DPS

[rattlerbb01]

I mean we've got a state park right here in Buffalo Gap..

They don’t usually use their callsigns on the park repeaters, those are a lot more informal chatter about checkouts, checkins, maintenance stuff and occasionally calls for service from park goers. So much of their work is quiet and in the background where they can be sneaky, hence why you don’t hear them much. Usually if something bad is going down or they are near an incident is your best chance to hear them talk.

 

[KTR722]

Why can't I hear both sides of the conversation. Only hear dispatch and it comes across on two of the apco channels at the same time

Keith, not sure about how your system works but on GATRRS in Austin/Central Texas, the DPS dispatcher will be simulcasting on several sites across the region but the field unit they are talking to will only respond on the local site they are currently connected to. If I am only monitoring Williamson County (GATRRS site 20) and have the DPS talk groups turned on, I will often hear only the dispatcher talking (usually to a state capitol unit) but if i switch over to GATRRS site 1 or 2 (Austin/Travis County) you can hear the field unit answering. I suspect that may be similar to what you are experiencing.

 

[n5rv]

I'm going to hate myself for stepping into this discussion.....

I am the radio tech for the Game Wardens on the west side of the state. Game Wardens use either DPS and/or the county channel in their AOR (area of responsibility). Our TPWD towers are only used for internal coordination and you will rarely hear them active. Some state parks have repeaters (San Angelo State Park as an example) because they cover many miles and portable line of site radios will not work. The smaller parks use portable radios and/or 25w mobile radios and use simplex line of sight channels. You may have a hard time picking them up if you are not in line of site of their radios.

As for Game Wardens, they do not wait around all day for a call from dispatch. They are more of an investigative agency and are independent from all other law enforcement agencies. But if they see you break a traffic law (or any other law), they will pull you over to investigate. They are state police just as DPS are, but have wildlife and environmental protection duties that other law enforcement agencies do not have.

Park Police Officers, just like the game wardens use the DPS or county channels. They are responsible for public safety and regulations in the state parks. But just like Game Wardens, they have full fledged law enforcement responsibilities.

As for radio IDs, the Game Wardens use four digit IDs. The first digit is the region, second is the district, third and forth are 04-30. XX04 is always the Captain. My ID is 1230, as I am in region 1, district 2.

There are only 2 radio techs tied to LE, myself in San Angelo, and the other is in Corpus Christi. We have a radio shop in Austin that works for all TPWD departments and is the lead for all communications for TPWD.

Hope this helps.

Jerry N5RV

 

[n5rv]

DPS has both repeaters and base stations. Base stations are strictly mobile to base communications (not mobile to mobile), and are line of site systems. You hear dispatch because your scanner is in line of site of the DPS tower (they are usually up 4-500 feet). You don't hear the mobile because your scanner is not in line of site of the mobile.

On repeaters, you will hear all traffic as they are for wide area beyond line of site communications.

Keith, there are books on radio communications. Might be a good idea to invest the time and money to find them and read them.

 

[Para078]

DPS has always used a split system. In the low band days they transmitted on 42.64 to 42.9. Then they did the same on high band. There was a tower in Paris that transmitted 159.21 to 155.64.

 

[riverradio68]

TPWD lives on 151.3550 & 159.3450 NAC 111, DCS 074 and several tones on the 345 repeater. Put your scanner in Tone search sometime. DPS repeaters operate in both half duplex and full duplex but they often use half duplex on the THP repeaters (159.21XX) to reduce interference. Most of the time you can hear the Base licenses (155.4450, 155.4525, 155.4600, 155.4675) in full duplex. The 155.5125 repeater is half duplex here in Region 1.

 

[charlieprimero]

I really enjoy this television show about Texas Game Wardens. It teaches me a lot about how they employ their radios and cell phones...

This is Animal Planet

www.animalplanet.com

If you torrent, almost all the old episodes are available here: Download lone star law Torrents | 1337x

 

[Ensnared]

When I was watching an episode of Lone Star Law while they were in Waco. I cannot recall, but he was using a four digit number for his identification. It was in the 7000 range of numbers, I cannot recall which one. Since I've been in Waco, I have only heard one transmission on a TP&W listed frequency.

 

[KeithJoseph]

TPWD lives on 151.3550 & 159.3450 NAC 111, DCS 074 and several tones on the 345 repeater. Put your scanner in Tone search sometime. DPS repeaters operate in both half duplex and full duplex but they often use half duplex on the THP repeaters (159.21XX) to reduce interference. Most of the time you can hear the Base licenses (155.4450, 155.4525, 155.4600, 155.4675) in full duplex. The 155.5125 repeater is half duplex here in Region 1.

How do I tone search?

 

[partyguy816]

How would you even begin to program this to listen to only DPS? On my Uniden SDS, I put in the zip code and I hear DPS talking off and on, both sides of the communications. When I'm trying to program favorites, I don't pick them up. There seems to be almost a full page of brazos county frequencies for DPS.

