Lcra Questions

[kd5dga]

I have a few LCRA questions;
1. Last year there was mention of a Railroad using LCRA as their communications provider. What Railroad is it and what trunkgroups are they using?
2. Seaward Junction is not listed in the database. Does anyone know of this location and what LCN's are being used?

Thanks,

 

[Russell]

Seward Junction is not listed as the tower is not in use. I went on the Great Seward Junction Tower Hunt of 2007 just last summer. I drove out to Seward Junction and sat in close proximity to the location. I was only able to pick up Lago Vista, Georgetown (actually closer to Round Rock), and Liberty Hill (actually a ways north of Liberty Hill - WPXU562).

Seward Junction is a railroad block near the intersection of 183 and Hwy 79 just east of Liberty Hill. There is one tower on the site with no LCRA activity (two way radio wise). There is another tower nearby, also with no LCRA two way radio activity. This site _might_ be used as a microwave relay or T1 relay site for LCRA. I do not recall if there were any microwave dishes on either tower. There may have been some LCRA activity here at some time, but since you can throw a rock from Seward Junction and hit the Liberty Hill city limits I would say that the tower north of Liberty Hill serves the Seward Junction area. It is also possible the site was split in cellular fashion into other sites.

Russell

 

[kd5dga]

Up here in Nolanville I can monitor the Council Creek LCRA location. I had found that the A&W Railroad (I assume the Austin and western railroad) using trunk group 05-036. This is shown in the database as a CARTS trunkgroup.

 

[pacrat551]

Up here in Nolanville I can monitor the Council Creek LCRA location. I had found that the A&W Railroad (I assume the Austin and western railroad) using trunk group 05-036. This is shown in the database as a CARTS trunkgroup.

I'm not sure which talkgroup you are looking at, but 05-036 is a Capitol Metro railroad (A&W) talkgroup....

665 05-031 A CM_R_RAIL Capitol Metro Emergency Use
666 05-032 A CM_R_YARD Capitol Metro Austin Western Freight Switching
667 05-033 A CM_R_CML Capitol Metro light rail passenger
668 05-034 A CM_R_SUP Capitol Metro Austin Western Switching / Supervisors
669 05-035 A CM_R_MWC Capitol Metro Maintenance of Way & A W switching
670 05-036 A CM_R_FML Capitol Metro Light Rail Dispatcher

 

[Russell]

Up here in Nolanville I can monitor the Council Creek LCRA location. I had found that the A&W Railroad (I assume the Austin and western railroad) using trunk group 05-036. This is shown in the database as a CARTS trunkgroup.

Ya know, I see these guys every morning with a rock load in northwest Austin (Mopac b/t McNeil and Parmer) and could never figure out what freq they were on. I'll plug this one in and try to match up what I see with what I hear.

Thanks,
Russell

 

[kd5dga]

I should have done some research first, I had a old copy from the database and finally went in and downloaded the newest database for LCRA with the newest trunk groups. It is interesting to listen to railroad communications and especially on a trunked system.
I have tried many times in the past to see how many LCRA sites (northern most part of LCRA) I could get from my location up here in Bell County. The only one site I can reliably trunk is Council Creek.
It pasy to live up on a hill.

 

[Russell]

I know terrain can make it difficult for us to hear many sites on this system. I would think you should be able to pick up Georgetown and Liberty Hill from your place. However, I am about the same distance southwest of Georgetown as you are north and I can hardly pick it up in NW Austin. I hear Lake Austin pretty well, UT and Lago Vista are fair to good, but then everyhting else drops way off.

Russell

 

[kd5dga]

I had tried Georgetown and Liberty Hill but I dont get a strong enough control channel signal to get a good trunk. No this is all off a Radio Shack discone antenna. My pro 433 does good but my Pro2055 is a better performer. I wished I had a cheep and good 900 mhz antenna with a multicoupler then I can use my Icom PCR1000 and TRUNKPCR. I had a home made discone I cut for higher frequencies, but I traded it out to run a new dual band antenna for my ham radio use. I'll have to find another position on my tower to put up my "high band discone".

 

[Russell]

Yeah, I actually just looked at the map again ... you are actually three times further away from Georgetown as I am and I can barely hear them with the ducky. The apartment I use in Austin doesn't permit me to use an outdoor antenna and there are several towers close by that make it pretty hard to pick up certain things. I do have a 900 mhz yagi but can't use it here ... too bad.

Russell

 

[kd5dga]

What is a good 900 mhz yagi? I can mount it to my tower as a dedicated beam pointed in the direction I need it to be?
I had made one out of a old tv antenna with mixed results.

 

[kd5dga]

I can see why Austin and Western uses LCRA.I went to Austin and Westerns website and downloaded their map and LCRA's system surrounds Austin and Western.