California Radio Interoperable System (CRIS)

[Emoney250]

I worked as a plow driver for Cal Trans in the winter of 2006. We had both low band and a different 800 band radio in the trucks. When going up the highway to Cottonwood or all the way to Lakehead, I was never instructed to change the channel for different areas of the highway. FYI

 

[Paysonscanner]

While I do understand that a lot of people who are not from California may not completely know about the geographical challenges of the sate, I lived in California for 30 years before moving to Ohio 10 years ago so I am very familiar with California's geography.

As someone who now lives in an area served by a statewide radio system, for me its more about the logistical benefits of having all of your radio systems a part of one big system. I also don't think you need to have 100% or even 50% of the state covered with RF to make this happen.

I was involved in my cities joining our statewide radio system and at one time I had three large duffel bags full of APX-6000's in the backseat of my car. I feel that the move from our independent P25 radio system to joining the statewide P25 system was one of the best things the city has ever done. The city still owns and maintains all of the sites, they are just connected to the statewide core. It's a great thing to be able to take a radio from Cincinnati on the southwest edge of the state all the way to Cleveland on the northeast edge of the state and still be able to talk directly to the Cincinnati dispatcher and do so while never needing to change the channel on the radio.

The other factor I mentioned is the difference in population, Ohio has 29% of California's population. As for the topography of California it was my experience while living in the state for 40 years that a large segment of the urban population in the state (95% of the state's population) didn't know the topography of the state. When late Hubby and I visited his family in southern California and went to gatherings of his family's friends we were shocked at the lack of knowledge that a lot of people had. Trying to describe that we lived in the Sierra Nevada foothills was tough at times, because many only had a vague idea of the existence of the Sierras. Many had no idea of where their water came from or the existence of the Shasta Lake, Trinity Lakes area. Many had no idea that the mean water level of the Sacramento River in Stockton is 8 feet above sea level. When someone says they know California I usually have to ask some questions as to the specific places they have visited. One of he biggest "holes" in the California landscape is seen when driving from Grant Grove Village to Cedar Grove, then backpacking all the way up to Center Basin on the Bubb's Creek trail, then crossing Forester Pass to pick up the Shepard Pass trail to exit at Independence Creek. Following that you then have to drive around the Sierra, either by crossing Tehachapi Pass or by driving 3 hours up to Tioga Pass. 800 MHz coverage is giving Caltrans hell along the highway portions of this route. The hole is the canyon the King's River runs through.

 

[Paysonscanner]

I worked as a plow driver for Cal Trans in the winter of 2006. We had both low band and a different 800 band radio in the trucks. When going up the highway to Cottonwood or all the way to Lakehead, I was never instructed to change the channel for different areas of the highway. FYI

That is a big chunk of I-5!

 

[norcalscan]

I perused through some old state radio files I have last night to look for fun CDO references to send a friend off on his retirement. I did not realize this, but the entire state parks system in the 70-80's was low band as well. And let's not forget the low band inputs into the CDO Fire Intercity Syst....I mean the OES Fire Net (with I believe the Hoadley Peak LowBand RX and tie still active, considering the skip I hear come in on the local VHF side...), as well as CalFire's Department of Forestry's lowband chiefs nets. That would be 3 and some change large state agencies on low band. So the state knew how to best communicate statewide across our terrain way back then. The state microwave system then was pretty bare bones, covering key regions, and as agencies grew into higher spectrum, you can see the microwave system grow to a higher resolution to link sites together. I can only imagine what could be the doubling of that to support a trunked system that covers what current VHF systems cover.

 

[KK6ZTE]

I worked as a plow driver for Cal Trans in the winter of 2006. We had both low band and a different 800 band radio in the trucks. When going up the highway to Cottonwood or all the way to Lakehead, I was never instructed to change the channel for different areas of the highway. FYI

Voting scan channel selection in the radios--the radio does the work

 

[flux4201]

I worked as a plow driver for Cal Trans in the winter of 2006. We had both low band and a different 800 band radio in the trucks. When going up the highway to Cottonwood or all the way to Lakehead, I was never instructed to change the channel for different areas of the highway. FYI

Voting scan channel selection in the radios--the radio does the work

ZTE, That doesn't in the least way imply vote scan.... Two radios were stated... Maybe, just maybe both radios were vote scanning, but back then, i highly dought it...

 

[KK6ZTE]

ZTE, That doesn't in the least way imply vote scan.... Two radios were stated... Maybe, just maybe both radios were vote scanning, but back then, i highly dought it...

They were primarily talking 800 MHz.

CALTRANS' 800 MHz system is a subscriber voting scan system, that's why he didn't have to touch the 800 radio when he was on the highway, even though each roadside repeater has a different frequency.

He wouldn't need to touch the low band radio at all as the remote bases are all on the same frequency.

 

[Paysonscanner]

I perused through some old state radio files I have last night to look for fun CDO references to send a friend off on his retirement. I did not realize this, but the entire state parks system in the 70-80's was low band as well. And let's not forget the low band inputs into the CDO Fire Intercity Syst....I mean the OES Fire Net (with I believe the Hoadley Peak LowBand RX and tie still active, considering the skip I hear come in on the local VHF side...), as well as CalFire's Department of Forestry's lowband chiefs nets. That would be 3 and some change large state agencies on low band. So the state knew how to best communicate statewide across our terrain way back then. The state microwave system then was pretty bare bones, covering key regions, and as agencies grew into higher spectrum, you can see the microwave system grow to a higher resolution to link sites together. I can only imagine what could be the doubling of that to support a trunked system that covers what current VHF systems cover.

What are "CDO" references?

EDIT, I've been told that the low band chief's net is gone and wasn't used much when it was in place. The low band input on those two CA Fire Net is now VHF-High. None of the OES apparatus coming to big fires have the big, old CHP looking, antennas on them. At least up until the time I moved out of California.

