Washington County TRS Comes Alive

[ltjweiss]

i havent tried to monitor this trs yet but i saw this in the latest js article "Dispatched calls for service over a digital communication system generally are not accessible to the public or media using radio scanners. It is not an Internet-based system." i didnt notice anything that was encrypted, is there anyone monitoring this trs?

 

[ToDaMax]

i havent tried to monitor this trs yet but i saw this in the latest js article "Dispatched calls for service over a digital communication system generally are not accessible to the public or media using radio scanners. It is not an Internet-based system." i didnt notice anything that was encrypted, is there anyone monitoring this trs?

That article statement is way overstated

I have Washington TRS on my scanner (PRO-106) and i am hearing them just fine (I'm listening to them as i type). I've heard Hardford, Jackson, West Bend, the Sheriff, Germantown, and some others all come in just fine. Clear Audio.

Since the System came alive, i've only heard 2 instances of encryption, and it was only temporary. I've heard Jackson encrypt a conversation once, and the Sheriffs department encrypt one. Maybe there is one or two more, but all of them lasted a short time before the encryption stopped. When they say that digital communications are generally not accessible to those using radio scanners, I want to know where they're getting thier info. The TRS sounds as clear as the conventional frequencies the've been using.

 

[ltjweiss]

thats what i thought, im assuming that the media thinks that the fact that it is digital that the media thinks it can not be monitored.

 

[ToDaMax]

I'm pretty sure that the media is still choking up on Opensky, and probably making assumptions that they can't hear it becuase its digital, or all digital systems work like Opensky does. They probably need to reasearch a bit more and realize that P25 is definatly not Opensky, and is definately moniterable with the proper scanner.

I think the media around Milwaukee are not used to P25 digital systems yet, becuase Washington county is the first to do so.

 

[washradiotech]

Backups>MkeScn

Yes MkeScn.. There are mulitple options available to the users of the system for back up. Welcome to VHF in Wisconsin. Home of the billion interop channels for all to use(ha) There are multiple analog conventional repeaters that are remaining in service for backup and analog interop as well as WISCOM that is up and running with mobile coverage in the County. All of the radios are programmed with WISCOM, MARC and the CNTY F2 repeaters systems and many more state and federal interop channels. Each individual departments SOP's dictate who goes where in the event of a system wide failure. Some of options Im not going to reveal at this point as some of the departments are still writing the new procedures and the County Radio System Users Group in assisting in steering them. The Harris P25 systems also have a pretty cool and unique way of dealing with Failsoft and I would bet that is one big thing that attracts users to there systems and is winning them bids compared to the (/\/\) competitor.<grin>
Hope that was enough detail...

 

[mkescan]

Thanks Washradiotech, that was excellent info. City of Milwaukee better pray nobody from the media does a story about Washington County TRS & Milwaukee OpenSky

 

[washradiotech]

Media

haha MkeScan..As a whole, I think rural county governments, and urban cities governments are run in different fashions. If you put a group of old farmers on a county board to pick a radio system for its fire fighters that are going to save his crops or his barn, vs a city agency that thought it had all the answers and didn't need a consultant.. you will end up with to very different results. In the end.. Milwaukee rolled the dice on a new product that for all practical purposes could of ended up being brilliant, but we all know the rest of that story.
Reality of radio systems is there is no perfect radio system, no perfect frequency band, just compromises and procedures to try to make it as safe for the user as possible.

 

[Tim]

Greetings....


Any way to get a listing of the Encrypted talkgroups...I keep hearing 57524 popping up with ENC. I am guessing it's either County Jail Ops or County Court Ops.


Too bad my agency decided to go to the Non-P25 radio system from Harris. We are/will be basically surrounded by P25 systems.

Tim

 

[Tim]

Greetings Again...

It *appears* like 155.2500 and 155.5950 are silent, but hearing traffic on Talkgroups 57510 & 57511.

Anyone else confirm...




