Fort Worth Regional Radio System

[SpotterKE5UUZ]

I live in Lake Worth Texas, which is a 2.5 square mile city just west of Fort Worth, In January Lake Worth switched from an analog system to digital. In conjunction with this change Lake Worth became a part of the Fort worth Regional Radio System P-25 trunking system. I have a Bearcat BCD436HP scanner that currently receives all of the Regional Radio System channels except Lake Worth I continue to update the Sentinel firmware as well the master HPDB on a recurring basis. I can see all of the participants in the P-25 system within the Ft Worth Regional Radio System in the RadioReference data base..
I can see all of the level 2 frequencies (about 16 less the encryption channels). These are all 800 series frequency and a part of the trunk. Frequencies that I believe both the Lake Worth Police and Fire channels 453.225000 and 460.25000 are originating from the dispatch office.
However when I check on-line in RadioRefernce.com data base Lake Worth is not reflected within the Ft Worth Radio System families of participant cities. Lake Worth is reflected in the frequency assigned within the Tarrant County Municipalities'. Since it is now digital no signal is transmitted to the scanner.
To further add to my confusion the Lake Worth Fire Dispatch is now managed though a central 'dispatch' center in Saginaw Texas. Saginaw now contracts to a number of fire departments in Tarrant County for the dispatching of all fire and EMS calls in a number of municipalities within Tarrant County. I do not see Saginaw or Lake Worth in any of the releases through the Uniden Sentinel data base update or any reference to Ft Worth Regional Radio System.
Is it safe to assume that until Lake Worth and Saginaw appear to be in the Regional Radio System and in-turn released to RadioReference.com and to Uniden (Sentinel)my scanner will never monitor those channels. I have reached out to both Scanner Master and Uniden in asking and seeking answers to these questions. Thank you in advice for any assistance you can provide me or anyone in this area who may be able to assist. I am a member of the local Lake Worth Citizens Police Academy as well as a member of CERT and a local storm spotter and R.A.C.E.S. participant. My update to a digital scanner was to better support my volunteer efforts,

 

[nd5y]

The only way something appears in the database is when somebody submits it.

Scanner Master and Uniden can't help you. They don't have anyting to do with the RR database.

That means somebody in the local area who knows what they are doing has to:
1. notice something changed
2. find exactly what was changed
3. submit the new frequencies, talkgroups or systems to the database and request that whatever is no longer uses be removed or marked deprecated.

If nobody notices, nobody cares or nobody is capable of doing the 3 things above, then the database doesn't get updated and over time it becomes useless.

 

[nd5y]

Is it safe to assume that until Lake Worth and Saginaw appear to be in the Regional Radio System and in-turn released to RadioReference.com and to Uniden (Sentinel)my scanner will never monitor those channels.

I missed this part the first time. It's only safe to assume that if you are one of those who blindly rely on the database. If you scan or search the system in open mode (or whatever the current Uniden terminology is) you will hear ALL unencrypted talkgroups, not just the ones in the database. Most trunked systems like FWRRS have a lot of talkgroups that are not in the database.

 

[AA5ST]

You might look at this thread:
https://forums.radioreference.com/t...m/357470-lake-worth-moving-fort-worth-rr.html

it will help but you will have to enter the talkgroups manualy.
RR has not updated the database yet

Michael Stuart- AA5ST
Azle, Texas - Parker County

 

[BenScan]

Lake Worth still has non-trunked, UHF channels that may be used, especially for fire when mutual aid is involved. See the link below. Saginaw is still on non-trunked, UHF channels, also described at the link below.
https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?ctid=2742

Lake Worth FD uses talkgroup 7412 on layer 2 of the FWRR, and PD uses 7424 on layer 2. There are some other talkgroups, but those are the primary channels for Lake Worth now.

I live in Lake Worth Texas, which is a 2.5 square mile city just west of Fort Worth, In January Lake Worth switched from an analog system to digital. In conjunction with this change Lake Worth became a part of the Fort worth Regional Radio System P-25 trunking system. I have a Bearcat BCD436HP scanner that currently receives all of the Regional Radio System channels except Lake Worth I continue to update the Sentinel firmware as well the master HPDB on a recurring basis. I can see all of the participants in the P-25 system within the Ft Worth Regional Radio System in the RadioReference data base..
I can see all of the level 2 frequencies (about 16 less the encryption channels). These are all 800 series frequency and a part of the trunk. Frequencies that I believe both the Lake Worth Police and Fire channels 453.225000 and 460.25000 are originating from the dispatch office.
However when I check on-line in RadioRefernce.com data base Lake Worth is not reflected within the Ft Worth Radio System families of participant cities. Lake Worth is reflected in the frequency assigned within the Tarrant County Municipalities'. Since it is now digital no signal is transmitted to the scanner.
To further add to my confusion the Lake Worth Fire Dispatch is now managed though a central 'dispatch' center in Saginaw Texas. Saginaw now contracts to a number of fire departments in Tarrant County for the dispatching of all fire and EMS calls in a number of municipalities within Tarrant County. I do not see Saginaw or Lake Worth in any of the releases through the Uniden Sentinel data base update or any reference to Ft Worth Regional Radio System.
Is it safe to assume that until Lake Worth and Saginaw appear to be in the Regional Radio System and in-turn released to RadioReference.com and to Uniden (Sentinel)my scanner will never monitor those channels. I have reached out to both Scanner Master and Uniden in asking and seeking answers to these questions. Thank you in advice for any assistance you can provide me or anyone in this area who may be able to assist. I am a member of the local Lake Worth Citizens Police Academy as well as a member of CERT and a local storm spotter and R.A.C.E.S. participant. My update to a digital scanner was to better support my volunteer efforts,

