[Scan-DC] Problems Monitoring Montgomery TRS w/ BC-796 http://www.montgomery
BLGY2K at aol.com
BLGY2K at aol.com
Sun Jan 15 15:37:03 EST 2012
I just figured it out!!! After doing a little research, I ran across this
interesting Communications Interoperability Plan for Montgomery County
(July 2009). Apparently, Montgomery County is in process of upgrading the
communications infrastructure. This all started seven months ago when the
county issued new APX radios to Law Enforcement and Fire & Rescue personnel.
-Ben G
Radioreference.com: See Post #19
http://forums.radioreference.com/maryland-radio-discussion-forum/213889-mont
gomery-county-apx-radios.html#post1559169
Montgomery County, Maryland Communications Interoperability Plan
http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/council/pdf/agenda/cm/2009/090723/
20090723_PSMFP1-2.pdf
Interesting articles:
See Page 13
“A common misconception is that Montgomery County is moving from 800 MHz to
700 MHz. This is false.
Montgomery County was an early licensee of radio frequencies in the 821
MHz
band and was fortunate to secure 20 channels for trunked operation. As an
early
mover, the County secured sufficient channels to accommodate its public
safety
communications needs into the foreseeable future. In accordance with this
plan,
P25 Phase II technology will be adopted in the upgrade of the existing
trunked
radio system, doubling the capacity of the existing channels through the
use of
TDMA technology. This will negate the need for the County to compete for
additional radio”
See Page 27-28
“The option of keeping some of the existing system in place will be
explored:
1. It may be practical to maintain portions of the SmartZone 3.0 system
that could provide an on-line hot spare backup system which could
be used in the unlikely case of a catastrophic failure of the newsystem.
2. The need for Public Safety service providers Police, Fire-Rescue,
Sheriffs, Corrections and a few others to transition to P25
compatible newer systems does not apply to all County radio users.
For example, the DOT Highway Services vehicles and the DGS
Customer Service providers (electricians, HVAC technicians,
plumbers, etc.) have no such need. These agencies could remain on
the existing radio system for as long as the SmartZone 3.0 system can
be maintained or the functions might be integrated with the new
system. A decision to not move non-Public Safety users to the newer
system would be a decision to defer purchase of the newer subscriber
radios.
Another option which will be investigated and considered concerns the
inter-site
backbone. As described above the current system uses a hybrid design of
fiber
optic circuits and microwave links. This may be the optimum for the new
system,
or it may not. All options should be considered.”
V. Current County Position (See Page 29-31)
“The existing County system has passed the last stage of software
revisions for
Version 3 systems. System warranty and maintenance and expansion of the
subscriber fleet is still provided. The current date for the end of the
lowest level of
support, radio parts and warranty, is 2016.
The most likely next step for an upgrade by the County is Motorola ASTRO
25
version 8.x which is compatible with the P-25 Phase II standard and has an
IP
based backbone. Version 8.x permits the use of Time Division Multiple
Access
technology that permits a 2:1 efficiency of simultaneous talkpaths per
channel,
thereby increasing the utilization of the existing radio spectrum and
permitting
future growth.
In summary, the County ASTRO 3.x system is in the twilight of its useful
and fully
supported life cycle. There are no intermediate levels of beneficial
upgrades
available for the network due to obsolescence of certain network
subsystems,
particularly the Motorola 6809 controllers.”
-Ben G
In a message dated 1/15/2012 10:57:09 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
oldsdoug at hotmail.com writes:
Thanks to all... Matt, it dawned on me this morning that someone had
mentioned something similar and I had planned to go back and see who and what it
was, thanks for the reminder. Cathy, I hadn't thought to look at the
attenuation but will do so, good idea.
Everything seems to be working fine this morning... last night it was
un-listenable-to... I suspect that something is going on with the county's
radio system.
Regards,
Doug
----------------------------------------
> From: cathy at drzyzgula.org
> To: racerpgt at aol.com; oldsdoug at hotmail.com; scan-dc at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: RE: [Scan-DC] Problems Monitoring Montgomery TRS w/ BC-796
> Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2012 09:11:40 -0500
>
> I've also had problems with my Home Patrol sticking on a channel after
the
> transmissions have ended, leaving random signals and static. I turned on
> the attenuation and set the squelch lower and that has helped, but not
> completely solved the problem.
>
> Cathy D
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Matt
> Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2012 11:50 PM
> To: oldsdoug at hotmail.com; scan-dc at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] Problems Monitoring Montgomery TRS w/ BC-796
>
> Doug,
>
>
> I noticed this on my Pro-96 earlier this week. Someone on the list
mentioned
> it may have been due to some radio shop problems.
>
>
> Matt
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Doug Kitchener
> To: scan-dc
> Sent: Sat, Jan 14, 2012 6:44 pm
> Subject: [Scan-DC] Problems Monitoring Montgomery TRS w/ BC-796
>
>
>
> All,
>
> Recently (last 10 days or so) I've noticed problems when monitoring
> Montgomery County on my Uniden BC-796 (note that this is a
first-generation
> 800 MHz digital trunking scanner). If it's locked on a particular
> talkgroup, am picking up a lot of static, sounds like squelch is open.
> Also, am picking up stray transmissions from different talkgroups other
than
> the one that the radio is locked on.
>
> Questions:
>
> 1. Could this possibly be due to this rebanding / narrow-banding
business?
> Or is Montgomery just having problems? (No problems noted when I use my
> newer Radio Shack / GRE PRO-197). I admit to being 'way behind on that
and
> basically have no idea what's going on with it, who's done it, who has
yet
> to do it, when the deadline is, whether or not there's more than one
thing
> going on, etc. - will have to get busy and read up on it.
>
> 2. I've never done any firmware upgrades to this radio (well, maybe one
> very early on, I can't remember any more - am checking that out now, but
> could that also have something to do with this?
>
> There seems to be something that needs to be done in order to be able to
> enter a custom bandplan that has to do with rebanding -
>
> http://info.uniden.com/twiki/bin/view/UnidenMan4/BC796DFirmwareUpdate
>
> If I understand this correctly, first "BC_VUP v2.0.0.7" should be
installed;
> then "BC796D_V3_60.scn" - has anyone else done this / had to do this? Any
> thoughts, questions, comments, pointers?
>
> Thanks in advance... as I mentioned, I'm digging into this, and will post
> whatever I find, whenever I find it out, but would appreciate any input,
esp
> from other folks who are using the same radio and / or may have noticed
the
> same things.
>
> Regards,
>
> Doug
>
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