Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System (LA-RICS) - Master Thread

[PaulNDaOC]

Krazybob, I have to differ, that the busy tone is turned on at SCC when the PRD's get busy. I can't ever recall in the decade- plus I was there that anyone made that a practice, though it was possible to do. Evidence of that today would be a fire notification where you will at least once or more times hear the dispatcher 'stand-by on line with fire'. Extended busy tones without a transmission afterword by the dispatcher is often times on open mic.

BTW I think the Villanueva thing about erasing McD's tenure is more personal and has no bearing on rank-and-file views on other agencies.

 

[krazybob]

Krazybob, I have to differ, that the busy tone is turned on at SCC when the PRD's get busy. I can't ever recall in the decade- plus I was there that anyone made that a practice, though it was possible to do. Evidence of that today would be a fire notification where you will at least once or more times hear the dispatcher 'stand-by on line with fire'. Extended busy tones without a transmission afterword by the dispatcher is often times on open mic.

BTW I think the Villanueva thing about erasing McD's tenure is more personal and has no bearing on rank-and-file views on other agencies.

"Unit standby unless emergent" was commonplace but has decreased some. And yes, it was either because the RTO/PRD was on with fire or other Public Safety entity. I'm not saying it's a common practice. I'm sorry that's what you took from it. I have been monitoring since 1972.

My point was that the use of the busy tone when a repeater system exists keeps units from talking to one another without being directed to L-Tac. That's why it is a practice of leaving the mobile radio on dispatch and their HT on L-Tac or vice versa. Whatever the Deputy is more comfortable with. You'll also find the units switching to talk around during a foot pursuit so they can make sure they don't fall out of the repeater. With high elevation antennas there's a lot of things I hear.

I have it from two Deputy Sergeants that Villanueva is not well-liked and that McDonald was. But I suppose it depends on who one asks. I don't know. I don't work there. But I suspect you're right as well. I think that there is room for both of us to be right on this one. I don't monitor 24/7. I sleep at least two hours a day. LOL.

Trying to use this updated vbulletin on a cell phone is a miserable experience.

 

[jrholm]

Burt and I worked together at Temple. I was mainly 55H from 1995 to 2000

 

[jrholm]

One reason direct is used is it's easier to talk to aero on direct than through the repeater....

 

[krazybob]

One reason direct is used is it's easier to talk to aero on direct than through the repeater....

Yes, I forgot to mention that. But you know better than I do. I don't know why Aero has such a hard time hearing the repeaters. The same with CHP. I know that they use low-power radios because of their altitude they would easily be heard well outside the area intended.

Have you ever gone for a ride with Aero? If so, what is the radio reception like from up there? I understand simplex or talk around. We used that quite a bit where I was at. One of the things I find ironically amusing is that CHP units will go to Channel 2 which as you may know is just pushing I believe up on the transmit button and they can talk simplex to one another. There's also another button to go straight to PA.

But the CHP dispatcher can still hear them! Often times she will respond back to them which begs the question of why they've gone to simplex to begin with. [emoji23] We were set up so that we could switch to Channel 2, which was talk around of Channel 1 and our dispatcher could hear us also. It somewhat defeats the purpose unless you don't want the bad guys to hear you over the repeater.

Just as you would switch to talk around so that Aero could hear you, we too would switch to talk around mostly so that those on the perimeter could hear us even if we were in and out of the repeater.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[speedway_navigator]

I don't know why Aero has such a hard time hearing the repeaters.

Antennas radiate the majority of their RF energy horizontally as shown in this graphic. An antenna has almost no signal directly above it so an antenna on an aircraft above a repeater could have a very weak signal.

But the CHP dispatcher can still hear them! Often times she will respond back to them ...

It's obvious you're old school from the 'fist, sticks and guns' days as one of my retired cop buddies like to call it.
The PSAP folks are now telecommunicators and since you are in the progressive state of CA you should be ashamed of assigning gender identities based on perception of voice quality.

Even airlines don't have to recognize birth gender now.
US airlines set to allow passengers to choose a non-binary option under gender | Daily Mail Online

 

[strandbiker1]

The LASD 480 UHF system is a wide area simulcast system built by ElectroCom Automation (ECA) in the early 1980's. When initially installed, it used 100 watt General Electric Master II repeaters (with antenna combiners) and ECA central site equipment including audio and phase adjustments. The system was tailored to provide the best audio quality to field units at ground level. Some of the channels had only a few transmit sites covering a small area and thus easier to adjust for minimum simulcast distortion. Some stations such as Lomita and Malibu required mountaintop transmitters on both sides of the mountains or hills to maintain RF signal coverage.

