Ergon Energy Queensland

[Radio_Australia]

Much appreciated.

[AusPTT]

An old post I know but I've just got a new programming lead for my Pro-96 and decided to fire up Pro96com on the Ergon P25 trunk system in Cairns.

REALLY weird base channelling system they have (All over the place with 00/01/02.

Is anyone down South monitoring this still / at all?

I'm assuming it's encrypted, I've only had two voice conversations come up. Both of them unit to unit calls but this happened whilst I was at work. The rest is just telemetry squirts on the data channel.

Brian.

[Radio_Australia]

I’m almost sure it’s all encrypted unfortunately last time I heard

[AusPTT]

I'm sure you're right and it's all encrypted. Seems to have been this way from the start.

I'm actually wondering is anyone is using Pro96com or OP25 or Unitrunker on it to have a look at the bandplan settings and channels in use by the system. The bandplan is VERY strange and makes no real sense at all.

The 00 Channel Base starts at 165.0000 and shows a Tx offset of 4.6
The 01 Channel Base starts at 150.0000 with a Tx offset of 0
The 02 Channel Base starts at 163.0000 with a Tx offset of -4.6

The strange part of all of that is: the 02 and then 00 frequencies fall into the 01 base settings and prior to the 01 frequencies. It makes no real sense when you could have had a single band plan. It's not even regionalised as I have 00, 01 and 02 frequencies all within a couple of KM's of me.

I thought perhaps they had segregated Voice and Data into different bandplans (no need to, but they might have) but eve this doesn't ring true when you lay it out on a frequency map.

A snapshot of part of the big picture I've drawn is here.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mf5gv2w4fr710gn/cc.JPG?dl=0

[Radio_Australia]

has GPS data integrated , also this system has digital HF linking to the VHF and vice versa ,

It had quite a large budget

[Radio_Australia]

This info is from 2017 but may be still in use , have you seen ?

[Comint]

The 00 Channel Base starts at 165.0000 and shows a Tx offset of 4.6
The 01 Channel Base starts at 150.0000 with a Tx offset of 0
The 02 Channel Base starts at 163.0000 with a Tx offset of -4.6

The Channel Base is for the Repeater Tx, so:
The 00 Channel Base starts at 165.0000 and shows a Rx offset of 4.6
The 01 Channel Base starts at 150.0000 with a Rx offset of 0
The 02 Channel Base starts at 163.0000 with a Rx offset of -4.6

I haven't monitored that system in a long time, and don't have the equipment to do so in the foreseeable future.

--
Comint

[AusPTT]

I knew about the HF integration into the system. The GPS would be a no brainer to add on these days but this may explain some of the forced affiliations also.

I can hear at least 5, maybe six of the control channels here in FNQ from home, but only Yarrabah (Line of Site) can be decoded. I'm not pulling enough signal in from the others. I have a mini tower planned for build after I come back from leave to get me a little height. Design has been approved by the minister for finance, war and peace. Might just delay it till the property manager has completed their next inspection so I can get a bit of use out of it. I should be able to then get decent signal to look at what is happening on the other sites also.

The list on radio reference is a bit dated as I am aware of sites in the Coal Belt (Mt Seaview from memory and I think Carborough Range was coming online also) and Mackay as one of my old P25 frequencies had been re-issued to Ergon also. Of course it was our primary control channel so was causing a couple of dramas for Ergon who went and changed frequencies and double checked the rest of their allocations at the same time.

Brian.

[AusPTT]

Can't be totally encrypted. Normally I just hear bursts of data on the Ergon network, however just now I heard a bit of voice that wasn't decoding properly and then heard a loud and clear P25 response of "Yeah Go Ahead" then a bit of encrypted voice, then some voice that wouldn't decode again.

TG 2032
Mt Yarrabah Control Channel 165.2000
RID 21138 Encrypted
RID 345 Encrypted
RID 22304 Encrypted
I only heard the voice in the clear once. Didn't manage to get the ID though. I thought it was the AFP Encrypted comms at first until I heard someone in the clear and looked at the screen.

[Kazzaw]

I sat my computer on the Toowoomba control channel the other day and picked up a handful of unencrypted transmissions

[Radio_Australia]

Still cant work out why a power company would want encryption at all ?

Base to mobile 2 , go replace a pole in north street over ,

Mobile 2 completed job over

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[peteramjet]

Still cant work out why a power company would want encryption at all ?

To flip the question - why not? The cost of implementing encryption from the outset is likely no different to not implementing it.

Being a QLD Government subsidiary, they may be mandated by procedures in place to run encryption. Similar to the QWN.

I hate encryption from a scanning view, but can see why radio users choose to use it.

[Radio_Australia]

Still cant work out why a power company would want encryption at all ?

To flip the question - why not? The cost of implementing encryption from the outset is likely no different to not implementing it.

Being a QLD Government subsidiary, they may be mandated by procedures in place to run encryption. Similar to the QWN.

I hate encryption from a scanning view, but can see why radio users choose to use it.

I was under the impression that encryption was a additional fee per radio , as in fee for each feature set ?

[peteramjet]

Depends on the form of encryption. Assuming P25 and Moto equipment, then ADP is included. And while it is no longer considered ‘secure’ to a Government standard, it will stop a scanner listener and the vast majority of non-genuine radio users from hearing anything.

AES, etc are an additional cost per handset, but in the scheme of the total cost of the network most likely consider it a small, additional amount to secure their network.

[Phil]

Depends on the form of encryption. Assuming P25 and Moto equipment, then ADP is included. And while it is no longer considered ‘secure’ to a Government standard, it will stop a scanner listener and the vast majority of non-genuine radio users from hearing anything.

AES, etc are an additional cost per handset, but in the scheme of the total cost of the network most likely consider it a small, additional amount to secure their network.

Ergon Energy is a pure Tait environment and they have custom firmware.

Sent from my SM-G977B using Tapatalk

[Kazzaw]

Got basically a few full unencrypted convos yesterday. Multiple comms, however seems to be vehicle to vehicle talking about star wars and recent bushfires, just general chat.

A couple of encrypted comms, seemed to be clear to air communicating with comms for radio checks, comms replies encrypted