AWIN Discussion

davidqualls

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That's what I thought. I believe it's the same for Conway. Over here in Pope they use AWIN besides fire. I'm just trying to get better reception of Johnson, so that makes sense.

Seems like it depends on the county who or what is using awin.
The City of Conway is Full time Encrypted. Russellville PD is full tie encrypted. Faulkner County and Pope County Sheriff's are still available. I use the EMS and Fire channels to get some kind of Idea where the police activity is happening.
 

wbswetnam

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The City of Conway is Full time Encrypted. Russellville PD is full tie encrypted. Faulkner County and Pope County Sheriff's are still available. I use the EMS and Fire channels to get some kind of Idea where the police activity is happening.
On rare occasions, an RPD officer is careless with the enc settings on the radio and you can hear him / her on the RPD tactical channel 2. It is a chit-chat channel between cars. A former RPD dispatcher told me that dispatch doesn't have access to tactical 2, so that's the channel the officers use to badmouth dispatch! Usually you can only hear one officer talking, though.
Sometimes you can hear officers talking to each other on the mutual aid frequency of 155.475 but this is very rare.
 

03msc

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A post that is a bit out of the ordinary but pertains to AWIN and a particular site. This is an article from the latest AWIN Monthly newsletter:


TWO BIRD SPECIES, ONE NEST, AND A PROBLEM…
For all the State employees, Motorola teams, and outside contractors involved in the management, maintenance, and upgrade of the AWIN system, one bit of wisdom is key: Expect the unexpected. This story of such an unexpected, year-long series of unforeseen events, fortunately, has a happy ending.​
It all began in October 2020, when the AWIN tower site at Rose Hill in Drew County started having issues with occasional microwave fading. A representative of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) observed a large, sturdy eagles’ nest at the top of the tower, nestled near a slightly misaligned microwave dish, with three young bald eagle chicks observed calling it home.​
A representative from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) informed us that, as a protected species, the bald eagles inhabiting the nest would have to be allowed to abandon the nest of their own accord before the nest could be disturbed. After remaining observably absent for a period of time, an application for nest take permit could be submitted. Thus began a long period of “wait and see….” Eventually, the eagles moved on; thus began another long period of obtaining the required permit.​
In March 2021, permit in hand, crews hoped to remove the eagles’ nest. Before work at the site could begin, another observation period was required to ensure that the bald eagles had not returned to the nest. The USFWS Migratory Bird Division advised us to monitor the nest starting half an hour before sunrise and half an hour before sunset for 60-90 minutes in subsequent visits.​
In early May 2021, a professor of biology monitored the nest and observed no signs of return of the bald eagles. A second biologist, however, identified a new problem: a family of ospreys had moved into the well-fashioned eagles’ condo and was either incubating eggs in the nest or tending to young nestlings. According to a certified wildlife biologist at AGFC, ospreys have an incubation period of 36-42 days and can remain in a nest for up to 8 weeks. By the third week of June, an adult osprey was observed perched on the edge of the nest, rearranging sticks and materials, but was no longer seen sitting at its center. A month later, it was confirmed that the osprey family and departed.​
An urgent effort was then made to remove the nest before any new creatures could be enticed to this prime slice of bird real estate by its great location, hardwood floors and stunning views. The work was performed by Holsted Operations, Inc., a company with skilled tower climbers, contracted by AWIN to change burned out lights on the towers. Holsted carefully removed the eagles’ nest and replaced it with a hand-fashioned sculpture of PVC pipe and tape to discourage future nest construction.​
Epilogue… As a condition of the nest take permit, a report will be submitted annually to USFWS, attesting that no new signs of returning birds have been observed. The microwave at Rose Hill will soon be replaced by another as a part of the statewide upgrade of the AWIN system. Hopefully, new families of bald eagles, osprey, and other wild birds will avoid building on the AWIN structures, but continue to visit and settle in the beautiful surrounding countryside and live happily ever after.​
 

wbswetnam

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The Russellville site voice channels have changed! I haven't found all of them, but I have three so far: 770.93125, 773.55625, and 774.55625. It's been driving me crazy as to why I haven't been hearing anything on the Russellville tower for several weeks. The control channel is still the same: 769.6875.
 

03msc

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Info I thought some would find interesting, from the November AWIN news email:

AWIN UPGRADE UPDATE

It’s time to check in on the progress of the massive statewide upgrade to the AWIN system, last reported in the September issue of the AWIN Monthly.

