CSP Troop 2C monitoring issue

[chad_96]

Hello all,

I have a question regarding monitoring the CSP troop 2C (TG 2524 -Troop 2C Dispatch - Baca, Bent, Cheyenne, Crowley, Kiowa, E. Las Animas, Otero, Prowers).

I have noticed that at times I hear a lot of their dispatch and traffic, other times I can go for several hours without hearing a single thing from that TG. Unfortunately, I am brand new to scanning and am trying my best to understand things from the ground up.

What I do know, or think I know so far is this. I have to use my local site, which is the best signal, and also the site in neighboring La Junta to hear the full amount of radio transmissions they broadcast. I assume if I cut off the La Junta site, I would be cutting off the transmissions I've seen that site being used for, as they wouldn't just use my local site, if that other site was removed leaving just my local site being monitored. That's upsetting but I guess that's the way it works.

So, to my main point. I've attached something that I've found while researching why I hear them so often at times, and then dead silence for long periods of a time, before they randomly start back up transmissions, in the middle of something they are currently handling. Note, at first I thought maybe it was simply there was no radio traffic occurring, but I find this to be false, in my opinion. And yes I know this uses Denver as the example, although my monitored dispatch would be Pueblo. I do believe that this would also be the same in Pueblos dispatch area, as they dispatch for many TG's/ troops.

Anyone have any knowledge why it goes silent for a long period of time before starting back up again? And have any insight on how to remedy it, possibly? I'm very confused as to what the example I've attached means, or what's going on. I have noticed that sometimes another troops TG was all of a sudden talking on my areas TG. Not sure why this happened either, like it was their TG I was monitoring.

Anyways, if anyone has any insight and helpful advice, tips, or so on.. I would greatly appreciate the help! Thank you!

 

[RMason]

The OP has an SDS100 and appears to be using sentinel for programming.

Yes - the Pueblo dispatch will work in much the same way as Denver dispatch. Various CSP talkgroups will be patched together in various combinations. You will likely see this more in off-hours. When talkgroups are patched, you will hear several troops on the same talkgroup. What is the 2nd troop you are hearing on the 2C talkgroup?

I don't know how well the SDS100 handles patches. I would start by programming both the 2C and 2D talkgroups. You may want to enable ID Search mode to identify what talkgroups are in use in your area - and what talkgroups carry 2C traffic

Hopefully someone familiar with Troop2* will chime in with insights.

 

[chad_96]

The OP has an SDS100 and appears to be using sentinel for programming.

Yes - the Pueblo dispatch will work in much the same way as Denver dispatch. Various CSP talkgroups will be patched together in various combinations. You will likely see this more in off-hours. When talkgroups are patched, you will hear several troops on the same talkgroup. What is the 2nd troop you are hearing on the 2C talkgroup?

I don't know how well the SDS100 handles patches. I would start by programming both the 2C and 2D talkgroups. You may want to enable ID Search mode to identify what talkgroups are in use in your area - and what talkgroups carry 2C traffic

Hopefully someone familiar with Troop2* will chime in with insights.

Yes, I apologize for not identifying my scanner type ( Uniden SDS100 ). Not sure if i can go back and correct that, but I will look.

So, I noticed that the troop was Identifying as 2-Baker units and I believe one as 2-Edward, and dispatch was also handling radio communications in and around that area. After looking at the Database, and if I'm correct, those units would be identified as TG-2522 -CSP Troop 2BE, and labeled Troop 2B/2E East Dispatch (2B/El Paso, 2E/ Teller). I assume this based on their call signs and that radio traffic was going out to the El Paso County Courthouse, as well as dispatching calls on I-25 in the El Paso area.

I will Enable the ID search and see if that picks up on if I can hear anything from them on another TG I don't have programmed in. That's if i understand you completely.

Thank you for the insight.

 

[chad_96]

The OP has an SDS100 and appears to be using sentinel for programming.

Yes - the Pueblo dispatch will work in much the same way as Denver dispatch. Various CSP talkgroups will be patched together in various combinations. You will likely see this more in off-hours. When talkgroups are patched, you will hear several troops on the same talkgroup. What is the 2nd troop you are hearing on the 2C talkgroup?

I don't know how well the SDS100 handles patches. I would start by programming both the 2C and 2D talkgroups. You may want to enable ID Search mode to identify what talkgroups are in use in your area - and what talkgroups carry 2C traffic

Hopefully someone familiar with Troop2* will chime in with insights.

I forgot to mention in my last post.

