Lscott

I’ve attached one of the DMR standards documents I have on file. Starting in section 10 the RF specifications start. That covers permissible frequency errors, slot timing etc. 
Elsewhere the various types and headers are covered. The are about 7 documents for the base DMR protocol. 
 
When reading the document “BS” is read as Base Station and “MS” as Mobile Station.
ETSI TS 102 361-1 V2.5.1.pdf

This looks like it’s going off the rails. 
 
I would quit looking at what’s coming out of the packet decoders until with 100 percent certainly the mode is positively identified. For the various modes the RF has some very characteristic features. For example DMR, P25 Phase-2 and Tetra are all TDMA based with particular bandwidths of the signal and slot timing. P25 Phase-1 is like NXDN, both are ONLY FDMA based. But, NXDN has two bandwidths, narrow and very narrow that are used.
Once there is zero doubt about the mode then worry what’s coming out of the decoders. For now it looks like garbage mostly. Even if the voice payload is encrypted the headers are not. It’s has to be this way for the state machine in the radio’s firmware to figure out what type of packet it is and what to do with it. If you’re getting good decodes then at least the packet type should be identifiable even if the payload is encrypted.
Assuming it’s a Motorola system then the encryption is likely one of several types, basic - enhanced - AES/DES. 
 
The basic mode used on Motorola radios is a low bit count scrambler type proprietary to Motorola. It’s available on many of their digital radios.
The enhanced encryption is usually RC4, a 40 bit stream encryption, available on many radios besides Motorola. I have it on several of my Kenwood NX-1300DUK5’s.
https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/290-nx-1300duk5/?context=new
The AES/DES encryption is available on the higher end Motorola radios only, I believe, and on other manufacturers as well. It’s also on my Anytone D878 and D578 too at no extra cost. 
Currently you’re not likely to find much in the way of decryption software since the FCC rules now make it clear it’s against the law to decode encrypted transmissions you’re not authorized to receive. The guys doing the SDR software have said they won’t touch it for that reason. 

It's not RF. It's demonic. 😲

You show the center as 462.53188, that a whole lot closer to the standard FCC spacing of 462.53125 than 462.5325. Close enough for margin of error on most radios. I know you talked to Deltacom who has a repeater less than 7 miles away on 462.53125, running trucked radios (probably Motorola's) and they said it wasn't them but what's the hurt in confirming it? They might have a lobe of the antenna pointing line of site that is bouncing off big metal object such as the water tower. You know what the traffic looks like, try parking under their tower confirm it is not them.

I've done some technical writing for the company I work at, Power Point slide shows for training/sales, test procedures and manuals, but it's not my primary job. People think it's easy. Nope! It's boring mind numbing work and requires a lot of attention to details. People who do it full time professionally really earn their money. Doing design calculations, simulations and circuit design is much more fun, and it keeps the mind sharp too. 🙂

If I had to guess they are running MotoTrbo GPS tracking on the radios. The GPS system can be programmed to poll the radios every 10 minutes or every 1 kilometer of movement. They are short bursts, around 600ms to 1 second. If a car is moving it sends a lot more traffic than if it doesn't. 

I agree. Deltacom is actively helping me track it down too, they appreciate my investigative work, we’re talking about going in on a KrakenSDR together 
I’ve called the water authority twice, the second time explained the situation to the secretary of the guy I’m looking for, they leave them office at 3pm so who knows. 
 
im datalogging all the decoded message blocks into text format with date time groups to get a good idea of the times they’re most active to be better positioned to track it down. There’s 2 hour gaps in the middle of the day where the channel isn’t used, then used for 20 min continuously then not again till the next day. Very sporadic and making pinning it down difficult. 

I have one. Bottom right corner of photo.
https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/415-amplifiersjpeg/?context=new
The power output falls off outside of the Ham band. For example the DC current input at 13.8VDC with 4 watts of RF input was about 5 amps. At the GMRS frequencies it dropped to around 3 amps. I need to put it on my Bird watt meter and get a power measurement now that I got some higher power UHF slugs for it. I'm guessing I'm only getting MAYBE 20 to 30 watts at most out of it on GMRS frequencies.
https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/321-bird-43-wattmeter/
 

Yeah, programming a DMR radio is a PIA. Then again NXDN and P25 isn’t much different. I’ve done all three of the above.

