Will County IFERN Patch and G4

[MITTY]

I'm trying to set my G4 to open via tones on the IFERN patch from Will County. I have a number of channels set up and working fine on the Lake County, IN system however when setting up the Wilco one it remains in the monitor mode even tho everything is set to mirror the Lake County setting. I do have it set up as Phase 2 as I believe that's what the Wilco system is. If I need to change to just P25 or something else please let me know. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[AC9BX]

It has been noted the Unication radios struggle with P25 systems by E F Johnson which is what Will County is using. I don't have one so I cannot say if this is what your trouble is. Phase 2 groups have appeared but everything in regular use is Phase 1. However, an example of weirdness, most everything on my WS1095 displays as Phase 2 even though it isn't.
Also note, the squelch level on the IFERN and especially ISPERN patches on the system are WAY too low. You frequently hear hash and distant signals.

 

[RoninJoliet]

I have never noted any Phase II on the Will county system as yet....They do use "ENC" for Tac on a couple of TG's...The only P2 i have seen is on Grundy County TG's 2429, 2430 and the fire OPS TG's....Grundy goes back and forth per day on the P1 and P2 on these TG's....Today there not using it at all , its all P1 but tomorrow is another story...My 996P2 does perfect seeing Phase II which shows up in the "dat" spot as "PTO and PT1....I also hear and see Lake County show up on T102 sometimes with "PTO" and PT1 " ENC....

 

[tommypickles]

The EF Johnson Atlas system that Will County uses does not utilize LSM for simulcast like Starcom and Motorola systems do.
I believe it uses C4FM, but not totally sure. Not sure if this will help you.
My understanding is Unication does LSM better than Uniden and Whistler at this time.

 

[JohnnyGent]

I'm trying to set my G4 to open via tones on the IFERN patch from Will County. I have a number of channels set up and working fine on the Lake County, IN system however when setting up the Wilco one it remains in the monitor mode even tho everything is set to mirror the Lake County setting. I do have it set up as Phase 2 as I believe that's what the Wilco system is. If I need to change to just P25 or something else please let me know. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Only see P25 on my Uniden not P2, hope that helps.
Scan On.

 

[W8RMH]

On a P2 system if every radio on the TG at that time is P2 it will display P2. If at least one radio is P1 it will display P1.

 

[MITTY]

Thanks for your replies. I will try and reset the tones to just P25 and see what happens. I could see it not opening up on the tones, but can't figure out why it's not muting the traffic before.

 

[JohnnyGent]

Thanks for your replies. I will try and reset the tones to just P25 and see what happens. I could see it not opening up on the tones, but can't figure out why it's not muting the traffic before.

Please let us know, even though I use a 436 I want all the helpful info I may be able to use for myself.
Scan On.

 

[AC9BX]

I swear, nearly everything, only on the WillCo system, shows on the display as P2 on my WS1095 even though I know very well it isn't. I'm suggesting this is part of the wierdness with Johnson. The only P2 I've seen on the system is during testing and setup.

I suspect the issue has little to do with C4FM versus LSM(CQPSK). As I understand Unication has an I/Q demodulator and should hear C4FM or LSM equally well, or at least well enough. Yet it appears on some systems like those by E F Johnson it doesn't work at all, ever. Apparently band plan or trunk table information or some such is absent in the control channel data.

 

[JohnnyGent]

Thanks for your replies. I will try and reset the tones to just P25 and see what happens. I could see it not opening up on the tones, but can't figure out why it's not muting the traffic before.

Here's a screen shot of TG, and RID and what my Uniden shows as P25 P1. I do look forward to your update. If this helps great.
Scan On.

 

[AC9BX]

At my location, and as I understand nearly everywhere else, the Will P25 system is very difficult to receive with the ordinary scanner. My WS1095 spends most of its time showing no signal, then shoots up to full for a moment, then nothing; typical of multipath issues. I'm just a few minutes from one tower and several minutes from another, lots of signal, all bad. No 'S' nor 'T'. Shows 'D2' for Phase 2 but it's Phase 1. This only happens on this system.

 

[JohnnyGent]

At my location, and as I understand nearly everywhere else, the Will P25 system is very difficult to receive with the ordinary scanner. My WS1095 spends most of its time showing no signal, then shoots up to full for a moment, then nothing; typical of multipath issues. I'm just a few minutes from one tower and several minutes from another, lots of signal, all bad. No 'S' nor 'T'. Shows 'D2' for Phase 2 but it's Phase 1. This only happens on this system.

View attachment 69455View attachment 69456

Well our signal meters are the same or very close. I can hear em, but I'm no use for an Unication or Whistler, I hope some of my input helped someone.
Scan On.

 

[RoninJoliet]

I receive Will County here in Joliet 100%, as mentioned i live (6) blocks from there Amita-St Joseph Hospital repeater...I receive it totally on both my RS197 digital scanners which do NOT receive Phase II, so at this time there not sending this phase...When Grundy who uses Phase II on a couple of there TG's uses it the 197's have NO audio and i see a bogus freqy like 781.3675 however , the 996P2 is spot on showing instead of P25. PT0-PT1....On the RS197 scanners i have to use the setting P25-Manual instead of P25-Auto to receive Will Co.....Today they have been using the freqy 859.4125 as a CC which on rr.com is not designated as a CC....

 

[AC9BX]

I have 859.4125 marked as a control channel, surprised the database doesn't. Doesn't matter much since you need all the frequencies in for this one, control channels rotate every day. I have the RS-197, P25 Auto works as expected. I wonder what that's about. Getting a bogus frequency suggests the trunk table is wrong. It's a 6.25 channel spacing. These systems tell the radio which *channel* to tune to. They need to be programmed to know where the channel is.
I hear the system well at my place, I'm less than 2 miles from a tower, more than enough signal to drown out simulcast interference from the next nearest at almost 4 miles. But if I go elsewhere or change things around it can be a struggle. (What I said above was referring to Starcom, my error, I'll mix that up sometimes, haste makes waste, I'm 2 miles from 1 Starcom tower and 3.4 from another)
One thing that might be happening, this is P25, fits inside a 12kHz channel, narrowband, despite 800s not being required to be. If one programs their radio for FM instead of NFM you will definitely have trouble receiving it. Tweaking dwell time a bit longer and tweaking DSP level faster seems to help on the WS1095. Another issue is one can be off frequency. The master oscillator in these radios isn't very good and it's common for them to always tune a little high or low. In manual mode, step up and down a few clicks and see if signal strength or clarity changes. You may find you need to offset things a bit for best performance. That can be a mess with trunking.
I used to get Starcom much better. It's awful now after they added the Cedar road tower a while back.