Just spent the weekend in Eagle Pass, TX. and the only DPS activity was APCO 25 on 159.210. Guess the transition is starting in the north end of Region 8!
APCO 25 in Eagle Pass
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Del Rio!!! And a radio tech with the Border Patrol confirmed!!! But he would not let loose with their freqs or talkgroups!
Gee, I hate to get into this, but the BP radio tech was a ham...as am I!! Killing time in the dispatch center on Sat., we got to talking. We realized we had met a couple of years ago, when I was in Eagle Pass on yet another adventure on the US-Mexico border. I jokingly asked if he would part with the BP freqs. and TG's, and he politely said, "no can do." I then told him I had been able to copy the DPS APCO-25 transmissions but was not sure whether it was Del Rio or Laredo. He asked, " on 159.210?" I said, yes, he said it was Del Rio! I don't believe he would have had any reason not to tell me the truth..
I was in Del Rio about a month ago and heard DPS activity on 159.2175, 155.4600 and 155.4675, all P-25.
Sometimes it's a challenge to determine the center frequency with the smaller frequency separation used with P-25 digital. My 796 picks up bleedover on 159.210 even though the actual frequency is 159.2175 especially when connected to a high gain antenna. The next generation of scanners will need better front end filtering to handle the splinter frequencies...
I copied alot of what I suspected to be Border Patrol traffic (163.625 - 163.775) in the same area. 90% was digital and 100% was encrypted.
Wayne
Sometimes it's a challenge to determine the center frequency with the smaller frequency separation used with P-25 digital. My 796 picks up bleedover on 159.210 even though the actual frequency is 159.2175 especially when connected to a high gain antenna. The next generation of scanners will need better front end filtering to handle the splinter frequencies...
I copied alot of what I suspected to be Border Patrol traffic (163.625 - 163.775) in the same area. 90% was digital and 100% was encrypted.
Wayne
Wayne, that would confirm at least the proper freq. range...the mobile antennas and HT's all sported the proper length antenna for the VHF range...radios were MOTOROLA ASTRO...and as much as I tried, I could not scribble down any of the TG's while sitting in the camera monitor room. They would pop up on the screen of the desktop phone style microphone...
Before 9-11 I was in the radio rack room and able to make a direct patch into the repeater audio out. When I asked this time, the PIO and the radio tech just laughed. Hey, it never hurts to ask.
I must admit the 159.210 is only partially correct. I pulled an old PRO70 out and was just trying to determine if they were on P-25 yet...
Before 9-11 I was in the radio rack room and able to make a direct patch into the repeater audio out. When I asked this time, the PIO and the radio tech just laughed. Hey, it never hurts to ask.
I must admit the 159.210 is only partially correct. I pulled an old PRO70 out and was just trying to determine if they were on P-25 yet...
mass-man said:
My guess what you were seeing were the individual digital radio id's beiing displayed when a user transmitted. Motorola digital radios transmit and can display the caller's radio id number similar to MDC 1200 id's. It is certainly possible the BP is using digital conventional talkgroups and if they are, that data too can be displayed on the control head.
Wayne
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