 

[kmartin]

you have to have your outdoor antenna very high up !
the higher the antenna the more mobile traffic you will
receive when i lived in Dallas i had my outdoor antenna
(a 6 element VHF high 152-156 MHz dipole antenna) 30 foot high and would only
receive mobile traffic about 10 miles or so away from my location
but when i raised this antenna to 70 feet i would receive mobile units
25+ miles well into Kaufman county !
I talked to a guy who was the radio site tech for DPS dallas region and he
told me that the only way i would be able to receive all the mobile traffic is to
have an antenna 200 feet tall ! so i hope this helps you
the higher the antenna the more mobile units you will receive since the mobile
units do not put out as much power as the dispatch and if i remember correctly
back then DPS Dallas used 155.4600 base frequency and 154.6800 as the
mobile frequency i realize these frequencies have changed but if the site uses a separate
mobile frequency you will need that frequency in your scanner as well as the base frequency

 

[partyguy816]

I see what you are talking about, but receiving both sides of the communication isn't my issue when I'm scanning by zipcode. I'm only using the 8" antenna and not my discone outside. However, when I do not scan by zip and I'm trying to program DPS in on a favorite, I don't hear anything. Something is getting lost in the programming or something.

 

[Para078]

I live east of Terrell. Heard a Lamar county trooper on one of the repeater channels do a traffic stop at the Lamar/Red River County line. Didn't look at the scanner quick enough because I was surprised to hear that. First time I've heard anything from that distance in awhile, just got a digital scanner. What did they do to the system to make it that good?
In the low band days you did good to hear traffic on 42.64 to 42.9 unless you were close to the car or had a good antenna. It improved when they went to high band with 159.21 on a repeater to 155.46 in Paris.

 

[nd5y]

I live east of Terrell. Heard a Lamar county trooper on one of the repeater channels do a traffic stop at the Lamar/Red River County line. Didn't look at the scanner quick enough because I was surprised to hear that. First time I've heard anything from that distance in awhile, just got a digital scanner. What did they do to the system to make it that good?

It was probably a band opening (skip).

 

[rbarker]

If they are going through a repeater, then that makes a huge difference. They will use whatever they need to reach the dispatcher. Sometimes the area they are in, they are not able to use their regular channel and have to go to a repeater.

 

[riverradio68]

And Texas Parks and wildlife does not use their radios I don't know anybody programs those frequencies they do not use them

They do actually but not as much as they used to. 151.35500 NAC 111 is common for Game Warden simplex and 159.3450 seems to have replaced the 159.2700 repeaters with primarily State Park operations. TPWD use a lot of simplex communications at 2 to 5 watts. They also use the local Sheriff dispatch channels and they have their own PTT app on their phones.

 

[riverradio68]

I live east of Terrell. Heard a Lamar county trooper on one of the repeater channels do a traffic stop at the Lamar/Red River County line. Didn't look at the scanner quick enough because I was surprised to hear that. First time I've heard anything from that distance in awhile, just got a digital scanner. What did they do to the system to make it that good?
In the low band days you did good to hear traffic on 42.64 to 42.9 unless you were close to the car or had a good antenna. It improved when they went to high band with 159.21 on a repeater to 155.46 in Paris.

In Terrell you can hear the 159.2175 NAC 127 repeater really well in Greenville which hears the 155.5125 NAC 162 repeater in Paris very well. Some Lamar County troops work off the Greenville tower as it has exceptional wide coverage.

If your scanning by Zip Code, turn that off as it reduces what you will hear. While it is a ton of work I strongly recommend writing your own files with all the repeaters used in your immediate and neighboring DPS regions. THEN you will hear the good stuff you might be missing out on.

 

[K9ROD]

"TFS primarily uses their travel channel (compact) and other interop channels. TFS in the east Texas area utilizes some of their local repeaters. They have an MOU with DPS but don't use their repeaters unless absolutely needed. "

TFS in South Central Texas use a Sat Radio due to distances and terrain when responding to wildland fires. It is the same type of system used by STRAC in this area.

 

[tyler3328]

"TFS primarily uses their travel channel (compact) and other interop channels. TFS in the east Texas area utilizes some of their local repeaters. They have an MOU with DPS but don't use their repeaters unless absolutely needed. "

TFS in South Central Texas use a Sat Radio due to distances and terrain when responding to wildland fires. It is the same type of system used by STRAC in this area.

since when does Task Force 4 use sat radio. I know that RFC has access but he never used it. When i was with them we always used Compact. We had a secret squirell channel for our task force that we would use every so often. Whenwe got within 10-20 miles of location we would start calling locals on vFire21

 

[lbashaw]

I feel compelled to chime in on this, having been in law enforcement in Texas for many years (part of which was DPS Radio Operator)...Although DPS and Parks & Wildlife have their respective communication systems, the vast majority of DPS troopers and game wardens also have radio frequencies programmed to the county in which they operate (or may have dual radios). Generally, you will find them on the county sheriff frequences in the county to which they are assigned. Of course, they still maintain their "state" frequencies as well. Further note...a significant amount of communications is conducted through MDT (Mobile Data Terminals). Many, if not all, of these terminals are "cellular" connected.