Sugarland, TX

[AlabamaWeather]

Word has it that I might be moving down there and need to find out if anyone can help me find Fire/Rescue Dispatch and fireground freq. for that area?

Any help is great!
Thanks,
Kenny

 

[CraneGuru]

Kenny,

You'll quickly discover that most PD / FD agencies in the greater Houston metroplex (excluding HPD and HFD, but including all of Fort Bend County, where Sugar Land is located) are included in STARNet -
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&sid=38

Other than that, there is also Myles Barkman's site at http://freqzone.home.comcast.net/

After perusing those databases, if you need any further info, I'm in Sugar Land, and will be glad to help.

James

 

[tneff]

Lots to listen to in the area, good info posted already for you. If you get down here, give a yell.

 

[AlabamaWeather]

Kenny,

You'll quickly discover that most PD / FD agencies in the greater Houston metroplex (excluding HPD and HFD, but including all of Fort Bend County, where Sugar Land is located) are included in STARNet -
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&sid=38

Other than that, there is also Myles Barkman's site at http://freqzone.home.comcast.net/

After perusing those databases, if you need any further info, I'm in Sugar Land, and will be glad to help.

James

That is awesome information but im am 100% lost, there is way toooo much info to search through. Since your in Sugar Land, and if you listen to Sugar Land Fire/EMS what freq, talkgroup ect. do you use?
I am in Trussville, AL and am really used to non-trunked systems and im thinking that there will be no way to listen to SL, TX unless I have a trunking scaner? I tried emailed the Sugar Land FD to ask what freq. they are on and got no response.

AND...I am a Fire Explorer for the Trussville Fire Dept. here in Trussville, AL and am wondering if you know of any explorer posts in or around that area of TX? I just started about 4 months ago with the explorers program and LOVE IT!!!

Any information is greatly apprecieated!
Thanks,
Kenny

 

[CraneGuru]

Talkgroups in Sugar Land & Fort Bend county

Kenny,

Yes, STARNet is a trunked system, so Yes, you'll need a trunking scanner to follow the talkgroups. I mostly monitor Site 15 - Missouri City with control channels on 857.96250* 860.96250* 867.67500* 868.17500*

Some good F/D dispatch talkgroups in Fort Bend county are:
43664 Sugar Land FD 1 Dispatch
43184 MoCity FD Dispatch (simulcast 154.400 MHz)
44144 Stafford FD 1 Dispatch
03984 Fort Bend County FD (Fresno, Thompsons, Needville, Richmond, Pleak, Orchard, Fulshear)

There are also 4-5 additional talkgroups per department for TAC / Command.

EMS Talkgroups that I monitor are:
2864 Ft Bend County EMS Ch 1 Dispatch
3696 Ft Bend County EMS to Polly Ryon Hosp(now Oak Bend)
3728 Ft Bend County EMS to Ft Bend Hosp
3760 Ft Bend County EMS to Sugarland Methodist Hosp
46032 FtBend County EMS to Memorial Hermann Katy Hospital

I don't know anything about explorer's, so I'll leave that to someone more knowledgable.

James

 

[AlabamaWeather]

Thanks James! Thats very helpful!

Now...I dont have a trunked scanner so im thinking about this one...im sure it will do but do you know if its any good?
http://www.scannermaster.com/BC898T_Package_p/01-721035.htm

 

[FlashSWT]

Something else to keep in mind: according to a radio report we saw earlier this summer, the Missouri City and Fort Bend tower sites will be some of the next ones to go online as part of the Starnet P25 system.
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&sid=4563

As such it might be worth making sure you buy a digital capable trunking scanner up front (Uniden 996T or 396T).

.

 

[AlabamaWeather]

What scanners would you guys suggest thats not really expensive?
I have 898T, 996T, 696T...others?

Thanks for the help guys?

 

[AlabamaWeather]

Hey how about a PRO-97?

 

[rattlerbb01]

Hey how about a PRO-97?

The Pro97 won't do digital at all. Your current options are:

Uniden BCD396T
Uniden BCD996T
Uniden BC296D
Uniden BC796D
Radioshack Pro96
Radioshack Pro2096.

