Thanks for the info. They are heavily encrypted but not fully. Some units just don’t flip the switch for whatever reason. Helicopters are almost always clear as a rule of thumb. Every now and then you’ll hear both sides.
Border Patrol - STX area
- Thread starter rattlerbb01
- Start date
ecps92
Member
that would be for BP, CBP (aka Customs) has their own nets
I assume you are reporting the NAC of $A30 for Weslaco??
As to one side, maybe the other person is not answering
ecps92
Member
170.4375 C10 should be ICE form CC for their East Net
$864 has generally been know for bring the USM, but no reports on 170.9125 being found in TX
and NPS for Padre Island had been using $4FE on 164.8000, 171.1625 and 172.4625
New find in Carrizo Springs, same site as the 166.9875 CBP repeater:
171.6125 NAC 864 - probably USMS based on NAC
171.6125 NAC 864 - probably USMS based on NAC
One night in Laredo is all I needed. Here’s what I’ve got even though I don’t have the physical location nailed down for the towers actually in Laredo proper yet:
Laredo North Station:
170.3750 (301) / 164.7375 (325) - Botines
173.0625 (301) / 162.7500 (325) - Botines
Laredo West Station:
169.6375 (301) / 162.2875 (325) - Mines Rd Apache Ranch
172.0625 (301) / 165.2375 (325) - Laredo Northwest?
Laredo South Station:
172.3000 (301) / 163.5000 (325) - Laredo
173.0500 (301) / 163.8500 (325) - Laredo
There are also repeaters on 172.100 which appears to be in Botines, and 170.100 which appears to be further south or east in Laredo. Both 301 NAC. The identified ones above came from analyzing unit IDs, data traffic, locations of input frequency strength. None of the towers are synced up with each other like other areas of the state so each repeater is standalone.
Laredo North Station:
170.3750 (301) / 164.7375 (325) - Botines
173.0625 (301) / 162.7500 (325) - Botines
Laredo West Station:
169.6375 (301) / 162.2875 (325) - Mines Rd Apache Ranch
172.0625 (301) / 165.2375 (325) - Laredo Northwest?
Laredo South Station:
172.3000 (301) / 163.5000 (325) - Laredo
173.0500 (301) / 163.8500 (325) - Laredo
There are also repeaters on 172.100 which appears to be in Botines, and 170.100 which appears to be further south or east in Laredo. Both 301 NAC. The identified ones above came from analyzing unit IDs, data traffic, locations of input frequency strength. None of the towers are synced up with each other like other areas of the state so each repeater is standalone.
172.0625 is also on the Botines tower. Laredo West Station.
4D5 3.95 Laredo is close to Calton Rd near the city of Laredo and AEP trunk towers. Very strong signal just don’t know which one yet. They are less than 100 yards apart so really splitting hairs to guess any further.
4D5 3.111 Encinal is on a ATC cell tower just south of the I-35 checkpoint.
4D5 3.112 Devine is on Crown Castle tower on CR 777 1 mile east of I-35.
I have so many questions I’m interested in what your approach is to identify these systems. Can you explain? I’m from the RGV also and could help if I knew what I was doing.
Also correct me if I’m wrong but these are VHF trunking systems? I’m familiar with programming 800 mhz trunking systems but how do you program a VHF trunking system? This might not be the correct place for that question but thought I’d ask.
It would be a novel to type out everything I’ve done to figure out Federal VHF. Everything is still conventional and P25 at this time. Trunking is 100% easier and it does look like they will eventually be going that route with the wide area system that is still being installed and tested.
So from the beginning….
I never truly bothered with federal until this year. Always assumed full ENC so why bother. But I tried nonetheless with my SDR and DSD Plus program to see which frequencies were used in the areas I was in around Carrizo Springs. I was shocked by how much non-ENC there really is. So that said, here’s how I do it:
DSD/FMP24 lets you view about 2.4 MHz of spectrum in the waterfall window, making it easy to see transmissions and narrow down on them. I have found just about every transmitter with this method. Feds make it easy to find the frequencies with P25 conventional on VHF because the units in the field have frequent data bursts and possibly roaming beacons on wide area networks with multiple repeaters. These even give you the NAC for the frequency in use. There may not be any voice for hours or days sometimes but the data still goes on. You can also see when there are multiple transmitters making up a network because they will key up and broadcast the same data simultaneously.
Now for the RGV where you are, look back a few posts and you’ll see that they make it easy to discover what a particular site is used for. For instance if a frequency has a NAC of A10, it’s from the CBP Rio Grande City Station, A30 is Weslaco, and so on. B21 and other B’s appear to be bridges. C’s are in the outlying areas away from the border like Beeville or Victoria.
My main focus is trying to narrow down where the individual transmitters are located. There are 6 towers for the A10 RGC Station network, but I want to get close enough to verify which one is Roma, which one is RGC, which one is San Ysidro, etc. makes the database cleaner and more accurate.
