Palmdale "Metro" is simply Palmdale Stations own "L-Tac" Channel now; Due to the high volume of traffic on "L-Tac 11" which was utilized by both Palmdale and Lancaster stations it was decided that Palmdale and Lancaster needed separate L-Tacs to coordinate their calls. In a study conducted last year at SCC, the conclusion was that both Dispatch 15 (Lancaster and Palmdale) and Dispatch 9 (Carson and Compton) were the two busiest "working" dispatch channels utilized by the department; Feedback on this from field, station and SCC personnel reaffirmed this and the County considered (briefly) splitting up Dispatch 15 into two separate channels as well as Dispatch 9, that way in the event of significant 10-33 traffic that required the utilization of the Duplex patch for extended periods of time, it wouldn't conflict with the other shared station on the channel. Common sense dictated and later nixed the idea of splitting both channels up and instead the practical solution was to give Palmdale and Compton station their own L-Tac's as the majority of the feedback received indicated that when Lancaster or Palmdale went 10-33 on the patch one of the other stations needed a fallback channel to switch to continue with business as usual (assuming Palmdale or Lancaster, Compton, Carson, Etc. didn't need or was not requesting resources from each other) - as well as all stations simply were now too busy with routine traffic to share an L-Tac; Thus two new channels were introduced; "Palmdale Metro" and "Compton Metro" (as Compton and Carson stations all had similar concerns regarding the need for their own L-Tacs) - Regardless of 10-33 traffic, the L-Tacs were simply becoming overwhelmed with routine radio traffic and coordination as a result from the high volume of calls and the lack of a clear local area tactical (L-Tac) induced frustration from field units, their desks personnel, as well as SCC.
Palmdale Metro is 479.1875 (RX) 476.1875 (TX) - The new repeater was briefly housed at Palmdale Station and provided very limited coverage to Palmdale City or "Metro" units - Recently it was relocated to Hauser Peak where it now provides coverage to the entire city of Palmdale as well as Littlerock, Lake LA and East County Cars. There are currently plans in the works to link "Lake Tac" (Bluerock) with Palmdale Metro to extend coverage to Palmdale cars working the East County area, but at this time there seems to be no problems with East County Palmdale cars being able to transmit on Palmdale Metro. East units continue to use "Lake Dispatch" (Dispatch 15 via Bluerock) as their working channel and freely switch to Palmdale Metro as needed.
The only downside to Palmdale Metro is the inability of units outside the Antelope Valley (and vise-versa) being able to transmit and/or receive radio traffic (for instance, a containment where a K-9 or other additional resources are requested) if they are responding from the LA Basin to the Antelope Valley. This is why a traditional area tactical or "A-Tac" is still preferred over Palmdale Metro in the event of a major emergency where resources from the LA Basin are requested and responding, however at this time SCC now has the capability to patch in Dispatch 15 with Palmdale Metro in the event the emergency warrants it, thus increasing the coverage significantly to the LA Basin. Of course the good old fashion 10-5 or "Relay" still works, but the technology is now in place to patch all channels together.