The reason I say those are your only options is that when that area starts using P25 digital very soon, any other scanner not listed will be just about useless for monitoring Sugarland, Mo City, FB County and so on....So if you havent done so, you might start budgeting for one of those, and expect to pay anywhere from 400-600 depending on who you buy from. That said, do good research on who you might buy a scanner from since you will be shelling out a good chunk of change.

 

[AlabamaWeather]

Im thinking about a PRO-96 b/c ebay has several of them at a great price!
And the sellers have awesome feedback!

The Pro97 won't do digital at all. Your current options are:

Uniden BCD396T
Uniden BCD996T
Uniden BC296D
Uniden BC796D
Radioshack Pro96
Radioshack Pro2096.

The reason I say those are your only options is that when that area starts using P25 digital very soon, any other scanner not listed will be just about useless for monitoring Sugarland, Mo City, FB County and so on....So if you havent done so, you might start budgeting for one of those, and expect to pay anywhere from 400-600 depending on who you buy from. That said, do good research on who you might buy a scanner from since you will be shelling out a good chunk of change.

 

[mfn002]

I would more suggest the 396, because it is better for working with STARNET. Unlike the PRO96, the 396 is more flexable, and has a higher talkgroup per system capacity (150 on the 96 vs. 200 or so on the 396). I use the 396 for STARNET every time I go to Houston (and when I am in college at Sam Houston in Huntsville) and it is much easier to organize a system. Here's a great place for more info on both the 396 and the 996:
www.universal-radio.com
Oh, and don't bother trying to find a 296 or 796 on there, they aren't made anymore.

Also, you might want to have Houston Fire/Houston Police on your scanner (Check the Harris County section in the RR Texas Database).
In addition, if you are interested, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Highway Patrol's freq in Houston is 155.4625 (P25 digital).

 

[ke5fgc]

I also am in Sugar Land. The City has a Police and Fire department. The EMS is provided by the county(Fort Bend).

All comms are on a wide area SmartZone System that is was started by Harris county in the late '80s and is called the Southeast Texas Area Radio Network or STARnet for short. The system has grown to cover most of the 13 counties in the HGAC region.

if you have any other questions feel free to e-mail me ke5fgc[at]arrl[dot]net.

Welcome to town!

-Josh

 

[ke5fgc]

Alot of the radios have been upgraded to XTS-5000 and XTL-5000, but there are still a large amount of users that are still using MTS-2000s. So I am willing to bet that once the new P25 system comes online, there will be patches between the systems for a while till everyone gets new radios.

-Josh

 

[AlabamaWeather]

I have tooo much information to suck in! I will do some research when I get home later this afternoon! Thanks guys for your input/help!!

 

[N5AMS]

if i had to guess star net will be fully p-25 by either 2009 or 2010 which means i need to start saving really quick for the 396 and 996

 

[txshooter]

Alot of the radios have been upgraded to XTS-5000 and XTL-5000, but there are still a large amount of users that are still using MTS-2000s. So I am willing to bet that once the new P25 system comes online, there will be patches between the systems for a while till everyone gets new radios.

-Josh

MCS2000's and MTS2000's are pretty new gear for some of the users on the system. There are still tons of Analog Spectra's (Not Atro Spectra's), STX's, and the LCS2000 & LTS2000 radios that are not even capable of rebanding much less P25. These agencies will be much better of soon when they recieve the new equipment that will be capable of being updated (Flashed) for P25. It is esenially going to save millions of dollars that might have had to be spent to upgrade to the new P25 Standard anyway. Thank you Sprint/Nextel!

 

[motorola_otaku]

43184 MoCity FD Dispatch (simulcast 154.400 MHz)

This is incorrect. Mo City FD doesn't multicast on 154.400 anymore, and hasn't in the 5 or so years I've listened to that area.

 

[CraneGuru]

This is incorrect. Mo City FD doesn't multicast on 154.400 anymore, and hasn't in the 5 or so years I've listened to that area.

Thanks for the update. I had gleaned that piece of data from Myles' list at http://freqzone.home.comcast.net/freqs/star-net.html. Since I only monitor STARNet, and not the conventional frequencies, I was unaware of the inaccuracy and will update my personal database accordingly.

Later,
James