Alabama Interoperable Radio System (was: Alabama First Responder Network)

[TomServo]

I see the AIRS listing has been updated with a bunch the talkgroups we've been talking about. It's cool to see changes show up that quickly.

I left the radios running all night and all day today but haven't caught anything new. I figured out how to have the app record individual aliases so hopefully at some point I'll get content on the few remaining mystery talkgroups at some point.

BTW the Rosinton ops channel has been extremely busy, it sounds like they're working traffic and crowd control for something, maybe the haunted house up on CR-64 at I-10?

 

[TomServo]

Hello again everyone, there's been a ton of activity the last few days in Baldwin County with the fire/rescue channel doing a lot of test pages and it's exposed a few more talkgroups I don't see listed anywhere. Whatever's going on they seem to be having issues with tones not going out, or pages going out on the wrong channels. Today, for example, a call to Gulf Shores went out over 911 South but also the Barnwell Ops channel.

Here are all the new talkgroups I've logged and what tower they were heard on:

20204 - Magnolia Springs (GSFD Fire Tac 4?)
21198 - Magnolia Springs, Robertsdale (Paging tones for a fire department)
20728 - Robertsdale (Stapleton?)
29909 - Robertsdale
28195 - Robertsdale (EOC?)
29954 - Seminole
23406 - Seminole (Summerdale PD?)
62803 - Spanish Fort
22193 - Robertsdale (Encrypted, BCSO Interop?)
22684 - Spanish Fort (PD? Encrypted)
29901 - Robertsdale (Encrypted and Clear traffic)

With the tests hitting up to 10 talkgroups at once I was wondering if it might've been locking out any other users from the system at times since some sites like Robertsdale only have 7 or 8 frequencies to choose from.

One other thing I've noticed is that I'm seeing a talkgroup 4001 showing up off and on on one or two sites at a time that is tagged along with other legitimate talkgroup IDs. I'm not sure if this is a quirk of sdrtrunk or maybe some sort of patch to something else. Whatever it is it's showing up on all the police, fire and EMS transmissions when it's active.

 

[sadave]

Good morning,

Very nice observations on some previously unreported (or unconfirmed) talkgroups in Baldwin County. Here's what I can add:

20204 - This one is new to me but is likely a tac channel as you suggest. Gulf Shores Tac Med channel is 20203.
21198 - I've heard this one also and have it logged as Baldwin Central Unknown. When I heard it several months ago, it was a tone-out on an EMS dispatch. This week, they have been working on the paging for the "Tanker Task Force" (simultaneous water tanker response from multiple departments) and been having lots of problems.
20728 - This one is also new and is probably a tac channel for Stapleton FD.
29909 - I didn't have this one but suspect it is radio service techs. I've previously logged them using 29901-29904.
28195 - I've heard this one previously and have it logged as Baldwin EMA Ch 4. I was waiting to hear what the users call it before submitting to RRDB.
29954 - This is new to me and will add it to my watchlist.
23406 - Also a new one to me. Likely, Summerdale PD tac channel.
62803 - Someone once explained assignment of itinerant AIRS TGs for users of the Mobile County Communications District (MCCD) system. I have seen TGs occasionally appear in this series when in Mobile County but the users were actually on the MCCD system. I don't know how that works.
22193 - I agree this is probably a previously unidentified LE tac channel. The unencrypted BC Law 1 is 22194.
22684 - New one for me but also likely a previously unidentified LE channel for Spanish Fort PD. I've added it to my list of encrypted possibilities.
29901 - I've got this one as radio service techs.

Have a happy holiday!

Shep

 

[TomServo]

Good morning,

Very nice observations on some previously unreported (or unconfirmed) talkgroups in Baldwin County. Here's what I can add:

