DFW Information

[KG5HHS]

Hello Everyone,
I have already posted in the forum with this post but figured I would just make this new thread, so I don't keep making several other ones pertaining to the DFW area. As mentioned in the other post, I will be frequenting this area (mostly Fort Worth) quite a bit, most likely moving here at some point. I will start by saying, I know absolutely nothing about the DFW area. I am from west texas and am only familiar with that area of the world. I'm sure I will ask some pretty obvious questions. I will be monitored several different systems and will ask questions about DFW in this thread. The help provided in the other thread has been amazing and I appreciate any information anyone can give.
the first agency I have questions about is Texas DPS in this area. I know DPS as a whole doesn't talk a whole lot on the radio. I have been monitoring the statewide VHF plan and haven't heard much. I have been digging through the Texas forum trying to find some information. What system(s) do DPS use? is there any consistent traffic? I'm currently listening to the FWRRS (Layer 2) now. I am listening for Tarrant County Sheriff, Constables, and TxDPS but not hearing any DPS traffic on this system. I am on and off picking up the Dallas P25/NCTCOG system and have only picked up one transmission from the DPS NTTA Dispatch. I'm a little confused on the DPS NTTA stuff. Are they the only ones that patrol the tollways? is this talkgroup only used for Tollway traffic or is it used for other DPS traffic? I also see a VHF channel (151.1300 PL136.5) is this used as a backup to the Dallas P25/NCTCOG system?
The other agency I have questions about is Tarrant Regional Water District. I understand they have a law enforcement division. Are they still using Azle systems, or have they moved on to FWRRS or another trunked system? Some of this information I found in this post mentioned a DMR system, but I haven't found any other information about it.

 

[letarotor]

Welcome to the Fort Worth area. As for DPS on the FWRRS, they are on the Johnson County simulcast site. It's really just a repeat of the Mineral Wells DPS traffic. There is also a TGID on the Parker County VHF TRS that is easier to listen to and carries the same traffic. These are so the local DPS units in those counties that might be having any issues hitting the VHF DPS frequencies can use them. One thing I've noticed is I don't seem to hear units on the site / TGID in Johnson County. I just hear the dispatch side of things. But to be fair, I haven't really listened to that TGID much in the last year or so. And I'm not constantly monitoring Parker County either but that DPS TGID on their system seems to be a lot more busy and I do often hear units as well.

At the end of last summer, the TWRD... Or was it TRWD... I can't remember right now, was still using the Azle PD old VHF frequencies. Azle abandoned those frequencies when they moved to the FWRRS. I had a great surveillance frequency for those game wardens that was a simplex frequency. I heard them all the time going back and forth between the courthouse and jail in Lake Worth as well as them doing surveillance on illegal hunters and other operations for a number of years. I believe that frequency was 153.845 but I would have to double check. The only bad thing is that I have not heard any traffic on that frequency in the last 3 years or so. I don't know if they just abandoned it or what but I always kept that one scanning because it was interesting to me to hear night time surveillances at 2:00 a.m. on people illegally hunting, fishing, and doing other things usually around Eagle Mountain Lake. Like I mentioned, it was a simplex use on the frequency so there was no repeater I ever heard used.

Every public safety user is far as law enforcement and fire, with the exception of the city of Hurst, is on the FWRRS in Tarrant County. There is one other FD, Rendon FD, that is still on a VHF frequency. I'm 90% sure Rendon is in Tarrant County but I would need to double check that again too and make sure they're not in Johnson County.

The VHF frequency you mentioned and the NTTA DPS traffic on the TRS you mentioned is all North Texas Toll Road Authority related. Other than traffic stops and wrecks and similar things, I never really hear the NTTA DPS guys doing any other stuff. I have found a few interesting TGIDs on that system in past years but they seem to either be patched in or maybe just not ever used except for very rarely. Sometimes you will hear some of the FWRRS interoperability TGIDs also on that system. You'll hear them on both systems at the same time. I think those get patched like that, at least in the past, so that some of the agencies, which used to include DPS, can all be heard and communicate with each other. I don't think that is really needed anymore at this point and whenever there is something interesting like a task force that is patrolling an area with the help of agencies like DPS, nowadays I just hear them using a few of the regular FWRRS Law Interop channels. I haven't heard them doing this since last year but periodically they will have a small task force with a few agencies helping in an area that might be having a lot of crime. They will sometimes have three or four of the interoperability channels they use kind of like one for dispatch, one for more tactical stuff, one for running license plates and DL checks, etc.

