VIPER Statewide Radio System Discussion

[richardbritt]

July 1st is here and no one's head has exploded yet... I'm surprised. Please allow a few days of monitoring before submitting TDMA updates for TGs. I can provide a little hint that anything you find moving forward (if provisioned following 7/1/25) will be TDMA only. Make sure you see consistent TDMA usage before submitting an update. As Marshall mentioned, all talkgroups will be DDM for the foreseeable future, so there is still a chance that some channels will roll back to FDMA if a different shift is working every few days.

The RRDB is a best effort resource, so things don't have to be perfect, but I'm trying to avoid blanket updates like we saw with narrowbanding in 2013 when people were pushing for updates based on a deadline and not real world monitoring.

Any idea and how widespread the situation is with the TDMA provisioned radios and when they will get programmed properly? I heard quite a few VIPER TDMA radios weren't loaded correctly. And what other things are happening regarding the change over? Any news from your end?

Richard

 

[RaleighGuy]

Please allow a few days of monitoring before submitting TDMA updates for TGs.

While waiting and watching, just wanted to share the DSD+ log of TGs seen on day 1.

Line 1342: P25, BEE00.1FC, 22009, 50, Normal, 34, 2025/07/01 15:04, "[HCOFIRETAC1] Harnett County Fire TAC 1 (TDMA)"
Line 2521: P25, BEE00.1FC, 51615, 50, Normal, 59, 2025/07/01 20:01, "[NCDOCDCCDIV1] Corrections Division 1 (TDMA)"
Line 2522: P25, BEE00.1FC, 51616, 50, Normal, 883, 2025/07/01 20:25, "[NCDOCDCCDIV2] Corrections Division 2 (TDMA)"
Line 2525: P25, BEE00.1FC, 51619, 50, Normal, 127, 2025/07/01 20:27, "[NCDOCDIST1] Corrections District 1 (TDMA)"
Line 2580: P25, BEE00.1FC, 51683, 50, Normal, 1049, 2025/07/01 20:27, "[NCDOCSW5] Corrections Statewide 5 (TDMA)"
Line 2819: P25, BEE00.1FC, 52055, 50, Normal, 3, 2025/07/01 12:47, "[SBICALLSWIDE] SBI Calling Channel Statewide (TDMA)"
Line 2889: P25, BEE00.1FC, 52143, 50, Normal, 752, 2025/07/01 16:17, "[Trp A Dist 8] TROOP A DIST8 Carteret Co (TDMA)"
Line 2891: P25, BEE00.1FC, 52145, 50, Normal, 2, 2025/07/01 20:11, "[Trp B Com 1] TRP B COMMON 1 (TDMA)"
Line 2898: P25, BEE00.1FC, 52152, 50, Normal, 1788, 2025/07/01 15:37, "[Trp B Dist 6] TROOP B DIST6 New Hanover Brunswick Cos (TDMA)"
Line 2900: P25, BEE00.1FC, 52154, 50, Normal, 2053, 2025/07/01 16:20, "[Trp B Dist 8] TROOP B DIST8 Harnett Co (TDMA)"
Line 2976: P25, BEE00.1FC, 52245, 50, High, 67, 2025/04/15 13:33, " (TDMA)"
Line 3049: P25, BEE00.1FC, 52336, 50, Normal, 7906, 2025/07/01 20:20, "[SHP MW TECH] State Highway Patrol Microwave Techs (TDMA)"
Line 3256: P25, BEE00.1FC, 52571, 50, Normal, 30211, 2025/07/01 20:32, "[WMGRDDISP] Wake Med Ground Dispatch (TDMA)"
Line 3345: P25, BEE00.1FC, 52752, 50, Normal, 47, 2025/07/01 16:16, "[INDIA 3] Statewide Events India 3 (TDMA)"

 

[RaleighGuy]

One of the Firework shows in Wake County is using VIPER Statewide Events TGs KILO 1 to 4 tonight, links to KILO 2 and 3 (the busiest) are below;

52758	KILO 1	Statewide Events Kilo 1
52759	KILO 2	Statewide Events Kilo 2
52760	KILO 3	Statewide Events Kilo 3
52761	KILO 4	Statewide Events Kilo 4

 

[northstarfire0693]

Monitoring Pasquotank and Camden counties. Seems they are mixed and some TG's are starting to make the switch. As of right now, Camden SO is now TDMA and all others are still FDMA.

 

[RaleighGuy]

Monitoring Pasquotank and Camden counties. Seems they are mixed and some TG's are starting to make the switch. As of right now, Camden SO is now TDMA and all others are still FDMA.

