AZ DPS - YRCS

I am just getting back into scanning after a year or so off, and am noticing that a few things seem to have a changed.

One of those is that I'm not hearing the DPS on the YRCS system as I used to. I'm wondering if they haven't moved to the RWC in the Phoenix area, but hoping it's just my error. I realize that I may have something wrong in my programming, so I wanted to see if anyone else has been recently monitoring them on that system.

They're still quite active on the old 460 MHz frequencies - I also receive them on YRCS from time to time, but most of the activity has been on the old Public Safety frequencies.

Arizona Department of Public Safety Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Thanks. I listen to them on UHF also....just wondering how much they are being heard on the YRCS system...sounds like not much. Two years ago I would hear them all day on that system, now I haven't heard a peep from them there since I got my new scanner going, and the North Mountain, White Tanks, and Thomson Peak are all within my range.

I can't help but wonder if they are now using RWC radios instead when they want P25. I know that some units have RWC radios, and I know that the FBI, DEA, ATF, ICE, and many others are now regularly using the RWC because I've heard mention of it between PPD units and dispatchers.

But then that would beg the question, who is being served by these valley YRCS towers? I'll have to dig into that next.

KJ7G said:

But then that would beg the question, who is being served by these valley YRCS towers?

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As I understand, DPS has deployed dual band UHF & 700/800mhz portable radios to their CI officers and motor officers in the valley. CI officers are quite active on YRCS talkgroups 1020, 1025, and 1026 in the Phoenix Metro area. They are also quite active on the RCW talkgroups 2191 & 2192 as well as H-Deck, G-Deck, and occasionally Phoenix PD A-Deck.

Motor officers were issued dual band radios as they are often involved with traffic control for large events like ASU games, Cardinals games, and VIP visits to the valley. This way they can easily interoperate with valley agencies.

DPS has stated it would cost $20 million to upgrade all metro DSP officers with dual band radios so they could migrate to the YRCS. They would need dual band radios as metro officers could be called to any part of the state, and would need to have UHF capability for areas that will not have YRCS/AzWINS coverage for many years. This is the biggest reason that you are not hearing much DPS traffic on YRCS/AzWINS yet.

Patches for the YRCS talkgroups to DPS UHF frequencies are only active when an officer selects the YRCS talkgroup on their radio. I am guessing you heard more of the DPS UHF patched talkgroups a few years ago as officers playing with their new radios and sometimes selecting the patched talkgroups on the YRCS. After a couple years of having the radios, this novelty “playing” has worn off, and users now know how to use their radios and select the UHF district channels.

The biggest users of YRCS/AzWINS in the valley is ADOT. The 4 YRCS/AzWINS transmitters were set up in the Phoenix area to replace ADOT’s old analog trunked system a few years back as it ran out of its supported life. The system is primarily here today as ADOT needed a replacement radio system. Someday, when it makes financial sense, DSP will move to it too.

DPS/YRCS

Be advised that re-banding is currently in progress on the system, and some frequencies may have changed,YRCS is doing the State radios after the YRCS county radios. Sites in Yuma have moved to 700frequencies in the city.

E5911 said:

Be advised that re-banding is currently in progress on the system, and some frequencies may have changed,YRCS is doing the State radios after the YRCS county radios. Sites in Yuma have moved to 700frequencies in the city.

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That would make sense...I have every YRCS site in the valley on scan and not a thing....they are probably on frequencies that aren't even known yet.

Good point on ADOT cellphone...I will need to update their information too...I believe I still have the old system in there...

I'm getting the YRCS in Phoenix without any issues this morning. An ADOT Enforcement and Compliance officer just ran a 10-28. If you're not receiving anything, you should double check your programming to make sure everything is correct.

John
Peoria

Hmmm...the frequencies are all there, but on site options in the pro-668 software I have selected "standard" for P-25 trunking tables...other options would be custom and auto-fill...maybe I need to try those other setting instead of standard.

Does anyone use a PSR-800 or PRO-668 who is currently able to monitor activity on this system, and if so, under "site details" and "site options", what type do you have selected under trunking tables?

I have them defined and hear infrequent activity - I'm using the "Standard" defaults under Site Options.

InlandAZ said:

I have them defined and hear infrequent activity - I'm using the "Standard" defaults under Site Options.