On the west side of Fort Worth, and possibly even all of Tarrant County, the DPS units seem to usually talk to Mineral Wells. They do talk to other areas but I hear them talking to Mineral Wells the most. I think 159.2125 and 159.210 are where I hear the majority of DPS traffic. But they still also use the 155.46 and other digital P25 frequencies for the area. And I do know that 155.46 is also used over in the Dallas side of the metroplex. But strangely, I don't hear them as often as I used to when they were analog. A buddy of mine that has his antenna up a lot higher is usually able to hear them with no trouble as well as other DPS stations I'm currently not hearing since they went digital. I'm in the process of putting up a 40-foot tower with a DPDProductions OmniX antenna so hopefully before too long I'll be able to hear those stations again.

I'm sure you already know this but FWPD, Arlington, and Grand Prairie PD are all encrypted now. Johnson County has encrypted all of their law enforcement traffic, with the exception of that DPS TGID, on their two sites. But thankfully the majority of the traffic is still in the clear. There are some other encrypted agencies or TGIDs but I'm glad we can still often hear most of the agencies. The FWRRS is growing and Ellis County recently got on it and before too long DPD will be on it as a different layer.

There's not a whole lot of users that are not trunked nowadays in the metroplex. Occasionally you can find some but as far as analog goes, the DPD channels for the most part are unencrypted analog for now and Dallas County SO is a mix of P25 digital and analog. Other counties that are both analog and digital, and I don't mean all of them use both, are Wise County, Palo pinto County, and Hill County. There is some encryption on some of those counties but they are still not TRS users just yet.

They do a roll call once a month on the Law IO Call TGID. There are some users on it that are not on the FWRRS at least yet. If you can catch one of those when they have it you can hear all of the agencies that have the capability to come over and use the interoperability channels. There's a good number of users and hopefully any future agencies will still be ones we can monitor.

I hope this helps a little. And if you move into the area, welcome to North Central Texas

Brian
COMMSCAN

 

[hiegtx]

Hello Everyone,
I have already posted in the forum with this post but figured I would just make this new thread, so I don't keep making several other ones pertaining to the DFW area. As mentioned in the other post, I will be frequenting this area (mostly Fort Worth) quite a bit, most likely moving here at some point. I will start by saying, I know absolutely nothing about the DFW area. I am from west texas and am only familiar with that area of the world. I'm sure I will ask some pretty obvious questions. I will be monitored several different systems and will ask questions about DFW in this thread. The help provided in the other thread has been amazing and I appreciate any information anyone can give.
the first agency I have questions about is Texas DPS in this area. I know DPS as a whole doesn't talk a whole lot on the radio. I have been monitoring the statewide VHF plan and haven't heard much. I have been digging through the Texas forum trying to find some information. What system(s) do DPS use? is there any consistent traffic? I'm currently listening to the FWRRS (Layer 2) now. I am listening for Tarrant County Sheriff, Constables, and TxDPS but not hearing any DPS traffic on this system. I am on and off picking up the Dallas P25/NCTCOG system and have only picked up one transmission from the DPS NTTA Dispatch. I'm a little confused on the DPS NTTA stuff. Are they the only ones that patrol the tollways? is this talkgroup only used for Tollway traffic or is it used for other DPS traffic? I also see a VHF channel (151.1300 PL136.5) is this used as a backup to the Dallas P25/NCTCOG system?
The other agency I have questions about is Tarrant Regional Water District. I understand they have a law enforcement division. Are they still using Azle systems, or have they moved on to FWRRS or another trunked system? Some of this information I found in this post mentioned a DMR system, but I haven't found any other information about it.

TX DPS does not patrol Dallas County, so you rarely hear DPS Dallas. The exceptions, which these days are rare, are when Dallas is communicating with officers in other counties, such as Kaufman or Hunt, and the dispatch console is set to simulcast on all the local channels. DPS 101, the helicopter based at Mesquite's airport, may show up on any of the local systems to assist with chases or subject searches. For agencies such as Mesquite or Garland, which are encrypted, you would hear DPS 101 on one of the interop TGIDs. For Dallas, Dallas County, and others that are not encrypted, you would hear 101 on the channel covering the area they are over. I'm not in range of the Tarrant & Johnson county layers of FWRRS, so I would not hear DPS if a unit was on one of those systems. Besides the Parker County system, you'll often hear Mineral Wells DPS dispatch on the Aledo Vhf repeater, 159.2100, NAC 141. As Brian has already noted, DPS patrols the tollways under contract with NTTA, and handles traffic enforcement & wrecks. I often hear the dispatcher telling the field units what they are seeing on the traffic surveillance cameras, such as how many vehicles in a wreck, or which lanes are blocked. They also occasionally spot wrong way drivers using the cameras, and pass location details & descriptions along, as well as where the vehicle may have exited, if no longer on the toll road.

