WA Radio Scanner Users' Group

Is there any way you can extract the GPS tail that is sent after a transmission on the 6IP/6AR network by using a SDR (Software Defined Radio)

Thats if they still send the GPS location of the appliance over the radio

Not sure how, but it depends if the radios have the feature enabled or not. It's also possible the feature is enabled but the GPS isn't actually attached.

was just wondering as i heard comcen saying that they can see where midland and kiara when they were trying to find a fire in midland

They use the MDTs for that.

The data burst on the analogue voice channels is a GPS position in a proprietary Tait format.

It's been a while since I've logged on, but as far as SES/WAERN radios go, the GPS antennas are plugged in and working.

We can also have a co-ordinate readout displayed on the vehicle radio's display, but we generally use handheld 'hiking' type GPS units like the Garmin e-trex 10, etc for that, so its basically never used.

The tail is quite indeed in a proprietary tait format. I have not been able to decode it using my SDR, but I'll try again when I get my Hack RF soon, as it is much more sensitive, and has a higher sample rate.

roland985 wrote:It's been a while since I've logged on, but as far as SES/WAERN radios go, the GPS antennas are plugged in and working.

We can also have a co-ordinate readout displayed on the vehicle radio's display.

I've had mixed success with the GPS functionality in WAERN radios. It's a bit of a lottery as to whether pressing F2 gives you an actual position or just lots of zeroes

Oh, yeah, and I also forgot.

Check for an older operational circular.

States that the radios co-ordinate display may freeze, and not provide updated co-ordinates.

roland985 wrote:Oh, yeah, and I also forgot.

Check for an older operational circular.

States that the radios co-ordinate display may freeze, and not provide updated co-ordinates.

Yep, I'm familiar with that circular. This isn't "freezing" as such this is "just doesn't work at all".

We tend not to bother with the GPS functionality of the radios, we can usually see where we need to be - it's all the stuff that's hot and glowing red

We find the gps feature very handy at mva's and giving the rescue chopper exact coordinates.

xr8edute wrote:We find the gps feature very handy at mva's and giving the rescue chopper exact coordinates.

Yep that would be quite useful!

I always thought the MDT's work over cellular? is there a separate frequency for these is there?

Yeh they operate similar to the pagers afaik.

Some changes happening very soon. We have 12 vehicles fitted with pinpoint tracking systems and they work very well(apart from draining the battery on trucks not fitted with battery isolation switches.). Takes about 2-3 weeks of no vehicle use before you get an email notification with a low battery warning. Currently installing small solar panels to trickle charge the vehicles and plant that sit idle until we get a call out

The only issue is that the sim cards are not roaming SIM's and are network fixed(Unless this ability has changed in the last couple of weeks)

http://www.pinpointcomms.com.au/news/bl ... -it-counts

Hmm. So it's mobile based. Isn't mobile infrastructure the first to go out during really big fires?

vk6hgr wrote:Hmm. So it's mobile based. Isn't mobile infrastructure the first to go out during really big fires?

Yes mobile based however we have 2 vehicles in remote locations that have a sat module that is fitted. No need for mobile coverage. Lets see what options get rolled out

Units also have an internal "blackbox" where data is stored then uploaded to the network if the vehicle goes out of coverage then returns. They are also near impossible to jam/block unlike the old pinpoint units where you could unplug the antenna and not get a vehicle location.

Ours are not setup for location alerts however have panic/emergency buttons, remote unlock and lock. you can have a max of 3 input/outputs. Also standard is overspeed alerts, vehicle rollover, driver behaviour(i.e. it can tell how hard you brake and plant your foot on the throttle etc). geofencing is also a good one as we can set alerts if a vehicle or plant moves from a location. notifications come both via email and text message. I know of one local council in WA where if the vehicle drives more than 10kms outside of the LGA a warning buzzer goes off and will not turn off until it returns to the geofenced area.

Can't say any more about it but will be interesting to see how things progress