 

[norcalscan]

What are "CDO" references?

California Disaster Office. Either an agency itself that became OES, or a dept of OES or sister agencies way back then (late 60's into 70's.) back in the civil defense era. "CDO Intercity Law" dating back to at least 1969 is today's CLERS. "CDO Local Govt" net is today's CESRS, and "CDO Fire" is today's OES Fire 1 and 2. And while the lowband inputs to OES Fire should have been turned off, I can say in the last 6 months Hoadley Peak still has their lo RX turned on and tied into the VHF hi local side. It's one of those "rainy day" projects for PSCO I bet since it's well out of the way and not causing any issues. Or one of the techs is just enjoying how long that can last.

 

[LAflyer]

Received submission confirming that Site 7 is downtown Sacramento.

 

[norcalscan]

Keep your ears out on your local sites. There have been some radios floating around out there with the fires and such, explicitly for testing and sort of kicking the tires on this system.

 

[KG7PBS]

Keep your ears out on your local sites. There have been some radios floating around out there with the fires and such, explicitly for testing and sort of kicking the tires on this system.

Have you logged any more Tags to Watch

 

[LAflyer]

Wondering if anyone has noted any additional sites or activity yet?

Per CalOES website "Expected Late Summer/Fall of 2020" system build-out should a good deal larger than what is noted in the Db currently.

 

[vince48]

No, still no activity down here in Visalia. Just the usual BSIevery 1/2 hour. Will be interesting when the system come alive.

 

[N6ML]

I'm going to try to monitor site 2 for a bit. With an outdoor omni antenna in Brentwood, it's comparable in strength to EBRCS on Patterson Pass, which seems about right for Mt Oso (?). Below is what sdtrunk reports from it. No activity after some minutes of listening. Note that the first secondary control channel is showing as 770.91875, so I think there may be a typo in the RR DB (it shows 770.81875).

Network
  WACN:BEE00[781824] SYSTEM:9D2[2514] NAC:9D2[2514] LRA:00[0]

Current Site
  SYSTEM:9D2[2514] NAC:9D2[2514] RFSS:01[1] SITE:02[2] LRA:00[0]  STATUS:ACTIVE RFSS NETWORK CONNECTION
  PRI CONTROL CHANNEL:1-1274 DOWNLINK:769968750 UPLINK:799968750
  SEC CONTROL CHANNEL:1-1426 DOWNLINK:770918750 UPLINK:800918750
  SEC CONTROL CHANNEL:1-1814 DOWNLINK:773343750 UPLINK:803343750
  SEC CONTROL CHANNEL:1-1886 DOWNLINK:773793750 UPLINK:803793750
  STATION ID/LICENSE:

Neighbor Sites
  SYSTEM:9D2[2514] NAC:9D2[2514] RFSS:01[1] SITE:01[1] LRA:00[0] CHANNEL:1-1184 DOWNLINK:769406250 UPLINK:799406250 STATUS:[VALID INFORMATION, ACTIVE RFSS CONNECTION]
  SYSTEM:9D2[2514] NAC:9D2[2514] RFSS:01[1] SITE:03[3] LRA:00[0] CHANNEL:1-1312 DOWNLINK:770206250 UPLINK:800206250 STATUS:[VALID INFORMATION, ACTIVE RFSS CONNECTION]
  SYSTEM:9D2[2514] NAC:9D2[2514] RFSS:01[1] SITE:04[4] LRA:00[0] CHANNEL:1-1184 DOWNLINK:769406250 UPLINK:799406250 STATUS:[VALID INFORMATION, ACTIVE RFSS CONNECTION]
  SYSTEM:9D2[2514] NAC:9D2[2514] RFSS:01[1] SITE:05[5] LRA:00[0] CHANNEL:1-1350 DOWNLINK:770443750 UPLINK:800443750 STATUS:[VALID INFORMATION, ACTIVE RFSS CONNECTION]
  SYSTEM:9D2[2514] NAC:9D2[2514] RFSS:01[1] SITE:06[6] LRA:00[0] CHANNEL:1-1274 DOWNLINK:769968750 UPLINK:799968750 STATUS:[VALID INFORMATION, ACTIVE RFSS CONNECTION]

Frequency Bands
  BAND:0 FDMA BASE:851006250 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:6250 TRANSMIT OFFSET:-45000000
  BAND:1 FDMA BASE:762006250 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:6250 TRANSMIT OFFSET:30000000
  BAND:2 TDMA BASE:851012500 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:12500 TRANSMIT OFFSET:-45000000 TIMESLOTS:2
  BAND:3 TDMA BASE:762006250 BANDWIDTH:12500 SPACING:12500 TRANSMIT OFFSET:30000000 TIMESLOTS:2

 

[N6ML]

Heard a hooman on TGID 301 this morning! (she didn't get a response, though)

https://soundcloud.com/n6ml%2F20201013_110019-cris-site-2-to-301-from-7297

 

[vince48]

Wow, I have to start monitoring again!!! Thanks, atleast we know now the system is coming alive

 

[vince48]

this morning 8:52 Group 131 (TDMA) RID =21. I'm down in Visalia. Did not hear any voice, but this is what DSD+ showed

 

[wowologist]

So is this "system" actually replacing the CSERS/OES (?153.755?) VHF/microwave linked spider web system which I think was originally designed as a literal almost statewide phone patch system?

 

[N6ML]

this morning 8:52 Group 131 (TDMA) RID =21. I'm down in Visalia. Did not hear any voice, but this is what DSD+ showed

(still on "site 2") I saw a couple of register events for subscriber 21 / group 131, at 05:14 and 05:49 PDT. I didn't see any channel grants.