 

[BenScan]

The Tarrant Regional Water District was on the 1/14/2020 City Council Agenda for approval to operate on the Fort Worth radio system (see below). That being said, I don't recall ever hearing them, so my guess is that they are encrypted and/or using another agency's channels and dispatching. It may be that the Tarrant SO, Azle, or another department is involved, but that is purely a guess on my part. They use to have a channel on 937.175 FMN with a tone of 97.4 that I would occasionally here during events.

TRWD Telecommunicator Job Posting

" The City of Fort Worth (City) maintains Agreements to provide access to its two-way radio system by other public safety agencies primarily in Tarrant, Johnson, Dallas, Denton, Ellis and Parker counties. In return for this access, external agencies help offset the City's expenses through the payment of annual fees. In addition, access to the Fort Worth Public Safety Radio System by multiple jurisdictions enhances the ability of emergency responders to communicate with one another when responding to incidents. In October 2019, the Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) approved a Communications System Agreement to operate on the City's Public Safety Radio System. TRWD will provide its own radios and dispatch center, but will utilize the City's radio infrastructure for its public safety communications. TRWD also approved a Radio Subscriber Support Agreement under which the City will install, configure, program, maintain and repair TRWD’s two-way radios. The City's performance of these additional services will not impact its ability to meet City department requirements. It will, however, provide additional external revenues to help support the Public Safety Communications System. The Subscriber Support Agreement will also ensure that the equipment supporting the users of the City's radio system is operating within manufacturer specifications, which is a critical requirement of the digital technology used with the City's Public Safety Communications System. Total annual revenue is estimated at $5,000.00 A Form 1295 is not required because: This contract will be with a governmental entity, state agency or public institution of higher education: Tarrant Regional Water District FISCAL INFORMATION / CERTIFICATION "

Fort Worth City Council Agenda

As Brian stated virtually everyone in Tarrant Co is now on the Fort Worth system. The exceptions being Rendon and Edgecliff fire departments and Blue Mound Police on 453.6375 NAC 310.

Happy Scanning!
Ben

"The other agency I have questions about is Tarrant Regional Water District. I understand they have a law enforcement division. Are they still using Azle systems, or have they moved on to FWRRS or another trunked system? Some of this information I found in this post mentioned a DMR system, but I haven't found any other information about it. "

 

[BenScan]

"The FY22 budget includes $175K for a two-way radio expansion project to ensure continuous communication throughout the District's service area, where cell phone service may not be available. "
TWRD Radio Expansion - Sep 2021 Agenda Item

 

[nd5y]

On the west side of Fort Worth, and possibly even all of Tarrant County, the DPS units seem to usually talk to Mineral Wells.

Back in the the day there was a repeater & base stations at the Hurst DPS office that covered most of Tarrant County. The repeater had a 900 MHz link to the Dallas DPS office. Several years ago they cancelled the license for it and removed the VHF antennas from the top of the tower. They also moved the Aledo repeater or changed the antenna so it favors the east and then I had a hard time receiving it in Mineral Wells. As far as I know Mineral Wells handles all of Tarrant County now.

 

[letarotor]

Back in the the day there was a repeater & base stations at the Hurst DPS office that covered most of Tarrant County. The repeater had a 900 MHz link to the Dallas DPS office. Several years ago they cancelled the license for it and removed the VHF antennas from the top of the tower. They also moved the Aledo repeater or changed the antenna so it favors the east and then I had a hard time receiving it in Mineral Wells. As far as I know Mineral Wells handles all of Tarrant County now.

I don't remember when the Hurst station was an operations and hated to hear it go quiet years ago. It first, on 159.0975 I believe it was, they were transmitting from the Aledo site once it became active. I guess it was within a few months they changed that to the current frequency you mentioned Tom. And you're right about it favoring east of Aledo also. I've noticed that myself. I don't see very many DPS vehicles in Tarrant County but I know they do have them of course. It's a lot different than when I grew up in Houston and DPS was all over the place down there. I seldom hear mobile units nowadays unless they're using one of the repeaters. I missed the old analog setup because I could hear so much more and of course more base stations also I can oftentimes still get Wichita Falls but not always. I really never hear Sulphur Springs, Waco, etc too often anymore.

Brian
COMMSCAN

 

[nd5y]

I seldom hear mobile units nowadays unless they're using one of the repeaters.

In this area the car-to-car channel is 155.445 simplex NAC 162 and they call it "mobile" or "1" or "mobile 1".

 

[KG5HHS]

Welcome to the Fort Worth area. As for DPS on the FWRRS, they are on the Johnson County simulcast site. It's really just a repeat of the Mineral Wells DPS traffic. There is also a TGID on the Parker County VHF TRS that is easier to listen to and carries the same traffic. These are so the local DPS units in those counties that might be having any issues hitting the VHF DPS frequencies can use them. One thing I've noticed is I don't seem to hear units on the site / TGID in Johnson County. I just hear the dispatch side of things. But to be fair, I haven't really listened to that TGID much in the last year or so. And I'm not constantly monitoring Parker County either but that DPS TGID on their system seems to be a lot more busy and I do often hear units as well.

