Simulcast coming to Colorado Springs

[radio]

Yes the majority of my SIMULCAST issues were resolved after I set up a YAGI antenna

I have also noticed that Cheyenne Mt Zone 6 has taken a lot of El Paso traffic lately during the major wild land fires and incluring the Fountain apartment house fire last light and now, the outside fire on Powers Blvd in the Security district.

I will reprogram my radios with a Cheyenne Mt Zone 6 system with the El Paso talk groups.

 

[Spitfire8520]

El Paso County deputies dealing with radio problems

I guess scanners are not the only ones having troubles with the simulcast. EPSO's Tait radios do not seem to like the Motorola flavored simulcast.

 

[David628]

El Paso County deputies dealing with radio problems

I guess scanners are not the ones having troubles with the simulcast. EPSO's Tait radios do not seem to like the Motorola flavored simulcast.

I was just going to post that article [emoji16]

I’ll bet part of the fix for the sheriffs is to open them up to more state towers as well as the springs simulcast system.


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[David628]

Yes the majority of my SIMULCAST issues were resolved after I set up a YAGI antenna

I have also noticed that Cheyenne Mt Zone 6 has taken a lot of El Paso traffic lately during the major wild land fires and incluring the Fountain apartment house fire last light and now, the outside fire on Powers Blvd in the Security district.

I will reprogram my radios with a Cheyenne Mt Zone 6 system with the El Paso talk groups.

Yes, me to. Just yesterday I started to hear El Paso sheriffs on the Cheyenne mountain state system antenna. I wonder if all of them are now able to talk through it due to their recent coms issues.


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[Spitfire8520]

I’ll bet part of the fix for the sheriffs is to open them up to more state towers as well as the springs simulcast system.

That doesn't seem likely, but I guess things can always change.

Yes, me to. Just yesterday I started to hear El Paso sheriffs on the Cheyenne mountain state system antenna. I wonder if all of them are now able to talk through it due to their recent coms issues.

Everything is mostly status quo as far as I can see.

The El Paso County "C" talkgroups has been allowed on the rest of the system for more than a year.

El Paso County Sheriff Channel 3 (TG 4712) was strangely allowed on the rest of the system after the simulcast went online and has been heard on sites like 1-014 and 6-048 on and off. It almost looks like the sites it could access was unintentionally changed during the switch. I would not be surprised to see it go away if it was accidental and someone notices it. The rest of El Paso County is still restricted to Zone 4 sites only.

 

[David628]

Thanks for that info Spitfire. Ch 3 is what I was hearing on the Cheyenne mtn site, I guess that’s 6 as the other fella mentioned.


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[abqscan]

El Paso County deputies dealing with radio problems

I guess scanners are not the only ones having troubles with the simulcast. EPSO's Tait radios do not seem to like the Motorola flavored simulcast.

Anyone know what type of radios CSPD uses? I wonder if they have the same issues or if its an issues with Tait.

 

[dw2872]

Anyone know what type of radios CSPD uses? I wonder if they have the same issues or if its an issues with Tait.

CSPD has been using Motorola for years. They are not having the same problems.

When researching the info for the story, it was realized that the problems began toward the end of March when those Colorado Springs sites switched to a simulcast cell, and that since EPSO had Tait radios since 2013, then it appeared that that the Tait radios are having a compatibility problem with the simulcast setup and either need reconfigured, fine-tuned, or replaced. The replacement cost is too high for them though, so EPSO will just live (or die) with it until they can either fix the radio configuration or buy new radios.

 

[abqscan]

I hope TAIT gets a rep out to figure things out for them!

 

[radio]

Wonder what it would take to have the system revert back to the way they were working prior to SIMULCAST?

I suspect there is no money to replace the radios. Much more sense to reverse the SIMULCAST switch.

 

[Spitfire8520]

Wonder what it would take to have the system revert back to the way they were working prior to SIMULCAST?

I suspect there is no money to replace the radios. Much more sense to reverse the SIMULCAST switch.

