Lyon County, Nevada

[willstuder]

So I am new to Nevada. I am a former police officer and a HAM from the midwest. I have a couple of feeds which I have up. I live in Lyon County and I am curious if there are any other listeners who can tell me what the Lyon Co. SO Prefixes mean? The following is a list of the letters I have heard and simply my guesses at what they are.

F: Fernley
D: Dayton
W: Watch Commander
N: Narcotics
I: Investigations
R: Reservation?

Again they are just guesses but some seem pretty accurate. I have to say as a former LEO and a current HAM I'm relatively impressed with Lyon Co. SO. I hear the usual grumblings around town as with any local PD or SO, but I think they conduct themselves pretty professionally.

 

[Hooligan]

As you know, Lyon County is pretty small & relatively remote, so it's no surprise that no-one here has been knowledgeable enough or willing to help you out with the callsigns.

But I'm guessing you're applying big-area LE mentality to Lyon area callsigns -- for example, thinking William might be Watch Commander. With a population of about 50,000 people & a relatively low population density, how many LE units do you think Lyon has out & about at any one-time, to need a Watch Commander unit/callsign?! I'm guessing it's more likely a senior deputy or Sgt that'd be thought of as a Patrol Supervisor, unless their sheriff is a former city-slicker who spent a couple decades with a massive agency like LAPD or NYPD and brought-over some of that big-city policing tactics, training & procedures.

In some of the rural communities I have experience with, things are usually quiet enough that a variety of organizations (county roads, Fire, SO...) share one main dispatch/ops repeater, but then have other channels to use for extended comms & special events. That sort of thing may explain why you're hearing a good variety of callsigns.

A callsign for a field/patrol supervisor should be pretty easy to confirm based on traffic analysis, like only one W unit per shift, dispatch & other units giving reverence to the W & the W giving occasional commands to them, etc. Likewise, if D units are Detectives, you should hear them reporting in-service to head to major crimes, N units if Narcs should be somewhat cryptic on non-secure channels, etc.

Doesn't seem like Nevada POST has generated any sort of LE callsign standardization templates, whereas in California for example, Nora units are often Narcotics, King = Detectives, etc. For all I know, the Nora units in Lyon County could easily be NHP patrol units on the Lyon County area radio system.

Figuring out callsigns is part of the fun -- radio-geek's version of crossword puzzles.

Please do share your confirmed findings with us here, or post them to the RR Database to donate $ to RR staff.

 

[com501]

Hah! There's only one deputy per area on many shifts. Most comms are on MDTs.

 

[willstuder]

Update

So I have moved out of the area, but I wanted to report what I was able to ascertain from both mobile scanner monitoring and just some basics.

As a former small town officer myself, I also thought that they were using "watch commander" terminology for a shift sergeant or corporal as this is what we did. However, I never heard them giving any type of orders and I heard them taking calls as frequently as anyone else and later in my monitoring would discover there were at times 3 to 4 on at a time, which would be silly in a jurisdiction like Lyon County.

They are a smaller department, but actually quite large in comparison to most Nevada Counties (other than Washoe, Clark, Carson,). The reason for being large seems to be that they provide the entire counties law enforcement. The incorporated cities have contracts where they pay for so many deputies to be assigned to their jurisdictions. Being from Missouri I had seen this same arrangement in tiny towns where it was impractical to have all the equipment such as cars and whatnot, however Lyon County has Fernley (pop. 19,588) and Dayton (8,964).

After living in Fernley for over a year, I learned that the city can't manage being a city. Their water treatment is below federal standards and the facility needs replacing and they have no one smart enough to apply for grants (they missed out on one that would have literally paid for the treatment plant). They don't get their proper "C Tax" funding because they are incorporated and do not have their own police department as well as a few other things.

Back to the matter at hand... So I was able to confirm that F Units are Fernley and D Units are Dayton, also I Units are Investigations and N Units are Narcotics.

I was never in the Wellington area because I lived in the Northern part of the county, but there is a whole southern part of the county with the only real town being Wellington so I suspect that is the W Units.

Lyon county physically is a very large county.

