New Mexico DTRS

[RobDLG]

If they didn't change talkgroups or were just quiet they probably are encrypted. Majority of Dona Ana is. As for chaparral Dona Ana for all public safety is encrypted. The other side of chaparral aka the difficult folks use VHF for their side.

I was monitoring the A Mountain site using SDRTrunk for several months. As I recall, Sunland Park PD started out in the clear, but began using encryption more and more. After that, I stopped seeing the PD talkgroup altogether. I assume there were simply no affiliated radios.

One of the nice features of SDRTrunk is that it unambiguously identifies encrypted calls. In contrast, the pricey Uniden SDS200 doesn't reliably light up the "ENCRY" flag on its display. (Though I haven't tested the latest-and-greatest firmware.)

Until recently, I would occasionally hear State Police calls on conventional frequencies, even within the Las Cruces city limits. These calls would typically be followed by a dispatcher advising "You're on VHF."

As it happens, I was on the roof of my house fixing a broken dryer vent the same day I first took the BCD325P2 to El Paso. I took the opportunity to take a picture (attached) of my line-of-sight to A Mountain, which is seven miles away. I really need to get a rooftop antenna someday, but encryption may arrive first.

 

[RobDLG]

DTRS totally lit up this afternoon with multiple agencies responding to an incident in Anthony, NM. City Hall was put on lockdown, and residents were ordered to remain indoors. Even Texas DPS was on DTRS!

https://x.com/KFOX14/status/2045257264173293853

 

[bc780l]

Talk groups in use?
Note the Tx DPS radio IDs?

 

[Giddyuptd]

DTRS totally lit up this afternoon with multiple agencies responding to an incident in Anthony, NM. City Hall was put on lockdown, and residents were ordered to remain indoors. Even Texas DPS was on DTRS!

https://x.com/KFOX14/status/2045257264173293853

Patched over from the el paso trs dps talkgroup

 

[RobDLG]

Talk groups in use?
Note the Tx DPS radio IDs?

The Talkgroup was NMSP District 4 Dispatch, DEC 107, though DPS was reportedly on District 8 Dispatch (Alamogordo) prior to that. A State Police officer asked Dispatch to have DPS put on the District 4 channel.

I've been running SDRTrunk this week, but using only a single RTL-SDR Blog V4 device. I scrambled to add a second device so I could monitor the DTRS A Mountain site, and while the DPS alias contained "TX-DPS", the numerical ID didn't stand out among the other IDs already on the system. To me, this suggests the ID belongs to DTRS, not the actual DPS radio, but that's just a guess on my part.

In the past, I've heard NMSP officers request Dispatch to "have DPS switch to DTRS" but this is the first time I've observed actual compliance.

 

[MrAstroSaber]

TX DPS Has radios on the NM DTRS but does not have any tg's just ID's, They use NMSPO TG's and the states interop TG's

 

[nd5y]

Texas has a standardized P25 RID plan with 5000000-5999999 for state, federal and tribal agencies.
I don't know if TX DPS radios are programmed with different radio IDs for out of state systems.
I would be interesting to see what RIDs they are using on the NM system.

 

[RobDLG]

Texas has a standardized P25 RID plan with 5000000-5999999 for state, federal and tribal agencies.

The "TX-DPS" ID I saw was near the bottom of that range, so it seems the real Radio ID was on NM-DTRS.

The New Mexico Corrections Department has a bunch of IDs in the range of 500000-500999, and the Texas ID didn't stand out at first because I failed to notice the extra "0".

 

[2wayfreq]

The Talkgroup was NMSP District 4 Dispatch, DEC 107, though DPS was reportedly on District 8 Dispatch (Alamogordo) prior to that. A State Police officer asked Dispatch to have DPS put on the District 4 channel.

I've been running SDRTrunk this week, but using only a single RTL-SDR Blog V4 device. I scrambled to add a second device so I could monitor the DTRS A Mountain site, and while the DPS alias contained "TX-DPS", the numerical ID didn't stand out among the other IDs already on the system. To me, this suggests the ID belongs to DTRS, not the actual DPS radio, but that's just a guess on my part.

In the past, I've heard NMSP officers request Dispatch to "have DPS switch to DTRS" but this is the first time I've observed actual compliance.

Texas DPS has the DTRS System Programmed into thier Aircraft Technisonic radios. They have the Districts and interop IO Talkgroups. This particular mutual aid has worked out really well so far for NM State Police assistance.

