Bexar County Rebanding

[scrotumola]

It appears that rebanding on the Bexar County NoVoice system has started.

From my observations, they are beginning with the outlying tower sites, and have yet to see any changes in Gold.

Some problems have already surfaced.

I have learned that users in far southern Bexar County reported that their handheld 800 radios were not working at all. Sheriff's deputies were pissed, they had NO communicatons outside of their patrol cars, aside from their personal phones and had to use their high powered mobile radios or MDCs to communicate with dispatch.

Fire Department personnel had to rely on VHF, where their handhelds worked in only a few places.

This went on for 3 days until someone who knew what they were doing inquired and confirmed that the Hallmark site had been rebanded. The radios were set for forced AMSS, but had no idea of the new programming.

The problem is, the system administrator failed to instruct the radios to OTAR.

Yesterday the downloads began for radios working off of Hallmark, they now display County HM as the new site.

This morning, Leon Springs FD reported that their 800 radios were not working in certain areas which have had coverage previously. It can only be assumed that the tower site that serves their portion of the woods has now been rebanded and the geniuses in Einstein dorm haven't figured it out.

Gold and Blue rebanding are sure to be fun. I hope Dailey Wells gets their act together before we all take the plunge.

Let the logging begin!

~S~

 

[BCSORPO]

Bexar County Rebanding - The TRUTH

Before throwing stones, you need to get your facts straight.

Once the site infrastructure, starting with Hallmark, began the rebanding process, any radios not reprogrammed as part of the 1st reprogramming effort have become useless. Weeks and weeks of "straggler" reprogramming opportunities were offered; lists of radios were distributed to Agency representatives making them aware of radios not touched. Maybe some of the folks who continued to ignore the need to have their radio reprogrammed have seen the error of their ways.

The rebanding schedule and the potential impact to field users was distributed multiple times. Short of handing every officer their own copy, all reasonable efforts were made to keep fields users and the Dispatch Center advised on what was going to happen. I am not denying that there could have been some delays or busies experienced immediately after the site work started given the limited number of channels at the site but that was expected.

The radios that were programmed were done correctly. They have to deal with a more complex scanning routine given the site by site conversion. The programmers for the City and the County worked for weeks with Dailey-Wells Communications to develop the best method to accomplish an easy transition and mitigate the most risk to the field users.

The Grey Forest site has also been rebanded. As expected, radios assigned to Leon Springs and Grey Forest that were on the list probably aren't working correctly. I am sensing Monday is going to be a busy day at Dailey-Wells Communications.

 

[mostinterestingman]

Well said BCSORPO,

COSA has not experienced ANY problems with ANY radio that has been properly rebanded. Units are seamlessly roaming between new and old sites with no problem, as long as they let the radio do what it was programmed to do. Now, units that try to force the radio to the old "familiar" sites, will experience some CC/WA scan issues until the radio corrects the users error. I would imaging after GOLD is rebanded in the morning that several stragglers that didn't take the message seriously will be showing up because their radio no worky.

Hasta Manana Amigo

 

[troubadour1318]

Bexar Countyu

will the Bexar country fire alarm dispatch be heard on regular scanners

 

[NC5267]

With an ESK supported scanner you have be able to monitor them for awhile and any other analog on the system

 

[Zik43]

Very dumb question, please forgive me for being too lazy to read and find out for myself.


I will be relocating to San Antonio, Bexar county next month.


Will I be able to monitor police/fire.emt activity with my Radio Shack Tripple Trunking Pro-164 scanner?


It works fine here in Pittsburgh Pa. Will it there as well?


Thanks!

 

[texasemt13]

Zik, I'd read the sticky Listening to San Antonio, authored by the RR Webmaster, L. Blanton.

Basically, the answer is no*

*- it can be done, but you'll need to start another thread, and do your own investigating here and here.

