Where has Ft. Collins PD gone?

[GrayJeep]

Have been listening to the CSP and Larimer County dealing with slideoffs and snowdrifts and accidents - the usual stuff.

Have heard so little from FCPD that it seems like they've disappeared.

Have talkgroups 4029 thru 4034 which used to work. Have heard something that sounds encrypted on 4035 but that tg isn't listed on RR for what it is.

Are they on strike? Is there a new tower that hasn't been listed? Have they gone to provoice?

Ideas?

NW0U

 

[mpg0515]

what tower are you using? I am listening to FCPD right now off of Horsetooth, and they are very active tonight with accidents and such. ch-4 is being used for some sort of traffic (speed trap) downtown. Also an inj. accident just was paged in the 900 block of North Shields. Check and make sure you dont have any TG's locked out and also make sure that you are hearing the CC well enough.

TG 4035 is Larimer Drug Task Force and will always be encrypted, so just lock that one out

 

[GrayJeep]

Fcpd

what tower are you using? I am listening to FCPD right now off of Horsetooth, and they are very active tonight with accidents and such. ch-4 is being used for some sort of traffic (speed trap) downtown. Also an inj. accident just was paged in the 900 block of North Shields. Check and make sure you dont have any TG's locked out and also make sure that you are hearing the CC well enough.

TG 4035 is Larimer Drug Task Force and will always be encrypted, so just lock that one out

I've got two different scanners (Pro-96 and 2096) side by side and have
good signals to PVH and Horsetooth.

Am getting CSP wonderfully well but FCPD is just absent.
Have checked TGs even locking out everything not FCPD.
Just not getting much activity.

Channel 4 is TGIG 4032 per RadioReference info?

NW0U

 

[mpg0515]

yea, channel-4 is correct. I am listening to FCPD and PFA on one radio and CSP on another. You may just be missing stuff from FCPD when CSP is talking. They seem to talk a lot and generally the city traffic is going on why they are talking. Same goes for LCSO I have another radio listening to them. When the "action" really gets going later on tonight, I rarely miss anything with the way I have my radios set up. Just a thought.

FCPD radio traffic has been pretty quiet the last couple of years too because of their MDT's. Most of the time they don't even have to talk to dispatch, they can just click that they are responding to a call on their laptop.

Ch-4 ops seem to have ended as of this post.

 

[GrayJeep]

Ah, maybe it's me. Or them

I've got two different scanners (Pro-96 and 2096) side by side and have
good signals to PVH and Horsetooth.

Am getting CSP wonderfully well but FCPD is just absent.
Have checked TGs even locking out everything not FCPD.
Just not getting much activity.

Channel 4 is TGIG 4032 per RadioReference info?

NW0U

I've heard them on dispatch a couple of times since posting. Seems like maybe the dispatcher counts to 10 before replying which means my radio is off scanning channels and TGs and misses the response.

Am running Closed bank to get only the specific TGs.

County seems to be WAY more active.

NW0U

 

[scanlist]

Fort Collins is heavily relient on the MDT/MDC's for call activity as Mike mentioned and has been for years. Using Horsetooth as the primary works out better when I'm in the area.

Also you may want to change the TG delay from 2.0 to 3.0 seconds. Seems to work better for catching responses especially if the site is busy.

Phil.

 

[GrayJeep]

It was me - unintentionally

Thanks very much for the helpful replies.
I think I'll try setting the TG delay a bit longer but I think I figured it out it was me.

I have a bank programmed for Larimer County. I am using the Pro-96 trick of programming every other channel for the DTRS system and in between a channel with conventional FM. This is a Pro-96 issue where it doesn't seem to check all the DTRS channels unless you do this.

In my CSP bank I use NLEEC and CLEER for my spacers. In my Larimer County bank I use Larimer Sheriff and county FDs. I was using CTCSS tones in the the county channels.
It seems that if I turn the tones off of all the channels that don't really require them my scan and response speed went way, way up and I could hear FCPD doing their thing.

The tones are useful for keeping intermod and birdies from holding the channel but it appears that the function has quite a cost in scan time.

I normally use my radios in the car as I commute between Ft. Collins and Boulder so I have quite a few towers programmed, many agencies programmed and I encounter a number of dead carriers on various channels in various places.

Thanks for the help!

Ron

 

[scanlist]

I am using the Pro-96 trick of programming every other channel for the DTRS system and in between a channel with conventional FM.

Since you mention this is how you are scanning the system. This method cuts into your trunk tracking efficiency big time. Especially if you are going with 3 or more CC's.

Being that I do the Greeley to Boulder express during the week I have found I am better off with having the conventional agencies in seperate bank(s) accessable on the fly and control channels for the commute route in a seperate bank with out the "conventional trick" as well.

Phil.

 

[GrayJeep]

Scanning efficiency

Since you mention this is how you are scanning the system. This method cuts into your trunk tracking efficiency big time. Especially if you are going with 3 or more CC's.

Being that I do the Greeley to Boulder express during the week I have found I am better off with having the conventional agencies in seperate bank(s) accessable on the fly and control channels for the commute route in a seperate bank with out the "conventional trick" as well.

Phil.

I have Boulder and Longmont in their own banks and Larimer County (with DTRS control channels) in its own bank.
I have Weld county (with DTRS CCs) in it's own bank in case I have to take my alternate route.
I turn the banks on/off as my trip progresses.

Have CSP and CCs as my never-locked-out bank.
I've set the trunked banks to Closed so I only hear the tgs of interest.

Have thought I really ought to do a careful survey of the towers that matter along my route and not program any others.

