Alabama DPS - Troop Restructuring?

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Avery93

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I have been monitoring DPS tonight for the first time in 2-3 days, and noticed that Troop A was apparently changed to Troop E during that time.

Been listening for about 2 hours, and unless I'm going insane, all Quad Cities and Hamilton troopers I have heard are now using E callsigns. Nothing else seems to have changed, and unit numbers are the same with the exception of the E prefix.

Anyone else noticed anything elsewhere? Decatur, which is the only other post I can hear right now, still seems to be Troop B.
 

codeplug

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For the last several months I have heard Jacksonville Trooper Post calling and dispatching B & C radio Id's.
Jacksonville Post has not used E radio Id's in a long time but one side of the sign in front of their building
says E Troop, which I believe is incorrect.
Attalla/Gadsden field office has a new sign in front of their building that says B Troop.
Huntsville and Decatur Trooper Post seem to also be using B & C radio Id's.
I have heard Montgomery Headquarters Trooper Post dispatching for Birmingham sometimes at night.
I believe they were also using B & C radio Id's.
In the past few days I have heard both Jacksonville and Decatur Trooper Post calling and dispatching F & G radio Id's.
I thought I was hearing things or thought that they may have been talking to some trooper units from another post.
The radio Id #'s appear to be the same as stated just the letter prefixes seem to have been changed recently.
 

Avery93

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...Nothing else seems to have changed, and unit numbers are the same with the exception of the E prefix.

Looks like I spoke too soon. Tonight I noticed that some, maybe all unit numbers have been shifted up. Heard a Lamar/Fayette County trooper, previously A24x, ID as E28x. Also now hearing Quad Cities troopers with IDs in the E160 range. Previously they only went to the 140 range.

Of course Quad Cities/Hamilton has been extremely quiet while I am trying to figure all of this out.

Huntsville and Decatur both starter using F Troop identification this week. They have both been B Troop for many, many years until this week. Attached is the link to the Trooper Post locations.

Alabama Department of Public Safety

Thanks! I didn't even think to check that page to see if they had updated it.
 

BamaScan

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Some Alabama Post are going to be staffed part time due to a low budget. For example Mobile Post is dispatching for Evergreen at Night and on the weekends. You can hear Mobile Post now on the Evergreen Tower.
 

emcom

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Its part of a statewide effort to standardize districts into divisions. Northeast Alabama is Division F, so that is why you are hearing troopers in that area as F units now. In a disaster, resources at the state level will be coordinated through those districts. This is not DPS alone, they are just one part of it.

See the map: http://le.alabama.gov/ALEA-Division-Map.pdf
 
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KJ4TDM

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Just checking but non of the frequency's and tones have changed have they? I haven't heard Birmingham in a while. All I hear is "Decatur to F###."

I got B.Ham as 154.920 pl-151.4
I got Decatur as 158.790 pl-131.8
 

KJ4TDM

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Well I have been monitoring B.Ham trooper post with my BCD996XT with the tone search on and its not picking up on a tone. So I guess they removed it for some reason?
 
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i need some clarification on the DPS radio system...

I live in Clay, AL on the NE side of Jefferson County and im listening to DPS-2 which should be for my county. I am using a XPR4550 hooked up to an outdoor antenna on the roof and all I hear is dispatch talking. I am unable to hear any traffic from any of the cars. I-20/59 in BHM is undergoing a lot of resurfacing/construction ect. and there are a lot of troopers posted in this area. I am trying to listen to them but all I get is dispatch.

If I understand the database correctly I need to listen to DPS-2 just for dispatch traffic and if say a trooper stopped a car for speeding and needs to talk to dispatch then I would need to also listen to DPS-8 Car-to-Post (DPS-2) at the same time, correct?
 

Avery93

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i need some clarification on the DPS radio system...

I live in Clay, AL on the NE side of Jefferson County and im listening to DPS-2 which should be for my county. I am using a XPR4550 hooked up to an outdoor antenna on the roof and all I hear is dispatch talking. I am unable to hear any traffic from any of the cars. I-20/59 in BHM is undergoing a lot of resurfacing/construction ect. and there are a lot of troopers posted in this area. I am trying to listen to them but all I get is dispatch.

If I understand the database correctly I need to listen to DPS-2 just for dispatch traffic and if say a trooper stopped a car for speeding and needs to talk to dispatch then I would need to also listen to DPS-8 Car-to-Post (DPS-2) at the same time, correct?

You are correct, DPS-2 is the right channel for your county. The frequencies are 154.920 Post-to-Car, and 155.445 Car-to-Post. Because this is a split frequency simplex system, you will have to program both frequencies in separately.

Due to it being simplex, the mobiles will have to be fairly close, say within 10 miles or so before you can hear them. This obviously depends on terrain and the height of your antenna. DPS is also not nearly as active on the radio as you would think. Their in-car computers and SouthernLINC are used much more often. That said, you should be hearing something however.
 
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