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Thanks. I haven't heard anyone say that they are hearing much there at present, so maybe they are doing something with the system as was mentioned above. However they are already 700 mhz so aren't they already set? Could they still face rebanding?

I see the ADOT MVD enforcement talk group come up a lot...the bars are solid full scale as if the control channel is solid...the talk frequency flickers on and off on the display...never any audio. That's all I get....doesn't matter how close I am to white tanks or north mountain, been near both several times in the last few days but the same thing happens.

I also get the same exact thing with simulcast g, but haven't gotten close to a simulcast g site yet to see what happens on that system. That one is always difficult to pick up where I live. It would make me think that simulcast might be a real issue on this scanner, but simulcast a does pretty well, at least on par with my other scanners. Mystery...

cellphone said:

Someday, when it makes financial sense, DSP will move to it too.

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I'm assuming you meant "DPS."

Exsmokey said:

I'm assuming you meant "DPS."

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Haha. Yep, sorry for the typo.

KJ7G said:

Thanks. I haven't heard anyone say that they are hearing much there at present, so maybe they are doing something with the system as was mentioned above. However they are already 700 mhz so aren't they already set? Could they still face rebanding?

I see the ADOT MVD enforcement talk group come up a lot...the bars are solid full scale as if the control channel is solid...the talk frequency flickers on and off on the display...never any audio. That's all I get....doesn't matter how close I am to white tanks or north mountain, been near both several times in the last few days but the same thing happens.

I also get the same exact thing with simulcast g, but haven't gotten close to a simulcast g site yet to see what happens on that system. That one is always difficult to pick up where I live. It would make me think that simulcast might be a real issue on this scanner, but simulcast a does pretty well, at least on par with my other scanners. Mystery...

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1) My understanding was that the YRCS frequencies in Yuma (city) are being (have been) switched from 800 MHz to 700 MHz. There's no need to switch anywhere else as I believe (without looking at the DB) all the other sites were already 700 MHz.

2) The ADOT Enforcement and Compliance Division used to be a part of the Motor Vehicles Division as MVD Enforcement. Several years ago however, they were taken out from under MVD and made their own division under ADOT. I just want to try to prevent any confusion there

3) It appears to me that the White Tanks site antenna is aimed to provide best coverage to the far west and southwest areas of the county: Buckeye, Tonopah, Harquahala Valley, Gila Bend, etc. I live in Peoria, and reception from the White Tanks site isn't as strong as North Mtn, South Mtn or Thompson Peak. If you live in the Central Valley, try using those 3 sites. (South Mtn and Thompson Peak seem to carry everything full time, North Mtn may not always carry everything.) I have all 3 sites, plus White Tanks, plus Towers Mtn, in my PSR-500 with "Check All CC's".

I had no issues late last night listening to ALERT respond to an incident at Catcus Rd and I-17.

4) You may be close enough to one particular Simulcast A transmitter, that you're not receiving any others, so there's no multipath issues there, but you're receiving two or more Simulcast G transmitters at the same time, causing multipath issues.

John
Peoria

I figured it out. On my scanner, 700 mhz P25 systems need to have the trunking table set to "auto fill", or you can manually fill in the data using "custom" (I confirmed this by using the trunking data from a freescan BCD396XT file that I had in storage). On my scanner at least, when I use the "standard" setting. the scanner will constantly hunt and I will see frequencies flicker, but I never get audio. Changing these systems to "auto fill" instantly fixed my issues. Reception of YRCS is now normal, and I've picked up clear transmissions on three or four talk groups already this evening. Simulcast g now works well...or at least as well as my old PSR-500, sitting in the same spot, and that's pretty darn good...compared to past uniden scanners which got zero on that simulcast sitting in the same spot.

I actually parked under the simulcast g tower at the peoria PD building and the system I set up using the "standard" setting still got nothing...while the other two systems using "auto fill" and "custom" worked. Using the "auto fill" setting the YRCS North Mountain site worked everywhere I went in the valley....from Surprise to East Phoenix to South Phoenix...I didn't hear anything from the other YRCS sites.

For systems using 800 mhz frequencies, the trunking setting can be set to standard without issue...for whatever reason. My firmware and CPU are the latest, FYI.