CHP Black2 in Sacramento & Yolo counties

[gmclam]

I heard actual dispatching on Black2 today. I am not sure if they were just simulcasting or what, but it did not go on for long as they were back on black shortly thereafter. I heard the traffic around 14:00.

 

[ctencore]

new channel assignments

Sacramento radio frequencies changed today, South Sac/Yolo is on Black 2 now, North Sac is on Gold 2 now, and Placer/El Dorado is on Green 2.

Black 2 is running in repeater mode so you no longer need to monitor the car ferqunecy
Gold 2 is running in repeater mode as well.
Green 2 seems to be running in repeater mode although that may change.

Testing is continuing while they are using the new frequencies.

 

[gmclam]

CHP Sacramento

I'm hearing traffic on Gold2, Black2, Green2 and ocassionally Blue2 now. It was interesting to monitor the switchover, it seems they were using NexTels for a while between the switch. Then mobiles were all out reporting in their locations and the dispatchers would indicate the peak they came in on and if they were 10-1 or 10-2.

While out mobile today myself, it seems that I am getting better reception of the mobiles now. I can't imagine why since it is just a frequency/CT change. Perhaps some others can chime in on this.

Regarding repeated traffic; I am getting a lot more traffic from the mobile frequencies that is not repeated than is (I monitor both). As the day has gone on, more and more traffic is being repeated.

 

[ctencore]

Yup, they're still working out kinks on the receiver voting- this system is much more complicated than the repeaters running in the bay due to the number of receivers. Black and Gold are fairly straight forward but Green is a lot more challenging given the geographic coverage area. They are running a higher transmitter power now (which is why they shifted frequencies) to help eliminate some of the dead spots.

 

[avtarsingh]

a lot of antennas were changed out at rptr sites

most went from the kreco antennas to sinclair trombone styles

you might see some better signal in some areas than before etc

and some worse

 

[KF7RAY]

FWIW I used to never get the old Gray channel that well when I was mobile up in the Truckee/North Lake area but have noticed I get a ton more transmissions now with Gray 2, especially up in the Kings Beach/Brockway area.

 

[inigo88]

I went up to North Lake last saturday for a day trip and finally got some field use out of my old RS mag mount antenna. All I can say is WOW!

I missed the cutover so everyone was still on Black/Gold/Green in the valley, but Gray 2 sounds GREAT! The roads were extremely icy and there were a TON of TCs all over the place, including one directly in front of us on Hwy 89. There was a TON of Car-to-Car on GRY2... really cool to hear finally! The portables in C2C mode (simplex direct) on the extender frequency was also utilized on the TC with 156.7 PL.

The District 3 CALTRANS repeater information was a life saver (thanks Exsmokey!) and was informative when they abruptly started chain control ON I-80 5 cars in front of us. Ultimately I think I'm most impressed with the communication and teamwork between CHP and CALTRANS Dist 3 in the Lake Tahoe area - DOT was even coming up on GRY 2 C2C (and letting the truckers know what was going on eventually on CB) and they ALL seemed to work really well together. Who knew such interoperable communications could take place without a digital trunking system?

Sorry for the hijack, look for updates on CHP Valley Division and Placer County Ski Resorts to follow...

 

[avtarsingh]

the rptr tx output pwr is basically the same as it was before
most of the ge were running 90-110 watts and the new midlands are 95-110 watts

the big difference is the new antennas

like i said some will be better some will be worse

white has always been sounded like crap because of the compression - same console setups same compression

now we just need green gold and black to simulcast then we can use handheld scanners hehe

mind you thats whats going into it ... out of the cavities is a little different

 

[scannerboy02]

Passed a North Sac CHP officer today on a traffic stop and pulled over in a nearby parking lot to monitor the extender for a while and noticed how much different the base traffic sounded vs the mobile traffic.

I am still not picking up any of the mobile traffic on the base frequency though, I can hear dispatch but not hearing mobiles. I'm going to need to do some tweaking on my CHP antennas, my guess is I'm not getting traffic from the site the mobiles are being repeated on.

 

[gmclam]

CHP Sacramento

Passed a North Sac CHP officer today on a traffic stop and pulled over in a nearby parking lot to monitor the extender for a while and noticed how much different the base traffic sounded vs the mobile traffic.

