Brazos Valley Activity Thread

[mfn002]

No its not all those are on turbo now 2573 is correct

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Exactly. For those who haven't been keeping up with the latest discussion in this thread, Bryan donated a bunch of extra radios to Grimes County to allow them to get on the system. The theory I developed for where these radios came from goes that they were originally intended for Bryan Utilities/Public Works, but since they went to DMR, the radios--and the associated talkgroups--were no longer needed. Instead of starting from scratch with all-new talkgroups, they simply re-purposed some of the talkgroups already on the radios.

 

[mfn002]

Not sure if/when it's coming online or if it will be a new frequency, but the Robertson County FD/EMS channel is going P25 digital soon.

That doesn't surprise me very much. Hearne PD/FD and Robertson County SO have been P25 for quite some time now.

 

[SCPD]

talk group 2573 was already used for city of Bryan new construction at least that is what its shows in unitrunker not that it could be out of date. Also I don't understand why no one on TxWarn is using VHF trunking like they do on GATRRS in the south.

TXWARN is only 7/800 only, the entire system is 7/800.

 

[TexasRadioMan77]

Exactly. For those who haven't been keeping up with the latest discussion in this thread, Bryan donated a bunch of extra radios to Grimes County to allow them to get on the system. The theory I developed for where these radios came from goes that they were originally intended for Bryan Utilities/Public Works, but since they went to DMR, the radios--and the associated talkgroups--were no longer needed. Instead of starting from scratch with all-new talkgroups, they simply re-purposed some of the talkgroups already on the radios.

your assumption is incorrect, but keep trying

 

[rattlerbb01]

your assumption is incorrect, but keep trying

Not everyone has the scoop. Do you have better information that you can share with us?

 

[mfn002]

Drove through Grimes County yesterday on my way to Houston. I can confirm for now that the Anderson site is NOT online yet.

 

[iamhere300]

With this development, I have a sneaking suspicion as to where those extra radios that Bryan donated to them came from. Way back when Bryan PD/FD cut over to TxWARN, Bryan Utilities and Public Works was supposed to follow them on. However, for some reason they decided to stay on the old Type II system until late December of last year, and then switch over to a DMR CAP+ system. Those radios were probably intended for Bryan Utilities and had their TGs programmed into them. I suspect what they did was simply reassign some of those TGs.

Much more likely is Bryan PD/FD switched to radios that give them P25 Phase II capability, and the XTS and XTL radios were then surplus. They are pretty progressive there.

 

[mfn002]

Much more likely is Bryan PD/FD switched to radios that give them P25 Phase II capability, and the XTS and XTL radios were then surplus. They are pretty progressive there.

Bryan FD/PD, Brazos County Sheriff, CSPD and CSFD have all been using APX6000s for a few years now. I suspect that you are right about that, but knowing that Motorola will be discontinuing support for the XTS/XTL series soon, it is likely that APX-series radios are in the pipeline.


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[rattlerbb01]

It's been a few months since the last update, I take it the Anderson site still not on the air yet?

 

[TexasRadioMan77]

Anderson will be on the air before too long. I heard that the county had to work some things out with their lease to add the equipment to the tower.

also, their radios are mainly XTS/XTL, donated by brazos county, not bryan, although the bryan public works talkgroups were repurposed for grimes county. from what I understand, someone was able to convince the current users that it was better to pass their surplus down within the area instead of selling it for 10 bucks a radio at auction, especially when most of those radios came straight out of service into a box. this is really the only way a county like grimes could actually get in the door of a system like that, now they can just start replacing them a few at a time instead of eating the entire sandwich at once.

 

[rattlerbb01]

Per a recent submission, it appears that Anderson is on the air as site 42 for TxWARN.

When I was passing through there a few weeks back I had noticed the following:

GCSO: Using TxWARN exclusively, 154.800 was not initially linked and was used for EMS. At one point GCSO did talk to EMS or was patched when there was a major accident involving kids.
NPD: Still on crappy 155.790 analog for now
Co Fire: 154.325 analog (heard Plantersville-Stoneham dispatched to accident)
NFD: Not heard

 

[mfn002]

SO has been using both VHF and TxWARN, and they seem to have it set up so that EMS traffic stays exclusively on VHF and is not patched to 800. As for Grimes County VFD, the only units I’ve ever heard have been from Bedias, and then I’ve only heard them responding to calls. I have yet to hear a fire or EMS call broadcast over TXWARN.

Oddly, it seems that any SO unit that comes up on VHF is patched over to TxWARN, but any EMS unit stays exclusively on VHF.

