Ventura County moving to 7/800 Phase I P25 trunking system by 2020

[iscanvnc2]

I'm coping the same as kj6psg.

TG 111 is fire CMD 5.

 

[kj6psg]

Site 3's 24-hours Seen Radios window reports 52 radios. A pattern is emerging:

• 30 are 10xxx IDs (excluding PSAP 10000). These are exclusively on 1xx talkgroups, mostly 111 but also 109 and 101.
• 2 are 200xx IDs (excluding PSAPs), which were seen on talkgroup 207 per the list.
• 4 are 201xx IDs, using talkgroups 201, 203, and 205.
• 30100, which has been with us since the early days, is not associated to any talkgroup.
• 2 are 400xx IDs, using talkgroup 201.
• 1 is a 500xx ID, using talkgroup 211.
• The remainder are PSAPs or entries for the patches. Each patch (source as "EXTERNAL") counts as an individual radio in DSDPlus Fastlane.

 

[kj6psg]

Site 3, talkgroup 205 ($CD): Oxnard PD testing patch to Band 3. 200xx radio ID talking to 20000. I didn't hear another side of the patch on the 700 MHz end.

Probably worth paying attention to this as well.

 

[OCEANCRITTER]

Ive been hearing a few SO units on West that sound digital. Dispatch is definitely still analog FM in the response to said digital reception.

 

[kj6psg]

Yesterday (22 May 2023), at around 11:55 PM, Ventura PD "activated channel marker" on Site 3. Announcements of this were made by the Ventura PD PSAP (20007) on talkgroups 65535 ($FFFF) and 99. All channels on Site 3 are sending a test pattern, and Site 4 reports Site 3 as failed and isolated. Presumably, Ventura PD is doing some coverage testing.

Site 4 records Site 3 being back on the air in normal operation at 23 May 2023 12:05 AM. I went to go record the test pattern, but Site 3 was back to normal operation by the time I wrote my first paragraph. Despite missing the recording of the test pattern, I must have been incredibly lucky to catch this happening at all, considering the test lasted ten minutes at midnight.

I don't have a record of the specific test pattern being sent, but it was a DUID not recognized by DSDPlus and it was sent in Phase 1. No non-routine traffic on Ventura PD's Band 1 VHF frequency.

 

[tsalmrsystemtech]

Looks like from talking to some people that this system is going to go live live in about 1 year. Most small cities will go encrypted with PD because of CLETS and the DOJ. I believe the county sheriffs will stay in the clear as they can send CLETS information to their MDC's back and forth. Any other smaller cities that does not have that ability they will be mandated by The DOJ to encrypt traffic as if any CLETS information needs to go over the air. Some smaller departments do not have the budget for this CLETS stuff to get transmitted to their MDC's. Just really not sure how this CLETS and what applicatons they use in their MDC's terminals to do this processing to get information to and from their vehicle cruisers.

Correct me if I am wrong on the CLETS and their MDC's. This is just what I have heard from good sources. See how fire goes. Not sure if they are moving over the to the new trunked system or not

 

[f40ph]

I believe the county sheriffs will stay in the clear as they can send CLETS information to their MDC's back and forth.

I wouldn't bank on this statement. Our Sheriff's Dept didn't stay in the clear and they do have MDCs.
Very likely that since some "urgent" PII and criminal history is given verbally they'll go encrypted 24/7.

 

[abr02]

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for all the updates on the new Ventura County system being tested. I am pretty new to digital monitoring,
but have a SDS 100 and a SDS 200 and using Sentinal have added Hall canyon, Site 1 and Site 2. I also have been
hearing VCSO west dispatch and VCFD dispatch as well. I am wondering how to add Site 3 and the talkgroups.
Again thanks for all the updates. Just to add, I live in midtown Ventura.

 

[kj6psg]

The info on the system page is out of date; Site 1 and Site 2 no longer exist. Presently we have Site 3 and Site 4.

• Site 3:
  • 770.79375c
  • 770.78125a
  • 770.34375a
• Site 4:
  • 773.95625c
  • 771.51875a
  • 771.21875a
  • 769.79375a

The talkgroups seem to be somewhat fluid in their usage (patches get moved around a fair bit), but I'm confident in the following:

• 99 ($63): PSAP
• 109 ($6D): Fire Dispatch (patched)
• 110 ($6E): Fire Command 2 (patched)
• 111 ($6F): Fire Command 5 (patched)
• 201 ($C9): Sheriff West (patched)
• 203 ($CB): Sheriff East (patched)

These others I'm reasonably sure of, but again usage seems fluid:

• 103 ($67): Fire Chief Net
• 205 ($CD): Sheriff Test West
• 207 ($CF): Sheriff Test East
• 208 ($D0): Simi Valley PD Test

 

[Progline]

I did hear today's Roll Call at 8:26 this morning, on TGID 99 in Phase 1. First activity I've heard on this system in years. This was from the Rocketdyne site (site 04), I'm sure, given its strength.

