State Patrol INPUT DX

[radioboy75]

OK, so can somebody school me on this?

My last information about the state patrol system is VERY OLD. When I was taught about it, it was said that the DPS dispatchers were able to talk on the remote repeaters via a dedicated landline, which was transmitted on the repeater, and they got the audio from that repeater the same way, via a dedicated phone line.

Today I heard something that I am struggling to understand. The band was "up" today and unsurprisingly, I received a trooper's transmission on the input to the repeater (the repeater in my area is on 155.640 and the input is 154.650.) The surprising thing was I heard the DPS dispatcher answer the trooper ON THE INPUT FREQUENCY.

This does not mesh with how I was told the system works. The dispatcher should never be heard on the input, as their voice gets to the repeater via a wired connection, not over the radio.

Has something changed?

For those of you that live near the DPS dispatch centers, are you able to hear the dispatchers on the input frequencies? Even when they're talking on the remote repeaters?

I was kind of floored by this and wondered what was happening.

Scott

 

[timkilbride]

I never heard dispatch on the input because of the system design. I do hear county PSAP's bring up multiple repeaters when they key up. They are indeed using the input frequency.

Tim

 

[radioboy75]

Agreed, Tim. I have heard that as well, on LEA.

They seem to be having all kinds of trouble on Matlock DPS (base) the past two days. They're using LEA as a backup.

Interestingly when they try talking on DPS, I can hear the troopers fine, but dispatch tells them they're "very 10-1."

 

[WB0VHB]

Was dispatch close enough to the tower that a control station was being used instead of wireline?

 

[radioboy75]

No. Storm Lake is where the dispatch center is. It's 54 miles. I'm guessing that's too far.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[mws72]

Could they had been using a radio at Post HQ as an temp. dispatching center?

 

[radioboy75]

That's what I was thinking. I wonder if there are maybe some changes being made and that's why they're having issues? I WAS thinking that the issues were related to "the band being up" (enhanced conditions). I figured that the troopers were maybe activating multiple repeaters and that was the issue. But if that had been the case, LEA would have been the same way . . .

Now that I think about it, if they had a radio on that repeater pair at dispatch, they probably could have hit the Matlock repeater. They talk to county PSAPs on point-to-point, so maybe that WOULD have worked OK. Maybe they were trying that to see if that worked better . . . That would also explain how the cars could be 10-1 -- if dispatch isn't able to copy the remote repeater very well over-the-air.

I don't know. It's a mystery.

The landline system worked so well. I hope trying to do it over-the-air is not a cost-cutting move. I know we'll all be switching to the ISICS system, so I wouldn't think they'd try to change too much with the old system now anymore . . .

 

[radioboy75]

@mws72 -- I just noticed you said "at post HQ." It could be. But the dispatcher's voice seemed to be the one from state radio . . .