Trunking Problems Tippecanoe Co.

[columbus_east]

Hi
I have been listening to the Tippecanoe County Public Safety system for about two years using a BC245XLT. Recently, I have begun to have the following problem: what sounds like the control channel is heard on talkgroups, very loudly, over what sounds like regular transmissions. This happens on multiple talkgroups, and when I track the system conventionally, it occurs on all of the frequencies used by the system. This occurs probably once every minute now, and makes listening very annoying. The audio I hear behind the control channel I don't belive is audio that is being transmitted on that talkgroup. This occurs in both conventional and trunked modes, and obviously in both ID search and scan modes.

Is this something anyone else has experienced, or is this a problem with my radio? I have listened to the live broadcast of the system but have not heard what I describe on it.

Any help or furthur questions are appreciated!

 

[TippeTrunker2]

columbus_east,
I listen daily from about 6AM to 12PM on a 246T in CC Mode for all systems, a BCT-8 on just the County SD Talk Groups, and a 796D for any digital traffic that might start up. My old trusty 245 is on the Lafayete PD only. Last week, they were doing something with patching the State Safe-T Dist-14 into the Analog channels on the Tipp Co system for the SD and County FD (it may have been the other way too). I caught several data bursts on some very unusual Talk Groups. If your still getting the "buzz saw", what talk group is it? If it's Digital, I can help.
Dan

 

[DaveIN]

The I-calls on the Tippecanoe Co. Public Safety system are "mostly" in APCO-25 digital mode from the newly installed radios. That is most likely what you are hearing. The system is soon to upgrade to total 3600 baud APCO-25.

The BC245XLT and BC246T are both analog only TrunkTrackers and will soon not work with this system. You will need a BC250D/BC785D with BCi25 card, BC296D/BC796D, PRO-96/PRO-2096, or the upcomming BCD396T in order to hear them. How soon will it change over to only digital, only the county knows.

 

[columbus_east]

More information

Okay, I figured that it had something to do with the transition to digital. I was hoping they would hold out until after I left for the summer (I am a Purdue student), because I am probably upgrading to the BCD396T at the end of the summer (or as soon as it comes out).

On Tuesday, I tracked for five minutes and I had the "buzz saw" on talkgroups 33904 (PUPD dispatch), 32204 (WLPD dispatch), 38512 (TCSD base) and 30992 (LPD north). I am sure it is not limited to these, it seems to cut in on whatever talkgroup anaolg transmissions are occuring on. In search or scan, it doesn't seem to stop scanning on this sound, but will stay tuned to if it occurs during an analog transmission.

I can still hear all of the analog voice fine, but these data bursts give me a headache pretty quickly.

Thanks for the help!

 

[DaveIN]

None of that is heard on any of the talkgroups that you mentioned on any my current Trunking Scanners. I do have a 245 that I do not use for this system. I'll try it out and see If I hear what you are hearing.

 

[TippeTrunker2]

Last night, caught two 750xxx Digital I-calls on the Tipp Co PS Trunk. The conversation seemed related to Fire Station Activity. This morning, caught two more 750xxx Analog I-calls on the same trunk. This conversation was definitely from a Township Volunteer Fire Department. Absolutely no intercepts on any of the mentioned PS Talkgroups. I've expanded my listening to both the Dist-14 and the Tipp Co PS Trunks, since several local agencies use the State Back Up Talkgroups on the Dist-14 Trunk. I'm keeping track of the exact I-call numbers, as the ID seems to stay with whatever agency is using that particular radio. The Digital I-calls did "buzz saw" on my analog radios.
Dan

 

[DaveIN]

Yep, that's also what I see Dan. The SAFE-T site also has county back-up talkgroups to use in the fringe areas like SR-25 closer to 3-lane hill.

Medic units have been using APCO-25 I-calls as well.

By the way, if you had not noticed, Carroll County and Delphi are totally APCO-25 now.

