Big Bend National Park, Brewster County

[rattlerbb01]

Next time I go down there I'll need to scan more. I heard the following used:

172.600 ENC, could not catch NAC.
158.790 NAC 293 - Sheriff Dispatch (they ran up on me on US 385 south of the border checkpoint headed to Marathon and ran my plate on the way out of the park)
154.160 ENC or just bad reception, but P25 for sure, could not catch NAC
155.100 ENC or just bad reception, but P25 for sure, could not catch NAC

I felt like a stooge, thought I had my West Texas file loaded into my scanner when I left Odessa Thursday, but I had left it on my USB drive back at the office. Had to quickly load frequencies listed as FB2 from the database manually for Brewster County when my kids were eating in Study Butte. Its pretty obvious the law enforcement has moved to all digital there. Although the scanning wasn't great, we had an awesome time and it was weird being in some of those places where not another soul was visible within 20 miles of us.

 

[lhillin]

Yes, it is a nice place to visit. That is interesting that you were able to hear the Brewster County Sheriff dispatch. When I am in that area, and scanning, I always seem to find the Sheriff's office encrypted on all law enforcement (LE) frequencies. I have heard them in the clear on the fire frequency but not the LE frequencies. I will keep listening.

Also, try 170.075, 173.675, 170.3875. Those are all Big Bend National Park frequencies.

I don't have 172.600 in my scanner, I will add it in, thanks.

 

[rattlerbb01]

Yes, it is a nice place to visit. That is interesting that you were able to hear the Brewster County Sheriff dispatch. When I am in that area, and scanning, I always seem to find the Sheriff's office encrypted on all law enforcement (LE) frequencies. I have heard them in the clear on the fire frequency but not the LE frequencies. I will keep listening.

Also, try 170.075, 173.675, 170.3875. Those are all Big Bend National Park frequencies.

I don't have 172.600 in my scanner, I will add it in, thanks.

Thanks for the other freqs to check out. Yes, 158.790 was the only one I could get the scanner to stop on. I know I got it in the clear since I clearly recognized my name on the 28 return😂

 

[HiddenLefty]

There is a lot of encryption down there that's definitely not noted in the DB. I caught some out at Alpine that it seems they've gone mostly that route now at least on mobiles. I suspect they think they're hiding from the cartels. The lack of cell reception made it hard to program on the road and I think it may have been Sanderson or somewhere I finally got things loaded in because of that alone. Desolate doesn't describe it.

 

[rattlerbb01]

There is a lot of encryption down there that's definitely not noted in the DB. I caught some out at Alpine that it seems they've gone mostly that route now at least on mobiles. I suspect they think they're hiding from the cartels. The lack of cell reception made it hard to program on the road and I think it may have been Sanderson or somewhere I finally got things loaded in because of that alone. Desolate doesn't describe it.

True. My AT&T phone found a solid 3G signal around the Panther Junction and Chisos Lodge area. Other than that, zero, zilch, nada. Really makes me think about investing in a PLB before I take the family down there again, or even a messaging satcom device. They found a 75 year old man dead on one of the trails the day before we visited.

Radio related: I will be much better prepared next trip. Both SDS100 and 436HP are now loaded with every frequency licensed in the Trans-Pecos region, 163-173 MHz and 406 MHz custom searches, and I have two SDRs packed away along with batteries, charging cables, etc in my old David Clark headset carrying case. We are already planning a multi-night fall trip to drag the 5th wheel down there and do more exploring.

 

[blantonl]

This sounds eerily similar to how I operate in Montana. I have an SDS-100 that has custom searches ready to go, and then an FPP APX-7000 for what I end up finding in the parks (Glacier, etc)

My cell phone will go dead for hours at a time, then I'll summit a peak on a big hike and get Rogers communications from Canada 70-80 miles away. It's wild.

 

[kv5e]

When the wife I went to Canyonlands to drive the White Rim Trail, Verizon was fine on the east side of Islands of the Sky mesa. Park was Analog dispatch and P25 mobiles repeated. Once you are past White Crack, there's no service until you come out of Mineral Bottoms up the switchbacks from the Green River.

 

[NC5267]

Sorry to respond to an old thread. I was at Big Bend for the past five days for work and met the Park superintendent and the Chief dispatch supervisor for Law Enforcement. I was told she returned analog when she was promoted with a couple of digital channels with selectable encryption. In her words, "officer safety and terrain is why she switched the system back to analog." They also have access to the BP channels for the sector and all local sheriffs, city pds, fire, and ems.

Unfortunately, I forgot a scanner or an FPP radio on this trip(last minute) to confirm. But she is very knowledgeable about radio systems, so I would take her word.

 

[lhillin]

Thank you for the update. I think the switch makes sense for them. As you pointed out, they do have a lot of other agencies frequencies programmed into their radios, more so than the Border Patrol in the area. I always enjoy monitoring the park when I am down there.