CAG PD Going Digital

[JohnSpartan]

Yesterday, friend of mine reported he heard their dispatch advise "all units to switch to 800" a couple of times during the day.

He unfortunately was on his way out of town, so unknown if that was the case. Has anyone else been able to confirm that? I was under the impression PD/FD would make the switch later this year, around November, IIRC.

CAG has been steadily working towards going digital, and will join the Pinal County P25 System (I see the two sites have already been added to the DB, thanks!)

CGPD to get new radios

Proposed Tower Site (See P.121)

There were a couple of other PDF documents, with great details, like proposed dates, and other things - but I cannot seem to locate them anymore. This is what I get for not saving them when I had the chance.

 

[rpgaun]

And I’ll lay odds that when they do it will be encrypted 🤬🤬🤬

 

[JohnSpartan]

I have no doubt about that hahaha

 

[cellphone]

There may have been changes this week. I was in Casa Grande last weekend on Sunday. PD and fire was still VHF. The Pinal Co Casa Grande P25 sites were active with Pinal Co Sheriff talkgroup 9001 (encrypted), but no other active talkgroups at that time.

 

[Ravenfalls]

With most everything on AZ Wins encrypted. Looking @ other states who gone ENC for highway patrol. All of DPS may go ENC in future.

Won't be much listen to in AZ in coming years. We be like Denver City 100% ENC PD & FD

 

[Giddyuptd]

With most everything on AZ Wins encrypted. Looking @ other states who gone ENC for highway patrol. All of DPS may go ENC in future.

Won't be much listen to in AZ in coming years. We be like Denver City 100% ENC PD & FD

Attended a seminar meeting not too far back, but when pheasable and when it allows equipment wise with time you can expect majority of LE in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, West Texas to strap. Least for State level and some bigger counties in NM and Texas, east AZ.

 

[Ravenfalls]

Yep. Navajo County now digital. Not sure on ENC.

California building their own system. In past few months they added high sites to cover most of the state.

NM also building their own. Last I saw, they now have all major metro area covered.

 

[GlobalNorth]

I'm still surprised that all agencies in border counties adjacent to Mexico are not 100% encrypted, with keys changed weekly.

 

[es93546]

Yep. Navajo County now digital. Not sure on ENC.

California building their own system. In past few months they added high sites to cover most of the state.

NM also building their own. Last I saw, they now have all major metro area covered.

The "CRIS" system in California, which I think you are referring to, is an Office of Emergency Services system. I don't think it is expected to be an all agency inclusive wide area trunked system. It won't even be an all state agency system. I think it is being designed for disaster use only and will also be capable of patching all the LMR bands together. The licensing and implementation appears to be in the Central Valley for now. Covering the entire state with 700/800 MHz will likely never happen. The terrain in the Sierra Nevada, the north coast, the northern counties such as Siskiyou and the northeastern portion of the state have topography and in one area, heavy tree cover, that makes 700/800 nearly impossible for wide area coverage.

New Mexico only has 3 metro areas, Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Las Cruces. New Mexico has topography that is suitable for these higher bands. One notable exception is the western portion of the state from U.S. 60 south to Silver City. A lot of very remote country, with little in the way of electric utility services. The southeastern part of New Mexico might as well be in Texas, so it is relatively flat.

I hope as these statewide trunked systems are installed, that the rural counties retain their ability to work on VHF High. That band is ubiquitous in rural areas where interoperability has existed on that band for 40 years. In my opinion counties should not be trying to fix something that is working very well.

 

[Ravenfalls]

The systems are capable of dual band.
Use 700/800 in town & VHF in rural areas.

This is what Gila & Yavapai would require to switch to the state system.

Both agencies do not want to pay for the expensive radios. If they get a grant then all bets are off.

 

[JohnSpartan]

The systems are capable of dual band.
Use 700/800 in town & VHF in rural areas.

This is what Gila & Yavapai would require to switch to the state system.

Both agencies do not want to pay for the expensive radios. If they get a grant then all bets are off.

I've seen some deputies in Yavapai with new APX portables. A deputy was telling me they have been slowly replacing them. From what he could tell, the vehicles still have the older stuff. Said there was talk about updating systems, but there are still too many unanswered questions. This was last year.

Gila county seems to be in the same boat. All of the rural communities are gonna have a hard time. I vaguely remember something here on the forums, someone was stating that a lot of them may join up with AZWINS once it's built out enough, but that is what it is.

On a side note, I've been monitoring the Pinal P25 system, specifically the Queen Creek site (only one I can pick up from where I am), and I haven't seen any talkgroups other than what's listed in the DB so far, nor any unusual radio ID numbers.

 

[cellphone]

I was in Casa Grande today. I can confirm that PD is now using the Pinal County P25 system. PD Dispatch is talkgroup 4301 and fully encrypted. The old PD VHF frequencies were silent.

Casa Grande Fire is still VHF analog.

 

[JohnSpartan]

I was in Casa Grande today. I can confirm that PD is now using the Pinal County P25 system. PD Dispatch is talkgroup 4301 and fully encrypted. The old PD VHF frequencies were silent.

Casa Grande Fire is still VHF analog.

I had suspected. Thanks for verifying that - really appreciate it

 

[cellphone]

I was in Casa Grande again today, and Fire is starting to use the Pinal County P25 system. Talkgroup 4302 is in the clear, and being referred to as "Q Deck 1". Fire dispatches are multicast on 154.445 and talkgroup 4302. Units responding are only heard on 4302, and not VHF.

There was an AMR unit that was assigned "Q Deck 1", and they replied on 154.445 that they "don't have Q Deck 1 yet". Their traffic was heard on 154.445 only.