Kerr County Flood

[rattlerbb01]

I never realized the improvement that have been made at Broadcastify.

This is likely unrelated, but yesterday, I mentioned the limited capability of folks monitoring radio traffic on the Kerr County S.O. Facebook page. I asked how residents would be able to understand what is happening in town.

However, yesterday, I noticed a green-colored talk group 46301 on GATRRS. LCRA P25 showed Kerr S.O. as "Te." What a coincidence.

The only reason I can see why Kerrville PD would need encryption might be related to the residents of Kerrville State Hospital. There are chronic mental cases that will never see the light of day. KSH is one of the forensic psychiatric hospitals in Texas. HIPPA laws might be involved, I don't really know the rationale for encrypting a small town like Kerrville.

Let's remember to keep affected people in our prayers.

They decided to go full secret squirrel in Kerr County besides their occasional clear call dispatch on SO 1. Its crap to be honest, no reason at all. They do have a drug problem and Interstate 10 is a corridor, but Kendall County does as well and luckily they don't encrypt at all and still find a way to fill the jail roster with possessions and DWIs. I will say that with media and outsiders all over the area, its probably best that they stay ENC during this ordeal so that people aren't crowding around every time a body is located. On the few I was in the river for over the weekend, we had lots of onlookers up on River Rd when we were directing DPS 107 and the SO to the recovery locations.

To your last point, yes, lots of Texans and others need a lot of prayers and help. This is truly an unprecedented loss of life and property, and it is right in our backyard. My heart aches and my head goes places a father of little girls shouldn't have to, and for that I am back at work over 1000 miles away from it all.

 

[P25-logger]

Does anyone know where these came from. The fire departments only have Ops1-7 in their radios. I had my SDR going and never saw these come online

46338	b502	D	Kerr Fire Ops 8	Fire Operations 8	Fire-Tac
46339	b503	D	Kerr Fire Ops 9	Fire Operations 9	Fire-Tac

 

[rattlerbb01]

Does anyone know where these came from. The fire departments only have Ops1-7 in their radios. I had my SDR going and never saw these come online

46338	b502	D	Kerr Fire Ops 8	Fire Operations 8	Fire-Tac
46339	b503	D	Kerr Fire Ops 9	Fire Operations 9	Fire-Tac

Another user posted that earlier in this thread. I have had a calls node running on GATRRS Kerr for a long time but I haven’t caught those myself, but early in the testing and deployment I was bouncing my SDR between it and the P25 conventional channels to monitor SO.

 

[RichTyler]

Another user posted that earlier in this thread. I have had a calls node running on GATRRS Kerr for a long time but I haven’t caught those myself, but early in the testing and deployment I was bouncing my SDR between it and the P25 conventional channels to monitor SO.

I think he may have been mistaken then. Ive had an SDR on kerr simulcast since the beginning and have never seen them. Also back to my other they only have ops 1-7 in radios.

 

[AK9R]

Those changes were made by @Russell.

 

[Russell]

From the submitter ...

46338 CLEAR OPS8 HEARD once when testing May 2025
46339 CLEAR OPS9 HEARD once when testing May 2025

 

[KevinC]

How about we keep this radio related. This isn’t the place to discuss what the county/city could have/should have done.

Maybe I wasn't clear.

 

[jrogalski]

Maybe I wasn't clear.

I understand sir. However, other posters have raised the issue.

 

[NC5267]

They decided to go full secret squirrel in Kerr County besides their occasional clear call dispatch on SO 1. Its crap to be honest, no reason at all. They do have a drug problem and Interstate 10 is a corridor, but Kendall County does as well and luckily they don't encrypt at all and still find a way to fill the jail roster with possessions and DWIs. I will say that with media and outsiders all over the area, its probably best that they stay ENC during this ordeal so that people aren't crowding around every time a body is located. On the few I was in the river for over the weekend, we had lots of onlookers up on River Rd when we were directing DPS 107 and the SO to the recovery locations.

To your last point, yes, lots of Texans and others need a lot of prayers and help. This is truly an unprecedented loss of life and property, and it is right in our backyard. My heart aches and my head goes places a father of little girls shouldn't have to, and for that I am back at work over 1000 miles away from it all.

