Boulder County Law no longer full time VHF

[soundchaser]

Boulder County Law on DTRS is no longer linked to analog VHF channels.

It appears the VHF channels are still be used about 1% of the time, but only for units that are out of range of a DTRS site. The dispatcher will answer a unit with "xxx on VHF".

Guess what will happen next?

 

[scanlist]

Boulder County Law on DTRS is no longer linked to analog VHF channels.

It appears the VHF channels are still be used about 1% of the time, but only for units that are out of range of a DTRS site. The dispatcher will answer a unit with "xxx on VHF".

It may be a technical issue. Two nights ago I heard Law dispatch announce that VHF was back in operation. There have been
noticable audible differences in the linked VHF LAW-1 repeaters since then.

Louisville has showed up on the VHF side regularly giving me the impression they are using their vehicular radios and their portables are on DTRS.

Guess what will happen next?

Pizza Hut brings back their lunch buffet?

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[scanlist]

Official Media Advisory from the Boulder County Sheriff's office regarding "Law Enforcement Radio Trial".

Law Enforcement Radio Trial

So radio silence on VHF is intentional. Depending on how this evaluation of DTRS only coverage goes.....

"The trial is intended to evaluate system performance, radio coverage, and operational effectiveness before any future decisions are made regarding radio operations."

Longmont did a similiar trial a few years back and we all know how that went.

Soundchaser you're right in your thinking on where this is heading.

They are providing an official feed of COUNTY LAW-1 and COUNTY FIRE-1 on Broadcastify.

If law joins the secret squirrel club what are the chances that it goes away.

So no Pizza Hut buffet.

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[kjk681]

They have definitely made some changes. The S Law channel must have some updated equipment. There used to be a low hum that has gone away. I also saw where the modified the VHF license to put P25 emission designators. Wonder if they might be looking at just moving VHF to P25.

Hope they don't leave, is one of the last good sources of entertainment left in the area.

 

[scanlist]

I logged 154.845 with NAC of 2BC some time ago with a solid signal up here with horrible sounding patched audio of COUNTY LAW-1 for about a day or two. This was the former Boulder County jail channel that was analog with the repeater at the jail with limited coverage. This P25 repeater is (was?) on a high point when I received it. Might want to keep an ear on this frequency.

Note that WYOLINK has this freqency on their South Greeley site with a NAC of 1A series that may be heard if conditions exist.

For a bit of history prior to Boulder County moving onto DTRS years ago there was some P25 testing on 151.385 on a temporary authorization.

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[natedawg1604]

Over the last few years, have any new sites been added (i.e. improvements in DTR coverage for the County)? If not, I hope they would still have VHF available as an option, even though the patch is gone.

 

[scanlist]

When the City of Boulder ditched their system and moved to DTRS they shut down the Gunbarrel DTRS site which, in my view, was a mistake. Why wasn't it considered in the simulcast system. The simulcast system that replaced the former Boulder City system has a smaller footprint.

A lot of Boulder County radio traffic started showing up on the S. Bald mountain site in Larimer County immediately afterward. Distant sites such as Lookout Mountain, Mesta (formerly known as Squaw Mountain) and Dakota has increased Boulder County radio traffic along with the usual sites Eldora and Thorodin.

What is the motivation in all of this? Cost of maintaing the VHF system a factor perhaps?

Considering the trend in the past 7 years leads to the conclusion many in this sub believe where this is headed.

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[Spitfire8520]

This quote from the Georgia forums aptly describes where things are heading.

The future of LMR is spelled L T E

 

[natedawg1604]

When the City of Boulder ditched their system and moved to DTRS they shut down the Gunbarrel DTRS site which, in my view, was a mistake. Why wasn't it considered in the simulcast system. The simulcast system that replaced the former Boulder City system has a smaller footprint.

A lot of Boulder County radio traffic started showing up on the S. Bald mountain site in Larimer County immediately afterward. Distant sites such as Lookout Mountain, Mesta (formerly known as Squaw Mountain) and Dakota has increased Boulder County radio traffic along with the usual sites Eldora and Thorodin.

What is the motivation in all of this? Cost of maintaing the VHF system a factor perhaps?

Considering the trend in the past 7 years leads to the conclusion many in this sub believe where this is headed.

.

Wow, I don't believe I've heard of a DTRS site being taken down. Was the Gunbarrel site originally paid for by the City of Boulder?

 

[Spitfire8520]

When the City of Boulder ditched their system and moved to DTRS they shut down the Gunbarrel DTRS site which, in my view, was a mistake. Why wasn't it considered in the simulcast system. The simulcast system that replaced the former Boulder City system has a smaller footprint.

