West Chester PD to go digital

[ctrabs74]

Had a brief chat with the chief dispatcher for West Chester PD earlier today. WCPD is planning to switch from analog to digital as early as next month. There had been some testing done sporadically over the past few weeks. The tower behind WC Borough Hall on Chestnut St is set to be raised by 24 feet to improve coverage. Also, the new radios will have the 800 conventional mutual aid freqs that will enable WCPD officers to directly communicate with neighboring departments on mutual aid calls. That capability is not available with the present radios.

Notably enough, during our chat, he mentioned nothing about encryption; the FCC licensing information also didn't have the "possible encryption" notation after the application.

For reference, the current freqs for the West Chester Police are as follows:

F1 (Primary Dispatch) - 500.4125R/503.4125M - 97.4 pl
F2 (Talk-around) - 500.4125 (Simplex) - 97.4 pl
F3 (Secondary) - 500.5125R/503.5125M - 97.4 pl

Should be very interesting to hear how this turns out next month...

 

[ab3ai]

interesting! What freq are they planing to switch to?

 

[ctrabs74]

interesting! What freq are they planing to switch to?

I believe they're still going to be on the same freqs, but I probably won't have a better idea until they switch over. I had heard some "digital static" on the F-1 freq but with a different pl tone (I think it was 67.0) a few weeks ago.

 

[ctrabs74]

Two weeks away

There was a photo in the front page of Wednesday's Daily Local News showing crews installing the new tower for West Chester PD. The article noted that the switchover from analog to digital will take place in two weeks. Reviewing the FCC database, the existing freqs are listed as both 20K0F3E and 20K0F1D, but there was no indication of "possible encryption" when I reviewed the information further (IIRC, that code would be "20K0F1E").

It'll be very interesting to see what happens in a couple of weeks...

 

[ctrabs74]

As of some point this morning, the West Chester Police Department officially began extensive use of the new Motorola conventional P-25 digital radio system. My worst fears have been alleviated as all digital comms are in the clear. There's still a little analog from time to time that I've chalked up to inexperience with the new system.

 

[ctrabs74]

From a reliable contact within WCPD, P-25 testing is slated to take place during daytime hours (0900 to 1600) for the next two weeks, with full digital coverage to begin on or around October 1st.

 

[FM51]

Rabs you are on the ball !!

 

[ctrabs74]

Patch testing

At 03:30 this morning, units briefly switched over to digital to allow for patch testing between West Chester PD and West Goshen PD over WCPD freqs. The test seemed to go well, as a West Goshen officer could be heard in P25, even though West Goshen's dispatch/ops freq is analog. After about 3 minutes, they switched back to analog. The P25 signal comes in pretty good from where I work in Downingtown, at least compared to analog, which can be hit and miss at times.

Side note: West Goshen has it's own dispatch between 07:00 and 23:00 on weekdays; they're dispatched by county overnights and all day Saturday and Sunday.

 

[Avenger44]

At 03:30 this morning, units briefly switched over to digital to allow for patch testing between West Chester PD and West Goshen PD over WCPD freqs. The test seemed to go well, as a West Goshen officer could be heard in P25, even though West Goshen's dispatch/ops freq is analog. After about 3 minutes, they switched back to analog. The P25 signal comes in pretty good from where I work in Downingtown, at least compared to analog, which can be hit and miss at times.

Side note: West Goshen has it's own dispatch between 07:00 and 23:00 on weekdays; they're dispatched by county overnights and all day Saturday and Sunday.

P25 is Grate . I use it Everyday on the Ham Bands . I'm geting Ready to put up a Digital Repeater in Mix Mode Soon . You get in a Bad area on Analog , You Switch to P25 Astro , It Gives you Grater Covrage ...

Steve.

 

[ctrabs74]

Another update - 15Oct06

Yesterday (Saturday) at around 06:45, WCPD switched over to digital operations for the day. This is the first time that I've confirmed digital use on a weekends. At first I thought it was for a particular "sensitive" job (later determined to be unfounded), but that turned out not to be the case as they were P25 all day. Same thing happened today, though it seemed that some units switched to P25 before dispatch did. It's been full P25 ops all day (that I've been listening to, anyway). Also, where P25 had been starting at around 09:00 a couple weeks ago, last week I started hearing digital at around 07:00. Looks like 24/7 P25 ops are coming soon.

 

[ctrabs74]

Hoping this is the final update on this, but here goes anyway...

Over the weekend, WCPD operated in P-25 mode the entire time, starting from Friday evening (when they normally started analog ops for the weekend) through early Monday morning. Suffice to say it appears that West Chester is now about to go digital full time, but I'll keep an ear open tonight to see if they switch back to analog. If they remain digital overnight tonight, I'll be sure to submit to the database as appropriate.

 

[wirelesscop]

Re:

Hello,

Just curious... What is a "P-25" system? Is this system one that can be monitored by the PRO-96?

Is this "P-25" system like the LTR system that is being used in Chester County?

Is the system that West Chester PD is going to the same type as the "Open Sky" system I have been reading about, that PSP is going to?

Do you know what other depts are on or going to the "P-25" system?

I see that the current WCPD frequencys are listed as 500 mhz frequencys. Is this new digital system a 500 mhz system or 800?

Sorry for the new-b questions.

Thanks for any and all help!

 

[ctrabs74]

What is a "P-25" system? Is this system one that can be monitored by the PRO-96?

Yes. It's a APCO-25 digital system that's made by Motorola.

Is this "P-25" system like the LTR system that is being used in Chester County?

No. WCPD never used the county system as best as I can tell.

Is the system that West Chester PD is going to the same type as the "Open Sky" system I have been reading about, that PSP is going to?

West Chester University PD is going to the state OpenSky system as they're part of the state university system.

Do you know what other depts are on or going to the "P-25" system?

This is a system maintained by the West Chester PD and not utilized by any other department.

I see that the current WCPD frequencys are listed as 500 mhz frequencys. Is this new digital system a 500 mhz system or 800?

This was an upgrade of the existing 500mhz system from analog to digital.