It won't happen unless there is something seriously wrong with it, which does not appear to be the case. It seems to be a Tait radio specific issue. The linked news story noted that no other agency is encountering issues with the new system. If Tait wants to do business in an market dominated by Motorola flavored simulcast systems, they will need to figure out the issue quickly.

The upgrade likely cost PPRCN at least a couple million dollars and comes with the benefit of greatly increased capacity of allowing up to 17 simultaneous radio transmissions. This means that public safety users will encounter less system busies during major incidents, and Colorado Springs has had plenty of those. I am sure that CSPD would not want to take a step backwards to the previous setup of needing to wait for an overloaded site to free up so that they can talk during a critical incident. As this issue apparently only affects EPSO, the simulcast would be a net positive for most users despite it not playing nicely with most scanners.

 

[radio]

Thanks, Spitfire.

 

[snoopyII]

Tait radios are having a compatibility problem with the simulcast setup and either need reconfigured, fine-tuned, or replaced. The replacement cost is too high for them though, so EPSO will just live (or die) with it until they can either fix the radio configuration or buy new radios.

I have seen/experienced this problem first hand with the North Metro (Adams County) Simulcast. EPSO is not the only agency that is dealing with this issue. Tait radios and simulcast do not mix together at all. The TP9400 series work great on the state DTR... when not in a simulcast environment.

"The issues have been happening all over geography, at different times, during all shifts, so it's a broad-reaching issue and therein lies the problem," Commander Kramer said. This is very true, the problems are very seemingly random, sometimes a radio will works for days without issue, sometimes you might get 5-10 minutes out it before it starts acting up. What ends up happening is either the audio quality is very poor like in the video, or the radio gets "kicked off" the system all together, and "No Service" is displayed on the screen. It has caused numerous missed calls and/or not being able to call out at all on several occasions. The way ours our programmed, there is no audible tone when this happens (but that's a unrelated issue) The only fix we have been able to come up with is turn it off and then back on, forcing it to re affiliate. And that is just a very temporary band aid fix, it can start acting up again within minutes of rebooting.

I was highly suspicious of the firmware being out of date but now that I have read the article, I think it goes deeper than that. "Kramer has been with meeting with officials in the sheriff's office as well as leaders from Tait Radio, engineers and officials with the network the radios operate on for months to try to pinpoint the cause of the problems." I'm confident with the millions of dollars EPSO has spent on their radios, that they have Tait's attention and that the radios already have updated the firmware.

 

[speard]

Following the recommendations, I picked up a Yagi, connections and made a stand for it. I'm able to get most transmissions, but am obviously still missing some.

Some questions:

Would a PVC or metal stand for the antenna make any difference?

Is anyone locking the site to the COS Simulcast, or scanning the simulcast as well as the remaining PPRCN towers?

 

[tonytee1968]

Thanks for the information!

It is licensed under WQWT811 for 20 frequencies, but I imagine they will probably avoid the non-NPSPAC frequencies. The 18 channels will certainly help in the event of a major incident.

Locations it will absorb are:
Stanley Canyon (4-012)
Ski Summit (4-013)
Austin Bluffs (4-016)
Airport (4-017)
Templeton Gap (4-022)
Cedar Heights (4-024)

I imagine that it will called the Colorado Springs Simulcast when it comes online. Now the big question is what to do with the "Colorado Springs" (6-039) site since it doesn't actually provide any sort of radio coverage for Colorado Springs users. I have a vote in for name "Quail Loop."

PPRCN is certainly moving in an interesting direction. I am interested in seeing the developments for some of their western sites.

Hello spitfire..
you seem to know quite a bit about the Colorado springs systems and how they work..
I have been trying to get the cspd talk group to work on my bearcat 996 digital scanner for 6 months now.. it seems I can pick up state patrol and el paso sheriff but no cspd.. is there something I have to do special to get those channels turned on ?
I am at a loss..
thanks..
tony ...