WISCOM (2010)

[WIscannerguy24]

Wisconsin State Patrol can talk on the local county sheriff frequencies and also on the other trunked radio systems in Southeastern WI and any other systems but as with communicating with there dispatch center, they extensively use there computer to communicate with dispatch and the only time I will hear them talking on the radio is if they are pulling someone over or in pursuit, also the state patrol force is fairly small for the size our state is but lots of sheriffs departments patrol freeways too

 

[jfriberg]

WSP has gone silent for me as well. Have been listening all along except for the past few days when my radio stopped "hearing" them.

They are very much alive and active off the Rib Mountain, Lookout Mountain, Unity and Cary Mound towers. Both car to dispatch and car to car traffic.

 

[dlehman]

They are very much alive and active off the Rib Mountain, Lookout Mountain, Unity and Cary Mound towers. Both car to dispatch and car to car traffic.

It seems my radio had inexplicitly suffered from the DMR – P25 issues being investigated by UPMan. Don’t know why all of a sudden, the issue surfaced as I had not changed anything that I recall. Once I updated FW to the latest beta, my radio could once again hear WISCOM and WSP.

 

[JT-112]

TUSA WISCOM report is out

The second TUSA report is (finally) out:

http://interop.wi.gov/docview.asp?docid=28119&locid=166

Not sure when it was actually released, nor sure of when it was put on the website - probably within the last 2-3 weeks though. There's no appendices yet, those are "coming soon." There's no date on the TUSA report, which is interesting.

In any case, the report is a pretty severe indictment of the system. To be clear, you have to know how to read consultant reports to understand the full impact of what's in the report - a brief run-through may give the uncritical reader the idea that a few things might need to be cleaned up. Remember that any consulting company will try to not denigrate their paying customer too much, as there's possible future business at stake.

There are "WTF" face palm statements throughout the report, usually a one or two per page but sometimes many more. Many of these WTF statements could probably stand to be expanded on for multiple paragraphs or even pages. If you're not seeing them, slow down and re-read.

There's also a lot of material that they don't analyze much in the report - my assessment is that they had so many issues that they didn't bother with it as it would seem to be like "piling on" for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty.

Bottom line, it's a mess - and they didn't even cover a handful of system issues that I and others have seen.

If you're truly interested in WISCOM, you might download the file and keep a copy for yourself - hopefully it won't disappear.

At some point when I have time, I'll highlight the WTF findings and statements and add some of the missing analysis.

It will be very interesting to see what the state might do going forward.

 

[sfd119]

I like how they touched on the Louisiana System and why its working great for them. One of the reasons: No user fees. Then they proceed to recommend user fees.

 

[kb0uxv]

A big reason why 86 of 87 counties in Minnesota are using ARMER is no user fees (although some counties do charge fees for local support, mostly the big metro counties). I am surprised the report does not mention MN being no user fee. Another big factor in success was having the system in place and available to transition during the narrow banding time - many counties were adequately covered by state towers so they could abandon county owned wide band VHF infrastructure and transition to trunking, with the only cost being field radios (and at that time there was a good deal of grant money available for radio purchase).

Maybe the report recommends user fees due to the funding model in place. Minnesota is fortunate in that 911 tax fees on cell and landline help fund the system, I heard that model is not possible in Wisconsin?

 

[stormy182]

I'm seeing Wisconsin State Patrol Dispatch and some units coming up as phase 2 on my scanner. Is this true or would this be a decoding bug in my scanner?

 

[djeplett]

I'm seeing Wisconsin State Patrol Dispatch and some units coming up as phase 2 on my scanner. Is this true or would this be a decoding bug in my scanner?

From what tower(s)?

Sent from my LGUS992 using Tapatalk

 

[stormy182]

From what tower(s)?

Sent from my LGUS992 using Tapatalk

Hillsdale and Shell Lake

 

[djeplett]

Hmmm. Too far away from me to confirm. All I can say is everything near me has been Phase 1 100%.

Sent from my LGUS992 using Tapatalk

 

[stormy182]

Hmmm. Too far away from me to confirm. All I can say is everything near me has been Phase 1 100%.

Sent from my LGUS992 using Tapatalk

I'm thinking it's a false decode error in the scanner

 

[sfd119]

It's falsing. I show both towers as Phase 1.