Microwave replacement continues to be a focus. Although there have been some procurement issues for microwave dishes related to the global supply chain disruptions faced by all, microwave replacement is still scheduled for January 2022. Design of the Southern MW ring, previously to begin in January 2022, is already underway ahead of schedule with finalization now estimated by the end of December.

This week, TDMA optimization is being completed on the last of the AWIN sites with the exception of the simulcast systems in Garland County, which is next up, and Fayetteville, which will correspond with Washington County’s full migration to AWIN in 2022.

New antennae and lines are planned for five sites in November: Katie’s Knob (Johnson County), DeValls Bluff (Prairie County), Oakland (Jackson County), Yancey (Hempstead County) and Forrest City (St. Francis County).

As of this week, SmartConnect has been implemented on the system and testing has proved it works. SmartConnect technology automatically moves radio calls onto LTE or WiFi, if password enabled, when a loss of access to the radio system is detected. For more information about SmartConnect, please read the Working Groups section of this newsletter. The Technology Working Group will be hosting a Motorola-sponsored webinar about SmartConnect on November 18, which all are welcome to attend.
 

INDY72

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This implies they have the final site for the Hot Springs simulcast ready to build/online then. That would then have both Garland simulcasts fully up, and then HSPD will be able to move on. From what I hear, all the other HS departments are now on. Just have to get them all ID'ed.
 

ArkTex

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The Russellville site voice channels have changed! I haven't found all of them, but I have three so far: 770.93125, 773.55625, and 774.55625. It's been driving me crazy as to why I haven't been hearing anything on the Russellville tower for several weeks. The control channel is still the same: 769.6875.

I'm glad I'm seeing this now. I was wondering where RFD and SO went when I was listening to the old voice channels. I'm assuming the city ops have switched over as well?
 

slayer816

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This implies they have the final site for the Hot Springs simulcast ready to build/online then. That would then have both Garland simulcasts fully up, and then HSPD will be able to move on. From what I hear, all the other HS departments are now on. Just have to get them all ID'ed.

Picked this up early the other morning...

Site: 2.27 NAC=187 ; Hot Springs Simulcast

Neighbor: BEE00.188-1.25 ; Nimrod
Neighbor: BEE00.188-1.76 ; Benton
Neighbor: BEE00.188-2.2 ; Grant West
Neighbor: BEE00.188-2.9 ; Jack Mountain
Neighbor: BEE00.188-2.10 ; High Peak

Channel 1-1257: 771.85625 SCC
Channel 1-1331: 772.31875 SCC
Channel 1-1379: 772.61875 SCC
Channel 1-1439: 772.99375 CC
 

INDY72

Monitoring since 1982, using radios since 1991.
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Picked this up early the other morning...

Site: 2.27 NAC=187 ; Hot Springs Simulcast

Neighbor: BEE00.188-1.25 ; Nimrod
Neighbor: BEE00.188-1.76 ; Benton
Neighbor: BEE00.188-2.2 ; Grant West
Neighbor: BEE00.188-2.9 ; Jack Mountain
Neighbor: BEE00.188-2.10 ; High Peak

Channel 1-1257: 771.85625 SCC
Channel 1-1331: 772.31875 SCC
Channel 1-1379: 772.61875 SCC
Channel 1-1439: 772.99375 CC

Funny that the Garland County Simulcast is not a neighboring site, but then again, the way that is set up can sometimes make no sense to us that are not in on the full administration of a system.
 

slayer816

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Long range reception of a site I normally can't monitor is funny sometimes. It could be that I didn't receive it even though it was broadcast.

Although LWIN gets the same way sometimes with neighbors not including sites 10mi away. Beets me.
 

slayer816

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Funny that the Garland County Simulcast is not a neighboring site, but then again, the way that is set up can sometimes make no sense to us that are not in on the full administration of a system.

Better reception of 2.27 this morning picked up more neighbors....

Neighbor: BEE00.188-2.23 ; Magnet
Neighbor: BEE00.188-2.26 ; Garland County Simulcast
 

03msc

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So yesterday the South Zone went down and they later got it back up. This morning another alert says the South Zone is down again.

I think we’ve heard this one before but it was the North Zone last time.
 