I also read on that same deal I shared where it was suggested to program ALL troop 2 TG's, for this reason assume. I don't know how practical that is, as I don't want to constantly have all that going on if there is no reason to, other when maybe they are patched on one of the other TG's.

 

[Spitfire8520]

Uniden released a firmware update in 2019 to add support for patching to some of the scanners that they still support, but to took them more than a decade to support it. I think the SDS100 should support patching, but I do not have the ability to test if the current firmware still works as intended.

One possible explanation for your experience is that rural troops like 2C might only have a handful of troopers on duty at any given time, which means that there are only a few radios that will affiliate to the sites in the area. If all of those troopers are out of the area for any reason, they will unaffiliate from the local sites and you will lose the ability monitor them until someone returns to the area. In this case, the only thing that can be done is to monitor as many sites as you can because scanners do not have the ability to force an affiliation like an actual radio can.

Another possibility is that 2C is extremely slow and does not talk much, but you notice bursts of activity when Pueblo patches them with a very busy troop like 2B. When they release the patch, 2C goes back to being peaceful.

 

[chad_96]

Uniden released a firmware update in 2019 to add support for patching to some of the scanners that they still support, but to took them more than a decade to support it. I think the SDS100 should support patching, but I do not have the ability to test if the current firmware still works as intended.

One possible explanation for your experience is that rural troops like 2C might only have a handful of troopers on duty at any given time, which means that there are only a few radios that will affiliate to the sites in the area. If all of those troopers are out of the area for any reason, they will unaffiliate from the local sites and you will lose the ability monitor them until someone returns to the area. In this case, the only thing that can be done is to monitor as many sites as you can because scanners do not have the ability to force an affiliation like an actual radio can.

Another possibility is that 2C is extremely slow and does not talk much, but you notice bursts of activity when Pueblo patches them with a very busy troop like 2B. When they release the patch, 2C goes back to being peaceful.

Ok, I understand what you're saying.

One thing brought up is that they probably Patch things during "off-peak" hours, which I'm sure is true. However, I do know that the time frame shouldn't have been off-peak hours when I wasn't hearing anything. My honest opinion after hearing everyone's advice and input is that my area probably was patched to a more active TG as there may have been very limited on duty patrolmen, and was easier on the dispatcher to patch them over and handle it all on the TG. Again, just my opinion.

I have added 2 other troop dispatch TG's to monitor ( 2B/E and 2D) when I'm not hearing anything to monitor, and see if they patched them over to one of them.

I've also noticed today, and it may have just been a fluke, that when I moved my scanner where the reception became better, I started hearing CSP traffic, on the 2nd site that has more of their traffic on it and is a little further away. So, basically i mean better reception and started picking the TG up again due to that.

Thank You!

 

[mjm2001]

Since you have an SDS100 the radio monitors the control channel and will tell the radio to listen to a voice channel for the radio traffic of a specific talk group. Program in all the Talkgroups for CSP as the scanner doesn't scan the talk groups it simply listens to the control channel and when the control channel assigns a specific talk group to a voice channel the radio tunes to that channel to hear the traffic.

I actually have all of the Colorado talk groups programmed into my scanner and you would be amazed at how often you will receive a talk group from somewhere else in the state that either has a traveling unit or is patched for various reasons. As I travel to Walsenburg often and have two SDS100s it is amazing that you will hear CSP on the Trinidad Site but will not hear them on the Walsenburg site or vice versa. I will have one scanner hold on one site and let the other one scan the six sites I have programmed in, this is where you will see a lot of the differences Im talking about.

Setup a SDR on the sites it can hear and you will see a lot of traffic that shows up on one site but not another one that you would think is associated with that talk group. I also often see 2C traffic on the 2D talk group and 2A and 2B will also show up on the 2D talk group. There is a lot of patching depending on what is going on, for example if there is emergency traffic on one talk group all of the non emergency traffic will be pushed off on another talk group.

Also you really need the MAC Talk groups programmed in because there is a lot of mutual aid traffic especially between Pueblo and Colorado Springs or El Paso County. Another thing you might want to do is log all the unit Ids at this point I have over 8000 ids setup in my scanner and it really helps to see how many cars get shared by different agencies. Probation and Parole will use CSP unmarked cars and vice versa.

Have relatives in the Oklahoma Panhandle just south of the Colorado line and the only site I can hear down there is Mt Carmel, talk about a very quiet site. You can go hours without any traffic of any kind even as busy as 285 is between Texas and Colorado. I hear mostly Springfield traffic and almost no CSP traffic.

Hope this is helpful. If you have any other questions PM me and I will try to answer.