Any noticeable Bell County Public Safety changes in the past few weeks?

[StatuSChecKa]

Starting off by saying I am no expert, I just copy and paste frequencies into WIN500. My GRE-500 has been picking up the entire Bell County Public Safety channels very well for several years, I have each department nicely organized on different banks. I usually tune in a few times a week. I noticed over the weekend that I only pickup a few radio calls per hour, and they are very low quality. P25 has been pending forever here in Bell County. They bought P25 Radios like 10 years ago but never used encrp...

I was just seeing if someone smarter than me can tell me what is going on with the channels, if anything. Maybe I just have an expired list of frequencies.
Thanks to the community, and the people to have been providing talkgroup info over the past decades I have been with this site.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Are you monitoring the P25 system primarily as users are vacating (or have vacated) EDACS? If yes you may achieve better results using a receiver that fully supports tracking P25 Phase-II (which the GRE PSR-500 does not) especially in the event the talkgroups have become TDMA. Furthermore you may be experiencing a phenomenon known as simulcast distortion if you're picking up some transmissions but not others, particularly of a degraded quality. In that event you'd achieve much better results with a Uniden SDS100

Bell County (P25) Project 25 Phase II	Now the primary system for Bell County
Bell County (EDACS) EDACS Standard	Users are vacating this system. Several patches are in place to the P25 system

 

[kd5dga]

Since last week there has been a lot more patched activity for all the wildfire that was going on.

 

[TexasHighway357]

After a lot of transitioning to P25. The EDACS simulcasts were bumped down from the 20 freqs when it was full EDACS down to 10 freqs. EDACS should be completely retired in the next few days with P25 being the sole system for Bell County Public Safety.

I believe a majority is Phase 1 currently, but there is some Phase 2 mixed in.

 

[mass-man]

After a lot of transitioning to P25. The EDACS simulcasts were bumped down from the 20 freqs when it was full EDACS down to 10 freqs. EDACS should be completely retired in the next few days with P25 being the sole system for Bell County Public Safety.

I believe a majority is Phase 1 currently, but there is some Phase 2 mixed in.

I looked thru the Bell Co listings and your observation that a bit of TDMA might be used....I notice Temple PD shows T on several TGs, where E or e is usually used, such as Tac channels. Is T a good substitute for E?

 

[kd5dga]

After a lot of transitioning to P25. The EDACS simulcasts were bumped down from the 20 freqs when it was full EDACS down to 10 freqs. EDACS should be completely retired in the next few days with P25 being the sole system for Bell County Public Safety.

I believe a majority is Phase 1 currently, but there is some Phase 2 mixed in.

They did this about 4 years ago.

 

[Ensnared]

Temple has two TDMA talk groups. I know there is another TDMA being used in Killeen, but I forgot which one it is. I will start paying attention to the scanner screen to find which ones are using TDMA.

I don't know what you mean, " Is T a good substitute for E?" If you don't have a Phase II scanner the end result is the same, you won't hear any encrypted chatter or TDMA activity. I still have my GSR 500, but it is inoperative due to a compromised BNC module.

I know that you can hear Phase I encrypted noise on the PSR 500. The PSR 500 won't receive TDMA. That is the way I understand it.

The inability to hear encrypted sounds on 436HP and SDS 100 is one of the main things I dislike about these models. Yes, I am aware of the "ENC" icon on these radios. I would rather have the sound of encryption rather than an icon.

 

[TexasHighway357]

I'm looking to upgrade to a new scanner and get back into SDR monitoring so I'm not current on TDMA status or which or how much is.

Regarding the difference between T or E or e, I don't have enough currency to answer that. I may be wrong on those.

What I would propose is some old Talkgroups like Temple PD dispatch changed Talkgroups and most likely voice encoding (analog #50273 to #51185 provoice to p25). Temple PD Dispatch did it years ago and I think some other TG that may be different than most of the system such as the newer #50409 Precinct 3 Constable talkaround.

I thought there were talks or moving other departments into other modes but the only thing I feel are active are SWAT and surveillance talkaround groups. I think the sensitive talk arounds like federal agency are most definitely encrypted based on the talkgroups and unit numbers I've seen others post about, such as #50309 and possibly more that haven't been added.

Hopefully once I can get the time and tech to monitor network, I can update with more findings.

 

[hiegtx]

I'm looking to upgrade to a new scanner and get back into SDR monitoring so I'm not current on TDMA status or which or how much is.

Regarding the difference between T or E or e, I don't have enough currency to answer that. I may be wrong on those.

The T and E are two separate descriptors for a given talkgroup.

