Toronto Transit Commission - PowerTrunk TETRA

[HiVolt]

Has anyone tried Tetra Trunk Tracker?

 

[HiVolt]

Well I kinda figured out how to minimize the amount of crap with all these talkgroups...

In the Tetra Demodulator, if you click Net Info, you can see the the talkgroups, and you can actually assign them a name. And give the ones you want to hear a priority 1 or higher, and on the main page set blocking threshold 1 or higher.

There are so many unidentified ones yet, vs ones listed on the TETRA page on RR.

Toronto Transit Commission Trunking System, Toronto, Ontario

Toronto Transit Commission Trunking System Profile

www.radioreference.com

 

[mciupa]

There is only one other dedicated submitter of information for this Tetra system. If you can help with additions, that would be great.

I generally sit on 422.6875 or 423.3125. Both seem to talk non-stop.

Unknowns I've logged are: 101101,102705,102721, 102723, 101132, 131205

In the meantime for reference from our Wiki, are the call signs you hear on calls: Toronto Transit Commission - The RadioReference Wiki

 

[HiVolt]

Yeah, I've been trying to figure some things out. I was also surprised that the CIS to bus transmissions are also on this system, except they have no talkgroup, they're classified as individual, and you must have auto unchecked and select any of the 4 time slots when it lights up without a group ID.

There's a lot more going on on this system than there ever was on the analog one.

 

[HiVolt]

Does SDR# randomly crash for anyone while decoding Tetra? Sometimes it will run for a few hours, sometimes it crashes after an hour, etc... No error, just disappears. Tried on two machines, a i9-9900K desktop and an i7-6600U Lenovo Laptop, both running the latest Windows 10 build 1909.

I've removed all the plugins I could, and even disabled the spectrum analyzer/waterfall.

 

[gary123]

My guess is there is enough activity on the system that the decoding software gives up. Im not sure how much RAM is assigned to the program but sometimes the fix is to allocate more resources to it.

 

[HiVolt]

Actually It was something on Windows 10, maybe something in the newer builds. I moved the SDR dongle to an older Win7 laptop, and it works flawlessly doesnt crash.

 

[HiVolt]

Well i've been trying to figure out some of these talkgroups, kinda hard sometimes, they dont use call signs sometimes. and sometimes the callsigns dont exist in the database posted.

But I have narrowed down a few I think or have an ideas. How do you guys make sure it is what it is?

102721 - Shuttle Desk - confirmed, they identified themselves.
102723 - Finch or VMS Tower, seems like they were talking either about trains at VMC or Finch, but they were always calling 142 which is a tower supervisor.
101154 - seems like it could be a streetcar carhouse, because they were talking about a flexity having to go to Leslie for repair, and given 101151 is identified as Leslie Carhouse. I'll try to pay attention to it. - EDIT: actually, I think its Russell carhouse, they just talked about having disinfected streetcar 4444 for corona virus(!) which tracked at Russell.
101162 - mobile bus mechanic or pusher vehicle, no idea which garage. They were talking about a bus stuck up a hill but then was called back when the bus made it.

I've logged many more, but no idea what they are, so far

 

[DRL-XM43]

I have been monitoring TETRA transit using SDR# with thewraith modified TETRA plugin found here. SDR# - TETRA Demodulator Trunk Tracking Demonstration

It works great. Anyway the only active LA I can find on this system are 422.8000 422.66250 422.68750 although this one has been quiet for a couple of weeks.

The LA are 27, 28 and 30 the talk groups mostly match up with the RR database but the db seems short of some.

Does anyone know if there are other active control channels? There are 17 freqs listed in RR but I find only those 3 to be active.

 

[mciupa]

I have been monitoring TETRA transit using SDR# with thewraith modified TETRA plugin found here. SDR# - TETRA Demodulator Trunk Tracking Demonstration

It works great. Anyway the only active LA I can find on this system are 422.8000 422.66250 422.68750 although this one has been quiet for a couple of weeks.

The LA are 27, 28 and 30 the talk groups mostly match up with the RR database but the db seems short of some.

Does anyone know if there are other active control channels? There are 17 freqs listed in RR but I find only those 3 to be active.

I gleaned that info from this thread: TTC TETRA especially info in post #28 and created the system for the database. It may need some tweaking.

I see you guys in the east end receive 422.8000, not for me out in Rexdale. I get 423.3125 strongly. Can't really help this week as I'm away but will study it when I get back home.

 

[HiVolt]

Yeah for me 422.800 is the strongest, I have been able to tune into 422.68750 with different antenna placement but it was much weaker.

102725 - Fire Prevention? (They are testing sprinkler systems)
101162 - Malvern Garage

 

[DRL-XM43]

I gleaned that info from this thread: TTC TETRA especially info in post #28 and created the system for the database. It may need some tweaking.

I see you guys in the east end receive 422.8000, not for me out in Rexdale. I get 423.3125 strongly. Can't really help this week as I'm away but will study it when I get back home.

