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

[kj6psg]

Simulcast still broken, and Hall is choking quite a bit.

I looked a bit further into this issue with Hall's control channel dropping out, and I can say with a confidence of about 70dB that the control channel is fully turning off and not reducing power. Now, why would it need to turn off the transmitter? In a simulcast, all the stations need to be transmitting exactly the same thing, and carry all system activity updates for the site. The P25 core tells every station what to say and when to say it. So if a station doesn't receive what it needs to say before it needs to say it, it has two options: say the wrong thing, or say nothing at all. In the former case, the entire packet could be lost by subscriber units because a station decided to transmit a packet differently from how the core told the rest of the stations to do so. If the station doesn't transmit when it has nothing to transmit, the other simulcast stations will fill in the gap with some degradation in coverage/timing. I think this is what's going on with Hall; there's either packet loss or elevated latency, and it's preventing the station from receiving 100% of the packets it needs to transmit.


[edit] In the county's Year 3 Slow Growth notice, they claim that Mt. Abel is on the air. Anyone able to hear it?

 

[kj6psg]

Interesting...


First attempt was at 8:58 AM, then no registration attempts until 9:13 AM, which continued until 10:08 AM. Around 9:15 AM, RID 10000 (VCFD PSAP) registers to the system, affiliates to Fire Chief Net (TG 103), and deregisters; this cycle repeats for a second time, before 10000 finally stays on 103 and kerchunks twice in Phase 1.

 

[kj6psg]

13000 managed to join the system successfully around 2:00 PM, and was seen on talkgroup 103 (Fire Chief Net) and two new talkgroups: 107 and 108. Transmissions on 107 (the only talkgroup with voice activity) were in Phase 2, and were all under 2 seconds long. RID 13005 was also joining those talkgroups around the same time.

 

[kj6psg]

New radio IDs, 500xx range: 50021 joined the system around 11:30 AM this morning, and 50022's registration attempts are failing. 50021 affiliates to new (law enforcement associated) talkgroups 209, 210, and 211 ($D1, $D2. $D3 respectively). After 13000's registration failures were fixed, there was increased activity from the 1300x IDs; I'll expect to see the same with these users. Voice activity from 50021 has just been radio checks, all of which are in Phase 2.

Activity on talkgroups 107 and 108, from 13001-13006 and also in Phase 2, has mostly just been radio checks as well. I have not noted any activity from either of the new groups on the Rocketdyne ASR.

 

[MtnBiker2005]

Another Ventura FCC license for the system:

WRNE486 - VENTURA, COUNTY OF
07/22/2021 License Issued
SY - Trunked Public Safety 700 MHz - (Special Temporary)
7 MI N/E OF SIMI VALLEY, SIMI VALLEY, CA VENTURA County - (Torrey Hill)
769.29375
769.54375
769.79375
https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=4472920
https://www.radioreference.com/db/fcc/callsign/WRNE486

(See attachments on the FCC page for more info)

 

[kj6psg]

County radio techs have been messing around with ADP encryption on 2xx talkgroups.

 

[Progline]

I was stunned to actually hear activity on the East County (Rocketdyne) system on Friday, 12/10. Around Noon, Radio Tech came on with Phase 1 transmissions, with a couple of test counts and then called someone, but didn't get a reply.

 

[kj6psg]

I was stunned to actually hear activity on the East County (Rocketdyne) system on Friday, 12/10. Around Noon, Radio Tech came on with Phase 1 transmissions, with a couple of test counts and then called someone, but didn't get a reply.

I haven't been monitoring the system since popping my multicoupler, but this post reminded me that I probably should be; I monitor the west simulcast. Today (12/15), there is an ongoing drive test of the system on TG 105 ($69), in phase 1. The convoy started rolling towards River Haven as I wrote this post. Sounds like Oxnard City is doing this test.
2003 - Engine 58
2004 - Ernie
2005 - male voice in the convoy, didn't talk much
2006 - Convoy
2007 - female voice, only talked while the convoy was getting set up
2009 - VCSO Unit 1
2010 - Oxnard PD

Radio 20042 kerchunked talkgroup 212 ($D4) during the convoy's drive to the first destination, and radio 20016 kerchunked on talkgroup 212 in Phase 2 just moments ago.

Radios 20010, 20013, 20015, 20016, 20026, 20027, 20030, 20031, 20035, 20040, and 20043 have affiliated to talkgroup 213 ($D5). More are joining as I write this.

 

[iscanvnc2]

Thanks, kj6psg
Got 'em. But then quiet.

 

[Progline]

That's a great catch! Haven't heard anything on the East system since that radio test on the 10th. Back to silence.

 

[OCEANCRITTER]

I had the opportunity to talk with Sheriff Ayub one on one a few weeks ago. I asked him when would the new system roll-out and if it would have full-time encryption. He said about 2 years and yes it would have full-time encryption. I appealed to him not to go full E, he said the safety of the Deputies was at the top of the list. He said he understood the interest in transparency and said they may be open to other workarounds.
If there is any hope of the new system not being full E, I believe more community members need to speak out.

 

[iscanvnc2]

Let the comments roll.

 

[Engine104]

Nuts... Well, here's hoping Ventura Co Fire will be in the clear.

 

[zerg901]

I had the opportunity to talk with Sheriff Ayub one on one a few weeks ago. I asked him when would the new system roll-out and if it would have full-time encryption. He said about 2 years and yes it would have full-time encryption. I appealed to him not to go full E, he said the safety of the Deputies was at the top of the list. He said he understood the interest in transparency and said they may be open to other workarounds.
If there is any hope of the new system not being full E, I believe more community members need to speak out.

Why dont they leave the system in the clear; and let the dispatcher flip a switch when encryption is rarely needed? Was told this is technically possible (when we asked about this a while back here on Radio Reference].

 

[kearthfan101]

Why dont they leave the system in the clear; and let the dispatcher flip a switch when encryption is rarely needed? Was told this is technically possible (when we asked about this a while back here on Radio Reference].

Now’s the time to suggest that. May not be in their mindset until enough people bring it up, like what oceancritter said.

 

[kj6psg]

I'm seeing traffic on talkgroup 109 (hex $6D) from source EXTERNAL, only coming out of the west county (RFSS 1, site 3) simulcast using TDMA. Unfortunately, I'm away from any device with a speaker, and the self-interference issues give me a very high BER on my main receiver. Anyone able to hear this?

--edit-- After transferring a recording, it sounds like a rebroadcast of VCFD Dispatch.

 

[iscanvnc2]

Got it !
More as I listen.

 

[iscanvnc2]

As soon as I turned it on I heard VCFD dispatch with a fraction of a second delay from another scanner with set to 155.055.

Since then..zilch.

 

[kj6psg]

Looks like the patch requires affiliation before traffic is patched, which is unsurprising. Today we have 10203, 10206, 10208, and 10210 playing around with the system on talkgroups 101 (Countywide Command), 103 (Chiefs Net), 109 (apparently Dispatch), and 110. So far I have only observed activity on 109, coming from the patch; none of the 10xxx radios have keyed, and I presently do not have the means to monitor them.

 

[kj6psg]

I haven't checked on the system since my last update. 773.95625 MHz is now running CQPSK, and the signal is much stronger now. I am not sure what hilltop(s) I am hearing on the frequency.