The mobiles typically sound better to me than the base on the base channel.

I am still not picking up any of the mobile traffic on the base frequency though, I can hear dispatch but not hearing mobiles. I'm going to need to do some tweaking on my CHP antennas, my guess is I'm not getting traffic from the site the mobiles are being repeated on.

I am picking it all up. Sometimes I pick up the mobile on the mobile frequency and sometimes on the base frequency (yes I still monitor both) and sometimes either/both. What continues to amaze me is how much better the mobiles sound now. Dispatch varies depending on the specific repeater site being used, channel, time of day, etc.

 

[scannerboy02]

What continues to amaze me is how much better the mobiles sound now. Dispatch varies depending on the specific repeater site being used, channel, time of day, etc.

You must get good reception of the site being used to repeat the mobiles. I'm guessing they are using Pine Hill or Pilot Peak.

 

[benca]

You must get good reception of the site being used to repeat the mobiles. I'm guessing they are using Pine Hill or Pilot Peak.

I believe Pine Hill is for the Val-Black2
Pilot Peak is the Val-Gold2..
Val-Green2 is on Pine hill also
.

 

[scannerboy02]

I believe Pine Hill is for the Val-Black2
Pilot Peak is the Val-Gold2..
Val-Green2 is on Pine hill also
.

That would explain why I can't hear them from my home in South Natomas. I was over at my mothers home in Citrus Heights last night reprogramming her scanners with the new frequencies and could hear everything.

I was absolutely amazed at the amount of CHP traffic now that the mobiles are being repeated, now we know how much mobile traffic we have been missing in the past.

 

[avtarsingh]

GREEN

Auburn (45) KMD835 GRN BLU
Auburn Area Office KMD835 GRN
Banner KMG427 GRN BLU
Big Hill KJW447 GRN BLU
Grass Valley (42) KME239 GRN BLU
Placerville (44) KMD935 GRN BLU
Ruby Bluff KDE676 GRN BLU
Union Hill KMD702 GRN BLU


BLACK

Bald Mountain KJY912 GLD BLU BLK
DMV KKG685 BLK
Pine Hill WRG698 BLK BLU
South Sacramento (112) KMJ552 BLK BLU
Woodland (47) KMD472 BLK BLU
rancho office missing - old list

GOLD

Bald Mountain KJY912 GLD BLU BLK
North Sacramento (46) KDE678 GLD BLU
Pilot Hill KML91 GLD 75.96/72.46
Resources Building KNFR275 GLD BLU

WHITE

Amador (94) KME285 WHT BLU
Double Dome KNHY387 YEL 75.42/72.90
Mt. Oso KDP296 WHT YEL BLU
Mt. Zion KDE685 WHT BLU
Peddler Hill KVJ970 WHT
San Andreas (49) KDF573 WHT BLU
Sierra Vista WNSG458 WHT BLU
Stockton (62) KMA501 WHT BLU YEL
Telegraph Hill KMC926 WHT
Tracy (102) KRO412 YEL BLU

 

[RolnCode3]

I wonder if the officers notice any difference w/ the rebroadcast of the mobile. Their tuned equipment probably picked up a lot of the mobile traffic anyways. It is kind of nice to just park my Kenwood on the Black or Gold and hear everything, without having to scan. But my Kenwood picked up most of the mobile traffic before, anyways. Much better reception than any of the scanners I have (obviously).

 

[gmclam]

I was absolutely amazed at the amount of CHP traffic now that the mobiles are being repeated, now we know how much mobile traffic we have been missing in the past.

You mean the amount of traffic you have been missing!

One of the features I programmed in to my PRO-77s is the ability to match frequencies in to a single channel. So I paired mobile and base CHP frequencies and was able to pick up the traffic if in sight of my antenna automatically.

Now I'm typically monitoring with a PRO-97 or PSR-300 and still have mobiles programmed. These scanners don't handle the dual frequencies the way my PRO-77 does, but as of at the latest Friday was still picking up stuff on the mobile freq that did not get repeated on the base freq. And when I pick them up on the mobile freq, they are a lot clearer.

I as mobile last week and down in the White and Yellow areas. I was still picking up Black2, Gold2, Green2 & Blue2 very well. I can not believe this was merely a frequency and CT change, the signals are a lot stronger.