At the end of last summer, the TWRD... Or was it TRWD... I can't remember right now, was still using the Azle PD old VHF frequencies. Azle abandoned those frequencies when they moved to the FWRRS. I had a great surveillance frequency for those game wardens that was a simplex frequency. I heard them all the time going back and forth between the courthouse and jail in Lake Worth as well as them doing surveillance on illegal hunters and other operations for a number of years. I believe that frequency was 153.845 but I would have to double check. The only bad thing is that I have not heard any traffic on that frequency in the last 3 years or so. I don't know if they just abandoned it or what but I always kept that one scanning because it was interesting to me to hear night time surveillances at 2:00 a.m. on people illegally hunting, fishing, and doing other things usually around Eagle Mountain Lake. Like I mentioned, it was a simplex use on the frequency so there was no repeater I ever heard used.

Every public safety user is far as law enforcement and fire, with the exception of the city of Hurst, is on the FWRRS in Tarrant County. There is one other FD, Rendon FD, that is still on a VHF frequency. I'm 90% sure Rendon is in Tarrant County but I would need to double check that again too and make sure they're not in Johnson County.

The VHF frequency you mentioned and the NTTA DPS traffic on the TRS you mentioned is all North Texas Toll Road Authority related. Other than traffic stops and wrecks and similar things, I never really hear the NTTA DPS guys doing any other stuff. I have found a few interesting TGIDs on that system in past years but they seem to either be patched in or maybe just not ever used except for very rarely. Sometimes you will hear some of the FWRRS interoperability TGIDs also on that system. You'll hear them on both systems at the same time. I think those get patched like that, at least in the past, so that some of the agencies, which used to include DPS, can all be heard and communicate with each other. I don't think that is really needed anymore at this point and whenever there is something interesting like a task force that is patrolling an area with the help of agencies like DPS, nowadays I just hear them using a few of the regular FWRRS Law Interop channels. I haven't heard them doing this since last year but periodically they will have a small task force with a few agencies helping in an area that might be having a lot of crime. They will sometimes have three or four of the interoperability channels they use kind of like one for dispatch, one for more tactical stuff, one for running license plates and DL checks, etc.

On the west side of Fort Worth, and possibly even all of Tarrant County, the DPS units seem to usually talk to Mineral Wells. They do talk to other areas but I hear them talking to Mineral Wells the most. I think 159.2125 and 159.210 are where I hear the majority of DPS traffic. But they still also use the 155.46 and other digital P25 frequencies for the area. And I do know that 155.46 is also used over in the Dallas side of the metroplex. But strangely, I don't hear them as often as I used to when they were analog. A buddy of mine that has his antenna up a lot higher is usually able to hear them with no trouble as well as other DPS stations I'm currently not hearing since they went digital. I'm in the process of putting up a 40-foot tower with a DPDProductions OmniX antenna so hopefully before too long I'll be able to hear those stations again.

I'm sure you already know this but FWPD, Arlington, and Grand Prairie PD are all encrypted now. Johnson County has encrypted all of their law enforcement traffic, with the exception of that DPS TGID, on their two sites. But thankfully the majority of the traffic is still in the clear. There are some other encrypted agencies or TGIDs but I'm glad we can still often hear most of the agencies. The FWRRS is growing and Ellis County recently got on it and before too long DPD will be on it as a different layer.

There's not a whole lot of users that are not trunked nowadays in the metroplex. Occasionally you can find some but as far as analog goes, the DPD channels for the most part are unencrypted analog for now and Dallas County SO is a mix of P25 digital and analog. Other counties that are both analog and digital, and I don't mean all of them use both, are Wise County, Palo pinto County, and Hill County. There is some encryption on some of those counties but they are still not TRS users just yet.

They do a roll call once a month on the Law IO Call TGID. There are some users on it that are not on the FWRRS at least yet. If you can catch one of those when they have it you can hear all of the agencies that have the capability to come over and use the interoperability channels. There's a good number of users and hopefully any future agencies will still be ones we can monitor.

I hope this helps a little. And if you move into the area, welcome to North Central Texas

Brian
COMMSCAN

Thank you for all the great information. I have noticed that those area's are encrypted. As far as FWPD goes, I've noticed some of the talkgroups aren't encrypted. Special Events, Code Blue (I would presume to be like a citizens on patrol type thing), & Multigroups... What are those used for? I'm also curious about the "FWPD All Call" TGID 7325 where it says "priority call broadcasts", is that where they just drop high priority calls for all to know about or is there more to it than that?

