out.

 

[buddrousa]

Sounds like you in East and Middle Tennessee are being milked by vendors.
As stated above most County and City Governments have no idea they are paying several hundreds of dollars per radio for check marks.

 

[KK4ELO]

Sounds like you in East and Middle Tennessee are being milked by vendors.
As stated above most County and City Governments have no idea they are paying several hundreds of dollars per radio for check marks.

Yeah I've been trying to get the word out on the local Facebook page, but keep getting met with "why do you need to know people's personal info?". They just don't realize it's been lagal for decades and there's no personal medical info. We even tried to start a petition to get rid of it, but more Karen's than ever came out even though they are subscribed to the local emergency communication page that uses a scanner to keep the community informed.

 

[buddrousa]

I understand that is why I did all the work for my Department until my retirement in 2023. I still get calls about questions they have about things brought up by the Radio Shop I set them up with just to make sure they understand things they are ask or told.

 

[jblackst]

Interesting that they have 'coverage' issues in Sharps Chapel, considering there are VHF/700 sites at Chuck Swan WMA. I get that there are hollers and such up that way, but then again there are still places in Union Co where cell phones don't work. I believe there are plans for additional sites in Maynardville and Plainview/Luttrell? Also a site in Washburn (Grainger Co)?

 

[INDY72]

I think they are replacing all VHF with 700/800 sites if I recall?

 

[surfacemount]

Does anyone have any documentation on the required percentage of ability to connect a call from a 35w mobile to tower from any interstate in the far East part of the state?

 

[buddrousa]

I know they have coverage plots but not very sure they not public.

 

[zachgallop]

Interesting that they have 'coverage' issues in Sharps Chapel, considering there are VHF/700 sites at Chuck Swan WMA. I get that there are hollers and such up that way, but then again there are still places in Union Co where cell phones don't work. I believe there are plans for additional sites in Maynardville and Plainview/Luttrell? Also a site in Washburn (Grainger Co)?

Yeah and then they said later on it worked fine. There was mention of TACN putting a site on House Mtn and they are going to have a meeting with Knox County about it (which should have already happened). The TACN representative stated that the forest fire on house mtn helped clear some brush for the site that they needed done. They stated the house mtn site would also likely help with coverage in Union. I believe KUB also a site up there for their encrypted P25 uhf multicast system.

 

[surfacemount]

I know they have coverage plots but not very sure they not public.

It seems like when bluetail or whoever the contractor was, did the feasiblity study for knox county, they included a bunch of the motorola engineering studies pre-installation.

Then when blount county was being proven out handheld-on-hip, seems like that coverage map was also out, too.

 

[buddrousa]

That area part of it is TVRCS all I can say is if you have an official reason you could put in a written request.

 

[surfacemount]

That area part of it is TVRCS all I can say is if you have an official reason you could put in a written request.

So they can officially admit they don't have the coverage they by contract are supposed to have?

yeahh.... no

they will pass it off as incompetent upfitter installs or another issue.

 

[surfacemount]

Never mind, I found it

It shows there is supposed to be coverage where there isn't. (shrugs)

 

[bg_nashville]

I have historically monitored THP District 5 on the Holston Mountain (State) site, but recently I have been going 6 to 8 hours without receiving anything. Are they switching over to the big E up there, or has some other change been made that would significantly reduce THP traffic on that site? I am still receiving other talkgroups during those large gaps.

 

[buddrousa]

They may have switched it to if a THP user is not affiliated with that site it does not broadcast traffic on that site.

 

[jblackst]

I have historically monitored THP District 5 on the Holston Mountain (State) site, but recently I have been going 6 to 8 hours without receiving anything. Are they switching over to the big E up there, or has some other change been made that would significantly reduce THP traffic on that site? I am still receiving other talkgroups during those large gaps.

Broadcastify archives have recorded clear THP D5 traffic from last night and this morning, but there was no recorded traffic from 2300-2330. Perhaps it was just a Q-word night? And it's also possible that there wasn't a Trooper radio affiliated to Holston Mtn (State) site during that time frame.

On the same line, there are only 13 node receivers in TN feeding BCFY Calls. Hence, there could be missed traffic on BCFY if no units are affiliated to one of those sites. THP D5 map is attached and units in that area might affiliate to any of these red sited on BCFY, so I think BCFY has a relatively decent chance of capturing a majority of traffic in THP D5.

 

[bg_nashville]

Broadcastify archives have recorded clear THP D5 traffic from last night and this morning, but there was no recorded traffic from 2300-2330. Perhaps it was just a Q-word night? And it's also possible that there wasn't a Trooper radio affiliated to Holston Mtn (State) site during that time frame.

On the same line, there are only 13 node receivers in TN feeding BCFY Calls. Hence, there could be missed traffic on BCFY if no units are affiliated to one of those sites. THP D5 map is attached and units in that area might affiliate to any of these red sited on BCFY, so I think BCFY has a relatively decent chance of capturing a majority of traffic in THP D5.

View attachment 203163View attachment 203164

Thanks for confirming that their traffic was in the clear. The Holston Mountain site probably has one of the widest coverage footprints on the entire system. THP traffic has historically been consistent throughout the day on that site. Lack of radio affiliation doesn’t seem likely to me. It is currently active.

 

[surfacemount]

I have historically monitored THP District 5 on the Holston Mountain (State) site, but recently I have been going 6 to 8 hours without receiving anything. Are they switching over to the big E up there, or has some other change been made that would significantly reduce THP traffic on that site? I am still receiving other talkgroups during those large gaps.

The 'gorge' area is one of the dead zones I am trying to find more information about. Apparently there are others as well.

The problem with streaming or scanning is that you can't 'pull' a talkgroup to your tower. You have to wait until an affiliated user comes into range or forces their radio onto that site.

And, if they are having trouble (THP is one user group that is), they may be falling back to FirstNet or LTE failover or plain old just using their phones instead of even trying to do voice traffic.

This is troubling because the old coverage maps of hip-to-GTR8000 site I have says on the interstate almost 97% coverage.

Dunno, and I don't know what I don't know.

 

[jblackst]

The 'gorge' area is one of the dead zones I am trying to find more information about. Apparently there are others as well.

The problem with streaming or scanning is that you can't 'pull' a talkgroup to your tower. You have to wait until an affiliated user comes into range or forces their radio onto that site.

And, if they are having trouble (THP is one user group that is), they may be falling back to FirstNet or LTE failover or plain old just using their phones instead of even trying to do voice traffic.

This is troubling because the old coverage maps of hip-to-GTR8000 site I have says on the interstate almost 97% coverage.

Dunno, and I don't know what I don't know.

I-40 in The Gorge is going to be troublesome without small sites in confines of the area. LTE should be the easy solution there, moving the traffic to the existing LTE towers in the area (when it works, right?). I've seen one document that shows a proposed TACN site somewhere near Hartford, which would definitely help.

Also, I think their coverage maps are set for 'mobile radio' coverage, aren't they? ~1200 miles of interstate highway in TN. 97% coverage leaves about 36 miles in the void. I'd say that I-40 and I-26 in the mountains account for most of that, along with small portions of I-40 crossing the Cumberland Plateau (from personal experience).