Midland/Odessa Monitoring Questions

[tcarro15]

I have just accepted a position as a TV News Assignment Editor & Executive Producer role at a TV Station in the Midland/Odessa area and am hoping someone down in that area can give me a basic 'lay of the land' as to what is encrypted, what is not, what is still analog, what is P25 P1/2, etc. I am moving down from Colorado Springs, but from the DFW area originally. Ham, Storm Chaser, Scanner nerd, and all that goes with all that.

Thanks

 

[Enforcer52]

City of Odessa and Ector County are fully encrypted. Midland is P25 Phase 2, mostly unencrypted.

Midland (P25) Trunking System, Midland, Texas

Midland (P25) Trunking System Profile

www.radioreference.com

There are a few fire freqs in the clear in Ector and Odessa.

 

[hiegtx]

I have just accepted a position as a TV News Assignment Editor & Executive Producer role at a TV Station in the Midland/Odessa area and am hoping someone down in that area can give me a basic 'lay of the land' as to what is encrypted, what is not, what is still analog, what is P25 P1/2, etc. I am moving down from Colorado Springs, but from the DFW area originally. Ham, Storm Chaser, Scanner nerd, and all that goes with all that.

Thanks

Odessa & Ector County are on this system. Law enforcement, as well as Odessa Fire & EMS, is encrypted.

Midland County appears to be mostly conventional, with a few channels linked to the city's trunked system. Law enforcement for the county is encrypted.

The city uses this trunked system. Most talkgroups are not flagged as encrypted, other than a couple of tactical or investigative TGIDs.

 

[tcarro15]

So far, sounds mostly like Colorado Springs area. I am sure the TV station probably has an encrypted radio for those talkgroups. I'm debating on buying an SDS100 or 200, I've wanted one for a while, and most everything here is on Phase 1 so I've been using a 436HP and Whistler 1065.

 

[rattlerbb01]

If your agency has a radio for the Odessa system that has the key, you’ll be lucky. Both Odessa and Midland’s systems are simulcast so the SDS100 is a good investment. When I was out there full time in 2022, it did very well receiving both systems, even though Odessa’s was mostly public works and occasional Fire/EMS traffic for West Odessa. The VHF Ector Fire paging is clear and active so you will be able to receive that. DPS is clear on the GATRRS system on most area sites. Like others said, Midland is mostly clear and open all the way, but the MCSO is fully ENC

 

[ryned1]

Everything is pretty flat too, so shouldn't have much issue listening to surrounding counties (most of which are conventional p25) especially if you have good antenna placement.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

Just waiting for the Permian Basin Regional sys admin for GATRRS to chime in...

 

[KE5PL]

Just waiting for the Permian Basin Regional sys admin for GATRRS to chime in...

Sorry I’m late to this party. MidCo is currently VHF conventional P25 encrypted, but should be moving over to their countywide 5 site simulcast 700 obviously Motorola system any day now.
The city has contracted with Motorola, rumor has it that they (city/county) will share a core. Then, the waitress at the doughnut shop told me that the MidCo core will eventually connect to the Odessa core (DSR). You know all will be encrypted.

For your listening enjoyment, DPS is unencrypted on GATRRS. Depending upon who is affiliated on what TG, some border mayhem plays out occasionally unencrypted on GATRRS. YMMV. Welcome to the jungle.

 

[tcarro15]

I am going to set up meetings with the PIOs for ECSO, OPD, MCSO to start the process to request encrypted handhelds for our news desk. I had good success facilitating this in Colorado Springs for the newsroom I ran up there. Hoping I can do the same here, it's pretty typical for news outlets to have these.

I am going to be working on getting an SDR feed set up for the Midland P25 stuff. I have 3 BCD536HPs and a BCT15X sitting on the desk here, and am trying to get ahold of an SDS100 for my personal collection, I think these 536's are having trouble with the simulcast, I can pick up some, but not much, I also have no idea where the antenna leads go to, I have to get with engineering to find out, I think there's a significant RF loss in the cable lengths / adapters, 4 scanners on a splitter being fed by a single coax feed, so there's some upgrading/updating to be done here on the desk.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

Sorry I’m late to this party. MidCo is currently VHF conventional P25 encrypted, but should be moving over to their countywide 5 site simulcast 700 obviously Motorola system any day now.
The city has contracted with Motorola, rumor has it that they (city/county) will share a core. Then, the waitress at the doughnut shop told me that the MidCo core will eventually connect to the Odessa core (DSR). You know all will be encrypted.

For your listening enjoyment, DPS is unencrypted on GATRRS. Depending upon who is affiliated on what TG, some border mayhem plays out occasionally unencrypted on GATRRS. YMMV. Welcome to the jungle.

DPS task forces and talkgroup usage...it's like I was just in a meeting where that came up as well.

 

[LinderBalls]

Hey yall just got on here and I will apologize for not searching, but P25 is encrypted, so we cannot listen in on regular scanner/radios correct? I have been getting some listening in on 155.02, but not exactly sure what I am hearing. Just sounds like general PD dispatch. Glad to know there are some local peeps on here and look forward to learning more!

 

[rattlerbb01]

155.025 is a VHF link to the Midland PD dispatch talkgroup on their P25 system. You can hear P25 just fine with most scanners on the market today out of the box, but they can encrypt that if they choose to. Midland SO is a good example of P25 that is encrypted. Other than that, most counties in the area use VHF P25 in the clear for dispatch.

 

[LinderBalls]

Rattler thanks for the reply! Good to know. I’m just using the ubiquitous Baofeng radio just to listen in. Any local ham stuff I can program in to listen to? I’ve seen the MARC page, probably gonna program those in. Thanks again!

 

[rattlerbb01]

Rattler thanks for the reply! Good to know. I’m just using the ubiquitous Baofeng radio just to listen in. Any local ham stuff I can program in to listen to? I’ve seen the MARC page, probably gonna program those in. Thanks again!

Not sure on ham stuff for general use, I listened to skywarn stuff only for my 7 months out there. Your baofeng will get the Midland PD link above, plus 156.2025 Midland Fire link and 154.370 the Midland Co Fire channel. Midland ISD used to have a lot of schools on VHF in the 151 range, but nobody I know of cares about kids going home, car riders and janitors needed for throw up.

 

[KE5PL]

Rattler thanks for the reply! Good to know. I’m just using the ubiquitous Baofeng radio just to listen in. Any local ham stuff I can program in to listen to? I’ve seen the MARC page, probably gonna program those in. Thanks again!

Permnet List:

Site Name
Odessa VHF WT5ARC 147.100
Odessa UHF WT5ARC 443.100
Midland UHF K5MSO 443.125
Midland VHF K5MSO 147.220
Notress VHF N5RGH 147.160
Noterss UHF N5RGH 443.175
Kent UHF N5RGH 443.325
Sterling City VHF N5FTL 147.20
Patricia UHF N5RGH 443.250
Marathon UHF N5RGH 443.200
Brady UHF WF5TWT 443.350
San Angelo WMSL 443.750

All 2m are 88.5
All 70cm are 162.2
Positive (standard) offsets on all sites

 

[Ensnared]

Not sure on ham stuff for general use, I listened to skywarn stuff only for my 7 months out there. Your baofeng will get the Midland PD link above, plus 156.2025 Midland Fire link and 154.370 the Midland Co Fire channel. Midland ISD used to have a lot of schools on VHF in the 151 range, but nobody I know of cares about kids going home, car riders and janitors needed for throw up.

Midland county has a great Skywarn network. The thunderstorms & super cells are phenomenal in that area. You can see storms coming for a long way, LOL.