 

[Michael-SATX]

Hey John, long time no talk to, I wonder if in the process of reprogramming the BCSO radios that those certain TG's we enjoyed scanning will go "pQQf" to No-Voice ? It sure seems quiet compared to normal
My question is do the Blue and Gold sites need rebanding ... ie are 860.xxxx freqs to high or do they fall into acceptable ranges ... I knew 866,867,868.xxxx had to go, etc. I'm curious why the Blue and Gold went from Sites 1 & 2 to Sites 21 & 22 ... what gives with that ? I hope these are temporary site numbers and they can just go back to Sites 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 & 8 ? So far I see 4 sites done ( Cagnon, Grey Forest, Hill Country and Hallmark ) and 4 more to go ( Blue, Gold, American and Topperwein ).

 

[Michael-SATX]

PS ~ I see that the S#7 Topperwien tower was rebanded today, AND .... it has a new control channel like either LCN 5 ish ... I did a service search and found it and it now shows site # 17 ... AND I answered my own question that it appears that the 860.XXXX freqs are silient sooo it probably high time to log their new 4 replacement freqs that are below 860.0000 Mhz ... over and out ! MC

 

[Michael-SATX]

Misc notes:
S21 Blue Simul TRS CC10 = 858.7625
S22 Gold Simul TRS CC04 = 857.2625
S13 Cagnon Rd TRS
S14 Grey forest TRS CC05 = 851.1500
S15 Hill CountryTRS CC04 = 856.6625
S16 American T TRS CC01 = 856.4625
S17 Topperwein TRS CC04 = 857.6625
S18 Hallmark R TRS

btw ~ need to run trunker to replace all old dead 860.xxxx freqs with their new freqs - tisk tisk ---grrrr

ps ~ Anybody notice our BCSO East and West Open TG's got real quiet lately since the radio's have been getting re-programmed during this rebanding project. I have heard a few new TG's in the clear, etc. Hmm SAFD TG # 04-015 comes to mind .... also ACCD PD CH2 TG # 12-022

 

[BCSORPO]

Bexar County Rebanding - COMPLETED

All infrastructure rebanding work has been completed. All BCSO talkgroups are now ProVoice. 2nd touch reprogramming of subscriber equipment will commence in the next couple of weeks.

 

[mostinterestingman]

That explains why my 7200 is in WA Scan.

Real nice, guess i overlooked that one.

 

[Michael-SATX]

SATX Blue TRS ( was S#1, now S#21 ) rebanded info:

LCN-1 = 856.4375
LCN-2 = 856.7125
LCN-3 = 856.7625 = CC S:21
LCN-4 = 856.9875
LCN-5 = 857.4375
LCN-6 = 857.7625
LCN-7 = 857.9875
LCN-8 = 858.2125
LCN-9 = 858.4375
LCN-10 = 858.7625
LCN-11 = 858.9875
LCN-12 = 859.2125
LCN-13 = 859.4375
LCN-14 = 859.7625
LCN-15 = 859.9875
LCN-16 = 854.2125 new rebanded freq (was 860.2125)
LCN-17 = Now Blank LCN-17 not active (was 860.4375)
LCN-18 = Now Blank LCN-18 not active (was 860.7625)
LCN-19 = 854.6625 new rebanded freq (was 860.9875)


SATX Gold TRS ( was S#2, now S#22 ) rebanded info:

LCN-1 = 856.2625
LCN-2 = 856.4875
LCN-3 = 856.9375
LCN-4 = 857.2625 = CC S:22
LCN-5 = 857.4875
LCN-6 = 857.7125
LCN-7 = 857.9375
LCN-8 = 858.2625
LCN-9 = 858.4875
LCN-10 = 858.7125
LCN-11 = 858.9375
LCN-12 = 859.2625
LCN-13 = 859.4875
LCN-14 = 859.7125
LCN-15 = 859.9375
LCN-16 = 854.0125 new rebanded freq (was 860.2625)
LCN-17 = 854.1125 new rebanded freq (was 860.4875)
LCN-18 = Now Blank LCN-18 not active (was 860.7125)
LCN-19 = Now Blank LCN-19 not active (was 860.9375)


SATX Topperwein TRS (was S#7, now S#17 ) rebanded info:

