Toronto Transit Commission - PowerTrunk TETRA

[mciupa]

Events 3 (102721) being used heavily as there is a Subway Rescue at track level at Keele Station. Massive crowds at turnaround points of Jane and Ossington stations. Trains are slowing or holding on Line 1 to slow the hordes heading west from St. George.

 

[HiVolt]

Yeah that's the shuttle desk utilizing Events 3. I have yet to hear it being used for anything else so far in the few weeks I've been listening...

Also I heard the 102716 Transit Enforcement channel is being referred as TE1 (Transit Enforcement 1).

 

[adryd]

Were any of you using a portable system on a westbound train today?

 

[mciupa]

Were any of you using a portable system on a westbound train today?

No, monitored from home. I'm sure there was extra stress on the system with striking teachers enmasse at Queen's Park. What a perfect storm for transit overload.

 

[VA3ADP]

131071 & 131074 - Transit Control to Bus PA

Heard it used several times to tell passengers that were causing a disturbance to leave the bus or stop what they were doing, and that everything is video recorded.

The fare collectors in the stations have a very similar setup. Almost like a mini PA system. Oh I'd say about 8-10 years ago I heard them use it on a bunch of skateboarders at High Park Station. Wouldn't be surprised if we will see a talkgroup for that pop up in the future.

I do wonder however If those talkgroups are recorded and some how linked into the bus video system. So that both can be used in court proceedings, investigations, etc...

 

[DRL-XM43]

Don't know if this is bogus but I have LCN 0 in my system populated list - when it is active the group comes up as private -

After the - it usually has half duplex in brackets? There is also a User ID

 

[mciupa]

I believe those are private calls by Supervisors to Operators about their + or - run times.

 

[AOD999]

Were any of you using a portable system on a westbound train today?

I had my scanner yesterday monitoring Wayside.

 

[DRL-XM43]

I believe those are private calls by Supervisors to Operators about their + or - run times.

This is an example

 

[adryd]

According to a TTC Subway driver, Line 1 switched to TETRA yesterday as the recent conversion to TETRA on Line 4 went smoothly
"All of Line 1 is converting over to TETRA on March 8th since the recent conversion to TETRA on Line 4 has largely been without issue."

 

[AOD999]

According to a TTC Subway driver, Line 1 switched to TETRA yesterday as the recent conversion to TETRA on Line 4 went smoothly
"All of Line 1 is converting over to TETRA on March 8th since the recent conversion to TETRA on Line 4 has largely been without issue."

Now if only there was a portable handheld to monitor TETRA that doesn't end up costing +$900 plus.

 

[adryd]

Now if only there was a portable handheld to monitor TETRA that doesn't end up costing +$900 plus.

I have a setup using a Raspberry Pi, an RTL-SDR dongle, and a portable battery pack. For decoding I use telive, It works okay, and is very configurable. I can configure it on the go using a wifi network it makes and VNC

Some issues I have with it:
It cannot re-tune itself when it gets out of range of an antenna.
Telive has a scanning feature, but I have yet to figure out how to get it working.
It looks like a bomb, and bringing it out in public would probably create a big scene.
My setup is sub-optimal, It's my first setup for SDR and I bought the cheapest parts I could find.

 

[HiVolt]

According to a TTC Subway driver, Line 1 switched to TETRA yesterday as the recent conversion to TETRA on Line 4 went smoothly
"All of Line 1 is converting over to TETRA on March 8th since the recent conversion to TETRA on Line 4 has largely been without issue."

Oh, interesting... I wonder what the schedule is to convert Line 2.

 

[AOD999]

I have a setup using a Raspberry Pi, an RTL-SDR dongle, and a portable battery pack. For decoding I use telive, It works okay, and is very configurable. I can configure it on the go using a wifi network it makes and VNC

Some issues I have with it:
It cannot re-tune itself when it gets out of range of an antenna.
Telive has a scanning feature, but I have yet to figure out how to get it working.
It looks like a bomb, and bringing it out in public would probably create a big scene.
My setup is sub-optimal, It's my first setup for SDR and I bought the cheapest parts I could find.

The issue is, every so often the Channel frequency changes underground in certain spots.

 

[HiVolt]

I've been hearing actual wayside train/dispatch comms on talkgroup 100010 on the Finch tower.

 

[AOD999]

I've been hearing actual wayside train/dispatch comms on talkgroup 100010 on the Finch tower.

Are these communications available outside the subway TETRA frequencies?

 

[HiVolt]

Are these communications available outside the subway TETRA frequencies?

I don't know, but having listened to it for a bit, it seems like these are more like "Line Calls", broadcasts to entire YUS Line trains, rather than individual trains. Maybe individual train calls will be only ones closer to the Finch tower.

 

[HiVolt]

Looks like they're suffering some TETRA issues on the wayside, train crews report not hearing transmissions, or they are breaking up, all kind of issues...

Maybe it wasn't the right system to implement underground.

 

[AOD999]

Looks like they're suffering some TETRA issues on the wayside, train crews report not hearing transmissions, or they are breaking up, all kind of issues...

Maybe it wasn't the right system to implement underground.

Their old MPT-1327 is smack dab in the middle of some of the TETRA underground frequencies. The only other one close by should be RCMP.

 

[Aurora]

Just heard a broadcast on 100010 announcing an inspection by foot from King to Union. Likey an all call.

Is it possible they’re talking to train operators individually like they do with the buses?

I've been hearing actual wayside train/dispatch comms on talkgroup 100010 on the Finch tower.