Gatesville, TX Police

[n9ygi]

Looks like some changes in Coryell County are also taking place here in the new year. Gatesville Police have gone to P25, NAC 507 on their repeater frequency of 154.995. Hadn't heard any of the other Gatesville Fire & EMS; Coryell Sheriff Dept or Fire; in Anolog Mode in about three days.



Dennis - N9YGI
Killeen, TX

[Ensnared]

Originally Posted by n9ygi

Looks like some changes in Coryell County are also taking place here in the new year. Gatesville Police have gone to P25, NAC 507 on their repeater frequency of 154.995. Hadn't heard any of the other Gatesville Fire & EMS; Coryell Sheriff Dept or Fire; in Anolog Mode in about three days.



Dennis - N9YGI
Killeen, TX

Have you reviewed the FCC DB for the various call signs? I am going to start looking for more information since I will likely be able to monitor them here in Woodway-Waco.

Thanks for the heads up.

[Ensnared]

Please, understand, I am rather new to finding FCC changes, but I am posting the Emissions Designators for Coryell County:

KVJ752 (CORYELL, COUNTY OF) FCC Callsign Details

Hence, I will reprogram 155.685 to include "auto" on mode and "search" on squelch. I think this designator 8K10F 1D means that someone transmitted a digital signal on 155.685.

If I am incorrect, I know someone will likely correct me. Ha.

[darbar]

I have been monitoring several new digital transmissions that the gatesville pd and EMS are using. below is what i have monitored so far.

PD
154.305 nac507
158.790 nac507
154.995 nac507
155.480 nac507
156.040 nac507

these channels seem to be mostly redundant transmissions

EMS
153.380 nac507
159.585 nac507


i monitored a transmission from coryell county fire talking to gatsvill pd. the fire official wanted to perform a radio check to the pd channel. using the normal monitoring frequencies for the fire dept, i could not hear the fire dept and i could only hear the gatesville dispatcher stating that the transmission was crystal clear. i was wondering why i could not hear the fire officials transmission. maybe he was transmitting on digial. i will continue to monitor for digital transmissions and keep everyong updated to my findings. evey night i perform a frequency scan of all digital and analog frequencies in the 150 mhz range.

[Ensnared]

When I searched, here is something else I found. The city council minutes reflects the action in question:

http://www.ci.gatesville.tx.us/index...96BBA4EBEE5%7D

[Tramagod]

When do you think these changes will be reflected in the database?

[yungchin]

thanks for the heads up on coryell co tx

[darbar]

i have talked to a county fire official about a week ago who acknowleges that they are in the process of converting to digital radios. he also confirmed that all county fire depts. will be making the change very soon. this official states that these changes were mandatory and he was complaining of the cost of the equipment. he did not know any specifics however.

i will continue to scan daily for all digital transmissions and keep everyone updated as to my findings.

darbar

[Ensnared]

Originally Posted by darbar

i have talked to a county fire official about a week ago who acknowleges that they are in the process of converting to digital radios. he also confirmed that all county fire depts. will be making the change very soon. this official states that these changes were mandatory and he was complaining of the cost of the equipment. he did not know any specifics however.

i will continue to scan daily for all digital transmissions and keep everyone updated as to my findings.

darbar

The state of Texas has provided VFD's with grant money for digital radios:

State Grant Providing New Digital Radios To Volunteer Fire Departments - Abilene News Story - KTXS Abilene

Texas Forest Service

VFIS of Texas | Resources

[darbar]

I have noticed that the last two days that on one of the EMS channels, they have changed to a different NAC code

EMS
153.380 went from nac507 to nac 102

Everything else is the same so far...

[darbar]

PD
154.305 nac507
158.790 nac507
154.995 nac507
155.480 nac507
156.040 nac507


EMS
153.380 nac102
159.585 nac507

[Ensnared]

Originally Posted by darbar

PD
154.305 nac507
158.790 nac507
154.995 nac507
155.480 nac507
156.040 nac507


EMS
153.380 nac102
159.585 nac507

Thanks for the update. I will load these into my PSR 500 and see if I can intercept them. Since I can typically hear slightly diminished transmissions on 155.685 Coryell SO here in Woodway, I hope these digital transmissions can be heard as well.

I invite you to review the documentation I've made for the new Woodway TSYS.

Looks like area agencies are starting to migrate to digital in this area. I've not heard about McGregor PD.

[darbar]

Hey Ensnared,
these channels going digital does not mean that they will migrate to a truncked system does it? dont you think that these will simply go digital and not go to a truncked system like so many towns surrounding us?

[hiegtx]

Originally Posted by darbar

Hey Ensnared,
these channels going digital does not mean that they will migrate to a truncked system does it? dont you think that these will simply go digital and not go to a truncked system like so many towns surrounding us?

It would not mean they have to switch to a trunked system. While that's always an option, if there was enough radio traffic justify it, it's certainly not always the case. There's been quite a few cases where one or more agencies in a county have switched from conventional/analog to conventional/digital, without going trunked as part of the process. Take a look at Grayson County in the database. Besides the Sheriff's Dept., both Sherman, Denison, and a couple of the smaller cities are using conventional channels in digital mode. This is also becoming more prevalent out toward the Abilene area as well, with several counties now using mixed mode (some digital, some analog transmissions, on the same frequencies). Texas DPS is also digital, on conventional frequencies, statewide, also their units usually can & often do access the systems of the area where they are assigned, including trunked systems.

A lot of these are doing it because of the upcoming narrowbanding requirement in January of next year. Despite some mis-information out there, spread in part by radio salesmen, it does not require everyone to move to digital by that date. It will require radios to use less frequency spectrum for transmissions. Whether an agency decides to adjust their existing equipment for narrowband (if it's capable of that), or upgrade to digital is up to them.

[Ensnared]

Originally Posted by darbar

Hey Ensnared,
these channels going digital does not mean that they will migrate to a truncked system does it? dont you think that these will simply go digital and not go to a truncked system like so many towns surrounding us?

Generally speaking, one of the best ways to determine the presence of digital frequencies is to examine the FCC DB frequencies & their emissions designators along with recent submissions. Sometimes, if I not mistaken, you can determine what type of transmissions are occurring with a system. That is what I did when I started to examine Woodway's change.

But, with Coryell County, I really don't know since I've not dived into this project yet. Since I can now receive 155.685 analog here in Woodway/Waco, it is my contention that digital will propagate here fairly well. I have listened to Hillsboro and Lacy Lakeview on digital here close to Highway 84 & Hewitt Drive.

Many agencies across the U.S. rely on digital frequencies without trunking. Well, that is what I understand.

But, Woodway appears to be trunked. If you haven't done so, you might look at my Woodway thread:

ULS License - Public Safety Pool, Trunked License - KBJ926 - WOODWAY, CITY OF - Frequencies Summary

ULS License - Public Safety Pool, Trunked License - KNAT723 - WOODWAY, CITY OF - Frequencies Summary