El Paso Public Safety - When P25?

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Does anyone know when the Motorola El Paso PS system (SID 3802) will go to P25 voice? A friend of mine in Las Cruces (~40 bird miles away from El Paso) who listens to this system is thinking about getting a new scanner. I suggested that he might think about getting the digital BCD996XT instead of the analog BCT15X just because of rumors of El Paso going to Motorola P25 (not, heaven forbid, EDACs Provoice).... or at least wait until Uniden announces in a few weeks what their new scanner product is. There is no local P25 systems in Las Cruces to listen to.

Thank you for any info.
 
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Thank you.

I will advise my friend. I hope you do mean on the same Motorola TRS and P25.

BTW, do the Socorro City and Fabens FD have TGIDs on the El Paso 3802 TRS? Many moons ago, I've seen something either in the paper or on TV that those two FDs will be able to communicate directly with the El Paso FD. I do notice some TGIDs popping up on the 3802 system that are not in the RR.com database, and do not sound like FD-type talk.

And another question: How come I do not hear any i-calls on the El Paso system. Does El Paso not use I-calls? I have the i-call option turned on in my Unidens.

Thanks
 

CapSS92

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Yes I do mean the same. El Paso doesn't use I-calls. I don't think anyone knows how to use it. All volunteer fire departments have additional radio that can transmit on the El Paso system but they rarely,if ever, use them. Long term plans are for all of them to get on the EP system but Horizon FD is the only one that is currently on the system and they use only one talkgroup. You can tell it's them because they use Engine instead of Pumper. And their traffic is a lot more informal. I've picked up two tg's with spanish only traffic on it but I can't tell if someone piggy-backed or hacked into the EP system or it's just the scanner picking up something from somewhere else. Strange.
 

SQP

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Who's using the EDACs-City/County system?? I thought that was the ONLY thing going.
 
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I am not sure who is using the EP EDACs system,.. at least it is not the police or fire. CapSS92, perhaps you can clarify this again.

CapSS92, what is the Horizon City's TGID?
 

CapSS92

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I think it's some of the maintenance crews from the city but no one knows for sure. It's possibly a couple of radios and nothing more. As for the Horizon TG I'll look it up when I get home from work today.
 
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Thank you.

Another question:
What is "Impact" mean as in Impact talkgroups. As far as I can tell, Patrol talkgroups are essentially the dispatcher TGs...., true?

Another "another question": the SO use only two conventional channels? Hard to believe considering the vastness of El Paso County.

Thanks again
 

CapSS92

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Horizon FD TG is 6832. Impact are auxilary channels that PD uses so as to not tie up the patrol dispatch channel with chatter. Every side of town has it's Impact. Mission Valley has MV Impact, Pebble Hills Impact,etc, etc. They will sometimes run operations such as roadblocks or surveillance out of the Impact channels. Most of the time it's just minimal stuff. As for SO, they also handle some volunteer FD's on the main channel. I've heard them fight fires with regular deputy traffic in between transmissions. Not the safest way in my opinion but they seem to have a handle on it. And most of their chatter seems to be traffic stops so two channels seems to suffice for them. It's a big county but you have to remember that most of the small towns now have their own PD. Anthony, Socorro, and Horizon all have their departments and they are the biggest towns out there so SO doesn't have to worry so much about them. HTH.
 

Thunderbolt

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The city of El Paso, has officially petitioned the FCC for an STA, to implement Phase 1 of their new regional Project 25 TRS. This will be a multi-site, simulcast system, which is fully expandable to areas outside of El Paso City and County. This network is currently under construction and is being developed in cooperation with Texas Border Interoperability Project, and other governmental entities. The contract for the new system has been awarded to Motorola, and you may read more at:

FCC Application

Letter of Justification

Yours truly,

Ron
 
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Thunderbolt

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Thanks, Ron

APCO-25 digital voice, not doubt.

Yes, the entire system will be operating on ASTRO 7.5 or higher. The emission modes listed are 8K10F1E, which is APCO-25 digital voice with encryption, and 8K70D1W that is some sort of APCO-25 digital data mode. I wonder if they have plans to add Project 25 Phase-II modulation down the road?

Yours truly,

Ron
 

texasemt13

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Found a current document from the City of El Paso outlining the 2009 Federal Legislative Priorities and FY 2010 Appropriations Requests. You can view it here.

Page 10 begins the discussion of the acquisition of the new P25 radio system. The document hints that more than El Paso Public Safety will be on the new system. Page 11 starts to describe the 8 Phases of transition, of which 3-7 are unfunded so far. A few things of note:

- At least part will still be 800MHz (no mention of 700MHz yet, but it can't be discounted). A 6 channel 800MHz site will be outfitted at Mt. Franklin.
- A microwave link at Mt. Franklin linked to the master site.
- Phase II mentions a VHF site at Mount Franklin also that will serve as a link to the 800MHz system (P25 VHF linking to 800MHz P25) for the rural communities.
- A 15 channel simulcast site at the master site.
- Addition of OTAR and POP25 (Programming-Over-P25) capabilities to the master site.
- 5 consoles and 24 consolettes for the dispatch centers

Sites Mentioned:
- Prime Master Site
- Simulcast Remote Site (located at Master Site, specifically mentioned in Phase III)
- Mt. Franklin (microwave linked to master site)
- Dyer Street (new) (microwave linked to master site)
- 3 Hills (mentions this as a current site) (microwave link to master site)
- 4 new undetermined sites, to be finalized after engineering studies, all microwave linked to the master site

This looks like a minimum of 9 sites at 8 different locations (Master and Master Simulcast sharing a location).

The document also talks about a request (on page 16) to fund the demolition and subsequent rebuilding of the Customs and Border Protection Air Ops hangar and offices at El Paso Int'l Airport. It then goes on to discuss the benefits of the new hangar.
 

Thunderbolt

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I see that the FCC, issued an STA for the Mount Franklin Site, under the call sign of WQME546.


YF WQME546
El Paso, City of
[Applicant is a city government]
Control Point 1 - 8600 Montana, Suite C, El Paso TX 915-771-1058
(link)
07/15/2010 License Issued
Special Temporary Authority expires 01/11/2011
1 - Mt. Franklin, 3.9 Mi. N. of City Hall, 800 Zenith Rd., El Paso (EL PASO) TX (map)
866.0875 FB2 10p 5e 8K10F1E 8K70D1W
866.4375 FB2 10p 5e 8K10F1E 8K70D1W
866.9125 FB2 10p 5e 8K10F1E 8K70D1W
867.6375 FB2 10p 5e 8K10F1E 8K70D1W
868.1125 FB2 10p 5e 8K10F1E 8K70D1W
868.525 FB2 10p 5e 8K10F1E 8K70D1W

73s

Ron
 
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