20204 - This one is new to me but is likely a tac channel as you suggest. Gulf Shores Tac Med channel is 20203.
21198 - I've heard this one also and have it logged as Baldwin Central Unknown. When I heard it several months ago, it was a tone-out on an EMS dispatch. This week, they have been working on the paging for the "Tanker Task Force" (simultaneous water tanker response from multiple departments) and been having lots of problems.
20728 - This one is also new and is probably a tac channel for Stapleton FD.
29909 - I didn't have this one but suspect it is radio service techs. I've previously logged them using 29901-29904.
28195 - I've heard this one previously and have it logged as Baldwin EMA Ch 4. I was waiting to hear what the users call it before submitting to RRDB.
29954 - This is new to me and will add it to my watchlist.
23406 - Also a new one to me. Likely, Summerdale PD tac channel.
62803 - Someone once explained assignment of itinerant AIRS TGs for users of the Mobile County Communications District (MCCD) system. I have seen TGs occasionally appear in this series when in Mobile County but the users were actually on the MCCD system. I don't know how that works.
22193 - I agree this is probably a previously unidentified LE tac channel. The unencrypted BC Law 1 is 22194.
22684 - New one for me but also likely a previously unidentified LE channel for Spanish Fort PD. I've added it to my list of encrypted possibilities.
29901 - I've got this one as radio service techs.

Have a happy holiday!

Shep

Thanks for your input, Shep! Happy holidays to you, too.

I do wonder why Summerdale PD has so many tac channels for such a small town, ha ha. And why does Silverhill and Elberta have their own talkgroups when all the traffic is on the Summerdale channel? Sometimes that talkgroup is crazy busy with things going on in all three towns.

Any time I find new TGs I add them to the sdrtrunk recording list but more often than not I don't hear anything else. It's amazing how these pop up for a few brief transmissions then are quiet for weeks.

 

[TomServo]

More talkgroups to add in the Baldwin County area:

24991 - This appears to be a simulcast of Escambia County FL EMS, as I heard several calls for streets in Pensacola and the surrounding areas. The audio is extremely muffled, though, so it's hard to tell a lot of what's going on. As best I can tell it just showed up tonight around 10 pm.

36453 - Didn't hear this one but it showed up on the Robertsdale tower a few days ago, in mixed clear and encrypted.

62106 and 62207 - More patches from Mobile? These showed up on the Robertsdale tower, too, in mixed clear and encrypted.

 

[sadave]

Good morning,

I have 24991 in my ID Search as a law enforcement talkgroup but perhaps it is a patch between systems. And it kind of makes sense for it to be EMS since the MedStar talkgroups are 24xxx.

I've got nothing on the other ones you found.

Shep

 

[TomServo]

24991 showed up just before 11 pm last night and disappeared right around 7 am. I've had it listening all afternoon and haven't heard anything else.

 

[TomServo]

Hello again, I've got a few more mystery talkgroups from Baldwin County that have been logged in the last week or so.

20183 - Possibly BC Fire? (Robertsdale tower)
20571 - Elsanor Tac? (Seminole tower)
20642 - Belforest Tac? (Robertsdale tower)
21195 - 911 Dispatch? Seems to be in line with the other dispatch channels (Seminole and Robertsdale towers)
23205 - Encrypted, maybe another Orange Beach PD Tac channel? (Robertsdale tower)

One issue I'm running into with SDRTrunk is I'm setting up aliases for these logged talkgroups, but even when they have activity, they're not recording like my other established talkgroups are. I'm not sure why. So in some cases I'm seeing activity in the logs over days but without hearing it in person I can't say what they are for sure.

Useless fact: The SDRTrunk logging function records all instances off any given tower, including pages, data, etc. For one full day of the Robertsdale tower, it logged 172,885 entries. The majority of those seem to be voice calls. I knew these sites were busy but that's wild. The logfile now is at about 98 MB for just over 3 days of instances and it's well over 600,000 entries.

 

[morganAL]

You should be a sys admin digging through logs trying to find something on the system. I never counted entries but it took me to find a radio affiliation and some other stuff I don't remember.

 

[sadave]

Hello again, I've got a few more mystery talkgroups from Baldwin County that have been logged in the last week or so.

20183 - Possibly BC Fire? (Robertsdale tower)
20571 - Elsanor Tac? (Seminole tower)
20642 - Belforest Tac? (Robertsdale tower)
21195 - 911 Dispatch? Seems to be in line with the other dispatch channels (Seminole and Robertsdale towers)
23205 - Encrypted, maybe another Orange Beach PD Tac channel? (Robertsdale tower)

One issue I'm running into with SDRTrunk is I'm setting up aliases for these logged talkgroups, but even when they have activity, they're not recording like my other established talkgroups are. I'm not sure why. So in some cases I'm seeing activity in the logs over days but without hearing it in person I can't say what they are for sure.