If you see a T in the Mode column of the talk group's listing, the denotes that P25 Phase II (TDMA) is being used. You will also see a talkgroup labeled T on DMR systems.

If, instead, you see a D, then that talkgroup is used in P25 Phase I (FDMA) mode.

Also in the Mode column, if you see a capital E, then that talkgroup is encrypted all of the time.
A lower case e means that encryption is used only part of the time.

The E or e will not be the only indicator in the Mode column. In trunked systems, the Mode column will always have an indicator of the Mode in use. Besides T or D (which are used for digital systems), you may see an A, for analog trunked systems, or an M, which is commonly used on P25 trunked systems, where the talkgroup might be used as either Phase I (D) or Phase II (T) modes. You often see this where some, but not all, radios have been upgraded to Phase II, there are still users with radios capable only of Phase I. Note that on one of the few remaining EDACS systems, a D indicates a talkgroup using ProVoice.

 

[TexasHighway357]

Thanks for breaks that down for me.

I'm aware the system has a few encryption, not sure if full time or not, and there are a handful of Phase II. A majority are P25 Phase I now that analog is being completely phased down. I'll update the modes for what I come across.

 

[TexasHighway357]

Using an old EDACS scanner I was able to follow the Troy PD Pursuit that went into Waco yesterday that ended in Officer Involved Shooting. So EDACS was surely simulcasting yesterday evening.

Today, all analog and EDACS systems are dead. All Bell County Public Safety appears to officially be digital on P25 only.

 

[rattlerbb01]

Using an old EDACS scanner I was able to follow the Troy PD Pursuit that went into Waco yesterday that ended in Officer Involved Shooting. So EDACS was surely simulcasting yesterday evening.

Today, all analog and EDACS systems are dead. All Bell County Public Safety appears to officially be digital on P25 only.

Is the EDACS control channel off the air as well? Or just no more talkgroups on the air?

 

[Ensnared]

Is the EDACS control channel off the air as well? Or just no more talkgroups on the air?

When I have used the full DB, I have historically heard the EDACS analog. Tomorrow, I will check the EDACS functionality.

 

[kd5dga]

Starting off by saying I am no expert, I just copy and paste frequencies into WIN500. My GRE-500 has been picking up the entire Bell County Public Safety channels very well for several years, I have each department nicely organized on different banks. I usually tune in a few times a week. I noticed over the weekend that I only pickup a few radio calls per hour, and they are very low quality. P25 has been pending forever here in Bell County. They bought P25 Radios like 10 years ago but never used encrp...

I was just seeing if someone smarter than me can tell me what is going on with the channels, if anything. Maybe I just have an expired list of frequencies.
Thanks to the community, and the people to have been providing talkgroup info over the past decades I have been with this site.

I would assume that the EDACS will be around for a while. I listen to both sides without a problem. Most communities can't afford to buy new radios but wait for hand me downs. Plus groups like DPW, and other non essential would be the last ones transition

 

[rattlerbb01]

Y'all just let me know. I have a few submissions pending saying that the system is obsolete as of this morning. If the control channel is off the air, we will retire it in the database.

 

[kd5dga]

Control Channel is definitely gone now. I would say good bye EDACS now.

 

[StatuSChecKa]

Thank you Ensnared, I was so hoping I'd be lucky enough for you to see this post. Thank you to everyone else too.
I do take an occasional listen to the Broadcastify stream that someone local was nice enough to rig up and stream.

TexasHighway357, a friend of mine also said they have gotten almost nothing this week on the EDACS as if it went dead.

 

[Ensnared]

I will try to remember to do this tomorrow.

 

[Ensnared]

Thank you Ensnared, I was so hoping I'd be lucky enough for you to see this post. Thank you to everyone else too.
I do take an occasional listen to the Broadcastify stream that someone local was nice enough to rig up and stream.

TexasHighway357, a friend of mine also said they have gotten almost nothing this week on the EDACS as if it went dead.

I drove in Bell County with the full DB activated. I used the zip code. I did not see any action on EDACS.

Having said that, What in the name of God is "Dach EMS?" Since this is a EMS-Hospital talk group, I attempted to find "Dach EMS."

No dice.

 

[TexasHighway357]

Carl Darnall Army Medical Center (DAMC) or Darnall Army Community Hospital (DACH) on Fort Hood, the only Fort Hood hospital on post. 50628 is the EMS-hospital patch to call in transports. I'm not sure how Fort Hood EMS operates, but Killeen and Cove EMS may use this to give radio reports when they are typically 5-10 minutes away.