Since I receive 2 LA on 2 Frequencies I monitored them side by each last night as a test. It appears the LA are identical to each other for transmissions so I am guessing each active LA is a locational coverage strategy and one only need monitor one of them. 422.800 is a shade stronger signal for me but even that is over 60 km away.

 

[DRL-XM43]

Since I receive 2 LA on 2 Frequencies I monitored them side by each last night as a test. It appears the LA are identical to each other for transmissions so I am guessing each active LA is a locational coverage strategy and one only need monitor one of them. 422.800 is a shade stronger signal for me but even that is over 60 km away.

This is the plug in action.

 

[HiVolt]

101101 - Wayside Signal Maintainers
102723 - YUS Tower

 

[gary123]

DRL-XM43: do you have a quick and direct link to download the app? I may try and play with it as I have a trip to Toronto coming up.

 

[HiVolt]

102724 - Roncy CIS

 

[DRL-XM43]

DRL-XM43: do you have a quick and direct link to download the app. I may try and play with it as I have a trip to toronto coming up.

SDR# - TETRA Demodulator Trunk Tracking Demonstration

I've been messing around with SDR# TETRA Demodulator plug-in to see what I could come up with in regards to trunk tracking TETRA. I did this as a stop gap until the big players have come up with something. And in true SDR form, here is the setup. I used 2 instances of SDR# (for CC and VC)...

forums.radioreference.com

The download link is at the bottom of every post the author has made on the topic thread.

 

[DRL-XM43]

I don't know if the talkgroups are in the right slots but here is what I have so far from the app LCN discovery log - the talkgroups are entered manually

0;302;2013;;0;True
60002;302;2013;;0;True
101011;302;2013;Surface Ch. 1;0;True
101012;302;2013;Surface Ch. 2 Wheel Trans;0;True
101013;302;2013;Surface Ch. 3;0;True
101101;302;2013;;0;True
101114;302;2013;Wayside Station Desk;0;True
101117;302;2013;Janitors;0;True
101132;302;2013;Wayside;0;True
101143;302;2013;;0;True
101154;302;2013;;0;True
101155;302;2013;Leslie Carhouse;0;True
101159;302;2013;;0;True
101162;302;2013;;0;True
102401;302;2013;Wayside Work Crews;0;True
102701;302;2013;Wayside Radio Techs;0;True
102702;302;2013;;0;True
102704;302;2013;Wayside Radio Techs;0;True
102721;302;2013;;0;True
102723;302;2013;YUS Tower;0;True
102724;302;2013;Roncy CIS;0;True
102727;302;2013;Streetcar Supervisors;0;True
102728;302;2013;Streetcar Supervisors;0;True
102732;302;2013;Bloor-Danforth Line 2 Tower;0;True
102733;302;2013;;0;True
131074;302;2013;;0;True
131442;302;2013;;0;True
101007;302;2013;;0;True

 

[DRL-XM43]

Ok I updated the list I have. The LCN list is auto-generated by my system I believe from reading the control channel- I am monitoring LA 422.8000 LA 30.

I think the LCN are only included when someone transmits on that user group so it is just a snapshot of current activity I think. I also think all the LA are the same based on monitoring two simultaneously.

Anyway I added the ones from the posts above where talkgroup was provided and the LCN was in my list. The talkgroups are added manually by me and may be inaccurate and the LCN logged may be missing inactive ones.. The other talkgroups are from the RR db.

0;302;2013;;0;True
60002;302;2013;;0;True
101007;302;2013;;0;True
101011;302;2013;Surface Ch. 1;0;True
101012;302;2013;Surface Ch. 2 Wheel Trans;0;True
101013;302;2013;Surface Ch. 3;0;True
101101;302;2013;;0;True
101114;302;2013;Wayside Station Desk;0;True
101117;302;2013;Janitors;0;True
101132;302;2013;Wayside;0;True
101143;302;2013;;0;True
101154;302;2013;Russell carhouse;0;True
101155;302;2013;Leslie Carhouse;0;True
101159;302;2013;;0;True
101162;302;2013;Malvern Garage;0;True
102401;302;2013;Wayside Work Crews;0;True
102701;302;2013;Wayside Radio Techs;0;True
102702;302;2013;;0;True
102704;302;2013;Wayside Radio Techs;0;True
102721;302;2013;Shuttle Desk;0;True
102723;302;2013;YUS Tower;0;True
102724;302;2013;Roncy CIS;0;True
102727;302;2013;Streetcar Supervisors;0;True
102728;302;2013;Streetcar Supervisors;0;True
102732;302;2013;Bloor-Danforth Line 2 Tower;0;True
102733;302;2013;;0;True
131074;302;2013;;0;True
131442;302;2013;;0;True

 

[HiVolt]

I'm also wondering if some of these talkgroups are not being broadcast on all of the "towers". Cuz I've been hearing a LOT, and I mean a lot of Malvern Garage yesterday and today, but no other garages. I'm fairly close to Birchmount & Eglinton Garages, so I figured i'd hear those too, but nothing so far. Or, maybe they aren't on the TETRA system yet.

I'm off for another week from work, but I work near Russell Carhouse, so I'll bring my spare SDR & antenna down there to see if I pick up any more or less in that area.