What happened to Pelham PD??

[eli23nyc]

Evening all,
I lived in Pelham NH 6 or so years ago and back then I would monitor the Pelham Police Department on their P25 system nightly.
I fell out of the scanning hobby for a while, but just very recently dusted off my old Uniden BCD396t and threw some batteries in her.
I now live in Nashua and was able to successfully program their P25 system and I'm enjoying listening to their nightly Radio chatter.
But I tuned into 155.8125 to see whta's happening in Pelham these days and it's absolutely quiet.
I checked the database to see if there were any updates but I find the same frequency listed that I have programmed from before.
Can anyone tell me what happened to them? Have they moved to a different frequency, or upgraded there system to something that my old radio can't tune to??
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance..

 

[eli23nyc]

Nobody??

 

[chriscoal]

Hearing Pelham PD loud and clear in Lowell. Make sure it's set to p25 nac 293. Good luck.

 

[Bmacs]

Tough to hear Pelham on a portable scanner from Nashua - try an outdoor antenna...

 

[eli23nyc]

Hearing Pelham PD loud and clear in Lowell. Make sure it's set to p25 nac 293. Good luck.

Thanks for the reply Chriscoal..
So... would this be the result of something that changed over the last 5 years or so?
I ask this because this is the same Radio and programming for this particular system from years ago when I lived in Pelham.. I never changed it.
And I was able to hear Pelham well into Lowell and even further down into mass on my way to and from work.
I never had to program the NAC for this to work, (I'll have to check when I get home but I don't think the 396t even provides a way to specify the NAC).
Just trying to figure out if they've implemented something my radio can't handle..
Or if I've inadvertently changed something and I'm just missing it.

Thanks again..

 

[eli23nyc]

Tough to hear Pelham on a portable scanner from Nashua - try an outdoor antenna...

Thanks Bmacs..
I don't think that's too far at all..
As I posted in reply to Chriscoal, I used to hear Pelham down into Mass with nothing more than a Diamond whip mounded on-radio, inside the vehicle. I did entertain it though.. I've somehow lost my high gain antennas and only have the original ducky that the radio came with.
So I drove down to Pelham a few nights ago and sat in the DD's parking lot for a bit... Nothing!! Not a peep..
I've got a replacement Diamond SRH77CA being delivered tonight just the same, but that's definitely not it.

 

[Bmacs]

I use an antenna mounted on a roof in southern Nashua (Spit Brook) and the signal is WEAK. Hudson comes bombing through - Pelham... not so much. There are several hills between Nashua and Pelham - that don't exist between Lowell and Pelham - look at a topo map.

Another possibility is that they may have reduced power sometime in the last 6 years.

 

[eli23nyc]

I use an antenna mounted on a roof in southern Nashua (Spit Brook) and the signal is WEAK. Hudson comes bombing through - Pelham... not so much. There are several hills between Nashua and Pelham - that don't exist between Lowell and Pelham - look at a topo map.

Another possibility is that they may have reduced power sometime in the last 6 years.

Yeah.. you bring a good point with the terrain.. I wasn't even thinking of that, but as I said I did actually go down to Pelham and sat in Dunkin's parking lot for a few and got nothing..
Maybe I just didn't give it enough time..
I'll swing by there tonight on my way home and have a coffee.. see how it goes..
I lived down your way Bmacs right after I left Pelham.. (lived in Twin Ponds for about two years..)
And thinking of that.. It's actually been more like 8 years since I left Pelham..
Can't say for sure though if I even tried to monitor Pelham from Twin Ponds.. I just don't remember honestly.. I did put down the hobby for a while as I said..

 

[eli23nyc]

OK.. So just got home.. diverted through Pelham on the way and stopped at Dunkins, sat in the parking lot and had a coffee and a bag of hash browns.. Held on the Pelham system and not a peep.
So it's definitely not a distance thing.. Something else going on.
Here's what I have..
Radio: Uniden BDC396t
System set to MOT/P25
Frequency set to 155.8125 (no provisions on this radio to set the NAC)
Modulation set to Auto
Firmware version is 1.09.00 (out of date for sure.. Think this could be the problem?)

Really not too much you can change there..
Any other idea's would be appreciated.

 

[sibbley]

While I don't have a 396T, I have it's little brother the 396XT. Looking in the RR database it seems that Pelham PD is a conventional P25, not a trunked system. Try programming as a conventional channel as you would for any analog frequency. Set the audio type to Digital.

155.81250

KDV653

RM

293 NAC

Pelham PD 1

Police Dispatch

P25

Law Dispatch

 

[ecps92]

+1
The days of agencies "Flame Throwing" signals to cover wide areas is long gone, FCC and APCO requiring reduced power, so the freq can be shared by others.

I use an antenna mounted on a roof in southern Nashua (Spit Brook) and the signal is WEAK. Hudson comes bombing through - Pelham... not so much. There are several hills between Nashua and Pelham - that don't exist between Lowell and Pelham - look at a topo map.

Another possibility is that they may have reduced power sometime in the last 6 years.

