New CDTRS Site - Colorado Springs CSP Office

Looks like possibly a new site going in Colorado Springs. Anyone hear any details? The license is the first I've heard of it.

The coordinates and address put it at the CSP Office. Looking at the Satellite imagery there is already a tower w/ Microwave on it, so it shouldn't take much construction.

YE WQVK965
STATE OF COLORADO
[PART OF THE STATEWIDE DIGITAL TRUNKED RADIO SYSTEM -QUAIL LOOP]
Control Point 1 - 601 EAST 18TH AVENUE, SUITE 250, DENVER CO 303-764-7700
(link)
03/16/2015 License Issued
1 - QUAIL LOOP, 1480 QUAIL LAKE LOOP, COLORADO SPRINGS (EL PASO) CO [Structure: Lattice tower] (map)
[Antenna 1 - HTT: 12.2m, Polarization: Vertical, Gain: 9.0dBi, Azimuth: 360.0°, HAAT: -145.0m]
859.8375 FB2 Ant: 1 100p 182e Units: 1 20K0F1E
859.3875 FB2 Ant: 1 100p 182e Units: 1 20K0F1E
858.8375 FB2 Ant: 1 100p 182e Units: 1 20K0F1E
858.3875 FB2 Ant: 1 100p 182e Units: 1 20K0F1E
857.8375 FB2 Ant: 1 100p 182e Units: 1 20K0F1E
857.3875 FB2 Ant: 1 100p 182e Units: 1 20K0F1E
856.8375 FB2 Ant: 1 100p 182e Units: 1 20K0F1E
856.3875 FB2 Ant: 1 100p 182e Units: 1 20K0F1E
2 - 65.0 km radius around fixed location 1
814.8375 MO Ant: 1 35p 70e Units: 2000 20K0F1E
814.3875 MO Ant: 1 35p 70e Units: 2000 20K0F1E
813.8375 MO Ant: 1 35p 70e Units: 2000 20K0F1E
813.3875 MO Ant: 1 35p 70e Units: 2000 20K0F1E
812.8375 MO Ant: 1 35p 70e Units: 2000 20K0F1E
812.3875 MO Ant: 1 35p 70e Units: 2000 20K0F1E
811.8375 MO Ant: 1 35p 70e Units: 2000 20K0F1E
811.3875 MO Ant: 1 35p 70e Units: 2000 20K0F1E

Would this site overlap an exiting site in the El Paso County DTR Zone?

natedawg1604 said:

Would this site overlap an exiting site in the El Paso County DTR Zone?

Click to expand...

It's basically guaranteed to overlap with Zone 4. The thing with Zone 4 that separates it from the other DTR Zones is that Zone 4 denies everyone not Zone 4 (CSP being the exception), and everyone not Zone 4 basically denies Zone 4. It's one of the bigger oddities for DTRS as it basically acts like it's own system, the last ghosts of the Pikes Peak Regional Communications Network still in play.

From looking at Individual CO DTRS Sites/Cheyenne Mtn on the wiki, I would say that the positioning is likely to fill the small gap of area that Cheyenne Mountain does not cover, and therefore would be a deadzone for non-Zone 4 talkgroups even though there are probably 2-3 Zone 4 DTRS sites that provide excellent coverage for the location.

I started monitoring the freqs last Tuesday and no activity has been heard. Once I do I will make a post.

You may already hear 856.8375 off of Cheyenne Mountain that will no doubt be a shared voice channel employed using Dynamic Frequency Blocking (DFB). More info here: http://forums.radioreference.com/co...ings-dtrs-site-ch-freq-moves.html#post2204089

Currently, one of those voice channels licenced for that future site on Quail Lake Loop near the Colo Springs CSP building is the 6th most frequently used voice channel (out of 11) used by Cheyenne Mountain (which looks down on that future site).

I will keep an eye on Cheyenne Mtn's channels and also on its listed neighbors for anything new that pops up in relation to the new site.

Photos of the antenna already beside the CSP/CDOT building at that address. It doesn't look like they have put up any additional antennas than what I usually see. These can be the "before" pictures.