TX DPS does not patrol Dallas County, so you rarely hear DPS Dallas. The exceptions, which these days are rare, are when Dallas is communicating with officers in other counties, such as Kaufman or Hunt, and the dispatch console is set to simulcast on all the local channels. DPS 101, the helicopter based at Mesquite's airport, may show up on any of the local systems to assist with chases or subject searches. For agencies such as Mesquite or Garland, which are encrypted, you would hear DPS 101 on one of the interop TGIDs. For Dallas, Dallas County, and others that are not encrypted, you would hear 101 on the channel covering the area they are over. I'm not in range of the Tarrant & Johnson county layers of FWRRS, so I would not hear DPS if a unit was on one of those systems. Besides the Parker County system, you'll often hear Mineral Wells DPS dispatch on the Aledo Vhf repeater, 159.2100, NAC 141. As Brian has already noted, DPS patrols the tollways under contract with NTTA, and handles traffic enforcement & wrecks. I often hear the dispatcher telling the field units what they are seeing on the traffic surveillance cameras, such as how many vehicles in a wreck, or which lanes are blocked. They also occasionally spot wrong way drivers using the cameras, and pass location details & descriptions along, as well as where the vehicle may have exited, if no longer on the toll road.

Thanks for the info! I would love to hear DPS 101. Do they go up pretty often? I've noticed the "DPS Aircraft" frequency (156.2175MHz N162) in the statewide channel plan. Does this frequency get used much?

The Tarrant Regional Water District was on the 1/14/2020 City Council Agenda for approval to operate on the Fort Worth radio system (see below). That being said, I don't recall ever hearing them, so my guess is that they are encrypted and/or using another agency's channels and dispatching. It may be that the Tarrant SO, Azle, or another department is involved, but that is purely a guess on my part. They use to have a channel on 937.175 FMN with a tone of 97.4 that I would occasionally here during events.

TRWD Telecommunicator Job Posting

" The City of Fort Worth (City) maintains Agreements to provide access to its two-way radio system by other public safety agencies primarily in Tarrant, Johnson, Dallas, Denton, Ellis and Parker counties. In return for this access, external agencies help offset the City's expenses through the payment of annual fees. In addition, access to the Fort Worth Public Safety Radio System by multiple jurisdictions enhances the ability of emergency responders to communicate with one another when responding to incidents. In October 2019, the Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) approved a Communications System Agreement to operate on the City's Public Safety Radio System. TRWD will provide its own radios and dispatch center, but will utilize the City's radio infrastructure for its public safety communications. TRWD also approved a Radio Subscriber Support Agreement under which the City will install, configure, program, maintain and repair TRWD’s two-way radios. The City's performance of these additional services will not impact its ability to meet City department requirements. It will, however, provide additional external revenues to help support the Public Safety Communications System. The Subscriber Support Agreement will also ensure that the equipment supporting the users of the City's radio system is operating within manufacturer specifications, which is a critical requirement of the digital technology used with the City's Public Safety Communications System. Total annual revenue is estimated at $5,000.00 A Form 1295 is not required because: This contract will be with a governmental entity, state agency or public institution of higher education: Tarrant Regional Water District FISCAL INFORMATION / CERTIFICATION "

Fort Worth City Council Agenda

As Brian stated virtually everyone in Tarrant Co is now on the Fort Worth system. The exceptions being Rendon and Edgecliff fire departments and Blue Mound Police on 453.6375 NAC 310.

Happy Scanning!
Ben

"The other agency I have questions about is Tarrant Regional Water District. I understand they have a law enforcement division. Are they still using Azle systems, or have they moved on to FWRRS or another trunked system? Some of this information I found in this post mentioned a DMR system, but I haven't found any other information about it. "

Thanks for replying. I saw that Job posting! it looks very interesting. I'll have to keep an ear out for them during roll call.

In this area the car-to-car channel is 155.445 simplex NAC 162 and they call it "mobile" or "1" or "mobile 1".

I hear that one every now and again down here in West Texas (San Angelo). It looks like the Car to Car frequencies are just the base frequencies with a NAC of 162. At least that's how my brain is processing that information, I' not sure if it's like that for the whole state.

 

[hiegtx]

Thanks for the info! I would love to hear DPS 101. Do they go up pretty often? I've noticed the "DPS Aircraft" frequency (156.2175MHz N162) in the statewide channel plan. Does this frequency get used much?

