Johnson county

[Dfwlistener]

Hello,
I recently bought myself a SDS100 to be able to listen to digital communications. I transitioned from a BCS325P2 because it didn't offer me enough programming space and I hated the small display.

Now that I have the real deal I find myself to be a little disappointed about the listening.

I live right in the middle of Johnson County. As I read on here already most agencies on the FWRRS are encrypted and my mind is already in peace with that idea. However there are, at least on the database, several agencies that are supposed to be in this system and in clear.
Small towns like Joshua, Venus, Keene, Rio Vista and others are not encrypted and they allegedly moved from a standard system to the simulcast.

Where I live the signal for the JCSimulcast is very strong, but the only activity I get is Mansfield police (clear), Burleson (encrypted), Johnson County Sheriff's office (encrypted) and rarely Cleburne (encrypted).

I tried to monitor the other agencies on the analog frequencies but they seem to be dead. However they do not communicate on the simulcast. Am I missing something?

Thanks

 

[hiegtx]

Hello,
I recently bought myself a SDS100 to be able to listen to digital communications. I transitioned from a BCS325P2 because it didn't offer me enough programming space and I hated the small display.

Now that I have the real deal I find myself to be a little disappointed about the listening.

I live right in the middle of Johnson County. As I read on here already most agencies on the FWRRS are encrypted and my mind is already in peace with that idea. However there are, at least on the database, several agencies that are supposed to be in this system and in clear.
Small towns like Joshua, Venus, Keene, Rio Vista and others are not encrypted and they allegedly moved from a standard system to the simulcast.

Where I live the signal for the JCSimulcast is very strong, but the only activity I get is Mansfield police (clear), Burleson (encrypted), Johnson County Sheriff's office (encrypted) and rarely Cleburne (encrypted).

I tried to monitor the other agencies on the analog frequencies but they seem to be dead. However they do not communicate on the simulcast. Am I missing something?

Thanks

I presume you are referring to these talkgroups?

My understanding is that all of the law enforcement agencies in Johnson County went encrypted on FWRRS. However, that is not reflected for those specific TGIDs. I cannot monitor Johnson County from home, so I can't verify this either way.

Note that I have highlighted "Law Talk". Make sure that you have that service type enabled in your profile (in Sentinel) and in the scanner. When first shipped, & when Sentinel is first installed, only the Dispatch service types for Public Safety are enabled. In other words, Law Dispatch, Fire Dispatch, EMS Dispatch, & Multi Dispatch. You should also enable the Talk and Tac service types (Law Tac, Law Talk, Fire Tac, Fire Talk, etc).

Enable the Tac & Talk service types & see if you start hearing them. If you see them popping up briefly, but flagged as encrypted, please submit that to the database so that it can be updated. You probably can also hear the Ellis County Simulcast, if that interests you, as well as Parker County and other adjacent agencies.

 

[Harold]

All Law Enforcement agencies, except the rebroadcast DPS talkgroup, in Johnson County are encrypted. The database is created on user submissions, those noted frequencies should be depreciated.

 

[Dfwlistener]

Thank you for your answers.

So the SDS100 comes with the updating database. Not sure where they take their info but I assume it is somewhat correct.

I am ok if the communications are encrypted (kinda) but at least I see the department communicating (it's silent and it shows ENCRY on the top right corner of the display).

The problem I have is I don't see most of the departments who are supposed to be on the system and I can't even receive them in analog.

Yes I have enabled law talk and tac. Also interop and ems to make sure I'm not missing out.

As I said the Johnson county frequency is strong and I receive Mansfield loud and clear.

Also I don't get Ellis County, however I get McLennan County (Waco) with about 50% strength but no communications whatsoever and the signal bar flashing for some reason.

I have no idea what's going on tbh, it should be pretty straightforward but it isn't.

 

[hiegtx]

Thank you for your answers.

So the SDS100 comes with the updating database. Not sure where they take their info but I assume it is somewhat correct.

The information in the RadioReference database, which is used by Sentinel & your scanner, is based on submissions from members on this site. Once someone listens to a channel (conventional frequency or trunked system talkgroup), and determines who is using, as well as for what purpose, that information can be submitted, and it will be added, or updated, in the database on this website. Uniden checks the database weekly, and updates are made to the data in Sentinel.

Unless someone in your county submits corrected information on what is being used, as well as what is encrypted, the the database used by Sentinel & the scanner will continue to be wrong and/or incomplete.

I am ok if the communications are encrypted (kinda) but at least I see the department communicating (it's silent and it shows ENCRY on the top right corner of the display).

The problem I have is I don't see most of the departments who are supposed to be on the system and I can't even receive them in analog.

As the agencies are now using the trunked system, it's likely that the conventional, analog, channels shown for the county are there to be used for backup, in case the trunked system was out of service. You might 'hold' on one of those Law Talk talkgroups, and see if you receive anything. If encrypted, you would nt get any audio, but you would see the Enc indicator on the display.

Yes I have enabled law talk and tac. Also interop and ems to make sure I'm not missing out.

As I said the Johnson county frequency is strong and I receive Mansfield loud and clear.

Also I don't get Ellis County, however I get McLennan County (Waco) with about 50% strength but no communications whatsoever and the signal bar flashing for some reason.

I'm a bit surprised that you are not getting the Ellis County layer of FWRRS. One of the transmit locations is in southwest Midlothian, up on top of that ridge line. I doubt you are really receiving the Waco system due to the distance from your location. Frequencies in the 700 & 800 MHz range are basically line of site, and normally don't travel long distances. Occasionally, atmospheric conditions are such that you may hear traffic from very long distances, but this is not an everyday occurrence. More likely, I see that several of the frequencies used by McLennan County's HOTRRS system are also used by other sites on FWRRS. Likely, that is why you are seeing signal bars, but no voice traffic. The talkgroups are not the same. You can add the NAC code for the trunked systems, which may dispel any misleading reception.

 

[Dfwlistener]

 

[BenScan]

It's been a while since I monitored Johnson Co, but it may be that the smaller departments are actually dispatched on the county channel, and the "Law Talk" channels are rarely used.

You should be able to receive fire in the clear, at least for now.


"Where I live the signal for the JCSimulcast is very strong, but the only activity I get is Mansfield police (clear), Burleson (encrypted), Johnson County Sheriff's office (encrypted) and rarely Cleburne (encrypted)."

 

[Project25_MASTR]

I doubt you are really receiving the Waco system due to the distance from your location. Frequencies in the 700 & 800 MHz range are basically line of site, and normally don't travel long distances. Occasionally, atmospheric conditions are such that you may hear traffic from very long distances, but this is not an everyday occurrence. More likely, I see that several of the frequencies used by McLennan County's HOTRRS system are also used by other sites on FWRRS. Likely, that is why you are seeing signal bars, but no voice traffic. The talkgroups are not the same. You can add the NAC code for the trunked systems, which may dispel any misleading reception.

Having worked on FWRRS, GATRRS, and HOTRRS...I can tell you HOTRRS regularly logs "illegal carriers" on channels it shares with the systems (and occasionally some from TxWARN). So being able to monitor the control channel for HOTRRS in Johnson county is quite feasible but what is likely happening, when a talk group of interest is being assigned to a voice channel in Waco...it's likely getting overwhelmed by a more local site using the same channel (NACs don't match and the scanner fails to unmute).

 

[Dfwlistener]

It kinda makes sense... That stinks.

I also wanted to take back what I said about Ellis County. I get Ellis County in the Johnson County simulcast but I never hear anything from them.

I also start to believe that smaller departments communicate on the johnson county police channel which is all encrypted.