Was told CHP San Diego switched from the Orange to the Blue, and will remain there for the next week, maybe two. I am not in the field this week, so cannot confirm, anyone hearing this to be so?
I hope this means they are performing upgrades or maintenance on the Orange repeater...it's been a bit wonkey lately. A CHP Oceanside officer said they "fixed" the issues with the Tan.
Non stop repeating message broadcasting on the Orange..."Border testing on the tan, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, test complete, William Paul Henry Michael, 449".
I wonder if this is a sort of "Can you hear me now?" mobile field coverage evaluative testing, looking for holes or dead spots? Hope the repeater is rated for 99% duty cycle!
A proper public safety repeater/base station is rated for 100% continuous duty. It's not unusual to have a repeater broadcasting a trunked system control channel for months or years at a time without interruption.
I got an update...the testing is being conducted by the Office of Emergency Services, and may last longer than a month. Here is a picture of one of what I believe to be one the mobile testing units spotted last month on the SR78 when the tan was being "fixed".
The TAN is still just as messed up as it was before they "fixed" it. There's a receiver out there that the system votes that is WAY WAY WAY further down in audio level than all the others. I've reported it directly to the field technician supervisor, he doesn't seem to think there is a problem.
C'est la vie. That's the state for you. Six different vendors to make one system work. Yikes.
Most of the officer complaints I receive (several while asking for a story to be done regarding officer safety) are specifically that they "can't get out" from certain locations. Anyone who has ever monitored low band in a car knows you can park, and move just an inch or so and go from not hearing anything to hearing something...so curious if TX works similarly. When an officer parks his CHP unit and jumps out on extender, if the car can't hear the repeater, his portable can't, which can be an issue obviously.
Currently testing with "R" units driving around and getting 10-1, 10-2 calls from a dispatcher. Did not hear where the units were, but the dispatcher responds with which tower they hit.