Monitor 1 site?

[YoungMeezy]

Do all of the sites in the Colorado Springs area broadcast the same traffic? Do I really need to monitor all of the sites around town, or should I monitor the closest one(while at home)? Are there agencies that only broadcast off certain sites? I assume Woodland Park doesn't broadcast on the Templeton Gap site for example, although the Woodland Park site is in Zone 4.. sorry for all the questions

 

[nathancarlson]

All good questions! If you look at the wiki page, it may help.

Individual CO DTRS Sites - The RadioReference Wiki

For you to hear a talkgroup on a site, one of the agencies radios must be affiliated with that site. The wiki gives some good ideas of what agencies affiliate with what sites most of the time. Its best to have a few, and then maybe you can eliminate some if you don't hear much on that site, or if its out of your range. It is pretty strange how the system works. Some of the affiliations have surprised me. If someone from an agency up north (like Fort Collins) drives across the state (to Pueblo for example) and kept their radio on a certain channel, that radio would affiliate with every site along the way. That is why many agencies have a "travel channel", so that the sites don't get loaded up with all kinds of talkgroups. Also, many of the sties "deny" certain talkgroups, so you won't hear any of the denied talkgroups those sites.

So I would start with the sites you think would be likely to carry the traffic, and watch and narrow it down as you need to.

 

[radio]

The El Paso Co/Colorado Springs sites are not simulcast nor is the closest tower to that incident necessarily be the one transmitting that particular incident. It has been trial and error from hours of monitoring my scanners for me to try and understand this system which to this date, is still a work in progress.

 

[dw2872]

Zone-4 sites (all the ones that start with 4XX) are the El Paso County/Colo Springs area DTRS sites. They carry almost exclusively only El Paso County talk groups. Most state agencies and non-El Paso county agency users are denied from accessing Zone-4 sites.

The Zone-6 site 648 (Cheyenne Mt) is the only site in the Colo Springs area that Colorado state agencies and all agencies besides El Paso/Colo Springs agencies can access. So if you want to hear anyone besides an El Paso Co/Colo Springs agency then you need to have this site programmed.
* CSP 2B (El Paso and Teller County areas) is one exception that comes through on most Zone-4 sites (not Templeton Gap though) as well as sites in other zones.

Back on Zone-4 sites, there will need to be a user affiliated for a specific TG that you want to listen to
on the site you have programmed. So if CSFD command-6 does not have any users logged onto Stanley Canyon site, then you won't hear it if that is the only site you have programmed.

Most of the time Stanley Canyon has a user from just about every El Paso County agency on there and it covers most of Colo Springs, so that is a good one to program in. I would also recommend Cheyenne Mt unless you just want to listen to El Paso/Springs stuff.

 

[YoungMeezy]

Thanks everyone for the replies, it's starting to make sense to me now I haven't had a scanner since the change to digital

 

[bikeisgt]

I have been listening to CSP with all the DTR site trying to figure out the same thing. Odd but true, I have heard CSP on Oak Creek, Stanley Canyon, Waterdog Peak. I have heard the sheriff office on Calhan, Stanley Canyon, Cheyenne Mountain. That is what I have found so far.