Weld County Begins Transition to Phase 2 (TDMA)?

[ScannerSK]

The FRCC system has been Phase 2 (TDMA) capable for quite a while however Weld county in particular has been using Phase 1 for the most part. It now appears Weld county has begun to transition over to Phase 2. This is just a heads up for those who are using non-Phase 2 capable equipment to monitor Weld county.

Shawn

 

[ScannerSK]

The following are all confirmed to be broadcasting fully or partly in Phase 2:
TGRP 1907 (WeldCo Fire Disp)
TGRP 1935 (Weld SO 5)
TGRP 1954 (Evans Loc Gov)
TGRP 9001 (Greeley Fire)
TGRP 9014 (Road & Bridge 5 Truck-to-Truck)
TGRP 9031 (Weld Law 9031)
TGRP 9032 (Weld Law 9032)

I'm certain if we just give it a little while every talkgroup in Weld will be fully Phase 2.

 

[ScannerSK]

A few more Weld county talkgroups confirmed to be broadcasting on Phase 2 at least occassionally:
1900 (Greeley PD 1)
1901 (Greeley PD 2)
1906 (Greeley PD Adm)
1921 (WeldFG6 Evans)
2017 (Greeley FD Sta 1)
9017 (WeldCo R&B 8)

The radios are likely being reprogramming one by one.

 

[snoopyII]

It would surprise me greatly if Weld didn't have OTAP capabilities. I'm pretty sure ADCOM does. It's probably gonna take some time to track all those radios down, and have them turned ON. Any straggler radios when turned on, that have not gotten their new marching orders, (still on PH 1) will automatically drag the the entire TG back down to PH 1. There also might be non-motorola radios, that will need to be individually touched as well.

 

[scanlist]

Observation so far is P2 shows up during multi-select group patching on Greeley groups and Weld fire dispatch
otherwise comms are in P1 so far.

GRE/RadioShack/Whister P1 only scanners are jumping on odd frequencies when encountering a P2 transmission
obviously with no audio.

I recall some time ago mention here that FRCC planned to switch all comms to P2 by 2024.

Also in recent months automated station alerts have been showing up in the 197x and 198x TG range. Pattern so far
has been random.

.

 

[snoopyII]

That sounds about right. Years ago, I remember seeing a letter, something about all new radio purchases going onto FRCC must be Phase 2 capable and all APX purchases must have OTAP in them.

 

[Spirit]

snoopyll, what does OTAP stand for?

 

[mmckenna]

what does OTAP stand for?

Over The Air Programming.

 

[Spirit]

Ok, Thanks mmckenna

 

[mmckenna]

Ok, Thanks mmckenna

No problem.

And just so when it does come up: OTAR = Over The Air Rekeying. Changing encryption keys over the air.

 

[scanlist]

Also worth mentioning that anyone needing to upgrade to phase 2 scanners you will need radios that
are tolerant of simulcast distortion as 2 major Weld and 1 major Adams county site are simulcast.

SDS100, SDS200, Unication G4 700/800 MHz and Unication G5 700/800/VHF or UHF models work well
in this situation.

Uniden 325P2 and 996P2 are not recommended as they have difficulty with simulcast systems.

.

 

[ScannerSK]

The BCD436HP works well also which is very popular.

For stationary base units, I have discovered that using multiple antennas assists in defeating simulcast distortion/dropouts which is something I don't recall ever being mentioned before. This makes sense with wave theory. Possibly, someone else has mentioned this before however not that I am personally aware of.

Shawn

 

[KE0HIN]

The BCD436HP works well also which is very popular.

For stationary base units, I have discovered that using multiple antennas assists in defeating simulcast distortion/dropouts which is something I don't recall ever being mentioned before. This makes sense with wave theory. Possibly, someone else has mentioned this before however not that I am personally aware of.

Shawn

just curious how far apart are your two base antennas ?also what kind of connections are you using a simple TEE or something more

 

[ScannerSK]

just curious how far apart are your two base antennas ?also what kind of connections are you using a simple TEE or something more

Yes, I use a TEE connection. Right now, I am using a rooftop mounted antenna (ties into the bottom of the TEE) and one of the old RadioShack extendable metal scanner antennas (with the load coil in the middle) on the top of the TEE. The rooftop antenna is fixed however I can reposition the scanner, collapse/extended the metal antenna or swivel the TEE back and forth to position the indoor antenna.

In another room, I am using a TEE with two 90 degree connectors on each end of the TEE. This places the antennas about 3-4 inches apart from each other and allows the antennas to be swiviled forward and backward independent of each other. One antenna is the short rubber 800MHz RadioShack antenna and the other is a longer metal whip antenna.

Other than this, I'm not certain of the ideal distance between antennas or if there is a formula to determine this.