Rebanding Thread

scanner_freak · Joined: 23 Mar 2005 Posts: 66

Post all comments on Rebanding in this thread. Thanks!

Some Rebanding Info:

Existing bandplan-

851-854 MHz - General business, some public safety
854-861 MHz - Mixed public safety, business, cellular-type SMRs
861-866 MHz - Mostly cellular-type SMRs,
some business and public safety
866-869 MHz - dedicated public safety

New bandplan-

851-854 MHz - Dedicated public safety
854-860 MHz - Mixed public safety & critical infrastructure
860-861 MHz - Expansion band for 854-860
861-862 MHz - Guard band
862-869 MHz - Dedicated cellular-type SMRs

866-869 MHz frequencies will move down exactly 15 MHz to the 851-854
MHz segment.

Users with frequencies currently in the 860-861 MHz segment *will not*
be forced to move those frequencies unless they really want to. The
first step in the process is moving users in the 851-854 band
elsewhere; then 866-869 MHz public safety users get moved to 851-854 MHz.

The first public safety systems could be rebanded as early as April 2006.

So far, only Uniden has officially commented on their scanners and what will happen:

ka3jjz · Joined: 24 Mar 2005 Posts: 164 Location: Glen Burnie Md.

Not precisely true; for EDACS users, since the LCN is critical for correct trunking, that will change when new frequencies are in place. And for those scanners - Unidens come to mind - that require a LCN for LTR trunking (for any that are in the 800 band, anyway), the issue is the same.

73s Mike
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garys · Joined: 23 Mar 2005 Posts: 10

That's what they mean by reprogrammed. People that want to listen to EDACS systems will have to figure out the new frequencies and LCNs, but that's all. Since EDACS doesn't use a band plan like Motorola does, rebanding is far less of an issue.

Gary

scanner_freak · Joined: 23 Mar 2005 Posts: 66

ka3jjz · Joined: 24 Mar 2005 Posts: 164 Location: Glen Burnie Md.

I'm not sure I agree with this. The LCNs must be programmed at the controller level somehow; while I agree there's no bandplan like Moto uses, this alone will change the way a system is programmed - and therefore trunked - by its users.

When the system changes, therefore, the user will be responsible for determining the new LCN order, or trunktracking such a changed system will simply not work. I do agree that there will be no firmware changes needed for this - the method of trunking won't change, but how it's applied will. I can see that there will be a run on discriminator tap, LTRDump, ETrunker, and UniTrunker questions

73s Mike
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scanner_freak · Joined: 23 Mar 2005 Posts: 66

scollier · Joined: 22 Jun 2005 Posts: 5

Just got a 96 for my bday. Will the rebanding be ok. NO one can give me a straight answer on how this is supposed to work. I use 868.7500 and 868.3125 for CCs. How will they be rebanded? Pro 96 works great on Connecticut State Police 800 digital.

Thanks,
shawn

scanner_freak · Joined: 23 Mar 2005 Posts: 66

scollier · Joined: 22 Jun 2005 Posts: 5

Thanks Scanner Freak. That releaves me much. Could you and the rest of the group help me out. Maybe clarify things for me a little. My CCs here in CT for CSP are zone 1 trp G 868.75000 and zone 2 trp A/I 868.3125. With the new rebanding that would make the frequencies 853.75000 and 853.31250? If so then 853.75000 will work. Batts ran out before I could find out about 853.31250 though. Will try tommorow.

Also, what's up with the pro 97? Any release date or price yet. Or is it still on the drawing board? Thanks again all.

shawn collier

ka3jjz · Joined: 24 Mar 2005 Posts: 164 Location: Glen Burnie Md.

The PRO97 has been out for several months now, as has its mobile cousin, the PRO2055. However, there seems to be some confusion as to whether rebanding will affect these scanners. It seems that the tables necessary to be fixed do not work on 800 with these scanners; only on UHF and VHF trunking. However, don't consider that the last word.... There are a few forums on Yahoo, here on Strong Signals and on RadioReference (in the Radio Shack forum) concerning these scanners.

Anyway, here's something that came up on the RadioReference Delaware board, and DoctorDave was good enough to repost it on the rebanding forums there. It concerns the PRO96/2096 and the rebanding effort, and is supposedly an email response from GRE:
=================
We are nearly certain that the PRO-96 will be compatible with both
legacy and rebanded Motorola systems. As you know, the PRO-96 includes a "custom table" range configuration that allows up to six table
configurations to be defined for both Motorola and P25 trunked radio
systems. A custom table range configuration consists of a base frequency
(i.e., "Base = Channel 1"), a step size for the range (i.e., "Channel N
= Base + N * Step") and an offset value (i.e., "Offset the channel
number by this value").

In the current Motorola channel plan for the 800 MHz band, there are
four or five range definitions that allow Motorola radios to access
every frequency in the 800 MHz band. We know what these ranges are, and have hard coded them into the PRO-96 and PRO-2096, so the radios behave exactly like Motorola radios when trunking the 800 MHz band.

In testing the six custom ranges, we were able to successfully
trunktrack the 800 MHz Motorola systems by turning the custom range
feature on and hand programming the 4 or 5 ranges that Motorola uses to
define the 800 MHz band.

So...

Once the new Motorola bandplan for the reconfigured 800 MHz band is
known, it should be a very simple matter indeed to come up with the
correct base, step and offset values to make the PRO-96 and PRO-2096
track the 800 MHz band correctly on systems that have been rebanded.
With the exception of the actual channel tables themselves. We are aware
of what Motorola plans to do with the their 800 MHz channel mapping, and
are very confident that the PRO-96 and the PRO-2096 will be able handle
800 MHz rebanding just fine.
======
73s Mike
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Utility Monitoring Central
Wiki, HF Forum Administrator, RadioReference Com

bsavery · Joined: 26 Mar 2005 Posts: 6 Location: Bellevue NE

Last I heard, the Pro-2055 isn't due out until later this year.

I can't confirm that though. They have nothing on it on their web site.

Perhaps the Pro-2055 sticky on RadioReference in the Radio Shack Forum has more details.

Bob

scollier · Joined: 22 Jun 2005 Posts: 5

PRO 97 DOES NOT CARRY DIGITAL. I REPEAT, THE PRO 97 DOES NOT CARRY DIGITAL.

shawn

scanner_freak · Joined: 23 Mar 2005 Posts: 66

scanner_freak · Joined: 23 Mar 2005 Posts: 66

My Email reply from RS:

scollier · Joined: 22 Jun 2005 Posts: 5

Hello All again,

I live in Connecticut and the state police here are trs mot digital. I noticed while in Zone 2 along route 8 in shelton through Naugatuck that the strength is only a 50% at best. I think it was a little better with the 1.3 cpu unit I had. I know from a test that the pro 92 picked up the CC a little better than the 96 1.4. Also I think my reception of the Shelton PD's 800 conventional has been effected too. Of course, I've been listening on hazy hot humid days as well. Seemed a little better to day though. Depends where it is in the car. Hope there's nothing wrong with it. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
shawn

ps don't place 2 different zones next to each other in the same bank. Will never hit the first one. As I found out.. Sorry for shouting before aboutt he pro 97