The Kerr SO channel on the LCRA side 10004 I'm assuming is patched to 46301 on the GATRRS system. Last night around 8 a commander said "shutting down command and all units move back to SO 1 encrypted." So I guess they don't call them SO 1 and 2.

 

[N5ZKK]

Does anyone know where these came from. The fire departments only have Ops1-7 in their radios. I had my SDR going and never saw these come online

46338	b502	D	Kerr Fire Ops 8	Fire Operations 8	Fire-Tac
46339	b503	D	Kerr Fire Ops 9	Fire Operations 9	Fire-Tac

That was me and I only heard 8 & 9 one single time, right after go-live in May.
I actually logged them as OPS1 thru OPS9. I didn't write down Fire nor Fire Operations.

 

[Harold]

No telling how much damage has been done to our hobby, thanks to the story that was just on CBS News.

 

[NC5267]

No telling how much damage has been done to our hobby, thanks to the story that was just on CBS News.

Missed that one. What was said?

 

[rattlerbb01]

No telling how much damage has been done to our hobby, thanks to the story that was just on CBS News.

The one about the guy listening to the firefighter asking for code Red to be activated and dispatcher saying they can’t do it without supervisor approval?

 

[speedway_navigator]

I don't know why people at risk didn't evacuate and I suppose we'll never know.

Dennis does a good job of trying to explain why we stand and stare while animals flee for their lives.
I read a story about a husband and wife who drowned in this flood but their dog survived.

 

[suecalberg]

I have been listening and logging since 3am before the river let go. VFIRE21 was the water rescue and Helicopters but they are wrapping up at sunset. The P&W and DPS helicopters were rescuing people during the thunderstorm with 800ft ceilings. Very brave. Now the Army is flying UH-60s along with the others. Like I said VFIRE21.

LCRA and GATRRS are both in use at the moment as GATRRS was overloaded right away.

I am a long time subscriber but I am having real trouble searching back in time. I am a reporter with KENS 5 news in San Antonio. If you have time to give me a little tutorial I would be grateful. I'm familiar with all the basics so I am not an absolute goofball. My email is scalberg@kens5.com. My phone is 210-825-4550. Thanking you sincerely in advance for your kindness. Sue Calberg.

 

[nd5y]

Missed that one. What was said?

Some Texas flood alerts were delayed as officials waited for authorization, former Kerr County official says

Recordings provided to CBS News showed first responders asking for an emergency alert to be sent, but dispatchers delayed because they needed special authorization.

www.cbsnews.com

If the video in the article doesn't work it's also on youtube.

 

[natedawg1604]

Today at the very brief press conference, a reporter was asking about supposed problems with SO & PD communicating. From the little I've read Kerville PD & Fire use the 700 LCRA system, and SO is on the GATRRS system, apparently on a VHF site. Is there any type of ISSI connection or patch where they can monitor each other?

 

[NC5267]

Today at the very brief press conference, a reporter was asking about supposed problems with SO & PD communicating. From the little I've read Kerville PD & Fire use the 700 LCRA system, and SO is on the GATRRS system, apparently on a VHF site. Is there any type of ISSI connection or patch where they can monitor each other?

There are ways to patch between the systems. I have seen many patches to GATRRS from LCRA in different areas.

Kerr County recently switched to GATRRS maybe a month ago. Not sure of exact date. I know from someone at the TDEM that the Kerr County radios didn't have the LCRA interop channels in them. Only the regional interop channels for the GATRRS system. I know they can monitor each other's dispatch channels routinely but patching multiple channels together for a disaster this size can be chaotic in the moment.

Also all KPD channels are encrypted and now KCSO is operating encrypted most of the time. Encryption can cause issues if not everyone has the right keys loaded let alone trying to patch.

 

[Echo4Thirty]

ARES is on another forum beating their chests like they saved the world.

 

[garys]

I'll only say that based on my decades of experience with Red Cross/Ham Radio at the Boston Marathon and Head of The Charles Regatta they were not a net plus to EMS operations.

ARES is on another forum beating their chests like they saved the world.