The R units are still a mystery though. There was never more than one on at a time. I suspect they were either named for Ramsey Station but that is not likely or they are Tribal Units for Walker River Reservation.

If there are any questions I can answer I would be happy to. I have moved to Oregon now so it's on to a new adventure.

 

[willstuder]

Hah! There's only one deputy per area on many shifts. Most comms are on MDTs.

Actually they have a lot of radio communication, but they have a repeater system that is really kind of unique and RARELY works as it should. They have a network of repeaters throughout the county which are all on the same frequencies but have different input PL's. When working properly you should be able to hear any car from any repeater. In my two years though it only worked once, and that was after lightning took out the Eagle Ridge tower and Radio Repair fixed it for about 3 weeks.

So the problem is if you live far away from one of these repeaters or a larger town you wont hear much. If you live near Fernley, Yerington or Dayton though you should hear quite a bit.

 

[K6CDO]

Might the R units be Reserves?

 

[willstuder]

R Units

My first thought was no, but it actually could be.

I know they have three levels of reserves which they call "volunteers" the lowest level are non-commissioned and are used at parades for traffic control as well as parking enforcement. The second level are commissioned but are used for paper service and the like, they are mostly old timers keeping up their certifications. The last highest level are paid part timers. I know their IDs are Vxx ie, victor 91. However, I wonder if that highest level get the real 3 digit with the R designation.

I originally discounted this idea since I knew they used the V numbers, but it could make perfect sense.

 

[com501]

Actually they have a lot of radio communication, but they have a repeater system that is really kind of unique and RARELY works as it should. They have a network of repeaters throughout the county which are all on the same frequencies but have different input PL's. When working properly you should be able to hear any car from any repeater. In my two years though it only worked once, and that was after lightning took out the Eagle Ridge tower and Radio Repair fixed it for about 3 weeks.

So the problem is if you live far away from one of these repeaters or a larger town you wont hear much. If you live near Fernley, Yerington or Dayton though you should hear quite a bit.

The repeaters are standalone units. Dispatch can hear everyone, but a unit in Yerington (the county seat) can rarely hear north units (Fernley) and vice versa. The SO system has been threatened to be upgrade to P25 simulcast, but I haven't seen anything in the county meeting minutes lately. Fire Dispatch is the same way - multiple repeaters, different PLs, no simulcast or voting. Currently the radio system has worked like it always has for the last 20 years.

 

[com501]

So I have moved out of the area, but I wanted to report what I was able to ascertain from both mobile scanner monitoring and just some basics.

As a former small town officer myself, I also thought that they were using "watch commander" terminology for a shift sergeant or corporal as this is what we did. However, I never heard them giving any type of orders and I heard them taking calls as frequently as anyone else and later in my monitoring would discover there were at times 3 to 4 on at a time, which would be silly in a jurisdiction like Lyon County.

They are a smaller department, but actually quite large in comparison to most Nevada Counties (other than Washoe, Clark, Carson,). The reason for being large seems to be that they provide the entire counties law enforcement. The incorporated cities have contracts where they pay for so many deputies to be assigned to their jurisdictions. Being from Missouri I had seen this same arrangement in tiny towns where it was impractical to have all the equipment such as cars and whatnot, however Lyon County has Fernley (pop. 19,588) and Dayton (8,964).

After living in Fernley for over a year, I learned that the city can't manage being a city. Their water treatment is below federal standards and the facility needs replacing and they have no one smart enough to apply for grants (they missed out on one that would have literally paid for the treatment plant). They don't get their proper "C Tax" funding because they are incorporated and do not have their own police department as well as a few other things.

Back to the matter at hand... So I was able to confirm that F Units are Fernley and D Units are Dayton, also I Units are Investigations and N Units are Narcotics.

I was never in the Wellington area because I lived in the Northern part of the county, but there is a whole southern part of the county with the only real town being Wellington so I suspect that is the W Units.

Lyon county physically is a very large county.

The R units are still a mystery though. There was never more than one on at a time. I suspect they were either named for Ramsey Station but that is not likely or they are Tribal Units for Walker River Reservation.

