Trouble Understanding WSP frequencies

[Cougman]

Another new guy to forum question.

I frankly don't really understand what type of new scanner I need and then what do you have to program in to hear WSP. I'd like to hear King, Snohomish and Whitman County troopers. Very confusing. The old 155.___'s do not work for me at all.

Thanks in advance!

 

[BC_Scan]

Welcome, that is a good question, there has been lots of coverage here in regards to that , some of their old frequencies have shifted to P25 Digital (non trunked) hence why you might here noise on the original channel than they have also moved to the JIWN trunked state wide radio system, I listen to both on my travels down the I5 to Portland so I get statewide coverage when I pass thru a different region,
At the very least you require a new generation of Digital trunking scanner ,
personal faves are Uniden BCD436/536 series or new Whistler TRX-1/2 , not sure about RS anymore.
either will do the job above & beyond, and open up more listening opportunities, especially in your state.
Up to you which one you choose, you must read up on what P25 is here and than what is trunking, and move forward from there.
At least this site is your one stop shop, you could buy used or new depending on budget but expect a steeper entry price point for digital, also both scanners include database from this website that has preloaded freq for what you want to hear. ielug in your zip and it preloads systems around your geographical area.
Good luck on your hunt for new scanner , exciting times they are.

 

[Cougman]

Before I spend a wad of cash, are people successfully monitoring WSP units using the new talkgroups/technology?

Thank you.

 

[gmclam]

WA SP

I've been visiting the area at least a couple of times a year, but so far have been able to hear what I want. It does depend on the specific county, as it all seems to be in a transition period right now.

By simply re-programming my PSR-500 I've been able to receive on the 155.* channels where they are being used (or simulcast). I've also added this system which I get even better coverage. If you've only got a P25 Phase I scanner, that will get you by for now.

However they are moving to this Phase II system which requires an even newer scanner. The present selection of scanners which can receive Phase II is a short list.

 

[b1100mac]

I have programmed the entire state using the old wsp analog freq's. On the RR data page for Washington state go to statewide freq tab and bring up wsp. Note that in each district each freq is noted as analog or p-25 digital and must be programmed accordingly in a compatable radio. The only exception for me was SEATTLE which I made A separate system for on the WSPDOT system (p-25 phase 1) and it works great in Tacoma. (as for radio needs, I would only buy a phase 1 & 2 radio at this point so you are covered in the future) mac

 

[RBMTS]

Cougman - where are you located? If you are in Seattle or on the eastside, it would be best to just program the VHF repeater frequencies (you'll need a P25 scanner of course). The VHF repeaters have good coverage for King and Snohomish. They transmit the same traffic as what you would hear on the WSDOT trunking system. The 700Mhz system might be difficult to hear from some areas and give you spotty reception.

The one thing to remember with any digital radio system is that the signal will not fade in/out or get "noisy" as you might have remembered with analog system. Digital audio is either there 100% or it's not. Fading will cause the audio to get "robotic" or cause a complete dropout.

 

[b1100mac]

I certainly agree with the above poster, but to clarify my above post, I also have the Seattle conventional p-25 channels programmed, but I live 40 miles south, so my handheld does not receive them, which is the reason I opted for the WSPDOT system for Seattle WSP for my needs and location. If you are in that area the Seattle conventionals should work fine, as will mine if I were closer. I also have found the p-25 channels are pretty much location specific as I don't get Olympia for example in Tacoma, but I drive south Tacoma channels seem to go away and the next zone (Oly) starts to come in. Also another quirk I encountered was that WSP shares a lot of freq's ...i.e. Tacoma dispatch is the same channel as Pasco dispatch, Olympia is the same channel as Yakima dispatch and so on. In my radio when I was programming the entire state for example I went to program Yakima, the radio said "channel already programed, do you want to continue" I had to say yes to get it to work. Also some WSP districts have their own car 2 car channels and some use the statewide car 2 car channel so I put all of them in each scanlist as well as the statewide channel (155.970) which is used a lot on the east side. kind of confusing for sure, but I hope this helps....mac

 

[gmclam]

WA SP

I programmed the conventional frequencies (155.*) for both analog (with CT) and digital and any trunked system they are on which I'll be in range of. If you hear more than you want to you can always lock something out.

I hear on Justice Integrated Wireless Network
Washington WSPDOT

 

[jparks29]

I have programmed the entire state using the old wsp analog freq's. On the RR data page for Washington state go to statewide freq tab and bring up wsp. Note that in each district each freq is noted as analog or p-25 digital and must be programmed accordingly in a compatable radio. The only exception for me was SEATTLE which I made A separate system for on the WSPDOT system (p-25 phase 1) and it works great in Tacoma. (as for radio needs, I would only buy a phase 1 & 2 radio at this point so you are covered in the future) mac

Listings show WSPDOT as phase 2, not phase 1. Can you confirm phase 1 TGs?

