[FedCom] P25 vs PL

[Arthur-Bryan E. Phelps]

I believe this on-going discussion is excellent and beneficial to all of us.
We are fortunate to have knowledgeable colleagues to rely on (and try their
patience).  However, we may be putting the cart before the horse.  If any of
us has actually verified (a) general and/or interagency pool frequency(ies),
then it seems logical that whoever verified the active frequency(ies) would
know if it P25 or not.  I would hope that such information would be posted
with the information, including geographical location. (Transmission(s)
heard in California would most likely be meaningless to me in NE PA.) If
anyone simply wants to program a batch of unverified frequencies in their
scanner, put one entry with a PL of "none" (UNIDEN) and a second entry with
the entities PL.  This isn't the best solution, but somewhat of a
compromise.  On the up side, if there is a transmission on any of the
frequencies, either P25 or analog, you will hear it. Then, delete the
unneeded duplicate frequency, if you wish. The down side is that you might
pickup some really strange sound/noise on the frequencies with "none" as the
PL.  This comes from the "whatever it is worth" department.   Naturally,
life would be easier if all fed entities transmitted in P25 (and in the
clear, right).  What a nice delusion!!!!  Perhaps, being more realistic, the
second generation digital scanners will correct this and other "bugs".