Useless fact: The SDRTrunk logging function records all instances off any given tower, including pages, data, etc. For one full day of the Robertsdale tower, it logged 172,885 entries. The majority of those seem to be voice calls. I knew these sites were busy but that's wild. The logfile now is at about 98 MB for just over 3 days of instances and it's well over 600,000 entries.

Good morning,

Hopefully, another enthusiast can jump in help you with SDRTrunk but I can add to some of your logged Talkgroups above.

20183 - This one new to me but have added it.
20571 - This is likely Seminole FD Ops (if adhering to the current assignment scheme.) Though Station 57 units can regularly be heard on AIRS TG 21193 (East Fire), no Tac TGs have been identified for this department. Good catch.
20642 - I have TG 20641 at Belforest FD Ops so this might be Admin or some other use. I'll keeping listening for what they call it.
21195 - I have this one tentatively called Bon Secour Tac 4 from previous monitoring but it is more likely a fire tac TG for Baldwin Central. I previously heard Baldwin Central on 21198 regarding an EMS dispatch.
23205 - I have this one (along with 23201 and 23203) tentatively as Gulf Shores PD encrypted. They already have other encrypted TGs (22201, 22202, 22204, and 22208) so I'm not certain who is actually using the 23205 series. I'm leaning toward Baldwin Co SO when they are working in Gulf Shores but that is only a guess.

Shep

 

[TomServo]

I've got one more small batch of talkgroups to report before I take a break for the holidays, and this list includes some weird group numbers!

16294 - mixed clear and encrypted transmissions - Magnolia Springs tower
19672 - unknown and doesn't seem to match any other TG numbering - Seminole tower
20219 - unknown, with just one signal transmission yesterday, Robertsdale tower
23404 - Summerdale PD Tac? - mixed encrypted and clear comms, heard off Robertsdale tower
45504 - more mixed clear/encrypted traffic off the Seminole tower

45361 - looking at the logs it appears to be mirroring some or all of the rest of the traffic on the Seminole tower for part of the day. I see this a lot with TG 4001 on the other towers, a lot of the comms will show up with both the regular assigned talkgroup and 4001 in the logs. Not sure what these are for.

 

[TomServo]

Back from the holidays and back with another batch of mystery talkgroups for the Baldwin County area.

The first week of January netted these new numbers:

20501 - Robertsdale tower, clear group calls
21136 - Robertsdale tower, clear group calls
27522 and 41584 - Magnolia Springs, unknown content

This week adds these groups:

20302 - Seminole tower, about 20 minutes of quick calls
23589 - Magnolia Springs and Robertsdale towers
25211 - Robertsdale tower and quite a lot of group call activity
28661 - on all three towers I monitor but no calls or data, just register/response/deregister hits

 

[mike36507]

20501 is more than likely Robertsdale Fire Dept
20302 might be Foley Fire
Both of those just guesses because of the 50 for Robertsdale and 30 for Foley

The others I've never picked up, but I'll program them in to see what I can hear

 

[TomServo]

Hello again, I'm here with more mystery talkgroups from Baldwin County. These are all logged from the Magnolia Springs and Robertsdale towers over the last ~10 days or so.

20801
22199 - BC Law 5? There is no four but I added this and 22198 to my list so maybe I'll get something eventually
24305 - Mixed clear/encrypted traffic
27265 - Escambia Co. Al?
28201
45321 - Encrypted

I have all of the unknown talkgroups now saved in my alias list in SDRTrunk and they occasionally show up in the logs with my labels but I'm still not seeing any recordings from them. Not sure if it's a limitation of the app or a misconfiguration issue or what. The majority of these mystery talkgroups seem to show up when I'm AFK during the day so I'm not there to listen live.

Also, has anyone in Baldwin Co. ever heard activity on BC 3 or 4? BC Fire 3 was put in use a few days ago during a particularly busy period but I never heard any traffic here and nothing was recorded.

 

[sadave]

Hello again, I'm here with more mystery talkgroups from Baldwin County. These are all logged from the Magnolia Springs and Robertsdale towers over the last ~10 days or so.

20801
22199 - BC Law 5? There is no four but I added this and 22198 to my list so maybe I'll get something eventually
24305 - Mixed clear/encrypted traffic
27265 - Escambia Co. Al?
28201
45321 - Encrypted

I have all of the unknown talkgroups now saved in my alias list in SDRTrunk and they occasionally show up in the logs with my labels but I'm still not seeing any recordings from them. Not sure if it's a limitation of the app or a misconfiguration issue or what. The majority of these mystery talkgroups seem to show up when I'm AFK during the day so I'm not there to listen live.

