Atlanta Police Portable Radio's

[b7spectra]

Now, this is going to make a lot of you JEALOUS! Today, a newly made friend within the Atlanta Police Department came by with his XTS radio for me to look at! Each radio is programmed up for what precinct they work in. i.e. if you work Zone 5, your first few channels are dispatch, surveillence and talk around. Now, the talk around channels that everyone is interested in. These are definitly SIMPLEX channels as the little arrow emblem came up on the screen (thus indicating non-repeater). He is going to e-mail me a list of ALL the channels in the radio, but I can tell you this is what I saw:

Atlanta Police (all zones, surv, supv, spec ops, 911, ITAC's)
Atlanta Fire (dispatch and firegrounds)
Hapeville Police & Fire
College Park Police & Fire
Tri Cities Task Force
Fulton County Police & Fire
DeKalb County Police & Fire
MARTA Police
Cobb 911 and Marietta Police (Didn't see any Cobb PD channels)
GSP (Both ATL & COBB TRS)
UASI - Several different ones
HERO! Yes, there is a HERO channel, but it goes to their dispatcher only!

When I get the list, I'll post them here!

 

[Metrofire31]

Another great find, as you've become famous for. Can't wait to see what those freqs are. Are you saying that the agencies you listed have non-repeated freqs for? Not sure what those could be but who knows.

 

[wise871]

Great news. I'm always up in Atlanta (scanner hobbyist paradise). I noticed a lot of time that each zone would refer to channel 2 when they needed to talk about something off the dispatch channel. Your discovery adds the missing piece to the puzzle.

 

[b7spectra]

Their "talkaround" channel is definitely a simplex. Next time I see him and he has his portable, we will walk out to my truck and I'll have him key it up so I can read it on my 996!

All the other channels will actually work off of each different TRS. And to think that each officer has their own radio, how many radio ID's on other jurisdictions are in use.

Oh, yeah, another neat thing was that you can also see the radio ID of who is keyed up. Pretty cool!

 

[Metrofire31]

I think it's very interesting that the VHF, UHF and 800 MHz I-TAC channels aren't used very much at all in the Atlanta area.

 

[pachanga22]

I think it's very interesting that the VHF, UHF and 800 MHz I-TAC channels aren't used very much at all in the Atlanta area.

I think it stinks that they're allowed to sit on valuable spectrum they don't use, other local(small town) agencies would give their eyeteeth for some frequencies.

APCO. :roll:

 

[INDY72]

The VHF, UHF, and 800 Interop frequencies are nationwide for any Public Safety entity that has access to them, they are not just wasted spectrum being sat on by Atlanta. If there is a need for their usage, they will get used. Atlanta, and surrounding areas are all using the 800 MHz band, and would use the 800 MHz interop, GSP being primarily VHF would use the VHF interop for all other agencies using VHF, though also have access to the 800 in the metro Atlanta area. those areas running UHF have the UHF interop... And there are quick patches that can be set up for cross band usage.

As far as a public safety entity needing spectrum, they usually get approved for it quickly especially now. The only thing stopping ANY agency from building up radio systems is the issue of MONEY for equipment. Then grants come in to the picture.

 

[MTS2000des]

I think it's very interesting that the VHF, UHF and 800 MHz I-TAC channels aren't used very much at all in the Atlanta area.

Side note, I have heard GSP working some details in the city of Smyrna, specifically Concord and Atlanta road (sounds like they were at the BP), and they were actually using troop C talkaround (155.91) to coordinate traffic stops and as a general talk channel. with their high powered mobiles they were no problem to hear even on my portable inside my house (lots of interference on VHF high band thanks to Ethernet, wireless router CPU clocks, etc) and some of the traffic was very amusing to say the least.

They of course would use their XTS/XTL's to call in on troop C on the Atlanta TRS, but I notice the majority of their car-to-car traffic is still on VHF even today despite their carrying 800 radios programmed on Atlanta and Cobb's systems with talkgroups a plenty.

 

[Metrofire31]

I-TAC Channels

Speaking of I-TAC, I had a conversation with an employee of Cobb County (won't say which agency but he's an on-the-street public safety guy who regularly uses the GEWIN P-25 TRS). He said that most of his colleagues really don't like the digital radio system and when they're on the scene "doing what they do", they generally switch to I-TAC so they don't have to go through the radio system. Interesting!!

 

[SiuDude2]

The simplex frequency for the channel titled "Talkaround 1" is 855.1125. It is in heavy use at the Philips arena around game time by the APD extra job units. I discovered it today using close-call.

 

[Stavro35]

Do they use 155.475 and 155.370 in the metro area at all? I know during the 2004 G8 Summit,they did in Glynn county.

 

[b7spectra]

155.475 I know is used by Woodstock Police as their "talk around" channel. Don't ever hear anything on 155.370.

 

[procopper7005]

I dont like our digital system because of the TX delay when using encrypted mode on my XTS. For surveillance I still use the old in car VHF mobile which is still encrypted but without the annoying delay.
I wish we had a simplex analog channel in the portables that was encrypted, would be perfect for smaller scale mobile surveillance on drug dealers.