DPS 101 is pretty active. They work a lot with Garland & Mesquite on vehicle & suspect searches, generally using the interop TGIDs since those cities are fully encrypted. (101 is not encrypted.) You'll also, at times, hear them on vehicle pursuits. The copter will usually have one radio connected with the 'lead' agency (the one that started the chase). For chases that get into Dallas (but started in one of the other cities), generally 101 will also be talking to Dallas PD (whatever division the suspect vehicle is in), and also communicating with Dallas County S.O. on their channel. You might hear the DPS officer talking on all three radio channels at the same time. For a chase that continues out of Dallas County, 101 will drop agencies that are not involved, & instead bring up agencies covering the area where the suspect vehicle currently is.

I only occasionally hear the 'DPS Aircraft' channel in use, most often with the pilot talking back to their base at the Mesquite airport. One of the aircraft monitoring apps, such as Flightradar24, comes in handy in seeing if DPS 101, or Dallas Air One is up. I also check that app occasionally if CareFlite, or one of the other air medical copters, are responding to incidents.

 

[Gopher]

DPS 101 is pretty active. They work a lot with Garland & Mesquite on vehicle & suspect searches, generally using the interop TGIDs since those cities are fully encrypted. (101 is not encrypted.) You'll also, at times, hear them on vehicle pursuits. The copter will usually have one radio connected with the 'lead' agency (the one that started the chase). For chases that get into Dallas (but started in one of the other cities), generally 101 will also be talking to Dallas PD (whatever division the suspect vehicle is in), and also communicating with Dallas County S.O. on their channel. You might hear the DPS officer talking on all three radio channels at the same time. For a chase that continues out of Dallas County, 101 will drop agencies that are not involved, & instead bring up agencies covering the area where the suspect vehicle currently is.

I only occasionally hear the 'DPS Aircraft' channel in use, most often with the pilot talking back to their base at the Mesquite airport. One of the aircraft monitoring apps, such as Flightradar24, comes in handy in seeing if DPS 101, or Dallas Air One is up. I also check that app occasionally if CareFlite, or one of the other air medical copters, are responding to incidents.

ADS-B Exchange is good for tracking military aircraft also.

 

[KG5HHS]

DPS 101 is pretty active. They work a lot with Garland & Mesquite on vehicle & suspect searches, generally using the interop TGIDs since those cities are fully encrypted. (101 is not encrypted.) You'll also, at times, hear them on vehicle pursuits. The copter will usually have one radio connected with the 'lead' agency (the one that started the chase). For chases that get into Dallas (but started in one of the other cities), generally 101 will also be talking to Dallas PD (whatever division the suspect vehicle is in), and also communicating with Dallas County S.O. on their channel. You might hear the DPS officer talking on all three radio channels at the same time. For a chase that continues out of Dallas County, 101 will drop agencies that are not involved, & instead bring up agencies covering the area where the suspect vehicle currently is.

I only occasionally hear the 'DPS Aircraft' channel in use, most often with the pilot talking back to their base at the Mesquite airport. One of the aircraft monitoring apps, such as Flightradar24, comes in handy in seeing if DPS 101, or Dallas Air One is up. I also check that app occasionally if CareFlite, or one of the other air medical copters, are responding to incidents.

ADS-B Exchange is good for tracking military aircraft also.

I haven't really used ADS-B exchange or anything other than FlightAware as I have a feeder for them. I will definitely be setting it up once I can get to a suitable location.

If I remember correctly, I think I read a post a while back saying that "DPS 101" is just the callsign DPS uses for its helicopters. Is that the callsign for the particular helicopter in DFW? I'm showing N844TX as the helicopter based out of mesquite. Doing some research on the Texas DPS site, it says they operate 15 helicopters. I would think there is more callsigns that just that one.

I'm probably going to go down the rabit hole on this next one. I'm seeing Dallas PD "Air One" tail numbers to be N1510L & N1511L and Fort Worth PD "Air 1" tail numbers to be N206FW, N911FW, & N505FW. Are all of these helicopters active or are some used as a reserve? Do either department have more than one up at a time? Do either one of these have a calling channel or do they just happen to pop up on a given channel that is in use for whatever incident. Are the helicopters for FWPD ever heard on PD channels due to encryption? Also, Other than Tower and Helicopter Air2Air (123.025mhz) are there any other frequencies you will hear these helicopters on?

I pretty much have all of the CareFlite, Air Evac, and Teddy Bear Transport tail numbers (Used for ADS-B). I'm having trouble obtaining all of PHI's tail numbers. I'm seeing that PHI 2, 3, 8, & 10 are in the area but only have tail numbers N465P, N433P, N330PH. Does anyone happen to know the other tail number?

