Livingston, TX, Police freq

[ke5ldo]

Since they have gone to digital, has anyone determined their new frequencies. No one here has any information, including the EOC office. I am a Skywarn, ARES, and Races member as well as one of the Emergency communcation amateurs.

 

[loumaag]

Okay, don't jump on me for this, but is there some reason to believe they are still not using 155.0400?

As you can see, the license is set for NFM and digital. If you had previously set your scanner with the advertised tone (as in the DB) then you will never hear a P25 signal. Just checking to make sure you removed the tone from your setup.

 

[ke5ldo]

All are digital, I just found out today. They are not releasing which format they are using. None of the conventional freqs are active under the analog system. Even the Polk Co. Sheriff cannot communicate with them. As an EOC member, am trying get the EOC commander to find out more.NOone, to my knowledge, is able to communicate directly with them. 155.400 is active as a San Jacinto/ Walker Co. channel for EMS>

 

[texasemt13]

Have you looked at all the public safety FCC licenses for the county yet? Look here. They're only licensed a few frequencies, and I'd bet my lunch money they're VHF P25 digital.

Did you follow lou's advice? If you have them stored as an analog frequency, in most scanners, you'll never hear the digital transmissions. What type of receiver are you using to receive this?

 

[ke5ldo]

psr 500. loaded from thr RR database using win 500. asked for help on this 3 months ago from win500 website and no response. i guess everyone is too smart to help anyone and I .not smart enough to do it otherwise, "i guess, since never been told how to do this.

 

[texasemt13]

All the support you'll need for this is right here. The database is only as good as the information submitted to it, and if you happen to be the only listener in the area, then no one has submitted the change.

Go to your win500 file and see if the Mode and Squelch Mode info are saved for the frequencies in question. I would save all the modes as "Auto." This will make sure to catch the transmission on this frequency if it is AM, FM analog and P25 digital. Leave the Squelch Mode in "Search" also, to receive any tone.

 

[texasemt13]

LIVINGSTON, CITY OF 153.99500 Livingston PW input
LIVINGSTON, CITY OF 154.02500 Livingston PD input
LIVINGSTON, CITY OF 154.10000
LIVINGSTON, CITY OF 154.40000 Livingston FD Tac (simplex)
LIVINGSTON, CITY OF 155.04000 Livingston PD
LIVINGSTON, CITY OF 155.14500 Livingston PW input
LIVINGSTON, CITY OF 155.81250 Livingston FD
LIVINGSTON, CITY OF 158.95500 Livingston FD input

These are all the VHF frequencies they are licensed. I don't see 154.1000 in our database, but it is licensed to them.

The emissions designators assigned to the license on 10/5/2009 shows they were planning on NFM and P25 at that time. Again, I'd be willing to bet yesterday's lunch money (and today's) they are P25 digital.

 

[loumaag]

I am certainly interested in the outcome of this experiment. I don't have a PSR-500 but can you just put in a frequency from the keypad and monitor it? If so try the old dispatch channel if texasemt13's instructions seem too involved.

 

[TexasMale]

Polk County SO and Livingston PD are in the clear on the same Frequencies they have been on for years!!

 

[texasemt13]

Polk County SO and Livingston PD are in the clear on the same Frequencies they have been on for years!!

Good to know, but are they digital or analog? If digital, which NAC is used? If analog, are they still using the CTCSS tone of 192.8 Hz? Knowing this information can help us resolve ke5ldo's problem.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[texasemt13]

I don't have a PSR-500 but can you just put in a frequency from the keypad and monitor it?

To do this ke5ldo, for the PSR-500:

Press "TUNE," "1 - 5 - 5 - . - 0 - 4," then "ENT." Press "F2" (Mode) until the mode displays "au." This will open up on any transmission made on that frequency, and give you the tone information. Once it is displayed it will give you the option to "Stor" (F3), and if you wait until the transmissions are made, and it recognizes the tone information, it will store it all (frequency + tone). I believe by default, these are stored to list 1.

 

[ke5ldo]

Thanks for the help. I'll try it and see. I had all as FM. Again, thanks again from an not too bright Extra class ham. As one suggested in a pvt message: Maybe I should Turn in my license for not knowing this.

 

[texasemt13]

Understanding the intricacies of programming an electronic device isn't reason enough to forfeit your license. Imagine if everyone had to program a Yaesu HT before receiving their license- no one would pass without the instruction manual.

I think you'll get this figured out real soon. Let us know if we can help with anything else.

 

[ke5ldo]

thanks, EVERYONE. I have found they are using 155.400 as APCO P25 occasionally. Not going full digital until Jan 1, 2012, according to an inside source. SherifF office cannot communicate directly with them yet. re:YAESU ht, gave mine to the HS ROTC. LET THEM FIGURE IT OUT..

 

[loumaag]

Well I am glad we got that fixed.
Can you tell me if when they are using analog are they still using the same tone? And, when they are P25, can you provide the NAC. If you can, I will update the DB.

 

[TexasMale]

The FCC Has no record of anything in Polk County using 155.400

They do have a record of 155.0400

 

[ke5ldo]

It is a shared Freq ID on air as San Jacinto county/Walker county sheriff frequency.

 

[rattlerbb01]

It is a shared Freq ID on air as San Jacinto county/Walker county sheriff frequency.

?

All of Walker County is on the 700 MHz TxWARN trunk system. They use 155.265, 155.730, and 154.205 for any VHF conventional activity that may occur or simulcast from TxWARN. San Jacinto County SO is still on 154.845, and the fire departments and EMS all use narrowband repeaters on 155.9775, 155.6925, and 155.7825. The nearest agencies using 155.400 are montgomery county hospital district (dormant) and Lufkin City Hospital district. The last time I was in Livingston, which was about a year ago, they were using 155.040 with a 192.8 PL. If I have not been through an area in a while, I will usually ditch the PL tone from the scanner and search for a new one to see if it has changed. It was still 192.8 PL.

When I lived that way, Polk and San Jac counties were so far behind the curve of radio comms it was ridiculous. Over half the fire departments in Polk county were using low band, and they all had their own dispatch frequencies and were self dispatched in most cases. San Jac, where I was in a VFD, had all the county departments on a simplex 154.445. We didn't even have pagers, so we heard EVERY tone at all hours. After I left, San Jacinto ESD licensed the three narrowband repeaters and ditched GoldStar EMS for Guardian and finally gave them their own VHF channel to use, where as GoldStar had UHF LTR radios. It looks like that area is finally getting its stuff together. I would like to have a good day of monitoring over there some time in the future, maybe a little Jet Ski to make it whole.

 

[ke5ldo]

UPDATE: Thanks to you guys, the digital of Livingston is using alternating channels daily as a digital test.Testing is all Livingston channels, police and the rest of licensed freqs.
Thanks for the adjustment you told me about. The fire dept will start, supposedly, in October.

 

[ke5ldo]

Jetskiing here is also called trolling for gators...LOL!