A lot of Boulder County radio traffic started showing up on the S. Bald mountain site in Larimer County immediately afterward. Distant sites such as Lookout Mountain, Mesta (formerly known as Squaw Mountain) and Dakota has increased Boulder County radio traffic along with the usual sites Eldora and Thorodin.

Wow, I don't believe I've heard of a DTRS site being taken down. Was the Gunbarrel site originally paid for by the City of Boulder?

Gunbarrel was part of the City's simulcast before DTRS, so I imagine that the Gunbarrel simulcast subsite is still up and they took down the legacy standalone site due to the overlap.

There are unknowns of whether the antenna setup is directional or omnidirectional with the changes, as well as the use of next generation site equipment that could have lower output power compared to legacy equipment. The old radio programming likely had the legacy Gunbarrel site as a preferred site, but now they use whatever site is available and all the radios would need to be reprogrammed to prevent them from affiliating to other sites. Simulcast also wreaks havoc on poorly maintained subscriber equipment and anything out of alignment tends to find other sites to use.

 

[Wazowski]

Gunbarrel is part of the new DTR Boulder simulcast

When the City of Boulder ditched their system and moved to DTRS they shut down the Gunbarrel DTRS site which, in my view, was a mistake. Why wasn't it considered in the simulcast system. The simulcast system that replaced the former Boulder City system has a smaller footprint.

 

[Wazowski]

Wow, I don't believe I've heard of a DTRS site being taken down. Was the Gunbarrel site originally paid for by the City of Boulder?

Gunbarrel hasn't been taken down. It is part of the new DTR Boulder 4-site simulcast

 

[scanlist]

If they are using gunbarrel in the simulcast array the signal unfortunately is weak up here compared to when it was obviously a hi-power standalone on DTRS and when the City simulcast system was on it as well. Either way signals were impacted.

When they first lit up the the DTRS simulcast Erie was having "went digital" issues immediately and the the county TG's started showing up on distant DTRS sites ever since. If the intent was better coverage in the county it appears to have had the opposite effect.

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[soundchaser]

What is the motivation in all of this? Cost of maintaing the VHF system a factor perhaps?

I'd bet one of the reasons was during the past year there was some hacking and jamming of the VHF channels. At one point the Law dispatcher made an announcement informing the person they were violating federal law. On the Fire side, they were broadcasting some kind of political rant laden with profanities. It actually was very distorted and over-driven and difficult to discern what they were so angry about, but it would last for minutes. At other times someone was keying up at half-second intervals when a fire unit was trying to talk to dispatch. It was annoying. At one point I was so annoyed I thought it would be fun to go mobile with a directional antenna and try to find the person. It stopped late last year so the county must have beat me to it.

 

[natedawg1604]

If they are using gunbarrel in the simulcast array the signal unfortunately is weak up here compared to when it was obviously a hi-power standalone on DTRS and when the City simulcast system was on it as well. Either way signals were impacted.

When they first lit up the the DTRS simulcast Erie was having "went digital" issues immediately and the the county TG's started showing up on distant DTRS sites ever since. If the intent was better coverage in the county it appears to have had the opposite effect.

.

If it's part of the Simulcast array why would the coverage be impacted? Did they F@$k with the positioning of antennas or power levels?

 

[Wazowski]

If it's part of the Simulcast array why would the coverage be impacted? Did they F@$k with the positioning of antennas or power levels?

A simulcast system is intended to cover inside of the cell. scanlist in Greeley is far outside the intended coverage footprint. Timing and power levels are adjusted to decrease areas of overlap.

 

[scanlist]

I am basing this on the city simulcast was quite receiveable at my location. Gunbarrel's DTRS original coverage has been seriously degraded in this configuration. Distant DTRS sites that rarely had Boulder County TG's have been constant ever since.

My location is such that I receive everything in the metro area including Adcom and Aurora's simulcast systems.

In any case the city flushed millions in dumping their system for the short time they were on it.

Idiots with CCR's, modified ham gear and surplus radios causing interference not surprising with the dumbassery that is rampant these days.

In any case the outcome with this trial will upset somebody.

In the meantime keep an ear on high-band for any new signals that show up. Band search is your friend.

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[abqscan]

I head the Gunbarrel site power was turned down when it swapped over DTRS because there were other DTRS sites to provide the required coverage.

 

[Wazowski]

I head the Gunbarrel site power was turned down when it swapped over DTRS because there were other DTRS sites to provide the required coverage.

The power levels were likely reduced to balance with the other 3 sites. Simulcast needs to be near perfect in terms of timing and overlap areas.

 

[Wazowski]

I am basing this on the city simulcast was quite receiveable at my location.

The prior Boulder standalone simulcast system had the Chautauqua park site as the 5th site which had tremendous coverage. I would bet this was why you were able to hear that system so much better prior to the transition.