Bandera County

[CHHTX]

Every law enforcement agency surrounding Uvalde, and within Uvalde County, except for Medina County to the east is on GATRRS in the Middle Rio Grande COG area. Some fire and most EMS have access to the system as well. Texas DPS is also on the system and talk to Del Río Dispatch all over the area. They have all that capability, but I would guess if they are being honest they are referring to the Feds who responded and ultimately ended the tragedy. I would guess Border Patrol would have access to the system up there, but I’ve only ever heard one verified CBP unit on the system and that was in Cotulla during a chase last year.

I just moved to Bandera County and I believe they're "E". What does this mean in regards to them communicating to the other counties? I don't believe that Bandera Co is on GATRRS. Does this mean that since they're E, and the other counties are not, that they can't communicate?

(to clarify, I JUST moved and haven't had the chance to do serious programming and setting up my scanners)

 

[mmckenna]

I just moved to Bandera County and I believe they're "E". What does this mean in regards to them communicating to the other counties? I don't believe that Bandera Co is on GATRRS. Does this mean that since they're E, and the other counties are not, that they can't communicate?

(to clarify, I JUST moved and haven't had the chance to do serious programming and setting up my scanners)

Encryption. It's OK to type it out.

Encryption, if done correctly, does not prohibit interoperability. Where encryption usually gets in the way is when fat egos in the top offices cause the problem.
Encryption keys can be shared between agencies.
On site, a device called a "Key Variable Loader" can be used to load keys into individual radios quickly.

There are also a bunch of well established interoperation frequencies that all public safety agencies in the country have access to.

As for what individual agencies are doing, you'd need someone with very specific knowledge to tell you.

 

[rattlerbb01]

Encryption. It's OK to type it out.

Encryption, if done correctly, does not prohibit interoperability. Where encryption usually gets in the way is when fat egos in the top offices cause the problem.
Encryption keys can be shared between agencies.
On site, a device called a "Key Variable Loader" can be used to load keys into individual radios quickly.

There are also a bunch of well established interoperation frequencies that all public safety agencies in the country have access to.

As for what individual agencies are doing, you'd need someone with very specific knowledge to tell you.

I don’t think Bandera SO is full time encrypted. I’ve heard them on both digital and analog as recently as January. The topography in that county means most signals don’t make it too far out of county.

 

[blantonl]

Bandera County Sheriff uses P25 encryption for selected activities on 155.610. But, for the most part, most of the Sheriff's communications on that same channel, 155.610 are in conventional FM and can be monitored just fine.

 

[tyler3328]

On pretty much all the sites in bandera county there are agencies (SO, FIRE, EMS, PD, CONSTABLES) that have selectable secure options. Meaning they can be clear and flip a switch then ve secure. Most daily ops are in the clear. But there are a bunch of areas in bandera co that area are only covered by specific sites

 

[CHHTX]

thank you all for the info and the patience. I definitely didn't mean to hijack the other thread and I apologize. I asked the question there as it was talking about multiple agencies, different groups (and I assumed counties) all working together. My idea was that this was along those lines (different agencies communicating) is why I asked it there. Not making excuses. Just explaining my logic. But yes, definitely don't want to derail a convo.

Love the forum and the info found here. We're lucky to have it!