 

[eli23nyc]

While I don't have a 396T, I have it's little brother the 396XT. Looking in the RR database it seems that Pelham PD is a conventional P25, not a trunked system. Try programming as a conventional channel as you would for any analog frequency. Set the audio type to Digital.

155.81250

KDV653

RM

293 NAC

Pelham PD 1

Police Dispatch

P25

Law Dispatch

Hey, Thanks for the reply Sibbley..
I tried this and monitored it for a while and got nothing.. albiet I was at home, not sitting in Pelham, but I'm convinced it's not really a distance thing.
I'm really puzzled by this.
Hey... as I write my squelch is breaking.. I don't get a transmission.. Just get that noise we get sometimes..
We all know it but it's hard to put in words.. Imagine a car revving at really high rpm for a brief couple of seconds..
I wouldn't necessarily call it a digital noise but I suppose it could be..

 

[sibbley]

I've checked ARC396 Pro software. It appears you can't program a conventional P25 channel as conventional like you can with the 396XT. That's a bummer. Makes sense that you would hear the motor boating sound since you can't set the channel as digital. Sorry, I gave you bad advise!

I would think by programming as Motorola APCO25 would not work correctly since it would be looking for control channel data. But, it looks like the only way to program the channel.

 

[eli23nyc]

I've checked ARC396 Pro software. It appears you can't program a conventional P25 channel as conventional like you can with the 396XT. That's a bummer. Makes sense that you would hear the motor boating sound since you can't set the channel as digital. Sorry, I gave you bad advise!

I would think by programming as Motorola APCO25 would not work correctly since it would be looking for control channel data. But, it looks like the only way to program the channel.

No worries Sibbley..
I appreciate the reply..
It definately used to work programmed as MOT/P25 when I used it years ago..
At this point the only thing I can think is that at some point Pelham went to Phase II. And my radio being Phase I only, leaves me **** out of luck. Pelham is not the only Dept. I'm having trouble with.
I can't seam to get Hudson either.. and they are right next door to me.
Although reluctant to do so.. (because my mind tells me that wide spread encryption is inevitable..), I ordered a BCD436HP yesterday and should receive it on Wednesday.
We'll see if I have better luck with that.

 

[eli23nyc]

Hearing Pelham PD loud and clear in Lowell. Make sure it's set to p25 nac 293. Good luck.

Hey Chriscoal..
I'm just curious, if you don't mind..
What radio are you using??

 

[ecps92]

Phase II is a term used ONLY in Trunked Systems, not applicable when discussing Conventional frequencies.

No worries Sibbley..
I appreciate the reply..
It definately used to work programmed as MOT/P25 when I used it years ago..
At this point the only thing I can think is that at some point Pelham went to Phase II. And my radio being Phase I only, leaves me **** out of luck. Pelham is not the only Dept. I'm having trouble with.
I can't seam to get Hudson either.. and they are right next door to me.
Although reluctant to do so.. (because my mind tells me that wide spread encryption is inevitable..), I ordered a BCD436HP yesterday and should receive it on Wednesday.
We'll see if I have better luck with that.

 

[eli23nyc]

Phase II is a term used ONLY in Trunked Systems, not applicable when discussing Conventional frequencies.

Please pardon my ignorance in this.. But how do we know Pelham is not a one frequency Trunked System??
Is it the frequency number itself that tells us that?
In other words are a specific set of frequencies dedicated as conventional and another to trunked?
Admittedly I've always been a bit confused by this..

Thanks for the reply..

 

[ecps92]

Experience has shown that Public Safety, does not implement a Trunked system with One Frequency for P25

Nashua and Manchester are P25 Trunks and could implement Phase II if they chose to.
All other PD/FD in the State who use P25 are Conventional and NOT Trunked.

Yes you can enter it into some of the Uniden Scanners are P25 Single Freq Trunk, however the only thing that
accomplishes for the monitor is to show the Radio ID's of the user, otherwise entering it the ole' fashioned way works as well.

Please pardon my ignorance in this.. But how do we know Pelham is not a one frequency Trunked System??
Is it the frequency number itself that tells us that?
In other words are a specific set of frequencies dedicated as conventional and another to trunked?
Admittedly I've always been a bit confused by this..

Thanks for the reply..

 

[ecps92]

Also anything in the RRDB that list
BM, M, RM aka Base/Mobile, Mobile and Repeater/Mobile are conventional

Trunked systems are always at the bottom of each state or county

Experience has shown that Public Safety, does not implement a Trunked system with One Frequency for P25

Nashua and Manchester are P25 Trunks and could implement Phase II if they chose to.
All other PD/FD in the State who use P25 are Conventional and NOT Trunked.

Yes you can enter it into some of the Uniden Scanners are P25 Single Freq Trunk, however the only thing that
accomplishes for the monitor is to show the Radio ID's of the user, otherwise entering it the ole' fashioned way works as well.

 

[NYRHKY94]

FYI - This may need confirmation from a knowledgeable source (unless that has already been done), but the RR database shows an "e" next to P25 for Hudson Police. Could be they finally went full-time ENC (hope I'm incorrect!). When I lived up there, they were using ENC for sensitive ops only and regular dispatch was still in the clear.