If there are any questions I can answer I would be happy to. I have moved to Oregon now so it's on to a new adventure.

Nobody in Fernley drinks the water (if they are smart). I have whole house reverse osmosis. IF you aren't related to someone, it appears you can't get hired. Almost every department has a relative in another department.

Robert units are State Parks. There is no station at Ramsey Weeks nor Wabuska.

 

[willstuder]

The repeaters are standalone units. Dispatch can hear everyone, but a unit in Yerington (the county seat) can rarely hear north units (Fernley) and vice versa. The SO system has been threatened to be upgrade to P25 simulcast, but I haven't seen anything in the county meeting minutes lately. Fire Dispatch is the same way - multiple repeaters, different PLs, no simulcast or voting. Currently the radio system has worked like it always has for the last 20 years.

Thanks for that. I have wondered the details for a while. I must have been given some bad information. I often wonder how on earth they function with the system they have. They should really see about going on to the state's interop p25 shared system.

 

[willstuder]

Nobody in Fernley drinks the water (if they are smart). I have whole house reverse osmosis. IF you aren't related to someone, it appears you can't get hired. Almost every department has a relative in another department.

Robert units are State Parks. There is no station at Ramsey Weeks nor Wabuska.

Well, I knew there was no substation, but I thought perhaps they were just naming it for the area. I thought it was odd they had nothing for Silver Springs, but I assumed that Fernley Units handled it.

The State Parks make perfect since, I just don't understand why a county agency is dispatching for a State Agency. At least I assume that these are State Park Rangers. Very interesting really.

As far as Fernley goes, when we moved there it seemed like a nice size little town, but the longer we were there the more we hated it. The city tries to run it like a big city, yet doesn't put forth the resources of a small one. They over regulate (this coming from a liberal) and they don't provide quality basic services. I liked Nevada as a whole, but Fernley wasn't my cup of tea. As Far as Lyon County goes, I was pulled over twice by them, both for small things like a license plate light out and a couple miles over the speed limit in Dayton, both times the deputies were extremely professional yet personable. I didn't feel intimidated at all and they were very respectful.

Nevada as a whole had a pretty libertarian feel and I liked that they had rules where needed, but stayed out of your business when it wasn't necessary. As long as you live near Reno, Carson, or Vegas it's a good place to be. I wouldn't care for the really rural areas where it would take hours to get goods you can only get in a city.

 

[com501]

The entire state system runs on EDACS except for the area around Vegas and some small inroads in Washoe County. Every other agency in the state with few exceptions runs on VHF high band. Some of the more rural counties got PL for the first time when narrowbanding went into effect. I can remember the hams in those areas complaining about the 'hum' on their scanners.

Most of us who live in the boonies go to 'town' to shop once a month. Although Amazon is getting better and better....

 

[willstuder]

Yeah, after working in public safety I had a computer store for about 15 years. I refused to ever use Amazon. I can't even tell you why anymore. I started using it one I moved to Nevada and became quite dependent on it, but I do sometimes have to fight their customer service about returns and scheduled shipments. I was a bit impressed yesterday with the announcement that they are raising pay for everyone to $15 an hour.

As far as the EDACS and switching to 700/800 from VHF that's just progress. Every other state in the nation is doing it. Very few have stayed VHF Highband. I know Missouri has actually combined a little of both which has made them require dual band radios which can get up around $10,000 each. The features and officer safety far outweigh the cost though.

Again, I love Nevada, but the county law enforcement agencies need to get with the times. In Missouri there are no subscriber fees to be on the state system, you just have to maintain your own system as a backup. In Illinois (where public safety radio got it's start) their Starcom21 requires a substantial yearly subscriber fee.

Of course I have been researching the system here in Oregon where I have moved and their state digital trunked system is only about half up. That's a bit disappointing.

The encryption capabilities with these systems is a great option for LE and EMS both. I am not a fan of 100% of the time Encryption, but I think it's a must for these agencies when they have confidential info or LE matters that are sensitive and they don't want all of scannerland hearing. Don't get me wrong, as a former officer I like to listen in and see how things are going in my area, but I don't want the bad guys hearing things they shouldn't.