First Student Rochester

[w2csx]

They are 4 talk groups. It says Colfax,Ridge,Main Bickford. I guess that could operate as two talk groups.
When you heard them,was that on the frequencies assigned to the licence?

 

[k2hz]

OK - it looks like we got Main on 0-01-036. I kept hearing 0-06-036 saying what sounded like "Pittsford" which made no sense if they were dispatching Rochester City units. That must be "Bickford".

I have not heard any dispatcher ID from 0-03-011 yet but they seem to be talking to units on the west side of Rochester like Jay and Maple Streets. That could be Colfax so I will see what I can catch tomorrow.

I think Ridge dispatches Irondequoit and Brighton and other suburban units that may not be active yet.

All this activity is on the Rochester/Pinnacle Hill Flower City LTR site.

I guess we found where First Student is now!

 

[scannerman5555]

what the Freq's for this system .......................................
please post them not the the talk groups ...................... thanks !

 

[k2hz]

what the Freq's for this system .......................................
please post them not the the talk groups ...................... thanks !

The Flower City LTR system is in the Database and has been for years. No need to repeat all the LCN info on here.

 

[w2csx]

Main St is a location. The numbers sound right me also.
So am wondering if they added the frequencies to the LCN

 

[w2csx]

the tags are wrong they read like this:

Main
Bickford
Ridge
Colfax

Seen by my eyes.

 

[GTR8000]

the tags are wrong they read like this:

Main
Bickford
Ridge
Colfax

Seen by my eyes.

Wrong how? We don't care what the actual radio displays, we have our own guidelines for the RR database as far as how alpha tags should appear.

 

[k2hz]

Let me repeat that they are operating on the Flower City Rochester (Pinnacle Hill) LTR system on the LCN frequencies for that system as listed in the RRDB. There are no new frequencicies and the frequencies in the new license for First Student are apparenly not in use.

The dispatcher on TG 0-01-36 has been heard identifying as and responding to calls directed to "Main Street"

The dispatcher on TG 0-03-011 has not been heard giving any positive identification so far.

The dispatcher on TG 0-06-036 has repeatedly identified as what appears to be "Bickford".

I have not yet heard any specific reference to Colfax or Ridge on any TG. So it appears that one TG has not
yet been heard and TG 0-03-011 is not yet been positively associated with either Ridge or Colfax.

 

[w2csx]

Wrong how? We don't care what the actual radio displays, we have our own guidelines for the RR database as far as how alpha tags should appear.

Really, you don't care what actually the radio says???? Since when is this the attitude of Radio Reference?

 

[GTR8000]

Really, you don't care what actually the radio says???? Since when is this the attitude of Radio Reference?

Nope, we do not care what the radio's display says. That is a long standing RR policy, I didn't just make it up. We have our own standards for how alpha tags are entered in the database, period. "Main" means absolutely nothing as a scanner's alpha tag to someone who isn't familiar with the area or agency. That's why we give them more descriptive alpha tags, such as 1stStdntMain and what have you.

This is straight out of the Database Administrator Handbook:

6.4. ALPHA TAGGING

6.4.1. GENERAL

Alpha tags are limited to 12 characters to ensure compatibility with older scanners that support only a 12-character alpha tag. Alpha tags shall be made as clear as possible given the space provided. Alpha tags shall generally indicate the agency and the channel number or usage to the extent that the information is known and can reasonably fit in 12 characters. Alpha tags shall use a mix of lower and upper case letters (the use of all capital letters shall be avoided). Alpha tags shall not necessarily be the alpha tag as shown on a radio transceiver programmed for a specific conventional or trunked system. Alpha tags shall be written to be useful to scanner users and furthermore they shall be clear to novice scanner users to the extent possible.

Alpha tags “stand alone” and are not a more specific classification under the category, subcategory and description hierarchy. The alpha tag itself shall only contain information that is also represented in the county/agency/system name, category, subcategory and/or description of the frequency or talkgroup.

If the frequency or talkgroup description is insufficient to provide enough information to create a unique alpha tag, then the frequency or talkgroup number shall be included as part of the alpha tag to ensure uniqueness.

 

[w2csx]

Okay understood about alpha tagging.

 

[k2hz]

Let me repeat that they are operating on the Flower City Rochester (Pinnacle Hill) LTR system on the LCN frequencies for that system as listed in the RRDB. There are no new frequencicies and the frequencies in the new license for First Student are apparenly not in use.

The dispatcher on TG 0-01-36 has been heard identifying as and responding to calls directed to "Main Street"

The dispatcher on TG 0-03-011 has not been heard giving any positive identification so far.

The dispatcher on TG 0-06-036 has repeatedly identified as what appears to be "Bickford".

I have not yet heard any specific reference to Colfax or Ridge on any TG. So it appears that one TG has not
yet been heard and TG 0-03-011 is not yet been positively associated with either Ridge or Colfax.

The TG 0-03-011 dispatcher identified as "Ridge" this morning. So the Colfax TG has not yet been heard.

 

[w2csx]

I heard a couple of times this morning on tg 0-01-042 has being main street. they are working accident so there is lot of chatter.

 

[k2hz]

I have been listening all morning and Ridge and Bickford are consistent TGs as I reported but I heard a single exchange of communications a little while ago that showed TG 0-01-042. The driver requested assistance in backing out of a narrow alley and dispatcher said "sending a driver from Colfax to help".

This is getting confusing until there is more consistent activity. I found that I can't always trust the TGIDs my PSR500 shows on the Flower City system during a single transmission. This Motorola system is different from normal LTR since it does not send any trunking data on idle channels. Data is only present when the specific channel is active with a voice call.

I have been monitoring the Flower City Bristol LTR and there is no activity by any users. LCNs 01 and 03 occasionaly show a station ID but there are no transmissions on LCN 2 and 4. I seldom heard any activity on this system in the past. I suspect First Student may have it available as a backup or for use when they operate south of Rochester.

 

[w2csx]

Is there anyway Unitracker can track this system? I still haven't heard Colfax or Ridge

 

[k2hz]

UT can work with the line output from a PSR scanner but it is limited in what data it captures. UT apparenly sees only processed data that the PSR sends it and it is not as versatile as when used with digital systems.

It should be of some value to at least capture a partial log of active TGs subject to the limitations of how Flower City sends the LTR data compared to regular LTR systems and how the PSR processes the data.

Early this moring there was a different dispatcher from yesterday on TG 0-03-011 and she was saying "Ridge to ..." whenever she called a unit.

I only heard 0-01-036 three or four times yesterday and I think it was the same bus each time. They were consistent with "Main St to xxxx" and "xxxx to Main Street".

"Bickford" was quite active this morning on 0-06-036. I have not yet heard anbody identify as Colfax, only that one transmission about sending a driver from Colfax.

 

[w2csx]

Bickford does allot of summer school camp trips and various others charter
jobs that Fist gets.

I have been monitoring for a bit now and am not sure, but colfax could be 0-05-027

 

[w2csx]

0-05-027 could be colfax, just heard that a couple times ...

 

[k2hz]

0-05-027 and 0-05-055 have been on there for a few years and it seemed to be transportation for wheelchair and special needs students in the past. I don't think that is First Student unless the TG has been reassigned.

Check the list of known TGs in the RRDB since there are existing bus and transportation users on there.

I heard 0-01-042 again a while ago but did not get any ID, just a driver asking if he should bring the bus back in.

 

[w2csx]

Thank K2HZ. 0-01-042 has been Main just about all day accept for the one you id'ed yesterday has shown one today.