 

[109heavystatic]

The info on the system page is out of date; Site 1 and Site 2 no longer exist. Presently we have Site 3 and Site 4.

• Site 3:
  • 770.79375c
  • 770.78125a
  • 770.34375a
• Site 4:
  • 773.95625c
  • 771.51875a
  • 771.21875a
  • 769.79375a

The talkgroups seem to be somewhat fluid in their usage (patches get moved around a fair bit), but I'm confident in the following:

• 99 ($63): PSAP
• 109 ($6D): Fire Dispatch (patched)
• 110 ($6E): Fire Command 2 (patched)
• 111 ($6F): Fire Command 5 (patched)
• 201 ($C9): Sheriff West (patched)
• 203 ($CB): Sheriff East (patched)

These others I'm reasonably sure of, but again usage seems fluid:

• 103 ($67): Fire Chief Net
• 205 ($CD): Sheriff Test West
• 207 ($CF): Sheriff Test East
• 208 ($D0): Simi Valley PD Test

I am hearing Command 5 on TG 113. At least I was on 6/16/23

 

[abr02]

Does anyone know how long before Ventura County switches to this system?

 

[kj6psg]

Does anyone know how long before Ventura County switches to this system?

By their own timeline, about 3 years. One of the applications, on all three licenses, has a slow-growth update with a buildout timeline. The ULS appears to be down (or otherwise inaccessible) right now so I can't access it.

 

[abr02]

By their own timeline, about 3 years. One of the applications, on all three licenses, has a slow-growth update with a buildout timeline. The ULS appears to be down (or otherwise inaccessible) right now so I can't access it.

Thanks!

 

[109heavystatic]

picking up 861.xxx as a control channel on site 2 from Oxnard

 

[kj6psg]

View attachment 146018 picking up 861.xxx as a control channel on site 2 from Oxnard

That's a false decode, probably from the C4FM site and the CQPSK sites clashing inside your receiver. The site equipment is physically not capable of transmitting outside the 700 MHz band.

---

During X-Games, there was no activity on the system except for the usual Saturday roll call.

---

Activity on talkgroups 103 and 109 today. Heard various ambulances (1030015) communicating with dispatch ("Ventura", 1030018) on talkgroup 103. 1030015 seems to be a patch, but I am not sure what it is patched to -- it's not a command channel. Another possibility is that it is a replay of recorded traffic from previous days.

109 is patched to VHF fire channel 1 dispatch. I only just now started monitoring things so there's probably more on the system.

 

[abr02]

RR database has been updated with Site 4 channels as of August 25.

 

[Engine104]

Are there any recent updates re: the switchover to the new system.

 

[kj6psg]

Gold Coast Transit was testing the system today, RID 39xxx and talkgroup 1; the test radios were bulky portables. There was one instance where I was able to hear both testers but one said they were getting poor reception. From what I intercepted, they liked the system.

TG 217 (and some snippets on 219) also saw testing today, from 20075 and 20076. One of them (I believe 20075) identifies as 6-Sam, and Station 2 was called; so this would be Ventura Police doing coverage testing. They were testing indoor targets inside the City of Ventura. Throughout the entire duration of their testing I didn't notice any dropouts that couldn't be explained by SDR or the simulcast modulation mismatch.

Both talkgroups were only active in Phase 2.

 

[abr02]

Went to the VCSO Copters and Choppers event yesterday at Camarillo Airport, and had a chance to talk with Sherriff Fryoff for a few minutes. I asked him about the new radio system and how it's coming along. He says 3 towers are up as we know by the updates here, with 8 more towers to go, so it will still be a year or so before all towers are up and tested, and the system in fully functional. I asked him about the dreaded encryption and he said the plan is to have the clearance channel and tactical channels encrypted but not dispatch, which is good news. He thinks it's important to give the public the ability to know what is happening in their communities, I mentioned what happened in Maui, with everything being encrypted no one could hear what was happening, he agreed it's important. He did say as has been mentioned here, that each individual city will have the choice of encrypting or not.