Also, has anyone in Baldwin Co. ever heard activity on BC 3 or 4? BC Fire 3 was put in use a few days ago during a particularly busy period but I never heard any traffic here and nothing was recorded.

Good morning,

It looks like 20801 was added to the RRDB this morning as Rabun VFD Ops.

I hear also 22199 simulcast whenever BCSO does their department rollcall radio checks on 22194 (BC Law 1, aka BCERN).

I have heard traffic on BC Fire 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. BC Fire 5 is often used to patch with Escambia County (FL) Fire.

Shep

 

[TomServo]

Good morning,

It looks like 20801 was added to the RRDB this morning as Rabun VFD Ops.

I hear also 22199 simulcast whenever BCSO does their department rollcall radio checks on 22194 (BC Law 1, aka BCERN).

I have heard traffic on BC Fire 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. BC Fire 5 is often used to patch with Escambia County (FL) Fire.

Shep

Oh, that must have been quite some timing with the Rabun addition because I always search the listings before posting anything. I don't know that I've heard a dispatch for Rabun more than maybe once or twice so logging those talkgroups has been difficult.

22199 being simulcast during the roll call is odd but if I remember right the timestamps were at the same time as one of the morning roll calls. Weird that I've never logged it before but this SDRTrunk does seem to miss things more often than I'd like.

I've only heard traffic on the 1, 2 and 5 fire tac channels so far, so thanks for letting me know I'm not hearing everything. Not sure what I could do to fix that. If I'm hearing 1 and 2 during events and 3 or 4 goes into use, not sure why the app isn't logging that traffic or recording audio. I've heard Escambia FL patched on 5 several times now, it always sounds terrible but it's interesting hearing how a bigger fire agency does their job.

 

[TomServo]

Well, no sooner did I post that about not hearing anything on Fireground channels 3 and 4 and then the next day I did finally hear something on 3. So that is good.

I'm hearing more activity on TG 21195 and it seems to be mostly long open mic transmissions followed by the offending unit responding "accidental activation", so it makes me think it's some sort of patch-through for a emergency alert button. Not sure how that would be labeled on the database, though.

 

[morganAL]

Well, no sooner did I post that about not hearing anything on Fireground channels 3 and 4 and then the next day I did finally hear something on 3. So that is good.

I'm hearing more activity on TG 21195 and it seems to be mostly long open mic transmissions followed by the offending unit responding "accidental activation", so it makes me think it's some sort of patch-through for a emergency alert button. Not sure how that would be labeled on the database, though.

Could very well be a TG setup for emergency revert. Pretty much all radios have an orange button that can be setup as a silent or audible emergency call button. When the button is activated, the radio either initiates an emergency call on the current TG or it can revert to a pre-determined emergency TG or and TG in the radio. Just depends on how the radio is programmed. Within the programming is the option to open the radio mic for a specified amount of time and increase the mic gain so the person doesn't have to bring the mic to normal operating position. When we were demonstrating this functionality to responders, we sat the radio on a table, activated the button, and stood away from the radio 8-10 ft and spoke in a normal voice and the dispatcher was able to understand and respond. We had the button activation open the mic and key the radio for 10 seconds. Some people think 10 seconds is short. When you have an open mic that you can't unkey for 10 seconds, it seems forever.

 

[TomServo]

A few more TGs to add in Baldwin County:

20572 showed up with Seminole radios, running around the same time as the new 20571 that was just added to the DB. Not sure if it's Admin or Training, though.

22217 - Lots of activity over multiple days, with Orange Beach radio IDs using it extensively.

50602 - Only heard on Robertsdale tower and only a two times, with a "channel create rejected" error message.

I also got a single hit off of both 1825 and 21065 but something tells me those may be flukes. They didn't have any associated Radio IDs listed.

 

[wx9svr]

Good day to one & all,

I don't believe it alters any freqs, however, an STA license has been issued for Morgan County EMCD 911 that appears to replace WQSE657 (EXPIRED 09/10/2023), which is associated with the Morgan Co AIRS sites. (307, 308, 309 and 310)

WSAM210

ULS License - Trunked Public Safety 700 MHz License - WSAM210 - MORGAN COUNTY EMCD 911