Tucson MotoTRBO DMR VHF System

DSheirer

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Feb 15, 2010
Messages
613
Location
Fulton, NY
In the Tucson area, I'm seeing a lot of signals in the 170-MHz band that don't map to any known RRDB systems, nor do they map to any FCC licensees for the area.

On 171.3875 MHz there's a MotoTRBO DMR Data Revert Channel that's broadcasting ARS and LRRP/GPS packets. The GPS tracks are decoding to the top of Mt Hoskins. It looks like there's an observatory on top of that mountain, but there's also the chance that these are mining vehicles.

Several of the other bursting signals look like 2FSK signals with the tell-tale bat ears, that I can't decode with sdrtrunk.

Does anyone know who might be using the MotoTRBO system in this frequency range?

Denny
 

Attachments

  • 20250410_114601_screen_capture.png
    20250410_114601_screen_capture.png
    531.7 KB · Views: 10

DanRollman

Member
Database Admin
Joined
Dec 18, 2002
Messages
1,154
Location
Atlanta, GA

That frequency has been Whipple Observatory on Mt Hopkins for as long as I can remember. Analog as far back as the 1990s when I lived in Tucson, and DMR more recently. Among other things, users of that narrow road up to the observatory would announce their transit plans to avoid meeting a vehicle heading the other direction in a spot where passing isn't possible. The frequency is in the federal allocation because the observatory is operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
 
Top