I also did some research on news helicopters. I found the "Media" section under Dallas County and found those frequencies to be interesting. I'm not sure how old those are but it seems like at one point the DFW area had 4 news helicopters:
- KDFW (Fox 4) "Sky 4" using 166.2500 for Eng/Sky 4 & 450.3125 PL131.8 for New desk/Sky 4.
- KXAS (NBC 5) "Chopper 5" using 450.1125 for Chopper 5/News Reporter & 450.1875 PL114.8 for News desk/Chopper 5.
- WFAA (ABC 8) "Telacopter 8" using 161.7000 PL146.2 for ENG/Telecopter 8 & 450.0875 PL156.7 for News desk/Telecopter 8.
- KTVT (CBS 11) "Chopper 11" using 450.5125 PL103.5 for News desk/Chopper 11.
During my research, I found where Sky Helicopters that they are doing ENG with Fox4, ABC8, and CBS 11 using a R66 with the tail number N611HD. I also found where NBC5 is using a R44 with tail number N801TV called "Texas Sky Ranger". Does anyone know if these frequencies are correct or active?

Are there any other Law Enforcement, Fire, Medical, or News helicopters in this area that I havent found yet?

Also, in the media section in the Dallas County page, I noticed a section for Traffic Reports, what are these used for?

The FWRRS is growing and Ellis County recently got on it and before too long DPD will be on it as a different layer.

I see where Dallas PD is also using the Dallas City Local Government Motorola type II trunking system. is this system patched with the UHF conventional channels listed in the database? Is this trunking system in place until DPD moves over to the FWRRS? Is there any other information about them switching over?

 

[hiegtx]

I haven't really used ADS-B exchange or anything other than FlightAware as I have a feeder for them. I will definitely be setting it up once I can get to a suitable location.

If I remember correctly, I think I read a post a while back saying that "DPS 101" is just the callsign DPS uses for its helicopters. Is that the callsign for the particular helicopter in DFW? I'm showing N844TX as the helicopter based out of mesquite. Doing some research on the Texas DPS site, it says they operate 15 helicopters. I would think there is more callsigns that just that one.

DPS 101 is the radio call sign used for the Mesquite based unit. I've seen at least 3 tail numbers, registered to the state, fly out of Mesquite, but there is only one up at any given time. I might be wrong, but I think that the DFW area bird is called "101" because this is Tx DPS Region One.

I'm probably going to go down the rabit hole on this next one. I'm seeing Dallas PD "Air One" tail numbers to be N1510L & N1511L and Fort Worth PD "Air 1" tail numbers to be N206FW, N911FW, & N505FW. Are all of these helicopters active or are some used as a reserve? Do either department have more than one up at a time? Do either one of these have a calling channel or do they just happen to pop up on a given channel that is in use for whatever incident. Are the helicopters for FWPD ever heard on PD channels due to encryption? Also, Other than Tower and Helicopter Air2Air (123.025mhz) are there any other frequencies you will hear these helicopters on?

I can't speak to exactly what Fort Worth does, as I'm out of range, Dallas has one other helicopter, a Bell 407 recently donated to the city by Ross Perot, Jr. No idea, yet, what it's tail number might be. So far, I have not seen it in the air, nor on the ground outside the hanger at Dallas Executive Airport. I'm fairly near that airport, and often see Air One, as well as various CareFlite and other copters, fly overhead, usually following along west of I-35E. Possibly the new bird is still getting the needed equipment installed (radios, the FLIR, camera, etc). Normally, Dallas only has one in the air at a time, and that is not full time. Whichever copter is up uses the Air One call. You'll hear them on the patrol division they are responding with. For certain other operations, such as assisting on a surveillance, or monitoring an event such as a possible protest, you might hear them on DPD Ch 12. You generally will see a post on Twitter when Air One is responding to a specific incident in a given patrol division.

(The above was earlier today.)

I pretty much have all of the CareFlite, Air Evac, and Teddy Bear Transport tail numbers (Used for ADS-B). I'm having trouble obtaining all of PHI's tail numbers. I'm seeing that PHI 2, 3, 8, & 10 are in the area but only have tail numbers N465P, N433P, N330PH. Does anyone happen to know the other tail number?

I have not tried to collect PHI tail numbers, but I've seen at least three (at one time) at the Desoto heliport. Apparently, they have hanger space there; I have seen them in that space.

I also did some research on news helicopters. I found the "Media" section under Dallas County and found those frequencies to be interesting. I'm not sure how old those are but it seems like at one point the DFW area had 4 news helicopters:
- KDFW (Fox 4) "Sky 4" using 166.2500 for Eng/Sky 4 & 450.3125 PL131.8 for New desk/Sky 4.
- KXAS (NBC 5) "Chopper 5" using 450.1125 for Chopper 5/News Reporter & 450.1875 PL114.8 for News desk/Chopper 5.
- WFAA (ABC 8) "Telacopter 8" using 161.7000 PL146.2 for ENG/Telecopter 8 & 450.0875 PL156.7 for News desk/Telecopter 8.
- KTVT (CBS 11) "Chopper 11" using 450.5125 PL103.5 for News desk/Chopper 11.
During my research, I found where Sky Helicopters that they are doing ENG with Fox4, ABC8, and CBS 11 using a R66 with the tail number N611HD. I also found where NBC5 is using a R44 with tail number N801TV called "Texas Sky Ranger". Does anyone know if these frequencies are correct or active?

