Lafayette 800 MHz Motorola Trunked System

[Tim-B]

When I worked for the SO at the time that the 800 system was rolled out they referred to them as fleets and subfleets. The fleets were divided up so that the SO was on fleet 4, the Laf PD on fleet 2, all the fire depts on fleet 3, Fleet 1 was interop, etc. We were using the old Motorola STX's back then and you had to go into the menu and repeatedly press buttons to change fleets but you could just turn the subfleet knob on the radio to change subfleets which is why they set it up the way they did. The vast majority of all shifts went by without you ever having to switch to a different fleet. If you needed to change subfleets like to run a plate or switch to a talk channel or something all you had to do was rotate the subfleet knob on the radio.

The radio displays were set up so that all you saw on the display was the fleet and subfleet. Like 4-A or 2-A or 3-M, etc. There wasn't room on the display for more info like "police dispatch" like you have on a scanner. Everyone just knew what purpose each subfleet had. Like 4-A for dispatch, 4-B for running plates, 4-C for supervisors, etc. We also referred to the channels that way on the air. Like "can you go to charlie" or "get with metro on one-echo"

That system sorta stuck even though the technology evolved. When LWIN was implemented the radios still retained that fleet-subfleet type thing on the display. The display still had 4-A or 4-B, etc. and those remained the channels "names" (for lack of a better term) as they were referred to on the air.

 

[Tim-B]

About not hearing the traffic, all I am hearing today is the usual corrections traffic on 4-F and 4-G. The radio contractor people have been using 12-RP to chit chat like some children on FRS but otherwise I have not heard the radio checks today on the trunked channels. Maybe they are done with that for now.

 

[kb5udf]

800 sys is a backup

Hey Tim,

Hadn't looked at this thread in a while, I can confirm, at least as of 2 years ago, the old 800 system is used as a back if LWIN site fails. I know this because I heard them do it after the LWIN site went down in a thunderstorm. For about 2-4 hours the old 800 system was alive again with LEO traffic in the clear, just like the old days, before one by one, users on the various talkgroups were told to go back to 700mhz/LWIN.

 

[Tim-B]

It's been one tough system. It went through many storms and a few hurricanes and stayed online.