LCN-1 = 859.4625
LCN-2 = 859.9625
LCN-3 = 857.0875 new rebanded freq (was 860.4625)
LCN-4 = 857.6625 = CC S:17 new freq (was 860.9625)
LCN-5 = 851.4750 new rebanded freq (was 866.4750)
LCN-6 = 852.3750 new rebanded freq (was 867.3750)
LCN-7 = 853.3000 new rebanded freq (was 868.3000)
LCN-8 = 853.9750 new rebanded freq (was 868.9750)
LCN-9 = 852.6750 new rebanded freq (was 866.1750)
LCN-10 = 852.1250 new rebanded freq (was 867.1250)
LCN-11 = 851.1750 new rebanded freq (was 867.6750)
LCN-12 = 854.9625 newly added LCN to this site found
LCN-13 = 855.4875 newly added LCN to this site found
LCN-14 = 854.7125 newly added LCN to this site found


ps ~ This info discovered and confirmed by John Beck (RR-The Dog) using E-Trunker v3.83
Also we hope to get together Wednesday, run trunker and eat mass quantities of food
while mapping out the Cagnon, Grey, Hill, American & Hallmark site rebanding changes !

btw ~ BCSOPRO, nice info, what capacity are you in ( BCSO or DWC ?) Also curious if the
Citywide Interagency TG's 14-041 ~ 14-057 stayed analog or are now programmed Pro-Voice ?
Ha, the better question is after this huge rebanding/reprogramming project, what do you feel
will still be programmed in analog ? I take it that all BCFA Disp,Tac,Acces,FG1-4,Acadian EMS,
will stay programmed as all analog TG's. Also will the BCSO Fleetwide-1 08-020 be mixed mode
to let a few agency wide calls go out in the clear in analog mode or be in Pro-Voice mode ?

 

[Michael-SATX]

After verifying all 8 tower sites using etrunker ~ a few corrections are needed !

S#13 - Cagnon Road Tower - All correct as currently posted in the RR Database.

S#14 - Grey Forest Tower - All correct as currently posted in the RR Database.

S#15 - Hill Country Tower- Please correct 2 LCN's that rebanded as well.
Change LCN#3 from 860.2375 to the new verified LCN#3= 854.5875
Change LCN#4 from 860.7375 to the new verified LCN#4= 856.6625

S#16 - American Tower - Please add 3 new LCN's that were added after rebanding.
Add LCN#11 = 854.9875 , LCN#12 = 855.7125 , LCN#13 = 854.6125 all else OK.

S#17 - Topperwein Tower - Please correct 4 LCN's that changed after rebanding.
Add back in LCN#3 = 857.0875 , LCN#4 = 857.6625 drop color red no longer CC
Change LCN#9 from 851.1750 to the new verified LCN#9= 852.6750
Change LCN#11 from 852.6750 to the new verified LCN#11= 851.1750

S#18 - Hallmark Path Road - Please add 3 new LCN's that were added after rebanding.
Add LCN#6 = 851.2250 , LCN#7 = 854.0625 , LCN#8 = 854.5625 all else OK.

S#21 - Blue Simulcast - All correct as currently posted in the RR Database.
note : Will keep an eye on the 2 blank LCN's 17 & 18 using etrunker.

S#22 - Gold Simulcast - All correct as currently posted in the RR Database.
note : Will keep an eye on the 2 removed LCN's 18 & 19 using etrunker.


ps ~ This info was obtained by John Beck (The Dog - RR) and his extensive equip
and etrunker. I provided pen, paper and fQQd and transportation to sites.
Also of interest to PITA, absolutely, no crazy barking dogs were harmed
at the gated enterance of the Hallmark "Path" tower NOT Hallmark Road, etc.

Thanks,
The Dog
Michael-SATX
& Lots of Time !!!

btw ~ Future posts will show that that the BCSO TG's were reprogrammed
and are now in Pro-Voice mode such as the BCSO West & East Open TG's.
OH, at lease many of us had a good 6 years of these before No-Voice !