Sky has more birds than just those two. NBC5 wanted a dedicated copter, and pays extra for that. Quite often, on a 'large' breaking news event, the same copter may be feeding video to more than one station, but at times, one of the stations will use one exclusively for a story

Are there any other Law Enforcement, Fire, Medical, or News helicopters in this area that I havent found yet?

Children's Medical also has a copter, but I have not tried to determine their tail number. Med Trans, (headquartered in Denton) is occasionally active.

Also, in the media section in the Dallas County page, I noticed a section for Traffic Reports, what are these used for?

'Back in the day' (before 9/11) there were several traffic reporting services operating in the area, that used helicopters to spot traffic jams & suggest alternate routes. Nowadays, they are using the traffic cameras as well as listener reports, plus tweets from public safety agencies. I don't think any of them actually have field units, air or ground, anymore.

I see where Dallas PD is also using the Dallas City Local Government Motorola type II trunking system. is this system patched with the UHF conventional channels listed in the database? Is this trunking system in place until DPD moves over to the FWRRS? Is there any other information about them switching over?

You will occasionally see specific TGIDs on the Local Gov't system patched over to the UHF channels DPD uses. DPD uses the system for training exercises, and occasionally, the deployment talkgroups are active. There are also a few specific DPD related talkgroups on the Dallas P25/NCTCOG system. DPD Channel 12, Special Operations and Fair Park, is patched to TGID 6090 on the P25 system.

 

[nd5y]

DPS helicopter callsigns are the region number plus 01, or maybe I have that backwards.
The Lubbuck one was 105 or 501, I forgot which.

 

[Harold]

Fort Worth PD Air 1 Is a brand new Bell 505, it has been in service about one year now. N206FW is probably retired, N911FW is still in service but has very few bells and whistles, recently heard one of the flight officers telling ground units he was using binoculars and a Mapsco. FWPD Air 1 has their own talkgroup on the FWRRS, I think they stay there and get patched to the division in which they are working. You can very often hear them working with outside agencies on some of the Interop talkgroups.

Don't think PHI Med 8 is operating in the area any longer.

The shared Sky Helicopter used by KTVT, KDFW and WFAA can be one of several N numbers, they seem to switch them out regularly.

Air Evac has a presence all around DFW, but no bases inside the metro area. A lot of East Texas medevacs often transition into the area as well.

Ditto on the DPS 101 being Region 1, but the N number changes often, N90TX was here for a long time.

 

[KG5HHS]

The shared Sky Helicopter used by KTVT, KDFW and WFAA can be one of several N numbers, they seem to switch them out regularly.

Do these helicopters use any of the frequencies listed in the media section currently or are they no longer used since its all one company?

Air Evac has a presence all around DFW, but no bases inside the metro area. A lot of East Texas medevacs often transition into the area as well.

are there any other frequencies used for flight coordination with all the medevacs in the area other than air2air? I know the STRAC in San Antonio uses VMED29 to coordinate all of those guys. I would think something like that is in use as the DFW air space is quite a bit bigger than San Antonio.

 

[nd5y]

are there any other frequencies used for flight coordination with all the medevacs in the area other than air2air?

Careflight dispatch used to coordinate and flight follow all medical helicopters in the metroplex on these frequencies. I don't know if that is still the case.

131.45000	WMZ3	BM	CSQ	CareFlt Dal	CareFlite Dallas County	AM	EMS Dispatch
131.67500	WNA4	BM	CSQ	CareFlt FtW	CareFlite Tarrant County	AM	EMS Dispatch

 

[nd5y]

Do these helicopters use any of the frequencies listed in the media section currently or are they no longer used since its all one company?

FAA has a low level helicopter route chart that the traffic reporting aircraft used. They coordinated on 123.025 and 122.775 if I remember right. I don't know if those are still used.

 

[letarotor]

Primarily the aero medical helicopter use 131.675 for the Fort Worth area and 131.45 for the Dallas area for coordination with CareFlite. 123.025 is an air to air for them nowadays. I don't hear the media chopper(s) or DPD using 123.025 very much anymore like they used to. Primarily just the medical helos.

On the topic of the media birds, they do still use their 450 MHz frequencies. Depending upon who is using the helicopter at the time, you will hear them on their respective frequencies.

Brian
COMMSCAN

 

[Gopher]

Regarding PHI helicopters, I hear Med 65 in Grayson county a bit but it does not show up on ADS-B.