An interesting side note: There was a fairly significant grass fire in the south end of Brazos County earlier this evening, and dispatch was somehow able to page Navasota FD for mutual aid directly over Brazos County VFD Primary. Soon after, I heard a Navasota tanker come up on Brazos County VFD TAC 3.


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[motorola_otaku]

SO has been using both VHF and TxWARN, and they seem to have it set up so that EMS traffic stays exclusively on VHF and is not patched to 800... Oddly, it seems that any SO unit that comes up on VHF is patched over to TxWARN, but any EMS unit stays exclusively on VHF.

Have you monitored the output of the VHF repeater for different PLs being used for law and fire? Do you notice different RIDs on the TxWARN talkgroup when units transmit or does everything transmit one RID?

An interesting side note: There was a fairly significant grass fire in the south end of Brazos County earlier this evening, and dispatch was somehow able to page Navasota FD for mutual aid directly over Brazos County VFD Primary. Soon after, I heard a Navasota tanker come up on Brazos County VFD TAC 3.

The Navasota dispatch center might have a pager or alert monitor on BCVFD primary... that's fairly common among neighboring PSAPs that dispatch fire. Or they could have the channel on their consoles.

 

[rattlerbb01]

From way back in the past I recall NFDs station monitored 155.940 which is BCVFD Dispatch. I doubt Navasota Dispatch monitors it. Could be that BC911 has access to NFDs 155.055 repeater now through some interlocal agreement. Also, if Tanker 88 came up on BCVFD Tac 3, that would mean they now have TxWARN radios in their vehicles unless they patched NFD vhf to Tac3.

 

[KF5ARD]

Navasota was not paged or dispatched over Brazos County VFD at all, these capabilities are non existenet from them to be dispatched from Brazos County Dispatch. They do have some radios on BVWACS and are able to communicate with Brazos County VFDs. While Navasota is primarily in Grimes County it is also part of Brazos County and responds with Brazos County on certain alarm types.

SO has been using both VHF and TxWARN, and they seem to have it set up so that EMS traffic stays exclusively on VHF and is not patched to 800. As for Grimes County VFD, the only units I’ve ever heard have been from Bedias, and then I’ve only heard them responding to calls. I have yet to hear a fire or EMS call broadcast over TXWARN.

Oddly, it seems that any SO unit that comes up on VHF is patched over to TxWARN, but any EMS unit stays exclusively on VHF.

An interesting side note: There was a fairly significant grass fire in the south end of Brazos County earlier this evening, and dispatch was somehow able to page Navasota FD for mutual aid directly over Brazos County VFD Primary. Soon after, I heard a Navasota tanker come up on Brazos County VFD TAC 3.


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[mfn002]

Navasota was not paged or dispatched over Brazos County VFD at all, these capabilities are non existenet from them to be dispatched from Brazos County Dispatch. They do have some radios on BVWACS and are able to communicate with Brazos County VFDs. While Navasota is primarily in Grimes County it is also part of Brazos County and responds with Brazos County on certain alarm types.

Yes, I am well aware of this. It just seemed weird that Brazos County would mention Navasota units while giving out the call. They (and any additional units not assigned to the original call) are usually requested as mutual aid by the on-scene command unit.

 

[rattlerbb01]

Grimes County VFD Radios

The Navasota Examiner ran the above story about the VFDs installing the digital radios from Bryan's stockpile in all the apparatus, and the associated gripes about who is paying the subscriptions for them. Should probably start hearing a little more activity on TxWARN/BVWACS out of Grimes County now.

 

[mfn002]

Grimes County VFD Radios

The Navasota Examiner ran the above story about the VFDs installing the digital radios from Bryan's stockpile in all the apparatus, and the associated gripes about who is paying the subscriptions for them. Should probably start hearing a little more activity on TxWARN/BVWACS out of Grimes County now.

I’ve heard a *few* more VFD units on TxWARN recently, although it seems all operations are still exclusively on VHF. As for Navasota, I’ve heard nothing from them. Everything there is still VHF.

Just an aside, it doesn’t seem anyone bothered to proofread that article prior to posting it.

Also, it seems budgetary concerns will prevent anything from changing in the foreseeable future.

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[svfd455]

Which talk groups did Grimes get from Bryan. I've seen 2580 & 2582 active but no update as to who exactly uses it. I know from radio id#'s that they are Grimes county units.

 

[mfn002]

Which talk groups did Grimes get from Bryan. I've seen 2580 & 2582 active but no update as to who exactly uses it. I know from radio id#'s that they are Grimes county units.

I have not heard those up here yet, but I would venture to guess that, since you heard Grimes County unit numbers, they *might* be sheriff tactical channels. Were you hearing sheriff IDs?


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