I would like to say that it’s very impressive the work you’re doing. I honestly never got around to purchasing the SDR equipment, I had seen it used to decode 800mhz p25 control channels. But hadn’t taken a deep dive into that realm. I have used uni Trunker, but thanks for reigniting my interest in SDR/DSD.
CBP's isolatated mesh telemetry ground sensors in the southern NM region include VHF data.
The sensors are either mid to upper 800, or ISM 900 to the controller, but the controllers are transmitting the data streams on VHF.
This system dates back to 2013, replacing the single node ones deployed since 2005.
No idea what the newer advanced generation networks use though.
I have been guessing that there are sensors making up some of the data on these VHF repeaters but no way to really tell. I’ve got a few hours of audio from the Laredo sites I will listen to at some point. I have listened to a little and I know that they have a camera operator that is reviewing cameras all over the Laredo South riverside for agents in the field. No talk about sensors so far that I’ve heard.
nd5y
Member
More info at
Waco, Texas Unknown Frequency
Today, my scanner buddy indicated that he heard 169.9125 with NAC of 402h on close call near the Richland Mall. Does anyone have a clue? The only hit I found was on the "Fed Files" blog specific to ICE. However, the NAC wasn't the same. The ICE page showed two NACs for ICE, specific to the...
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I'll update 4D5. It's been quiet lately, nothing new to report. I was actually right by the US 277 checkpoint for a week or so on our last project and confirmed that they use the Carrizo Springs D13 repeater 166.9875 and Tac 1 166.7375. Pretty good signal on D9, D10 and D11 and the Eagle Pass 4D5 site, and a new site showing up as a neighbor to Eagle Pass: 3.114 on 173.7875.
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Have any of you discovered the Rx / Tx w/ NAC for cbp marine and air unit near Laredo area? Ive seen some posting about it but not fully confirmed.
I’ve heard the CBP Air-Air AM channel listed on page 1 there, but that’s it for the Air and Marine for me. I’ve had those and all the ICE national Tacs programmed in for months.
ecps92
Member
if you mean CBP Air-1 thru Air-9 - all simplex
Customs and Border Protection - The RadioReference Wiki
Been quiet for a while, but I confirmed that 169.8875 NAC 304 is Laredo Sector - Devine. Confirmed it’s on the same tower as 4D5 site 3.112. I haven’t heard 171.1875 Somerset in a long time and suspect that Devine may have replaced it.
I also noticed newer antennas mounted about 3/4 up the old El Indio tower towards the end of FM 1021 just south of the Aerostat blimp base. Will try and keep a listen out for anything new from there.
Still haven’t found where 173.7875 control channel is located either. Does not appear to be anywhere along old Mines Road, so will just have to look toward maybe Bracketville, Spofford, Rocksprings, etc.
I also noticed newer antennas mounted about 3/4 up the old El Indio tower towards the end of FM 1021 just south of the Aerostat blimp base. Will try and keep a listen out for anything new from there.
Still haven’t found where 173.7875 control channel is located either. Does not appear to be anywhere along old Mines Road, so will just have to look toward maybe Bracketville, Spofford, Rocksprings, etc.
173.950 NAC 309 is coming in within Maverick County from the El Indio area pretty good now, seems to be about the same signal strength as the Eagle Pass repeaters. Not enough time to find out any more info on it yet, and it was all encrypted. The El Indio tower is still silent but there are definitely 4 nice newer antennas mounted on the upper 3/4 of the tower. It is all Carrizo Springs Station area of assignment down there, and I've yet to hear any of the D9-D12 mobiles light up my scanner, but from Carrizo-El Indio-Mines Rd all the way down 164.275 NAC 307 which is D13 mobile is highly active at all times. The Tordillo tower which I am 1/4 mile from currently is busy all the time on 169.9375 NAC 315 and there is a lot of foot traffic right now. Don't stop for anyone is our rule when we hit Old Mines Rd......
STARRMED28
Newbie
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2024
- Messages
- 2
In rio grande city i pick up BP frequencies but they are encrypted
Frequencies:
170.9875 NAC A10
171.6625 NAC A12
171.9625 NAC A10
169.8875 NAC A10
Frequencies:
170.9875 NAC A10
171.6625 NAC A12
171.9625 NAC A10
169.8875 NAC A10
Yes, the A10 NACs are a network of 5-6 (I can’t remember exactly) towers around Starr and western Hidalgo counties that comprise the Rio Grande City Station. The A11, A12 towers have appeared to be standalone sites for local traffic, such as a city tactical repeater, HQ repeater, or maybe bridges or detention centers. With all the ENC it is tough to know exactly, that’s why it takes months of monitoring to catch the clear guys time to time that let you know what the channel is for.