Some countywide channels such as the C Tacs and the emergency trigger had transmitters at all the transmitter sites and it was a challenge to maintain the RF signal coverage with minimum simulcast distortion.

When a helicopter is flying at 1000-1500 feet it is many times in line of sight to many more mountaintop transmitter sites than a field unit on the ground. Remember that the simulcast alignment is tailored for the field unit on the ground and not a helicopter. Thus, when the helicopter sees the additional transmitter sites they also hear additional distortion, thus making it more difficult to hear the dispatchers on the dispatch channels and field units on fully repeated tactical channels. That is why many times the helicopters will switch and talk on the downlink side of the simulcast channel (e..g., "direct") and speak with the field units, eliminating the simulcast system all together.

Skip

 

[jrholm]

Strandbiker nailed it

 

[shawn1899]

Anyone notice the downtown simulcast cell (Site 21) is up and on the air now? blanketing the basin from Hollywood to Industry and Pasadena down to the ocean.

 

[LAflyer]

Site 21 - Downtown Simulcast is in the Db now.
NAC:690
769.48125
771.99375
772.24375
773.51875
773.76875
774.01875
774.26875a
774.76875cc

A similar Downtown Simulcast but on UHF site should be over the near horizon.

 

[avascan522]

Spoke with a county ISD technician today. I asked a few questions about LA-RICS and he said they don't anticipate the system to be online and usable for at least 3 more years. New towers, repeaters, antennas, mobile (car) installations, etc. still have yet to be installed.
He also said that Blackjack Mtn. will be getting frequency analysis equipment next week to listen to the proposed frequencies for that site. Just making sure the frequency allocations will not interfere with other sites or systems.

 

[dgower]

Your ISD technician is incorrect. LARICS has been in use for several years even though it's not fully built out yet. There are many talkgroups on it programmed into every single LASD APX8000 portable, and they are being used. As far as switching OFF of the analog UHF system, and completely migrating to LARICS, that will take several years, as it will take a couple of more years to fully build out every site. But the system is (obviously) online, usable and being used daily.

 

[avascan522]

Your ISD technician is incorrect. LARICS has been in use for several years even though it's not fully built out yet. There are many talkgroups on it programmed into every single LASD APX8000 portable, and they are being used. As far as switching OFF of the analog UHF system, and completely migrating to LARICS, that will take several years, as it will take a couple of more years to fully build out every site. But the system is (obviously) online, usable and being used daily.

Yes, I misspoke. I did mean for the system to be "completed" and for patrol units to start using it daily. There are indeed units using the system as of now, even though all sites and towers have not been completed. Once again, please accept my sincere apology. I did not mean to offend your knowledge of the system or confuse anyone. I'll see myself out of this thread now.

 

[shawn1899]

Downtown UHF simulcast should be on the air now..

 

[dgower]

476.9625
476.9875

 

[kearthfan101]

476.9625
476.9875

Drove through downtown and not seeing anything on either frequency.

 

[LAflyer]

Last I heard its being kept off the air due to noted interference emanating from Mexico. TBA...

 

[bangel]

Hi all,

I've started monitoring the Verdugo Peak site from my office in Glendale. It's really tough for me to pick up (barely can decode control channel with BCD436HP w/ rubber duckie) but I'm having better luck with an SDR w/ some tuning of LNA gains.

I picked up two new talkgroups the other day, unfortunately I did not hear the audio:
1574173670.572062 new tgid: 2001 Talkgroup ID 2001 [0x7d1] prio 3
1574173735.747663 new tgid: 2000 Talkgroup ID 2000 [0x7d0] prio 3

Different radio id's were using those as well.

 

[shinkley]

Hopefully this is the right forum for these questions, I'm a bit late to the party
I have a 436 with ProVoice. Located in South OC- Antenna Diamond X50 2m/440. I pick up a good amount of LA area agencies, but nothing on the LA RICS? I just uploaded from the database. Is editing the Radio's band plan also required or is that part of the data set? Also do I need DMR and NXDN?

 

[shinkley]

Has anyone been able to receive Site 21 - Downtown Simulcast from Orange County?