Uniden BCD996T and NJSP

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SCPD

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I'm a relative newbie to the DMA scanner scene but have been a scanner nerd since the early crystal controlled days (actually even before with a single frequency crystal controlled tube box!).

I have programmed a system into the 996T for NJSP and it works fine. My previous rig was a PRO-2096 and I am used to seeing its display showing "Scanning" and the scan channel groups being displayed. The 996T is sort of annoying in that its display shows all of the 'cc towers' I have programmed in while scanning.

Yesterday, I locked out all of the "IR" entries, keeping only the Troop A, B and C Simulcast entries. So far as I know, I have lost nothing. The display is much cleaner, although the three Simulcast sites show during the scan. There is apparently no means on the 996T to inhibit the CC display.

That leads to a couple of Newbie questions:
1. Should I have the "IR" entries enabled? What does "IR" mean? What are they?
2. How have others arranged their DMA scanners to monitor NJSP?
I can send my .996 file to anyone who may be interested if that would help.

The NJICS system apparently has no Simulcast transmitters built in so my 'fix' will not work there. Is there another solution for monitoring NJICS?

My apologies for ending the year with Newbie questions!

Tnx & 73
Jack
WA2OLZ
 

Fizz306

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Jack,

Welcome aboard! A few things...

I see you're in Pittstown. So you're in the middle of Troops B and C. Are you looking to monitor everything? How well is your 996T hearing the North and Central simulcast sites. Provided your scanner is receiving both simulcast sites well, you shouldn't have to deal with any of the IR sites.

IR stands for Intellirepeater. Pasted below is a good description, pulled from RR's wiki site:

"The introduction of SmartZone introduced the IntelliRepeater. An IntelliRepeater, or IR, site is a bare-bones trunked site which has no database of users or talkgroups. It is simply sophisticated software running on a Quantar repeater. It is meant to be controlled by the Zone Controller and to be commanded as to who has permission and who does not. There are some very basic restrictions in the event Site Trunking (a site loses its link to the Zone Controller) does occur but for all intents and purposes once an IR site is in Site Trunking mode it's a free-for-all site.

IR sites are generally used for a small geographic area or to fill in holes. For sites that are used to fill in coverage traffic is very limited. To allow as limited a number of channels for use, and to be spectrum efficient, Voice On Control (VOC) was developed to permit the control channel to temporarily act as a voice channel. This allows as little as one channel per site, but access must be severely restricted to the site or commmunication problems will occur."

You can read up on Moto Type II systems for further here:

Motorola Type II - The RadioReference Wiki

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the NJICS system presents issues with the 996T. In that portion of the 700MHz spectrum, they divide frequencies up by 6.25kHz spacing. The 996T will only scan in 12.5kHz or 5kHz steps. This means that a good chunk of the frequencies used on this system, the 996T can't even tune to. The only way around this is to use a scanner like the GRE PSR800 or the new (still yet to be released) BDC436HP or BCD536HP scanners from Uniden, which are designed to scan these types of 700MHz P25 trunked systems.

I'll PM you my email address, feel free to send me your .996 file and I'll look at it a little later this afternoon...

73,

Rob
 

kennyloatman

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Jack, The IR's are short range repeaters of such that fill in dead zones, Unless you are mobile or near them or traveling thru those areas you don't need to have them active. I live in the Troop A region so I only have A simulcast active. I am out of range of B and C unless I go mobile.
 

SCPD

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Thanks for the help on the IR sites, guys. I will just leave them locked out.

Bob - the file(s) were sent to your email

Interesting info on the NJICS spacing. So much for that idea!

EDIT: I get Troop B and C quite srongly here in Hunterdon, but nothing at all for Troop A. I just leave it on the scanner for those times when I travel south.

EDIT to my Edit: The Simulcast tags for NJICS didn't xfr to the 996T for some reason. I see in the RR database there are indeed simulcast sites. Maybe if I plug in all of the CC and voice channels it may work, although withought tracking I imagine. Another experiement in the works (-;
 
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Fizz306

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Is this system "re-banded" and therefor uses the re-banded "Bandplan"?

This is not rebanding. Rebanding was done to fix the desense issue that 800 MHz public safety systems experience because of the high powered Nextel transmitters that broadcasted on relatively close frequencies.

Rebanding - The RadioReference Wiki

The 700 MHz public safety band plan calls for 960 channels, starting at 769.00625, and spaced 12.5 kHz apart. Try inputting 769.00625 into an BCD996T, and you'll see what I mean. It'll only read 769.0062, leaving you 500 Hz off the intended frequency. I've been able to get around this and trunk track 700 MHz systems (mainly the NJICS) with a 996T and decode P25 Phase 1 audio by forcing the modulation of each site to FM, and not NFM or Auto.

It's a bit of a hack but it works for me until my birthday and my 436HP arrives...
 

SCPD

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Kudos to Rob F (Fizz306). He straightened out my head and scanner issues in a flash. Many thanks, Rob - your support is much appreciated.

I traveled from Hunterdon County to Newark last night with the 996T scanning away. I noticed one transmission from The West Orange NJICS site (5 Comm, as I recall). Reception on it was fine. There may have been others but I had my hands full with Route 78 traffic on New Year's Eve and couldn't devote my full attention to the scanner display!

Here's a follow-up question: would a 5-Comm transmission on NJICS also be transmitted on the 80MHz system? In other words, are they linked (simulcast) or independent?
 

W2SJW

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The actual transmission is happening on the 800 system - it's being simulcast to the 700 system.
 
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