 

[RobDLG]

NM-DTRS is, of course, only one option for interoperability. During a response on Thursday, May 14, Sunland Park Fire stated to MVRDA that they carry a separate radio programmed to communicate with El Paso agencies. (Old school!)

https://x.com/SunlandParkFire/status/2055046821798347177

 

[Giddyuptd]

I believe the separate radio is due to el paso county being firm on if you arent them or epso, eppd, epfd and last remaining clear county fire when they get the new next radios which will be strapped as well on vhf trs side you wont have them programmed in. Theyll issue a valid radio to proper chain of command but wont just program anything in anyones equipment. I know this as a command vehicle elsewhere has one but they do keep track of it and they issued one to a watch commander for a sheriff agency bordering them, as well as a mobile command rig but anything else is no go. There was cpupoe instances when they did some updates they inhibited them and un inhibited them after they were taken to them. Even if a NM agency was on the dtrs or vhf they wont budge on this. They are iffy on portables running around out of their total daily control with their primaries specially with epso and regional command districts of pd.

 

[natedawg1604]

I believe the separate radio is due to el paso county being firm on if you arent them or epso, eppd, epfd and last remaining clear county fire when they get the new next radios which will be strapped as well on vhf trs side you wont have them programmed in. Theyll issue a valid radio to proper chain of command but wont just program anything in anyones equipment. I know this as a command vehicle elsewhere has one but they do keep track of it and they issued one to a watch commander for a sheriff agency bordering them, as well as a mobile command rig but anything else is no go. There was cpupoe instances when they did some updates they inhibited them and un inhibited them after they were taken to them. Even if a NM agency was on the dtrs or vhf they wont budge on this. They are iffy on portables running around out of their total daily control with their primaries specially with epso and regional command districts of pd.

Was it an adjacent county that had these talkgroups? If so what was the issue?

 

[Giddyuptd]

Was it an adjacent county that had these talkgroups? If so what was the issue?

Correct. I believe they did a system update on the el paso system and the 3 subscribers had specific ids that were issued out hardly used for a period of time one being a mobile command rig that didnt go that direction near state line until a long period later. They were all taken to their techs and it had got resolved. Currently due to politcs some are avoiding the dtrs. Ive been pressing my my agency and 3 others within my control to go the direction of the nm dtrs. I may have got through to one overtime and if they go i believe it'll push everyone else to go this direction. It boils down to the politics and mismanagement of monies the area has which can be frustrating and those putting comma on the back end of grant writing. They also have issue with wanting to be full autonomy over things even if sense is made to them. My agency is small compared to the other 2 but there also is personal interests involved in the larger one as they contract out to gov employees on side to be their techs which has furter issues beyond radio comms and this.

 

[RobDLG]

Yes, I started hearing Benson Ridge right near the county line, by the WSMR Main Post, but I don't recall hearing it at all further north.

The afternoon of Sunday, July 12, was cloudy here, and I had the opportunity to take a Uniden SDS150 from Las Cruces to Alamogordo and back.

I turned on GPS, enabled "Full Database", and set the Range to 30.0 miles. Since I was expecting to hear DTRS almost exclusively, I switched from the stock antenna to a "700/800/900 MHz" unit. It wasn't the highly-recommended Remtronix REM-820S, though, it was a $15 antenna ordered from Amazon.com, which works well enough.

I didn't hear the Alamogordo site at all the last time I was there with my BCD325P2 (just bad luck), but this time, State Police calls on both Alamogordo and Benson Ridge came in loud and clear! Unfortunately, I didn't consider trying to enable any sort of logging, which would have been interesting if GPS data was included. Maybe next time.

 

[Giddyuptd]

The afternoon of Sunday, July 12, was cloudy here, and I had the opportunity to take a Uniden SDS150 from Las Cruces to Alamogordo and back.

I turned on GPS, enabled "Full Database", and set the Range to 30.0 miles. Since I was expecting to hear DTRS almost exclusively, I switched from the stock antenna to a "700/800/900 MHz" unit. It wasn't the highly-recommended Remtronix REM-820S, though, it was a $15 antenna ordered from Amazon.com, which works well enough.

I didn't hear the Alamogordo site at all the last time I was there with my BCD325P2 (just bad luck), but this time, State Police calls on both Alamogordo and Benson Ridge came in loud and clear! Unfortunately, I didn't consider trying to enable any sort of logging, which would have been interesting if GPS data was included. Maybe next time.

Alamogordo FD has transitioned to the DTRS as of this week cutting vhf patch. It is encrypted. The rest of city services like code, aco, PD will be switching soon once some vehicle installs are complete and yes will be encrypted.

 

[RobDLG]

Alamogordo FD has transitioned to the DTRS as of this week cutting vhf patch. It is encrypted. The rest of city services like code, aco, PD will be switching soon once some vehicle installs are complete and yes will be encrypted.

Just checked the feed and I heard ACO.

Then I realized that I'd failed to notice the large overlap among the Alamogordo and Benson Ridge Site Frequencies.

Although two SDRs are required to track one of those sites, the frequency spread is such that the same two SDRs could track both sites! (Example. Perhaps it's already been mentioned here, and I simply failed to notice that, too.)