Charleston County Sheriff's Office West/Folly Beach Public Safety Channel

[AlphaDelta10]

What's been up with this as of late? I know for the past few days I've been hearing the Folly Beach Public Safety Department using the Sheriff's West channel (The CCSO Deputies were still getting calls on that same channel also) and now today I heard the CCSO Deputies, who are supposed to be on the West channel, getting calls on the Folly Beach Public Safety channel. Anyone have any idea what is going on?
It doesn't make any difference to me because I have both channels programmed in closed scan and have been hearing the calls go out but the switch of channels is mind boggling to me. If anyone has any information, let me know. Thanks.

 

[evan]

The two channels are often cross-patched. Thanks to the new firmware update for the PSR-500, I am able to tell when a channel is patched without having to use trunker or similar computer program.

 

[evan]

Just to elaborate on this: cross-patching allows two channels (or more) to be "tied" together. Users remain on their respective channels on their radios but are able to hear all activity on the other channels involved in the patch. Functionally, it is as if the users are on the same channel without having to physically change the channel on their radio.

These sorts of patches are often used when dispatchers are under staffed. That is, it allows one dispatcher to dispatch both channels.