BCD396XT and the Colorado DTRS

[sammyjenkis]

Hello all I would appreciate some help and advice.

I have owned a PRO-96 and had monitored the Colorado DTRS for years successfully.

I've recently acquired a Uniden BCD396XT and am having the (apparent) usual struggles getting used to the Dynamic Memory System. I am researching, but not quite ready to start programming yet.

One question I've wondered about the Colorado DTRS is about the control towers. I'm in Parker and pick up the usual metro towers, but with the DMS it looks like I can load the whole DTRS into the BCD396XT and then assign counties to separate groups - does that sound about right? I also travel in Colorado during the summer and that seems logical.

So the crux of my question is: how do I know what Talk Groups are assigned to what Tower locations? If I load a particular tower are ALL the statewide TGs available at that tower? (that would surprise me). If not, how are TGs filtered among the Towers?

Thanks!

 

[n0doz]

I remember a "which-agency-uses-which-site" thread here a while back...

 

[jeffreyinberthoud]

Ask Jim

 

[04Z1V6]

Try this. Colorado DTRS Interstate Travel Reference - The RadioReference Wiki

 

[sammyjenkis]

Thanks for that link, but I'm still not getting what TGs apply to what towers.
Sammy

 

[jeffreyinberthoud]

Ask Jimnn

 

[jimmnn]

Jeffrey, I'm sure you can help as well.

For the most part and as a general rule all of the TG's are available on all control channels statewide with the few notable exceptions such as CSP radios are locked out of Chevron for example and such. Rule of thumb also is these blocks will be increasing and not decreasing. Does a small rural law, fire, ems agency really need statewide access on all sites for there own TG's or just hospital TG's and MAC's for example just a thought that is being pondered.

I'm also hearing the DTRS system is full, CCNC is not accepting any new user applications and existing systems who want to grow need to provide support for the systems backbone such as monies for additional channels on a site and/or funding for an entire new site.

Jim<

 

[utlchris]

Thanks for that link, but I'm still not getting what TGs apply to what towers.
Sammy

Hi Sammyjenkis and welcome to RR. Here is a list of tower associations I did up a few years back with the help of others from Colorado. It still should be fairly accurate with the exception of any new agencies that have come on board.

As Jim said you will catch state on just about every tower. However don't expect to hear say Parker on the Longmont tower unless they just happen to have a user in that area associating with that tower.

A big help has been the addition of the County names to the tower sites so once you determine what county the Agency you are wanting to listen to is in you can get a pretty good idea of what towers you can expect to listen to them on. Keep in mind that that rule is hard to follow in the metro area though as the towers here are such a wide coverage and just because Lookout is in Jefferson does not mean you can't hear Parker on that site.

Play around a little and find a site(s) that work good for you. The more sites you put in for one system the more of a delay you will get and traffic you will miss. I try to keep mine down to one or two sites that work well for the area I am in and lock out the others. When programming in a tower all you need is the primary control channel "CC". There is no need for the alternates unless the primary CC fails which is not often enough to worry about it.

I hope this list works out for you!

 

[sammyjenkis]

Thank You!

Thank you all for this information. It really helps!

--Sammy

 

[UPMan]

In general for statewide systems, traffic for a particular talk group is carried on a particular site only if a subscriber unit (i.e. two-way radio) assigned to that talk group affiliates with the site. For example, it isn't likely you'll hear Creed traffic in Denver...unless a Creed unit happens to drive up to Denver and affiliates with a Denver Site (I'm just using these areas as examples...my specific knowledge of agencies on the CO system is limited).

You can expect local agencies to always have affiliations on sites that are geographically near the agencies' jurisdiction and seldom to have affiliations on other sites.

As mentioned above, the system administrator can also restrict particular TGIDs from using particular sites, too.

 

[jimmnn]

Most of the 13 residents of Creede normally only ride horseback and snowmobiles and they rarely if ever made it to Denver!

Jim<

 

[jeffreyinberthoud]

love it