 

[letarotor]

I know this is an old thread but it's also one that is in reference to the city I live in, Lake Worth.

I've been having extremely poor reception that started up about a month ago on my SDS100. It's primarily on site 2 or layer 2 but it's also on site 1 or layer 1 but just not as bad. I had absolutely perfect reception up through a month ago & it has really took a turn for the worse.

On my detailed view on the scanner, the RSSI is around -102 dbm when there is no Transmissions and it will go to -120 dbm at times. Whenever a clear transmission comes through it may go to the the high-80 s - through about the mid -90s dbm. Most of the time during a transmission now it is almost to -100 dbm.

At first I thought it might be a site issue. But then when I started viewing the d - error count after adding that to my display I started wondering if it was my radio? I just got a new Unication G5 a few days ago, and while it definitely is a better receiver, I'm still having the same problems with it and when I look at the RSSI on even site1 it shows around -115 dbm. And it keeps dropping site 2 from scanning. So this makes me think this is more of a FWRRS issue possibly?

Has anyone else in the Lake Worth area had the same problem with horrible reception that just started a month ago? Has anybody noticed any change in their reception anywhere out in the Northwest Fort Worth area? I've got to figure out what's going on. I've tried everything I can think of short is getting on RadioReference here and asking about it. I'm legally blind and it's just a royal pain in the butt to try in keep up many times. But it's reached the point where I need to do this so I'm hoping somebody may know something that might be going on on the radio system or possibly somebody can report whether or not they are having the same issues.

And by the way, I did have a friend come out a little over a week ago with his SDS100 and the same exact 800 MHz antenna as I have and we did a comparison. His scanner was picking up everything was no issues and mine wasn't even stopping on the same exact talk group. I even parked my radio on the talk group and he did the same and I was getting unreadable traffic well his was coming in clear. I was just getting ready to ship my radio back to Uniden for warranty repair when the G5 came in and surprise me Wizards what looks like the same issue occurring so I held off.

I have proof read this as best as I can right now on my phone and I am using Google Voice to Text. So please excuse any errors if I missed them. I have a ton of pictures and videos I've taken over the last month if any of those may be needed . The one picture I did add was from my G5 earlier today and it is on site 1 which is the site I am getting pretty normally I'd say.

I just thought of a few other factors I want to throw in. I can pick up Johnson County site 4 with no problems 99% of the time. And that's with the same antenna and my scanner, the SDS100 scanner. But the layer 1 and layer 2 sites are the ones I'm having issues with. And it doesn't matter if I hook up to my Mast mounted antennas or used any other better antenna. I've even tried using the worst antenna I could like I used to have to do on the BCD436HP just to be able to get more of the simulcast traffic. So you might be able to understand why I am having so much trouble trying to determine if it is a radio who issue or a Fort Worth site issue. And the only people I know of that could possibly help would be anyone with knowledge Fort Worth Wireless Communications and if they're doing any work or somebody in the same area as me.

I'm going ahead and adding a link to my Google Photos account of a video I recently shot of the scanner having issues on a single programmed test talk group, Betty dispatch, and the only site in this test favorites list was site 2. It's not the best example or video but I've got so many I'm tired of trying to sign the best one. Notice the d - error count down where it usually will show you the battery voltage. That just stands for digital error. From what I understand, anything above 10 is not acceptable and you can see how high the count goes.

Example 1.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/YVHY6ByRRgCBCuXt6

Example 2.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Rut8kewTJ9LjnaRX8

Thanks for any possible help...

Brien (COMMSCAN)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[Harold]

I know this is an old thread but it's also one that is in reference to the city I live in, Lake Worth.

I've been having extremely poor reception that started up about a month ago on my SDS100. It's primarily on site 2 or layer 2 but it's also on site 1 or layer 1 but just not as bad. I had absolutely perfect reception up through a month ago & it has really took a turn for the worse.