My list has only grown a couple since post #1822 above. Nash SO and I think a state park are two of the new ones. Think we will see it grow over the next month.

 

[northstarfire0693]

My list has only grown a couple since post #1822 above. Nash SO and I think a state park are two of the new ones. Think we will see it grow over the next month.

As I find out more in the Pasq/Camden area. I will post it up here

 

[RaleighGuy]

As I find out more in the Pasq/Camden area. I will post it up here

My suggestion is save and watch for another week or two (like @trumpetman suggested) then we we see the TG consistently showing it submit it to the database for updating.

 

[jthorpe]

My list has only grown a couple since post #1822 above. Nash SO and I think a state park are two of the new ones. Think we will see it grow over the next month.

I'm the VIPER coordinator for Nash and some of our TG's are still DDM but I asked VIPER to force TDMA on NASH SO talkgroups and they did so for us, since we were ready. I am also getting a ton of calls from agencies to help with updating their radios since they aren't ready or possibly programmed improperly.

FDMA only radios after the switch are still seeing issues even though TG's are DDM. It's not VIPER's fault though. The config is what it is, but I don't think people thought it was going to be a big deal with DDM. We were warned, three years ago lol. If agencies aren't ready, oops.

 

[blueline_308]

Listening to NCSHP TDMA sounds not so good. More digital / robotic sounding. I guess everything is compressed more. Using SDS200, no filter.

 

[RaleighGuy]

Busy 4th on SW Event channels, here is what I hear on the NCSHP Tower ...

Foxtrot 4 Cleveland Co
Golf 2 Craven Co
India 2 Macon Co
Juliet 1 Nash Co
Lima 1 Robeson Co
Quebec 1 Brunswick Co

 

[richardbritt]

One of the Firework shows in Wake County is using VIPER Statewide Events TGs KILO 1 to 4 tonight, links to KILO 2 and 3 (the busiest) are below;

52758	KILO 1	Statewide Events Kilo 1
52759	KILO 2	Statewide Events Kilo 2
52760	KILO 3	Statewide Events Kilo 3
52761	KILO 4	Statewide Events Kilo 4

I was wondering where the comms were on the Kilo event groups. It was going statewide (at least it was in Elizabeth City)

 

[RaleighGuy]

I was wondering where the comms were on the Kilo event groups. It was going statewide (at least it was in Elizabeth City)

Someone in EC was listening in then, as even SW Events need to affiliate (I believe) to be heard. But, why wonder, just check the RIDs and look in the wiki.

North Carolina VIPER P25 Radio ID's - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

 

[richardbritt]

Oh yeah, I keep a current RID list when monitoring, and I add to it as needed. They don't always need to affiliate. Some are statewide as far as I can tell from monitoring.

 

[RaleighGuy]

Lots of water rescues and flooding calls being coordinated on VIPER Statewide Calls TG 52255 SWCALLS

Some of the counties include Guilford, Granville, and Alamance. Calls include sinking vehicles and trapped in house due to flooding.

Related calls on VIPER EMCBO

 

[richardbritt]

I wonder if the person who was in the SUV that was sinking, and the dispatcher was trying to teach them to swim, made it ok? I was up until 2 am listening on SWCall

 

[richardbritt]

In case people are trying to figure out why VIPER sites are getting updated in the Northeast part of the state today (seeing green highlighted counties) it's nothing to do with the phase 2 stuff. I am adding or updating NAC information and adding neighbor site information that I have been collecting for the past few months to the database.

Regards Richard

 

[jemassey]

In case people are trying to figure out why VIPER sites are getting updated in the Northeast part of the state today (seeing green highlighted counties) it's nothing to do with the phase 2 stuff. I am adding or updating NAC information and adding neighbor site information that I have been collecting for the past few months to the database.

Regards Richard

Are you sure about the NACs? I noticed they are all reported as 1FC, and I've never seen any NACs on VIPER that are greater than 1F9.

For a bit of confirmation, I was able to monitor the Plymouth site this morning and it reported a NAC of 1F1. The neighbors listed are all correct.

 

[richardbritt]

I am reading the NAC information from the pro96com screen for each individual site. I take screenshots each time I go to a site and check it. Unless it's just telling me the system NAC and not the individual site NAC

 

[jemassey]

I am reading the NAC information from the pro96com screen for each individual site. I take screenshots each time I go to a site and check it. Unless it's just telling me the system NAC and not the individual site NAC

I've never used that application before, but it looks like it's showing the System ID and not the NAC.

 

[richardbritt]

I'll go back to remove the NACs. They were blank when I started. I'll need figure another way to get the individual NAC site information before I put them back in. It won't affect anything since they have been blank anyway.