WISCOM Thread (all posts regarding WISCOM go here)

R8000

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A question for the future end users of the WISCOM system...

Many many different stories floating around about the radios allowed on the system. I have been told by a few agencies that their 1 or 2 year old XTL/XTS radios that was paid for by OJA grant money will not be allowed on the system.

The story is, OJA had many different grants out there for the purpose of interoperability and to put P25 equipment in the hands of the end users. One of the requirements was that the radios purchased with the grant money had to have VHF trunking either enabled or be flash upgradable to it.

But....

Somebody involved with WISCOM decided it'd be better to only allow radios on the system that can do the new phase 2 vocoder. Keep in mind, the repeaters, controllers and etc involved with the infrastructure, doesn't care if you use a phase 1 or phase 2 vocoder. The XTL/XTS radios are running the phase 1 vocoder.

I get asked quite a bit about if a sheriff's dept 2 year old XTL 5000 mobiles are ok on the WISCOM system, and nobody seems to have an answer.

Has anyone else heard this ?
 

towertech

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You are partially correct.

The last round of OJA grants specified that the radios purchased must be trunking capable, must have WISCOM programmed, must use the AMBE+2 vocoder, and (IIRC) will reimburse a max. of $1800 for a portable, and $3K for a mobile.

Now while the grant terms didn't actually require purchasing EFJ radios like the last WISCOM grant did, these requirements pretty well eliminated the current Motorola offerings from being eligible for reimbursement.

As far as allowing other brands of radios on the system, I understand there is already one agency that has their XTL5000 radios up and running on WISCOM, so no problem there.
 

box23

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While I can't say as to the limitations in the current grants, I know for a few years now there has been grants for P25 radios of all brands. Even though the current grants may be trying to steer everyone in a certain direction, a lot of agencies already have digital radios that were purchased with the intent of being used on the system, before the system was even announced.

As for what can be used on the system, the SSMG has not yet published a list of radios that they will allow to be programmed and used. In theory from a technical view any radio capable of P25 Phase 1 trunking will work. But that list will be the official word as to what you can use.
 

balmplant

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A question for the future end users of the WISCOM system...

Many many different stories floating around about the radios allowed on the system. I have been told by a few agencies that their 1 or 2 year old XTL/XTS radios that was paid for by OJA grant money will not be allowed on the system.

The story is, OJA had many different grants out there for the purpose of interoperability and to put P25 equipment in the hands of the end users. One of the requirements was that the radios purchased with the grant money had to have VHF trunking either enabled or be flash upgradable to it.

But....

Somebody involved with WISCOM decided it'd be better to only allow radios on the system that can do the new phase 2 vocoder. Keep in mind, the repeaters, controllers and etc involved with the infrastructure, doesn't care if you use a phase 1 or phase 2 vocoder. The XTL/XTS radios are running the phase 1 vocoder.

I get asked quite a bit about if a sheriff's dept 2 year old XTL 5000 mobiles are ok on the WISCOM system, and nobody seems to have an answer.

Has anyone else heard this ?

N3IVK that is not correct - just like software there are minimum requirements and reccomended requirements.

Minimum requirements for WISCOM are: P25, trunking, VHF, 136-174 range.

The reccomended requirements are : Compliant with current P25 standards Phase 1, Version 2,, AMBE+2 Vocoder, P25 digital trunking enabled, Provide 512 channel minimum capacity,
Minimum capability of 128 control channels, Capable of Alphanumeric Display ,138-174 MHz band spread,
Wideband antenna (139-169 MHz or better)


The system is set to be live ~ July 2011
 

kb0uxv

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I recently put a XTL5000 consolette on the air in Goodhue County MN for interoperation. Wisconsin staff was very helpful in the process. There are template codeplugs developed for Motorola XTL/XTS models so you can do some drag and drops to speed things up.
 

R8000

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N3IVK that is not correct - just like software there are minimum requirements and reccomended requirements.

Minimum requirements for WISCOM are: P25, trunking, VHF, 136-174 range.

The reccomended requirements are : Compliant with current P25 standards Phase 1, Version 2,, AMBE+2 Vocoder, P25 digital trunking enabled, Provide 512 channel minimum capacity,
Minimum capability of 128 control channels, Capable of Alphanumeric Display ,138-174 MHz band spread,
Wideband antenna (139-169 MHz or better)


The system is set to be live ~ July 2011

The reason I ask this, I have been asked by my county customers if their XTL/XTS radios are ok to use. The word is only phase 2 radios will be allowed on it. To further back this up, these counties are being hit up by the EFJ vendor and WISCOM people offering great grants and a trade in program which pretty much gives away EFJ radios and the phase 2 wording comes up. Seems like they are purposely squeezing out the XTL/XTS radios the state just got done buying for 11,000+ users.

If you have a pdf or something that confirms this, I'd love to see it so I can help put to rest some of the rumors.
 

OpSec

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Hit up the interop.wi.gov site and check the documentation under SSMG. There should be a hard copy of what was posted above.

Fact: there are XTS and XTL radios on the system right now.

I do not know if the SSMG is going to prohibit IMBE-only radios on the system at some point, but I personally can't see why they would for the reasons you mention (i.e. grant radios, other system radios, etc).
 
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N9NRA

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hey there guys, well, i managed to ferret out the bandplan for the WISCOM system thanx to some experimenting on my BCD396T :D. What follows is taken directly from what was displayed on my scanner during my experiment when i went to PROGRAM SYSTEM>WISCOM>edit system option>set band plan:

0. base, 138.00000, spacing, 12.5.
1. base, 150.815000, spacing, 7.5
2. base, 154.650000, spacing, 7.5
3. base, 162.000000, spacing, 12.5.

