University of California Irvine is Silent

[cj5]

I live about a mile from the campus, and I added all the frequencies of the UCI trunk system to my scanner bank, as a trunked bank. I've only added police and security talkgroups to the ID's in this bank, but I am not picking up anything. Is the Radio Reference info about UCI up-to-date? I have the trunked bank set as a Motorola Type II Smartnet system, and my scanner is a Uniden BC898T.

 

[LZJSR]

Try turning off the Control Channel Only setting...

I had the same problem with UCLA. I turned OFF the "Control Channel Only" setting and that fixed my problem. You should give that a try....

 

[cj5]

Thanks for the tip. I checked if CC only was turned off and by default is was. I also manually set it to OFF just in case, but it is still a no go.

 

[Markb]

Are you at least able to RX the control channel?

 

[cj5]

No, in fact, I receive none of the channels??

 

[Markb]

From what I remember, the system is licensed for 75 watts from an antenna at 33'. It may just be that you are too far away. You gotta figure that the system really only has to cover the campus and UCI Medical Center (apparently 2 diff sites, probably each with a small coverage footprint). Do you have an HT that you can go mobile with and see if, when and where you pick the control channel up?

 

[cj5]

Wow, I had no idea it was such a minimal set up for their system, but it would make sense if they only need to cover the campus area. I do have a small transceiver I could walk over there, and play around with the control channels to see if the frequencies are good. I may just be outside the operating range. Thanks, for your help.

 

[pepsima1]

I live on the oposite side of Irvine and I am able to receive the control channel on 867.4875

 

[MikeyC]

I let UniTrunker run against the UCI system from the area of I-55 and Dyer Rd. yesterday and was picking up the control channel signal full strength.

867.48750 (c)
852.03750
866.48750
866.98750
867.98750
868.48750

49 talkgroups and 306 users were logged so it seems fairly busy (3900 or so channel hits in 8 hours)

 

[cousinkix1953]

Some of the other campuses have rebanded to slightly lower frequencies. The rest will do the same thing sooner or later. Police and fire services have abandoned the Motorola TRS and gone back to using conventional VHF/UHF radios, which are compatable with the systems used by local agencies. Whats left are the shuttle buses, housing proctors, dining halls and other campus services.

They are back to using 155.505 and 154.13 in Santa Cruz and rarely talk on 800 mhz. Another poster noticed a similiar thing in Santa Barbara a couple of months ago; so I suggested that he search for new active frequencies near his local police and fire channels...

 

[monitor142]

Well I "personally" can assure you that the trunking system at UCI is working just fine according to my SiteLens and SystemWatch terminals that sit in front of me Monday-Friday : )

Yes the system is very busy and has almost 800 radios (mostly portable) registered on the system.

Rebanding will not take place until the treaty with Mexico is signed for the border area of Wave 4.

-M142

 

[cousinkix1953]

Well I "personally" can assure you that the trunking system at UCI is working just fine according to my SiteLens and SystemWatch terminals that sit in front of me Monday-Friday : )

Yes the system is very busy and has almost 800 radios (mostly portable) registered on the system.

Rebanding will not take place until the treaty with Mexico is signed for the border area of Wave 4.

-M142

Are the campus police still using the Motorola system? Or have they quietly migrated to the Orange county system, so they have direct channels to the local police and fire agencies?

 

[monitor142]

Campus Police still use the campus system for their operations. They carry XTS5000's custom programmed with the OC law talkgroups and have all the other UC systems in them...the joy of 1000 modes.

UCI will not be shutting down the 800MHz system unlike some of the other campuses. The backbone is current enough to last until 2016...although it should be upgraded before end of life as long as the money is there. The system has been in place since 1995 minus a few upgrades such as the controller.

-M142

 

[cousinkix1953]

Campus Police still use the campus system for their operations. They carry XTS5000's custom programmed with the OC law talkgroups and have all the other UC systems in them...the joy of 1000 modes.

UCI will not be shutting down the 800MHz system unlike some of the other campuses. The backbone is current enough to last until 2016...although it should be upgraded before end of life as long as the money is there. The system has been in place since 1995 minus a few upgrades such as the controller.

-M142

One poster said that he wasn't hearing the UCI police any more. Are they using a new talk group? He might consider running that Motorola TRS in the open mode; so it can hear anybody using the system. I do this up here once in awhile. In fact, this is really a good idea during storms; because a lot of people are working over time and handling emergenciy calls on campus. We never know when a new talk group may appear and need to be identified for the RR database.

The system in Santa Cruz isn't being shut down either! Many of the general services remain on the air (shuttle buses, paratransit, dining halls, housing proctors, computer ITs etc). The police and fire services are the only ones to move on as far as I know.

 

[monitor142]

Nothing has change as far as talkgroups at UCI. UCSC is looking at alternatives right now as their system is no longer supported due to the old equipment (6809 controller and MSF5000 repeaters). UCSD is going to UHF for most operations, MotoTRBO in some cases and the PD is moving to RCS.