Caldwell County to transition to LCRA

[rattlerbb01]

Caldwell County begins process to upgrade radios, towers

post-register.com

Interesting. I didn't think they had any major coverage issues there but I only pass through. This move will put them on the same system as Hays, Guadalupe, Gonzales and Fayette Counties, but it will deal a blow to their interoperability with Bastrop and Travis.

 

[NC5267]

Mainly from the deputies, as the article said. I have a friend with one of the FDs, and he said the county guys complain about the radios not locking onto a tower and just scanning in some areas of the county. I'm sure they will leave the GAATRS system programmed in with at least the interop channels. If not, patching the LCRA system to GAATRS is pretty easy. If they train the dispatchers right during major incidents. They will still probably allow access or at least monitor Travis and Bastrop's dispatch channels when needed.

 

[rattlerbb01]

Mainly from the deputies, as the article said. I have a friend with one of the FDs, and he said the county guys complain about the radios not locking onto a tower and just scanning in some areas of the county. I'm sure they will leave the GAATRS system programmed in with at least the interop channels. If not, patching the LCRA system to GAATRS is pretty easy. If they train the dispatchers right during major incidents. They will still probably allow access or at least monitor Travis and Bastrop's dispatch channels when needed.

Financial sense would be dropping GATRRS airtime fees and such, leaving dispatchers with access to patch.

 

[NC5267]

I'm sure they'll work something out with 14 months of transition time. LCRA must have come in with a pretty sweet deal to save them operating cost. Coverage issues is a great way to move on to another vendor also.

 

[Ensnared]

"Airtime fees?" Wow, I did not know this.

 

[rattlerbb01]

"Airtime fees?" Wow, I did not know this.

With a large system like that, yes. A local system controls its own destiny, but to maintain a huge system like GATRRS or TxWARN, the subscribing agencies have to chip in. Caldwell County had its own analog system back in the day but have been working on GATRRS for the last decade or so with three towers. If LCRA is as generous to them as Wilson and Guadalupe with tower locations, I’d bet they will love their coverage once it’s live.

 

[tkowalik]

Rattler, what is the cost to maintain these systems for each county? I’ve been under the impression that once the cost is sunk, it should be minimal, no?

 

[rattlerbb01]

Rattler, what is the cost to maintain these systems for each county? I’ve been under the impression that once the cost is sunk, it should be minimal, no?

I am not the one to ask sir, they do have a pretty good public information page with commissioners court minutes, agendas, and videos in Caldwell County. You can search the agendas for pertinent radio info, then dig into the minutes or watch the videos at the points of interest. That’s how I get much of the info I glean and share. Some of the other posters here are much more involved in the industry and should have a good idea of costs for ongoing maintenance and airtime.

 

[rattlerbb01]

3 weeks ago I drove down 21 and didn’t detect any new LCRA activity or neighbors to existing sites. Today I pass through Dripping Springs polling a few sites for new frequencies and neighbors on my way into Austin and I see a failed/isolated site 143.43 on 851.1000 which is a Lockhart frequency. Someone nearby may want to check those Caldwell county licensed frequencies for activity on LCRA.

 

[rattlerbb01]

Passed by Kingsbury on my way to Luling, stopped at the new Bucees there, holy crap it is massive. So these two sites are not on the air, but correspond to Lockhart 143.43 and Luling 144.44, as they show FAILED/ISOLATED on the Kingsbury and Gonzales neighbor lists on DSD Plus.

Site: 143.43

Channel 1-8: 851.1 CC


Site: 144.44

Channel 0-23: 769.29375 CC

I would guess that the Fentress site will come up as 145.45 when it goes live but we will see. I won't add these to the database until I actually hear them live on the air.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

Rattler, what is the cost to maintain these systems for each county? I’ve been under the impression that once the cost is sunk, it should be minimal, no?

There's constant ongoing costs.

You can look up several county budgets that they publish just to get an idea of both what they (may) make in subscriber dues and what they may pay based on what they allot for in their budgets. Burnet County handles the 12 sites in that "sub-system" as it is identified by GATRRS and the budgets should reflect costs. Wilco's simulcast should be in their published budget somewhere. Comal should have the costs of their services contracts in their upcoming budget.