 

[avtarsingh]

scroll up to my earlier post gm wasnt justa freq change

ALL chp antennas now have 7/8 heliax (supposed to have anyway..the work orders called for it)
AND new antennas ..many are different from before

most of the older stuff was 1/2 in heliax
the difference in coax would only explain a 4 watt difference between the 2 ...

but many coax runs were very old and some might have even have had minor water migration etc

 

[gmclam]

Chp

GREEN
Auburn (45) KMD835 GRN BLU
Auburn Area Office KMD835 GRN
Banner KMG427 GRN BLU
Big Hill KJW447 GRN BLU
Grass Valley (42) KME239 GRN BLU
Placerville (44) KMD935 GRN BLU
Ruby Bluff KDE676 GRN BLU
Union Hill KMD702 GRN BLU

So just using GREEN as an example; if I understand what is happening correctly, it goes like this. Please correct me if I am incorrect.

The site which receives a mobile repeats it. A mobile is not repeated by more than one site.

What the dispatcher hears goes through a "voting system" which selects the "best" receive site. When the dispatcher talks, the signal is transmitted from a (different) selected site.

Depening on my location (when I am mobile), at any given moment the dispatcher could sound weaker/scratchier than mobiles. This is presumably because I am closer to (or have a better signal from the) mobile repeat site. But the dispatcher is most likely transmitting from a distant site.

Thanks.

 

[inigo88]

Avtar can correct me, but I think they use receive voting but NOT simulcasting in some areas of Valley Division.

When a mobile calls in on the mobile (Car-to-Station) 42 Mhz frequency, this is picked up by multiple sites. The receiver-voting system automatically determines which site received the mobile the strongest and automatically sets up the console so the dispatcher can call them back on the 45 Mhz base frequency from THAT site. (Or they could select a different Tx site manually.)

Since all the sites aren't set up to simulcast (in many cases when covering a large area), they can only repeat the mobiles through one site. Since they're trying to maximize the likelihood of units in the field being able to hear the repeated mobiles, they choose a site that is central to the dispatch area to be covered.

In your example, my guess is that you were close enough to the officer that the Tx site dispatch chose to call them back was within your receive range, but the "central" site that was repeating the mobiles was too far away.

If you were even closer to the officer, I'm sure there are situations where you could receive dispatch on the Base frequency (from a close selected Tx site), receive the officer on the Mobile frequency but NOT receive the repeated mobile traffic (because the centrally chosen site was too far away).

This is assuming I correctly understand how the system is set-up, please set me straight if I don't.

 

[gmclam]

CHP mobile repeating 101

Avtar can correct me, but I think they use receive voting but NOT simulcasting in some areas of Valley Division.

I can attest to that, at least as of last week, as I am picking up mobiles on a mobile freq (directly) and not a base freq.

When a mobile calls in on the mobile (Car-to-Station) 42 Mhz frequency, this is picked up by multiple sites. The receiver-voting system automatically determines which site received the mobile the strongest and automatically sets up the console so the dispatcher can call them back on the 45 Mhz base frequency from THAT site. (Or they could select a different Tx site manually.)

Two thoughts here:
1. Does this mean all repeated mobile traffic goes through the dispatch console?

2. While having the console default to the site the mobile came in on, it does not mean that the dispatcher is responding to the most recently received mobile. Also there are situations where the dispatcher wants to broadcast a BOLO/etc and reach 'all' mobiles. Do they just select the best site for this, or broadcast from each site (multiple transmisions)?

In your example, my guess is that you were close enough to the officer that the Tx site dispatch chose to call them back was within your receive range, but the "central" site that was repeating the mobiles was too far away.

I am sure I am picking up all the sites for Gold2 and Black2. There might be one for Green2 I don't receive, but I am mindful of which channel I am receiving on, and I am "close enough" to hear the mobile directly.

If you were even closer to the officer, I'm sure there are situations where you could receive dispatch on the Base frequency (from a close selected Tx site), receive the officer on the Mobile frequency but NOT receive the repeated mobile traffic (because the centrally chosen site was too far away).

That makes no sense to me unless I am close to the mobile and down in a hole. If the mobile radio can reach the repeat site, so can I.