On my detailed view on the scanner, the RSSI is around -102 dbm when there is no Transmissions and it will go to -120 dbm at times. Whenever a clear transmission comes through it may go to the the high-80 s - through about the mid -90s dbm. Most of the time during a transmission now it is almost to -100 dbm.

At first I thought it might be a site issue. But then when I started viewing the d - error count after adding that to my display I started wondering if it was my radio? I just got a new Unication G5 a few days ago, and while it definitely is a better receiver, I'm still having the same problems with it and when I look at the RSSI on even site1 it shows around -115 dbm. And it keeps dropping site 2 from scanning. So this makes me think this is more of a FWRRS issue possibly?

Has anyone else in the Lake Worth area had the same problem with horrible reception that just started a month ago? Has anybody noticed any change in their reception anywhere out in the Northwest Fort Worth area? I've got to figure out what's going on. I've tried everything I can think of short is getting on RadioReference here and asking about it. I'm legally blind and it's just a royal pain in the butt to try in keep up many times. But it's reached the point where I need to do this so I'm hoping somebody may know something that might be going on on the radio system or possibly somebody can report whether or not they are having the same issues.

And by the way, I did have a friend come out a little over a week ago with his SDS100 and the same exact 800 MHz antenna as I have and we did a comparison. His scanner was picking up everything was no issues and mine wasn't even stopping on the same exact talk group. I even parked my radio on the talk group and he did the same and I was getting unreadable traffic well his was coming in clear. I was just getting ready to ship my radio back to Uniden for warranty repair when the G5 came in and surprise me Wizards what looks like the same issue occurring so I held off.

I have proof read this as best as I can right now on my phone and I am using Google Voice to Text. So please excuse any errors if I missed them. I have a ton of pictures and videos I've taken over the last month if any of those may be needed . The one picture I did add was from my G5 earlier today and it is on site 1 which is the site I am getting pretty normally I'd say.

I just thought of a few other factors I want to throw in. I can pick up Johnson County site 4 with no problems 99% of the time. And that's with the same antenna and my scanner, the SDS100 scanner. But the layer 1 and layer 2 sites are the ones I'm having issues with. And it doesn't matter if I hook up to my Mast mounted antennas or used any other better antenna. I've even tried using the worst antenna I could like I used to have to do on the BCD436HP just to be able to get more of the simulcast traffic. So you might be able to understand why I am having so much trouble trying to determine if it is a radio who issue or a Fort Worth site issue. And the only people I know of that could possibly help would be anyone with knowledge Fort Worth Wireless Communications and if they're doing any work or somebody in the same area as me.

I'm going ahead and adding a link to my Google Photos account of a video I recently shot of the scanner having issues on a single programmed test talk group, Betty dispatch, and the only site in this test favorites list was site 2. It's not the best example or video but I've got so many I'm tired of trying to sign the best one. Notice the d - error count down where it usually will show you the battery voltage. That just stands for digital error. From what I understand, anything above 10 is not acceptable and you can see how high the count goes.

Example 1.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/YVHY6ByRRgCBCuXt6

Example 2.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Rut8kewTJ9LjnaRX8

Thanks for any possible help...

Brien (COMMSCAN)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

I remember reading some older threads, people reporting bad solder points in the antenna connection. Probably would void the warranty to check it out yourself. But something to think about.

 

[Jimco]

I remember reading some older threads, people reporting bad solder points in the antenna connection. Probably would void the warranty to check it out yourself. But something to think about.

If you're also having troubles with your Unication pager, I highly suspect it's not a hardware problem. The SDS100 is definitely going to have the problems you show with RSSI values where yours are.

If this is something that just started, they might have a tower that's out of service right now or something similar. I'm not an expert on these systems, but we had similar issues here in NE Tarrant County last year that lasted a couple of months.

 

[letarotor]

If you're also having troubles with your Unication pager, I highly suspect it's not a hardware problem. The SDS100 is definitely going to have the problems you show with RSSI values where yours are.

If this is something that just started, they might have a tower that's out of service right now or something similar. I'm not an expert on these systems, but we had similar issues here in NE Tarrant County last year that lasted a couple of months.

That is exactly what I'm having in Northwest Tarrant County right now and have been for 5 weeks. And I know what you're talking about last year over in the Northeast NETCO side of the system. While I didn't experience it myself, one of my friends over on that side of the loop did and it was given him all kinds of trouble for about a week or two.

I am having a problem with both my SDS100 and brand new Unication G5. So I'm hoping it is something the radio technicians are working on? I think that even overnight there may have been some kind of repair work done. Even though the problem is not gone, it does seem like on both radios it isn't as bad last night and today. I'm still getting an RSSI -100 dbm but hopefully it will get back to being around -85 to -75 dbm which it had been prior to 5 weeks ago.

Thank you for your reply!

Brian (COMMSCAN)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[Jimco]

I can tell you that the G5 is practically flawless on this system, so I wouldn’t worry too much.


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