Now if someone that has a `396T can help me here, what i`m wondering is, how do i actually set the band plan here, do i have to select one of the entries, or does the scanner take care of that, or mabey it uses all three of `em? Thanx guys for all the help, this has been kinda fun :). 73 N9NRA
 

R8000

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Hit up the interop.wi.gov site and check the documentation under SSMG. There should be a hard copy of what was posted above.

Fact: there are XTS and XTL radios on the system right now.

I do not know if the SSMG is going to prohibit IMBE-only radios on the system at some point, but I personally can't see why they would for the reasons you mention (i.e. grant radios, other system radios, etc).

Thanks for the info ! I will go have a look at it.

If they were only going to prohibit them, there would be many folks upset wanting heads to roll. Good to get rid of the rumors sooner than later I suppose.
 

MADScan

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you are hearing Columbus.

I could be mistaken but I'm pretty sure its not as it only comes in on 7425, is a good bit stronger than Columbus normally is in my location and when I turn the squelch all the way up on 75 I can hear Columbus under it, it's giving me the standard B0C nac and I'm not sure where to find the site # on my pro-106.

I agree it does not make too much sense putting one control channel adjacent to another but I believe that's what I'm hearing.
 

70cutlass442

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Ok, I will try to not bring this thread to a screeching hault, as im sure somewhere in the last 10 pages my ? could be answered, I just happened to overlook it being 3am and my eyes are burning from staring at this screen for the last 5 hrs..... But my questions are as follows (feel free to PM with info)

1. How will this directly benefit public safety users. Im am on a local FD, and am curious how the radios we use will work with this sytem (patch, different personalty to connect directly to system, ect)



2. Will this work like a normal trunked system where you could travel through the whole state on one channel and talk without having to change any other settings?
 

sfd119

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1. How will this directly benefit public safety users. Im am on a local FD, and am curious how the radios we use will work with this sytem (patch, different personalty to connect directly to system, ect)

If used correctly, you can have your entire county on the P25 system and have several fire tac channels that would be on a repeater (talkgroup) of sorts. No longer would you have to tie up the Dispatch channel to communicate while en route to a scene, you could do it on a repeated tac channel (talkgroup). Of course, I would foresee the local Fire-Tac county channels still in use on the fireground...not all radios will hit the system from a concrete basement. There could also be a common pool of channels (talkgroups) that are in everyone's radios that you could communicate with the entire county's departments, EMS, and police...again without tying up a dispatch or MARC channel.
You could also use a regional tac channel for a multi-agency response.

If there was ever a major, major event...the current VHF Mutual Aid channels would be over whelmed with traffic. With a trunking system, there could be a numerous channels available to users.


2. Will this work like a normal trunked system where you could travel through the whole state on one channel and talk without having to change any other settings?

Yes and no--It depends on the talkgroup you are on. It's unlikely that your local county fire talkgroup would work acrossed the entire state, however, other channels may. It's all up to the System Admin.

I hope I answered your questions...by no means am I an expert either. If I'm wrong, someone will chime in ;)
 
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OpSec

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Sfd, your initial comments make no sense to me. Why would 4-4-2's department be using WISCOM for their operations when they already have their own radio system?

Oldsmobuick: right now, the statewide talkgroups (STAC1-8) will be carried statewide and the regional talkgroups (RTACxx) will be carried regionally. I'm sure things may change in the future.
 

sfd119

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Sfd, your initial comments make no sense to me. Why would 4-4-2's department be using WISCOM for their operations when they already have their own radio system?

Oldsmobuick: right now, the statewide talkgroups (STAC1-8) will be carried statewide and the regional talkgroups (RTACxx) will be carried regionally. I'm sure things may change in the future.

Not all agencies have a state of the art radio system. Many are still analog with two repeated channels in their county--especially northern counties.

Look at MN's Armer system...counties one by one are going to it because it offers a system that works and it's easy to move to. I suspect that once operational, many counties will start to jump over to it...it makes sense in the long run.
 

WISCOMM

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If used correctly, you can have your entire county on the P25 system and have several fire tac channels that would be on a repeater (talkgroup) of sorts. No longer would you have to tie up the Dispatch channel to communicate while en route to a scene, you could do it on a repeated tac channel (talkgroup). Of course, I would foresee the local Fire-Tac county channels still in use on the fireground...not all radios will hit the system from a concrete basement. There could also be a common pool of channels (talkgroups) that are in everyone's radios that you could communicate with the entire county's departments, EMS, and police...again without tying up a dispatch or MARC channel.
You could also use a regional tac channel for a multi-agency response.

Doesn't the already implemented MABAS radio already cover this scenario? At a fraction of the cost?

Craig
UES
 

R8000

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Doesn't the already implemented MABAS radio already cover this scenario? At a fraction of the cost?

Craig
UES

On top of that you have the VTAC(s), VCALL, FIREGROUND (RED BLUE WHITE GOLD...ETC), NATSAR, MARC 1-4...and so on.

Plenty of analog simplex statewide channels to use.....right now.
 

70cutlass442

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Thanks for the replies... And yes, we are currently on a county wide type II system.. I should have stated that in my first post.. As for accesses to regional and state TGs, Will this be done right over a patch of somesort to go from our 800 mhz system to the wiscomm system?
 
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