Tim

 

[radio50]

Greetings Again...
It *appears* like 155.2500 and 155.5950 are silent, but hearing traffic on Talkgroups 57510 & 57511.
Anyone else confirm...
Tim

I used the Butel software to log transmissions between about 7:33pm and 3:25am last night. However, I was only using a basement Uniden 996T in Mequon with the stock whip antenna, so the results aren't perfect. Anyway, here are the talkgroups and number of transmissions that it saw:

TGs: 57500 (1), 57510 (264), 57511 (55), 57516 (42), 57530 (4), 57600 (116), 57620 (239), 57720 (1), 57730 (1), 57731 (21), 57823 (1).

Freqs: 154.9650, 154.9875, 155.4300, 155.7600.

Given my receiving situation, there could be some errors in the above data.

 

[washradiotech]

System channels

Nice job fellas...

Yep..we are only running the trunked system on 4 channels right now (thats 3 working channels) as we faze in new users. Average number of users at peak times...225. Still no queing more then 1/2 sec and that is only occurring a few times a day. Hope to have another pair on within the next week. Hang in there...we will get to all 10! FD's just got portables.. so you will see a lot of new TGs come up as they start to feel the system out and train their departments on using their new toys.
The TG that you are seeing ENC the most is probably ALL TAC. Just used for phone #s and responding to alarms. Trust me your not missing much, it just clears the main dispatch channel so we can give priority to the guys in the field that need it.

I just programmed a 996 for a department to use..updated firmware and it sounds pretty nice. Better then my 396Ts little speaker. Still working on the audio settings and how it handles the P25 Level. In Auto, the levels still seem to vary from user to user... was hoping it would even things out more like the radios do.

Have a great weekend scanning!

 

[radio50]

I just programmed a 996 ... Still working on the audio settings and how it handles the P25 Level. In Auto, the levels still seem to vary from user to user...

With my 996T in my basement in Mequon, with the stock antenna, I was surprised at how strong the signals appeared -- you're putting out a potent signal.

I haven't done anything special with the settings on the 996T, but I think I need to. I seem to remember some Wash. Co. user where the audio was non-existent. Most likely a problem on my end. If you have any suggestions on tweaking the 996T, please do pass that along. I'm a novice at this P25 thing. Thanks!

 

[MADScan]

With my 996T in my basement in Mequon, with the stock antenna, I was surprised at how strong the signals appeared -- you're putting out a potent signal.

Its incredible how well it travels, I can pick it up pretty often in Madison which is a good 60+ miles!

 

[washradiotech]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.654 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/189)

Madscan.....shhhhhhh. Haha.
WISCOM is working the same way. There were a lot of people that questioned the feasibility of WISCOM..but I will tell you, the footprint is turning out nicely. For scanning purposes, it is nice to have that range of VHF vs the 800 systems.

 

[cpd38]

I'm not sure if it would be related or not, but for the past few months the analog signal for the sheriff's department has been very strong in Dane County. I've always been able to monitor Washington County, but it's been a lot stronger since early fall. In fact at times I've noticed the signal to be stronger than my surrounding counties.

Let's hope when Dane CO get's their system up and running that it will be as good as Washington CO's.

 

[Tim]

Greetings again....

Hearing TG 1083 this evening on Washington County VHF TRS. I am hearing dispatcher talking to Jackson Police squads about a reckless driver. I did also see 57511 also being used so this must be some sort of patch between 57511 and 1083 for some reason.


Tim

 

[washradiotech]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.654 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/189)

Tim,
Had to think on this for a minute. But you are right, when you simuselect or patch it creates a "virtual" tg. That would of been the 1083. So they gave that call out on both muni and wcs dsp.

 

[crboden]

Upgrading Scanner

Wondering what is a good upgrade to scan Washington County's new VHF TRS system? I currently have a Pro-97 and I need to upgrade from what I have read. Thanks

 

[mkescan]

Newburg Fire on Twitter "new county-wide radios are being installed and activated this week"

 

[SCPD]

Wondering what is a good upgrade to scan Washington County's new VHF TRS system? I currently have a Pro-97 and I need to upgrade from what I have read. Thanks

Any scanner that will do P25, exclude undien 250D and 785D