And a couple more.

That big round microwave antenna on the side transmits up north to a passive repeater that looks like a billboard next to the Austin Bluffs tower and then it goes back over to the Cheyenne Mountain tower for further connectivity to Pueblo and also up to Franktown and on to Denver.

That microwave dish is licensed for state government data connectivity and not DTRS so presumably they would need to put another microwave dish on there or use something else.

if that is truly a data dish for some form of IP data there is likely enough overhead bandwidth to multiplex the DTRS traffic over it with plenty left to spare and that is likely piggybacked over the DTRS data network any ways to cut down on costs so adding DTRS traffic when that site goes live should be a trivial matter.

I guess we will have to wait and see. I took a look at the microwave connectivity map and the CSP Colo Springs link goes up to Austin Bluffs (bouncing off a passive repeater, not the DTRS site) then up to Cheyenne Mtn and then straight down to the Pueblo CSP office (again, not any DTRS site down there) and on the north side a link goes to Franktown and then to a CDOT building in Denver and then out to another 10 sites (most of which are CDOT and other state agencies like CBI, CSP, DHS, etc). So it looks to me that DTRS is piggybacking off of the state infrastructure that has long been in place before it. But for the most part they just share some site locations and towers but sometimes use different antennas.

The DTRS equipment has arrived at the CSP/CDOT site at 1480 Quail Lake Loop in Colorado Springs.

Should be installed soon! The new site name will no doubt have "Quail" somewhere in it.

New Colo Springs site is up and running

We are up and running at the new DTRS site at the Colo Springs CSP/CDOT building on Quail Lake Loop!

FileVersion:8
-TowerInfo
#This section is here for information only. With the exception
#of the Call Sign(s), This data is not Read back into the program at all.
System ID : D1C
System Name : State of Colorado DTRS
WACN : BEE07
Tower Number (Decimal): 6-39
Tower Number (Hex) : T0627
Tower Description : Quail Lk Lp CSP
Control Capabilities : Data,Voice,Registration
Flavor : Phase 1
Call Sign(s) : WQVK965
Timestamp : Thu Aug 13 22:56:28 2015

-Tables
#Format: Table ID,Base Freq,Spacing,Input Offset,Assumed/Confirmed,Bandwidth,Slots
00,851.00625,0.00625,-45.00000,"Confirmed",0.01250,1
01,762.00625,0.00625,30.00000,"Confirmed",0.01250,1

-Frequencies
#Format: Channel,Usage,Frequency(/Slot),Input Channel,Input Frequency(/Slot),Input Explicit(1/0),Hit Count
"00-0933","v",856.83750,"00-0933",811.83750,0,56
"00-1021","v",857.38750,"00-1021",812.38750,1,57
"00-1093","v",857.83750,"00-1093",812.83750,1,55
"00-1181","a",858.38750,"00-1181",813.38750,1,0
"00-1253","a",858.83750,"00-1253",813.83750,1,0
"00-1341","a",859.38750,"00-1341",814.38750,1,0
"00-1413","c",859.83750,"00-1413",814.83750,1,0

-Neighbors
#Format: TowerID,TowerIDHex,System ID,Channel,Frequency,Tower Name
114,"T010E",d1c,"00-0469",853.93750,"Douglas County South Simulcast"
411,"T040B",d1c,"00-1437",859.98750,"Fountain Valley"
413,"T040D",d1c,"00-1433",859.96250,"Ski Summit"
416,"T0410",d1c,"00-0461",853.88750,"Austin Bluffs"
417,"T0411",d1c,"00-1317",859.23750,"Peterson AFB"
424,"T0418",d1c,"00-1569",860.81250,"Cedar Heights"
601,"T0601",d1c,"00-0477",853.98750,"Pueblo Simulcast"
648,"T0630",d1c,"00-0327",853.05000,"Cheyenne Mountain"

Does it make sense that it's on the Pueblo zone? Just curious.

It must make sense to the State of Colorado radio people. Cheyenne Mountain was on Zone-1 until they created Zone-6 and then they moved it over Zone-6, probably to make more room on Zone-1. Maybe the Zone-1 zone controller was approaching full?