03msc

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Follow up: Sounds like they are going to have South Zone down tomorrow morning for repairs to fix the issues they've been having.
 

k5wc

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Jul 1, 2005
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Lonoke, AR
Not sure if this is the right place or not but the Lonoke Awin Tower has lost signal strength to my location. For the last 3 weeks it has almost been no signal, before it was always full strength on all my scanners. I live about 7 or so miles from the tower site. I can drive closer to it and start picking it up at about 5 miles or so away. Since its still working but a reduced signal I am not sure they know that its having trouble. I have sent a email with my observations to Awin operations address I found on the website so they could be aware of the reduced coverage of the site. I did not receive a response so not sure if it did any good or not. Not sure if anyone else on here scans the Lonoke tower site or not. Just wanted to put out a FYI about it.
 

wbswetnam

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Russellville tower, revisited...

First, I find it interesting that for Pope County, the 700 MHz AWIN frequencies for the Russellville tower do not appear in the FCC database, only the 800 MHz ones for the Hector site. They're not in any counties adjacent to Pope County, either.

Second, the voice channels listed in the RRDB for the 700 MHz Russellville site are no longer correct. The control channel is still 769.6875, but the voice channels are 770.93125, 773.55625, and 774.55625 - I've only seen those three! Some scanners are able to monitor these voice channels (my WS-1095, BCD996P2, and BCD325P2), while others cannot (my SDS200, BCD436HP, Home Patrol 2, and BCD536HP).
 

ArkTex

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Little Rock, AR
Russellville tower, revisited...

First, I find it interesting that for Pope County, the 700 MHz AWIN frequencies for the Russellville tower do not appear in the FCC database, only the 800 MHz ones for the Hector site. They're not in any counties adjacent to Pope County, either.

Second, the voice channels listed in the RRDB for the 700 MHz Russellville site are no longer correct. The control channel is still 769.6875, but the voice channels are 770.93125, 773.55625, and 774.55625 - I've only seen those three! Some scanners are able to monitor these voice channels (my WS-1095, BCD996P2, and BCD325P2), while others cannot (my SDS200, BCD436HP, Home Patrol 2, and BCD536HP).

I can get Pope County SO just fine near old 124, though for some reason the Russellville Fire TG's are hard to pick up.

Can't even hear Russellville in my dorm, so there is that.

Does RFD not share the same CC?
 

wbswetnam

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I can get Pope County SO just fine near old 124, though for some reason the Russellville Fire TG's are hard to pick up.

Can't even hear Russellville in my dorm, so there is that.

Does RFD not share the same CC?
What scanner do you have? As I have posted previously, some Uniden models seem unable to follow the voice channels of the Russellville AWIN site. I've written about this situation in the Uniden forums, but with no satisfactory answer. If you have a problem with the scanner, you're usually accused of "operator error" and someone will yet again unhelpfully post a link to Mark's Easier to Read Scanner Manuals. Anyway, depending on your manufacturer / model, you may or may not be able to properly scan the Russellville site. In my experience, here are the scanners I have which cannot follow the Russellville site: Uniden 436HP, 536HP, SDS200. The following scanners CAN follow the voice channels on the Russellville site: Whistler WS-1095, Uniden 325HP, 996HP.
Now, all of the above scanners can follow other nearby AWIN sites, namely, Hector, Katie's Knob and Nimrod. So depending on your location, you may be able to pick up Russellville / Pope County talk groups from one or more of those sites.
 

ArkTex

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What scanner do you have? As I have posted previously, some Uniden models seem unable to follow the voice channels of the Russellville AWIN site. I've written about this situation in the Uniden forums, but with no satisfactory answer. If you have a problem with the scanner, you're usually accused of "operator error" and someone will yet again unhelpfully post a link to Mark's Easier to Read Scanner Manuals. Anyway, depending on your manufacturer / model, you may or may not be able to properly scan the Russellville site. In my experience, here are the scanners I have which cannot follow the Russellville site: Uniden 436HP, 536HP, SDS200. The following scanners CAN follow the voice channels on the Russellville site: Whistler WS-1095, Uniden 325HP, 996HP.
Now, all of the above scanners can follow other nearby AWIN sites, namely, Hector, Katie's Knob and Nimrod. So depending on your location, you may be able to pick up Russellville / Pope County talk groups from one or more of those sites.

I have a Whistler TRX-1 (I know, I know). It can pick up PCSO just fine.

Does Russellville still simulcast on both AWIN and the old analog system? I haven't checked that in awhile.
 
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