Tippecanoe Co Public Safety System is Down Again

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TippeTrunker2

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The Tippecanoe Co Public Safety System just went down (8:16 AM) as the leading edge of a heavy thunderstorm came through the county. Lots of calls to go to State Back Up (SAFE-T). The system appears to be in Fail Soft, as the only radio traffic is on the Dispatch Channel Talkgroup. LPD, WLPD, TCSD, LFD on Dispatch Channel Only, with TEAS going to State Back Up. Now, 8:28 AM some agencies comming back up.
 

doublebarrel

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Is this the reason I hear loud banging noise on from time to time? I'm new to scanners (less than one month of owning my first) and got lots to learn here. This is what my screen looks like when it happens (I got a Pro-97):

17xs2.jpg
 

TippeTrunker2

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doublebarrel,
Welcome to the Indiana Forum. Your RS Pro-97 is a fine rig for listening to the Tippecanoe Co PS-1:) . However, the banging you hear on Talkgroup 160 is Digital (Project 25):mad: . So all you'll hear on the Pro-97 is banging or buzzsaw. You could just lock out that TG, I did that on my BC-246. What I have been hearing on TG160 on my Uniden BC-796D is an open microphone, most likely in a hospital environment. This could be a belt mounted handheld getting pushed up against a chair, because you can clearly hear squeeking like a chair on wheels or even leather rubbing together. Or, the console mic switch has been activated and held down with something. The background audio gets distorded and is not as clear:confused: . When the System goes down, you will usually get a single tone on the frequency, not the TG. The tone will beep slowly until the system is back up. When this happens, they are usually in "failsoft", check out the WIKI on the top of this page. They can use the system as a simple repeater, and most of the Tippecanoe Area Agencies will either switch over to the State Back Up (System 209 on SAFE-T, Analog not Digital), or remain on the failed system with very limited activity. The Co Fire Agencies still have a VHF system that they sometimes will use when this happens.
Welcome, and have fun listening to this very active County System. Don't be afraid to ask if you don't know what your hearing. Most of us have been there ourselves, and that was long before Radioreference came along.
 

Go-24

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TippeTrunker2 said:
What I have been hearing on TG160 on my Uniden BC-796D is an open microphone, most likely in a hospital environment.

TCSD is using TG160 - last evening they were using an open mic to monitor a drug deal. Other members of the division were on 39280 an analog TG.
 

doublebarrel

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TippeTrunker2 said:
doublebarrel,
Welcome to the Indiana Forum. Your RS Pro-97 is a fine rig for listening to the Tippecanoe Co PS-1:) . However, the banging you hear on Talkgroup 160 is Digital (Project 25):mad: .

Thanks, TippeTrunker2! That explains alot:) I don't know how I could receive digital transmission. I thought APCO-25 was like a whole new system, like the difference between Motorola, EDACS, and LTR. They shouldn't be able to hear each other, right? So I don't know how that control channel can make this talk group to show up(and, I just checked the database here, Indiana SAFE-T system. There isn't such a talk group, 00160). Since it's digital, of course I'll hear garbage, like a CD player without DA converter. So I'll add that talk group to the bank, and then lock it out(even though they say it doesn't exist)...

I only had a basic understanding of how trunk system works(to share a few frequencies amoung a larger number of groups, much like the phone lines shared between two CO's) before I bought this Pro-97. The manual isn't too good at showing me how to program this thing. It was programed by the guy who sold it to me at RS(I think his name is Mike, at the RS in the old Target/new Home Depot plaza. He knows a lot, kinda rare for RS sales people). I WAS thinking of returning this thing after I heard about the Hoosier SAFE-T program(I thought they were moving to digital completely), and also the 800MHz rebanding. After further reading, I learned that they don't have the money to move everyone to digial, so I can still listen for quite a few more years. And hopefully, RS will replace the circuit board(for free, wishful thinking, maybe?) once the 800MHz mess is all resolved. So I think I'll keep it...

So system 209 is what the Tippecanoe County Back Up is. The RS guy programmed it into the second bank. I looked up and down and everywhere in the Tippecanoe County Public Safety (System 1), and couldn't find any of those frequencies(I never checked SAFE-T systems, as my scanner can't do digital). Now I know where those frequencies come from(he actually programmed one more frequency in there, 867.01250, which is not listed under system 209). Thanks!...
 

rdale

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"even though they say it doesn't exist"

There is no "they say" -- the database you find is from volunteers who find talkgroups and submit the listings. All this means is that nobody conclusively ID'd that talkgroup and submittied it to the database, not that it doesn't exist.
 

Go-24

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Tippecanoe County Public Safety (System 1) "DOES" contain both A and D (though limited) traffic. Thus if you have the frequencies for that system programmed into your pro-97 (which it sounds like you do) then you will hear the banging from TG160 and other Digitial TGs. Who ever is telling you that the TG doesnt exist is incorrect.
 

doublebarrel

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Yeah, I know what you guys talking about. I didn't mean to say that the TG officially didn't exist. I put my scanner into open mode(the RS person programmed it as closed mode. He said you probably don't want to listen to other people like bus drivers talking). I put it into open mode in hope to find some new groups to contribute to the database. So far I've found one new TG that's not listed in System 1: 39824...

So, System 1 has digital TG in it? I just submitted 00160 to the SAFE-T system page(I thought everything digital belong to that system, oops...)
 

DaveIN

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Sounds like someone should run Trunker for a few weeks and see what they capture for talkgroups and radio id's to compare notes.

By the way, System 2 has 868.1500 listed in the database as a voice channel as I am sure it is listed as a system frequency by the FCC, but that frequency has been RDLAP (Mobile PC) only, for a few years. Has anyone ever heard any voice on that frequency?
 
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bacon

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DaveIN said:
Sounds like someone should run Trunker for a few weeks and see what they capture for talkgroups and radio id's to compare notes.

By the way, System 2 has 868.1500 listed in the database as a voice channel as I am sure it is listed as a system frequency by the FCC, but that frequency has been RDLAP (Mobile PC) only, for a few years. Has anyone ever heard any voice on that frequency?

Thanks for the input and frequency use description. I was the one that submitted those frequencies to scanner_freak. I have never heard voice traffic on 868.1500 either. Besides the control channels, I didn't really specify what the other frequencies were used for. I just submitted for System 2 the 4 frequencies from the original FCC licence (WNQH693) that were not not used as part of System 1.

Feel free to submit the frequency description to scanner_freak. We need to get more information about System 2 anyway.
 
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