The fact that it is not on the El Paso County Zone-4 is not a surprise because Zone-4 already has good coverage and the state Zone-6 coverage only has Cheyenne Mountain for Colorado Springs area coverage... Until now.

I don't think it is capacity related at this point. Zone 1 has 36 sites while Zone 6 has 43 sites. Zone 2 and western Colorado has 88 sites with more on the way.

The State likely assigns controllers based on county. There is just the special case of PPRCN ownership when dealing with Zone 4. If El Paso County didn't have it's own Zone, then I would imagine that most sites would end up being on Zone 6.

As for the new site, coverage simulations indicate a fairly small footprint primarily covering the south side of Colorado Springs. Not surprising given the short tower and lack of placement on a significant geographic feature.

Below is how the new site fills in for Cheyenne Mountain.

Wow, Andrew, I haven't looked and realized so many sites switched over from 1 to 6!

And great coverage depiction you added. It shows why they added the site at the CSP building. Cheyenne Mountain coverage of their building and the immediate area was pretty bad due to the shadow of the edge of the mountain in front of it. The CSP building is in the shadow area that looks like a maple leaf.

Latest tower file

Here is the latest tower file and I have couple days worth of Pro96Com logfiles (channel/talkgroup use and user affiliations) if anyone is interested. I have also submitted a ticket for database update.


This site basically has the same affiliation rules as the rest of the state sites (excluding zone-4). It denies all El Paso and Colorado Springs TGs (except for mutual aid command channels).


FileVersion:8
-TowerInfo
#This section is here for information only. With the exception
#of the Call Sign(s), This data is not Read back into the program at all.
System ID : D1C
System Name : State of Colorado DTRS
WACN : BEE07
Tower Number (Decimal): 6-39
Tower Number (Hex) : T0627
Tower Description :
Control Capabilities : Data,Voice,Registration
Flavor : Phase 1
Call Sign(s) : WQVK965
Timestamp : Sun Aug 30 14:52:10 2015

-Tables
#Format: Table ID,Base Freq,Spacing,Input Offset,Assumed/Confirmed,BandWidth,Slots
00,851.00625,0.00625,-45.00000,"Confirmed",0.01250,1
01,762.00625,0.00625,30.00000,"Confirmed",0.01250,1

-Frequencies
#Format: Channel,Usage,Frequency(/Slot),Input Channel,Input Frequency(/Slot),Input Explicit(1/0),Hit Count
"00-0861","i",856.38750,"00-0861",811.38750,0,22
"00-0933","v",856.83750,"00-0933",811.83750,0,427
"00-1021","v",857.38750,"00-1021",812.38750,0,429
"00-1093","v",857.83750,"00-1093",812.83750,0,427
"00-1181","a",858.38750,"00-1181",813.38750,0,0
"00-1253","a",858.83750,"00-1253",813.83750,0,0
"00-1341","a",859.38750,"00-1341",814.38750,0,0
"00-1413","c",859.83750,"00-1413",814.83750,0,0

-Neighbors
#Format: TowerID,TowerIDHex,System ID,Channel,Frequency,Tower Name
114,"T010E",d1c,"00-0469",853.93750,"Douglas County South Simulcast (Denver Metro)"
411,"T040B",d1c,"00-1437",859.98750,"Fountain Valley"
413,"T040D",d1c,"00-1433",859.96250,"Ski Summit"
416,"T0410",d1c,"00-0461",853.88750,"Austin Bluffs"
417,"T0411",d1c,"00-1317",859.23750,"Peterson Air Force Base"
424,"T0418",d1c,"00-1569",860.81250,"Cedar Heights"
601,"T0601",d1c,"00-0477",853.98750,"Pueblo Simulcast"
648,"T0630",d1c,"00-0327",853.05000,"Cheyenne Mountain"

After photos

Also, here are a couple of after photos. Not too much changed except a couple new antennas.

I see the database updated. I programmed the control channel but got no bars. Is it even up and running now?