I'm basically listening for the pageouts for crashes so I know to go around them.

As I examined the radio just now I found that I had delay 0 for trunked groups. Don't know when that happened. Could be an artifact of programming with ScanCat Lite.

Thanks for the tips!

NW0U

 

[rickak]

I've never had much luck with the "conventional trick" either.

If you are after toneouts, consider that there is paging/simulcasting on VHF/UHF from ft collins to boulder. PFA 453.25, Loveland/Bethoud 154.01, Weld county 153.785, Boulder county 151.355. You may need an external antenna on the car to pick them up solidly. I can hear the PFA freq all the way to the DTC in South denver when I get the joy of doing that commute.

Rick

 

[scanlist]

For the 800 heading into Boulder I would recommend using Horsetooth, Downtown Loveland, Bald, Mead and Thorodin sites. If you end up with a 700 capable scanner down the road add Gunbarrel to the list.

With the exception of the downtown Loveland site I would go with the same towers for Weld coverage unless you go way East to highway 85 then add N. and S. Greeley to the mix.

Phil.

 

[GrayJeep]

Optimum choices

For the 800 heading into Boulder I would recommend using Horsetooth, Downtown Loveland, Bald, Mead and Thorodin sites. If you end up with a 700 capable scanner down the road add Gunbarrel to the list.

With the exception of the downtown Loveland site I would go with the same towers for Weld coverage unless you go way East to highway 85 then add N. and S. Greeley to the mix.

Phil.

Got all the toneout freqs mentioned by Rickak. Of course it isn't *just* the toneouts, it's also the conversation indicating how bad the road has gotten. On the Wed of the Xmas blizzard I was 5 minutes ahead of the road blockage 1 mi north of 119 on I-25. Heard the CSP call it a closure right behind me (and I saw WHY!).

I have Weld County in the normal scan because their EMS covers much of I-25 that
I have to cover.

What about using Buckhorn and Prospect Mtn towers?

My alternate route is WCR 17 so I don't go as far east as 85.

I probably drive right by the Gunbarrel tower on Lookout Rd. but don't have 700 Mhz.

Thanks for the info guys. It helps!

Ron

 

[jimmnn]

Would not recommend Prospect Mtn site for your drive as that only covers Estes Park.

Most portions of I-25 that fall in Weld County are not actually covered by Weld EMS I don't believe.

Headed South MM 293-250 is PVH, MM 260-248 is TVAS, MM 248-229 is Mtn View.

Weld sometimes covers a little area around 252 if they have an ambulance available west but often Para-331 out of Berthoud ends of beating them there. Same with the MM 240-234 area sometime Frederick Fire but seems to often be Mtn View instead.

You used to hear WCAS as 2nd or 3rd ambulance in more along that MM 250-229 area these days it seems to almost always be Pridemark. WCAS operates with very few in-service ambulances, especially 24 hrs cars for the area (size of Delaware) they have to cover and because of this you will hear neighboring agencies covering calls for them much more TVAS (which they have a mutual academy with) from the West, Platte Valley from the South and Morgan County EMS from the East. Or there fastest and most expensive ambulance flying very stable patients.

Jim<

 

[GrayJeep]

More

Would not recommend Prospect Mtn site for your drive as that only covers Estes Park.

Headed South MM 293-250 is PVH, MM 260-248 is TVAS, MM 248-229 is Mtn View.

Jim<

Thanks, I'll drop Prospect from the list.

You are referring to medical services here? PVH is both a tower name and a hospital.
TVAS = Thompson Valley Ambulance.

Where does Mountain View come from?

I guess things may change once the new Loveland hospital opens.....

I listen to Pridemark ambulance once I get into Boulder County/Longmont/N Boulder.
I leave I-25 at Hwy 52 and go west.

Ron

 

[rickak]

PVH has an ambulance service that covers northern larimer county.

From http://www.mountainviewfire.org/:

"The Mountain View Fire District provides an array of emergency and non-emergency services including: Fire, Rescue, Advanced Life Support Transport Services and Basic Life Support Emergency Medical Service, Public Education, Fire Prevention, and other specialized services to the 45,000 permanent residents and a commuting population of over 60,000 in a 225-square-mile response area. Mountain View Fire is a combination organization with 43 career and civilian personnel and, 90 volunteers. Our District includes: rural Longmont, Mead, Del Camino, Dacono, Erie, Firestone, Brownsville, and Niwot as well as unincorporated Boulder and Weld counties."


Rick

 

[jimmnn]

Thanks, I'll drop Prospect from the list.

You are referring to medical services here? PVH is both a tower name and a hospital.
TVAS = Thompson Valley Ambulance.

PVH is a tower name because the DTRS site is on the hospital.

The ambulance service is also referred to as PVH Paramedics.

Where does Mountain View come from?

Large fire district that 60% of there district is in Weld County. http://www.mountainviewfire.org/

I guess things may change once the new Loveland hospital opens.....

Feb 12th I believe, and no MCR should really not affect the EMS response zones at all.

I listen to Pridemark ambulance once I get into Boulder County/Longmont/N Boulder.
I leave I-25 at Hwy 52 and go west.

Jim<

 

[RFsponge]

For what it's worth

While was out in the wind this evening, I picked up TG 100 from I-70 at Genesee. I only found out later it belonged to Poudre R-1's (Fort Collins) school busses. I was too busy to catch the site it was affiliating with though.

Maybe transporting a sports team to a metro school?

Rob

 

[scanlist]

That's normal to hear them on some of the wide coverage sites when they are in and near the metro area on field trips and sporting events.

Phil.

 

[RFsponge]

Ah. Good to know. Thanks.