I've done some technical writing for the company I work at, Power Point slide shows for training/sales, test procedures and manuals, but it's not my primary job. People think it's easy. Nope! It's boring mind numbing work and requires a lot of attention to details. People who do it full time professionally really earn their money. Doing design calculations, simulations and circuit design is much more fun, and it keeps the mind sharp too. 🙂

I’ve been working with the gentleman at delta com on this, he is also actively working to identify the signals, his transmitters are 25w and the nearest is in Southfield. 
 
ill look some more, still waiting to hear back from the general manager of the water tower who is responsible for its operations. The only licenses I found were for ATT on that water tower. 

I've done some technical writing for the company I work at, Power Point slide shows for training/sales, test procedures and manuals, but it's not my primary job. People think it's easy. Nope! It's boring mind numbing work and requires a lot of attention to details. People who do it full time professionally really earn their money. Doing design calculations, simulations and circuit design is much more fun, and it keeps the mind sharp too. 🙂

My parents are both in their 70's. They dont go on jeep events but wanted a radio to talk on my repeaters. The Midland is perfect for that. Why would I buy a crazy complicated CCR to put in there vehicels that they would totally baffled about. I mean I still can't get my father to swtich from his flip phone and holy crap when someone sends him a text and the "darn thing beeps at me".
You also dont realize the amount of farmers that use midland. I've installed a dozen repeaters (LMR) for farms that are using Midlands in all the tractors and equipment on the farm. They are simple and last. 
If your using GMRS as HAM lite then your right there are better choices. But for simple communications they serve a purpose and will sell more than all the other vendors combined this year and next year. 

While I was not initially impressed with the radio, after spending time using it, it became 1 of 2 radios I recommend for an OTC purpose built radio.  I recommend the KG-1000G for those who want the bells and whistles and like to play with tech, and I recommend the MXT500 or MXT575 for people who just want it to work out of the box and simple operation. 
 
Everyone has their opinions. There are plenty of good radios on the market for varying prices, but the Midland radios are definitely a good brand with quality options.

My wife and I wrote a script for a training video on how to program and use DMR radios. Yep, our marriage was strained for a while. 😮

Yeah, programming a DMR radio is a PIA. Then again NXDN and P25 isn’t much different. I’ve done all three of the above.

There is.  I’m still helping my blind friend with his DMR radio (as well as my own) and I wish I could get the ear of the firmware programmers for these Anytone and Alinco DMR radios. There’s absolutely no reason it has to be as difficult as it is. With simple changes in firmware a person could easily just create two channels for each repeater (one per timeslot) and then just input or select the talk group. DMR radios would only be slightly more complicated than analog. 

In my experience it's also somewhat buggy too. Maybe by now they have more of the crappy bugs fixed. Also the firmware in the radio had some annoying quirks too.
The feature I find most useful is the DMR monitoring mode in the radio. I wish my commercial radios had this, but that wasn't necessary since the market for them ends up with the radios pretty much programmed up once and that's the end of it.   

Even though this scenario can actually happen, I encourage you to get your ham license and get on the air. You will increase your circle of trusted friends which can be a real asset during such an event.
Also, I think it was @Lscott that pointed out once that in a stressful situation you want a radio that is very simple to operate. It sounds like good advice to me.

In my experience it's also somewhat buggy too. Maybe by now they have more of the crappy bugs fixed. Also the firmware in the radio had some annoying quirks too.
The feature I find most useful is the DMR monitoring mode in the radio. I wish my commercial radios had this, but that wasn't necessary since the market for them ends up with the radios pretty much programmed up once and that's the end of it.   

Cool. Like to know what you find.

My employer has a "Spectrum Management" organization, while I fall under the "hardware" side of the equation. I have had to specify this 2017 aspect to them so many times it has led me to send them to some of your videos for layman's term version of FCC legalese. 
We use everything from Motorola TalkAbout series GMRS, to APX8000/8500 radios.....and where the specific model meets the needs and legality of the area they will be used (nationwide). 
So many people do not understand that things changed in 2017.
 

Cool. Like to know what you find.

Cool. Like to know what you find.

Cool. Like to know what you find.