 

[stormy182]

Thanks SFD119

 

[W5NNV]

Losing my marbles or something has happened to WISCOM

Something has happened to my trunking scanner equipment ? Using Bearcat 536HP for several years now in Minnesota and it works flawlessly for all of our P25-using agencies on the ARMER system over here. Superb performance. It works well with either Location Control on or off and my GPS hook-up works fine in the car. I have an Extra Class ham license so in Minnesota, by statute, I can legally carry this radio in my car at all times to use as I see fit.

I have programmed this 536HP scanner, using the latest Sentinel software, for the Wisconsin State Patrol talk groups, with all sites in the state active and location control "on". I live right across the river from Hudson, Wisconsin and am in Wisconsin almost every day, often within a couple of miles of several provably operative towers for the WISCOM VHF trunking operation (e.g. Baldwin, Elmwood). Supposedly Wisconsin State Patrol is using the WISCOM system, which I believe is in fact a P25 system.

BUT here comes the punch line: I SIMPLY NEVER HEAR ANYTHING ON WISCOM and it is July 4th weekend starting today with State Patrol cars working wrecks all over the place here right now on I-94 near Hudson WI. But not one peep heard on my 536HP radio. All of the usual errors have been sought -- for example, I have activated the favorites list for this system, etc. Yes, my antenna is connected, etc etc etc. Yes, I have downloaded the latest firmware and also the latest national data base too.

Can anybody please advise. I may be about to get a new radio. Any advice ? Thanks.

JT Lee
NN5SS
St Paul MN

 

[sfd119]

It's hard to tell what you've got setup. Try importing WISCOM as a Favorite List and not from the Full DB with the tower(s) closest to you.

 

[werinshades]

If you're site has a quick key number assigned, it's possible you disabled that in error during programming?

 

[W5NNV]

Thanks very much for for the prompt reply!!

What my "setup" is/was can be easily explained.

I first created a brand new Favorite Called "Wisconsin'. The system for this was WISCOM and from the full data base (recently updated online) I selected the six or seven departments thaI I wanted (i.e. the various Wisconsin State Patrol regions) and also selected all tower sites in Wisconsin along with them. I did NOT avoid any of the Talk Groups used by the State Patrol nor did I avoid any of the sites. My new favorite called 'Wisconsin" was thus created. I did this fresh from the beginning again today and was sitting in my car only one mile from the Baldwin tower, which was provably on the air (I can hear the digital "hash" when I listen to the control channel frequency 139.2125 on my Icom 2730 VHF transceiver). This new Favorite called Wisconsin has its own FL Quick Key and, yes, I had clicked that number properly to bring the scan to life each time I tested things.

No luck. Listened for several hours non stop to only the Wisconsin Favorite. Not a peep. July 4th traffic crazy as hell on the nearby freeway, cops all over the place. Not one peep from scanning the Wisconsin favorite I had created. Location Control is obviously working correctly because only the towers in Baldwin and nearby Elmwood and Dresser were being scanned when my Location Control was "on". When it was "off" of course I saw the entire list of sites in alphabetical order being sampled.

What really bothers me, and maybe this is an important clue for you, "P25" never appeared in the window when I was scanning "Wisconsin'. Now and then the word "data" would flash on, but never "P25". The scanner acts like it is looking for only analog signals ???? I simply cannot understand this because in the data base the WISCOM system comes already configured as a "P25" system.

The Service Types were definitely properly selected by me (i.e. law dispatch. law tac, ems, etc). The range on my scanner was set arbitrarily at 30 miles. Neither Location Control "off" or "on" made a difference. Still not a peep heard. Not a single peep !

Meanwhile, everything working fine when I crossed back into Minnesota and brought up our state police, county sheriffs in two different counties, etc etc etc.

I have done something stupid in manipulating the Wisconsin data but I sure cannot figure out what. I will follow your advice. Am at wit's end here.

JTL

 

[sfd119]

You've got something wrong. Mine is working just fine on a 536HP and I hear Eau Claire & Spooner Posts talking all day and night. You should post your config file here so we can take a look at it.

 

[W5NNV]

No quick keys assigned to any sites in the state

I just looked at the data that were imported to my new Favorite called "Wisconsin'. I have NEVER used a Quick Key on any site in the several years I have been working with this scanner.

Just looked specifically at the Baldwin Site, which was the one I was parked near today. NO QUICK KEY assigned to that site.

Thanks for the suggestion though --whatever I have done is really stupid but still concealed.

NN5SS

 

[W5NNV]

Hold Everything ! I think I found the screw up.

I just checked my listing of System Quick Key Status. Every number was checked. I have unchecked all of them and will reload my scanner, then see what is up. I think I may have found the gremlin. Will report back here shortly.