WSP is a cluster#%(&

They're running P25 on VHF on the DOJWIN, P25 Phase 2 on 700 WSPDOT, and linked to VHF P25 conventional on the old area channels.

The DOJ and WSP/DOT systems share a system ID, so the radios will roam seamlessly between the systems...and will use conventional as failsoft.

 

[gmclam]

WA SP

Listings show WSPDOT as phase 2, not phase 1. Can you confirm phase 1 TGs?

Some are phase 1 and some are phase 2.

WSP is a cluster#%(&

They're running P25 on VHF on the DOJWIN, P25 Phase 2 on 700 WSPDOT, and linked to VHF P25 conventional on the old area channels.

The DOJ and WSP/DOT systems share a system ID, so the radios will roam seamlessly between the systems...and will use conventional as failsoft

Which is why I have all the various systems programmed. With VHF, I definitely have to be 'in the area' to hear them. But I've been able to monitor 'distant' channels via the various trunking systems. Kinda nice and/or mixed blessing.

 

[Cougman]

After about a week playing around with this scanner (436) (entry stuff is still very confusing) and reading a bunch of threads and posts. This is what I found that works best for me at the moment for WSP in King County.

I have found the "Washington State Patrol" full data base and HOLD it, then I go to "WSP District 2 Bellevue" and HOLD it, then "Seattle/North King County" and HOLD that. Transmissions seem to indicate P25.

 

[Wilrobnson]

If WSDOT is specing their new 700 Phase 2 system to replace their ancient Multinet-2, and has no one on the WSP 700 system save IRT (which has always been on WSP area channels), why, again, are we labelling it WSPDOT?

WSP TGIDs are Phase 1 for dispatch, Phase 2 and encrypted for tactical.

 

[kd7kdc]

Didn't we have this short discussion of system name and or if it's just an extension of DOJ IWN a few years ago?.....

I named it that due to agency letter headed documents that referred to it as the WSPDOT system.


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[Wilrobnson]

Didn't we have this short discussion of system name and or if it's just an extension of DOJ IWN a few years ago?.....

I named it that due to agency letter headed documents that referred to it as the WSPDOT system.

I'm so jet-lagged I don't remember what I did 5 minutes ago.

 

[jparks29]

If WSDOT is specing their new 700 Phase 2 system to replace their ancient Multinet-2, and has no one on the WSP 700 system save IRT (which has always been on WSP area channels), why, again, are we labelling it WSPDOT?

WSP TGIDs are Phase 1 for dispatch, Phase 2 and encrypted for tactical.

Phase1 on DOJ, haven't tried 700 yet, but it shows TDMA, not FDMA..... for area TGs.....

 

[jparks29]

Yup... DB needs to be updated.... My XTS5000 is picking up P1 audio from the system without issues....

Picking up site 5 Oly from KC/PC line... but PC TG on the same site won't unmute, scanning conventional P25.. old school.... Guessing it's a P2 TG... still messing around...

EDIT:: Site 2 and Site 5 being tracked via SDR and unitrunker, XTS5000 with channels programmed in for conv scan with F7E NAC, unmuting for all KC and TC traffic but no PC traffic..

 

[Wilrobnson]

Yup... DB needs to be updated.... My XTS5000 is picking up P1 audio from the system without issues....

Picking up site 5 Oly from KC/PC line... but PC TG on the same site won't unmute, scanning conventional P25.. old school.... Guessing it's a P2 TG... still messing around...

EDIT:: Site 2 and Site 5 being tracked via SDR and unitrunker, XTS5000 with channels programmed in for conv scan with F7E NAC, unmuting for all KC and TC traffic but no PC traffic..

Check to see if WSP units on SS911 are roaming onto it for coverage, or if it's a patch? I didn't bother.

 

[kd7kdc]

Last I heard Pierce was going to put an ISSI in place to IWN.


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[b1100mac]

Just as a point of information, WSP Tacoma east and west now have talkgroups (2) listed in the database on the SS911 system. They work good if you can hear that system. It is part of the inter-op agreement with all PC agencies thru SS911.

 

[jparks29]

Check to see if WSP units on SS911 are roaming onto it for coverage, or if it's a patch? I didn't bother.

I'm pretty sure it's a patch.... No radio IDs are being passed...

This was all on 700 BTW, IWN/and VHF conv are fine...

I might have to get an APX sooner rather than later..ugh...