 

[TippeTrunker2]

Same here DaveIN. I'll hook the 796D back up to the TrunkStar 785D and get a new activity log this week end. I'm sure it logs I-calls and saves mode information like analog or digital, freq, TG etc. If I get some consistency I'll post here and on SAFE-T. I hope the digital holds off until the 396D comes out. I hate carrying around my 796D. If anyone is using Tracker or the like, new info would be nice. :wink:
Dan

 

[TippeTrunker2]

Logged all week-end and discovered that TrunkStar 785D on my 796D would not log any I-calls. It did light up the I-call annunciator and showed the i-call 6 digit code, but did not log. I found some digital activity on the Tipp Co PS System 1. I did hear 706153 and 706165 this morning on digital, but unable to ID users. 750721, 750723, and 750725 were all analog units.

 

[wiseblood]

pro96 and Tipp Co

Does the Pro96 still receive the I-call transmissions?

I have Sys1 programmed into my scanner in trunked mode. All freqs and not just the 2 CC's. All freq's in MOT mode.

Do I have to program the non CC freq's in conventional mode to hear the I-calls?

I-calls are unclear to me.

Thanks,
wb

 

[DaveIN]

No the 96 will not do I-calls. On the Michigan 9600 baud statwide system you can see and log the I-Calls using the pro96com software, but it won't track the I-Calls without the software and another scanner.

 

[WPXN]

Has Lafayette gone digital yet?? reason I ask, is they was useing it late Saturday night,,, city, fire, and west lafayette,,, not sure about county..Picked them up on 859.7125 860.7125 866.3875

 

[DaveIN]

All is analog this AM.

Many, if not all, of the TEAS, TCSD, and WL units already have APCO-25 and analog modes available to use. Most of the APCO-25 use has been on I-Calls, but if it was TEAS and TCSD in the SR25 East area (i.e. the old 3-lane hill) they may be using the State backup talkgroups due to reduced coverage in that area. Those talkgroups, when linked to the SAFE-T tower, could be APCO-25. Then again if WL was also using it, then they could have been having similar problems in the north-west part of the county. Was there any activity leading up to the switch to APCO-25?

 

[WPXN]

No notice or anything that I heard... It started around Midnight and lasted til about 2 a.m... then nothing on Digital... then about 3 a.m they went back to Digital... Maybe they were just testing out the sytem.. Have never heard them on it before so was just wondering what was going on..
I did hear one of the city units tell another unit on analog,, that he had a spare Digital radio if he wanted to use it ....

 

[DaveIN]

That tells me they had a reason to go to the digital mode. For more
"secure" reasons possibly.

 

[scannerfreak]

Are these digital transmissions on the same talkgoups or new talkgroups?

Also, which ones are they?

 

[TippeTrunker2]

No DIGITAL on the Tippecanoe Public Safety Trunk, yet! The three frequencies (859.7125, 860.7125, and 866.3875) listed are for the Indiana State Police SAFE-T Trunk, and they are all Digital. So far, this last week, the state police assisted Tippecanoe County with a fugative manhunt with a helicopter. The Digital transmissions from the the state police to the Tippecanoe County units were all translated to Analog on the TCSD's Talkgroups, and the TCSD transmissions were translated to Digital on the ISP Dist-14 talkgroups. The talkgroups were, Dist-14, ISP OPS-2, and Tipp Sp Detail. This is common for joint activity in Tippecanoe Co. I have heard brief I-calls tested in Digital, however, most are still in Analog and seem to be the County Fire units.

 

[scannerfreak]

Oh, I miss-understood the conversation I see Thanks

 

[DaveIN]

Thank you for clearing that up for us :!: I was thinking that was why, but could not verify it. All I knew was that I had only heard digital I-Calls so far.

 

[TippeTrunker2]

No intention to scold anyone. :roll: The TippCo System is still Analog, but that could change any day. I'm listening all the time, both digital and analog. I'll post as soon as I get a digital intercept. There appears to be some digital monitoring capabilities in the LPD units, as the officers will call in to dispatch and ask if they heard the call by State (in Digital). This usually is followed by a negative response, and the officers will clear to assist the State units. Every county around us is on Digital. It's just a matter of time for us. The "Digital Patch" is very anoying to listen to. The analog calls from TCPD or LPD are translated to digital on the ISP system, Dist-14 OPS-2 (12464). Sometimes on Dist-14 Dispatch (12432). There is several seconds of delay, so listening to both the ISP and TippCo system is best listened to on the County Special Detail Talkgroup (28912). Everything related is sent back from State to the County in Analog. We do have "interoperability". :lol: