New site 6 on LCRA EDACS

[SCPD]

Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) Trunking System, Various, Texas - Scanner Frequencies

Site 08 and Site 20 both report a new peer. Site 6 has an active control LCN 2.

 

[texasemt13]

Interesting, I'll go search my area for some new 900 MHz signals. I have a hunch it's north of me though (based on it's peers). I'm on the southern edge of Hays County.

 

[SCPD]

Sites 8 and 20 dropped sites 4 and 19 from their list of peers. Both are west of Austin so I'm guessing 6 lies somewhere between Lakeway and Johnson City.

 

[rbarker]

What is site 6? what city is beside the site number as i don't see it.

 

[SCPD]

It's either a new site or at least one never before reported to the DB. I don't know where it is located. My only clue it exists is the list of peer sites when monitoring sites 8 and 20.

 

[rbarker]

what are the frequencies and I'll start to monitor.

 

[rbarker]

Well if it helps. The city of Lago Vista just got on to the LCRA system and they are having massive reception problems. I'm sure they are complaining so I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't set up something just for them. They only have 2 talkgroups so they don't hardly need any frequencies (it's really a joke if you ask me) The site 8 that says Lago Vista (CEDR_PRK) is actually off Lime Creek Rd and aways from Lago Vista which has some deep valleys. I will keep monitoring and see what I can find.

 

[SCPD]

Rusty Allen Airport is the high ground for Lago Vista. You can pull in stuff from all over - but no site 6. Must be somewhere else.

 

[pacrat551]

I was in Austin today but didn't have my proper monitoring equipment with met Here is a list of CC's I heard searching and their corestponding site ID's as listed in the database. These were heard from I35 @ Wells Branch.

925.2125 - Site 15
935.2500 - Site 8
935.7250 - Site 3
936.7000 - Site 17 (This didn't sound like a standard EDACS CC)
937.2500 - Site 17 (Same as above)
937.4625 - Site 15 and 17?
938.1875 - Site 8
938.4125 - Site 15
939.4625 - Site 4

 

[SCPD]

Thanks Aaron. I'm using a PSR500 which makes verifying site numbers and LCNs easy. I can recognize OpenSky by sound so I'm able to skip those (and 935-940 is thick with OpenSky). I've covered I-35 from Round Rock to Salado (just inside Bell County with no success. At least I was able to make a few DB updates.

If you're running Unitrunker with a discriminator tap, it will tell you whether the control data sound you hear is the narrow version of OpenSky.

 

[pacrat551]

Here is a question....Is it possible for site 6 to be an opensky site? I'm only asking since we know that LCRA is begining their migration to opensky...

Also, did you get the PM I sent to you?

 

[SCPD]

Got your message. I've tried monitoring from the Domain. There's a mix of EDACS, OpenSky and P25 at that location - but again no site 6.

Motorola and P25 systems can be bridged through a product called SmartX. I don't know if a similar EDACS / Opensky bridge exists. I haven't seen anything odd in the decode logs for these sites.

 

[grem467]

They can do it with the VIDA switch

 

[pacrat551]

Here is what I'm seeing (hearing) Each LCRA site has an Opensky signal on the highest LCN and sometimes multiple (Creedmoor LCN 11 and 13). I've confirmed this with Kingsbury, San Marcos, and Creedmoor. This also lines up with what I reported earlier hearing data on the various sites (15, 8, 17, etc.).

With this in mind, looks like we can track which sites also have Opensky and maybe track down 6 via process of elimination?

 

[SCPD]

They can do it with the VIDA switch

Does VIDA cause shadow site numbers to appear on the EDACS side?

 

[SCPD]

Here is what I'm seeing (hearing) Each LCRA site has an Opensky signal on the highest LCN and sometimes multiple (Creedmoor LCN 11 and 13). I've confirmed this with Kingsbury, San Marcos, and Creedmoor. This also lines up with what I reported earlier hearing data on the various sites (15, 8, 17, etc.).

I can pick up OpenSky or EDACS on the same frequency as I drive around. It would be hard to know whether the Opensky signal originates from the same tower.

With this in mind, looks like we can track which sites also have Opensky and maybe track down 6 via process of elimination?

Would we end up with something that can go into the DB? Opensky is completely opaque to me. If site 6 doesn't actually exist as an EDACS control channel then I've been chasing my tail for nothing.

The LCRA information does need to be updated with current valid LCNs. Channels taken away for Opensky need to be removed. I can probably cover the sites in Town Lake, Pickle, Georgetown, and Jonestown.

The HP1 is prone to landing on an Opensky control channel so sones sites must be out of date.

 

[pacrat551]

I can pick up OpenSky or EDACS on the same frequency as I drive around. It would be hard to know whether the Opensky signal originates from the same tower.

I heard the same...as soon as I posted about Creedmoor and hearing Opensky on LCN 11, it stopped and went back to regular EDACS. I feel confident that the Opensky signal would originate from the same tower, at least from what I'm hearing the signal levels have been pretty consistent for each tower from where I'm monitoring.

Would we end up with something that can go into the DB? Opensky is completely opaque to me. If site 6 doesn't actually exist as an EDACS control channel then I've been chasing my tail for nothing.

Good question. It's kinda like Guadalupe County NEXEDGE. I know the frequencies, but can't pin down the exact locations and match the frequencies to. I too know nothing about Opensky except for the very vague info in the wiki. Thats what got me curious if the mysterious site 6 could be an Opensky site. The Wiki has there isn't an actual control channel so that doesn't make sense to me if these sites are reporting a neighbor with CC of LCN 2.

The LCRA information does need to be updated with current valid LCNs. Channels taken away for Opensky need to be removed. I can probably cover the sites in Town Lake, Pickle, Georgetown, and Jonestown.

Again, I'm not familiar at all with this migration path but it must be similar in nature to SmartX because what I understand is the new radios are capable of the old EDACS and new Opensky. So with this in mind, I'm not sure we can nail down the Opensky freqs since they seem to be in a state of flux for now.

 

[SCPD]

By hearing Opensky and EDACS on the same frequency - I mean I'm in a different location when I hear one or the other. I did find a frequency tonight where I must be equidistant from two stations; one EDACS control channel and the other Opensky. Titling the antenna yields one or the other.

If an Opensky channel can revert back to EDACS - that's a whole other mess (my head hurts thinking about it).

I'm going to set aside the issue of mystery site 6 and start a new discussion on resolving LCRA EDACS vs. Opensky frequencies.

 

[SCPD]

About 50 miles north of Austin - in Watson ...

WATSON, TX (BURNET COUNTY) | The Handbook of Texas Online| Texas State Historical Association (TSHA)

LCRA EDACS Site 06 active control channel LCN 2 938.0000 Mhz with peers 8, 17, 20, and 21.

This tiny 3 or 4 channel site is co-located with the LCRA Opensky system with just one channel on 939.9625 Mhz.

 

[texasemt13]

Guys, I was sitting in an New Braunfels PD cruiser yesterday (in the front seat, not the back), messing with my buddies radio (MACom Orion). As I was fiddling around with his talkgroups, I flipped his site selector up and the first site it offered (past New Braunfels) was "Menard." Meaning he could manually set his radio on the Menard site.

As I look through our database I notice we have no sites logged in Menard County at all. If there is someone in that area (or Kimble County for that matter), maybe they could listen in for awhile to see if there is a control channel? If LCRA has programmed their radio with the Menard site, there has to be one.