Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) DMR Tier 3 System

[mcjones2013]

It appears PG&E is transitioning to a DMR Tier 3 Standard system (identified by DSDPlus as a TAIT system). There are MANY sites currently broadcasting, below is just a snippet of what I was able to note down from Folsom (just under Carpenter Peak, the highest point in Sacramento County). Each site is identifying neighbors, but they're very slow at populating within DSDPlus, sometimes up to 10 minutes per site (must have something to do with the system being Tier 3 Standard, because Capacity Max isn't this slow at populating). I only had a few minutes and didn't have time to capture the neighbors, but so far it appears they go from 1.x to 19.x.

Below are my notes. The site numbers are the Tier 3 Standard format, the parenthesis are what the site numbers would be if Capacity Max (when forcing DSDPlus to show me them because they seem easier to track personally, but I know it's not the actual way they're broadcasting).

Unfortunately, they're all in the 454 MHz range, which are licensed based on area/region, not site-specific, so we'll either have to compare to the MPT system to see if they match up, or get on the road and go site hunting.

Pacific Gas & Electric (DMR)
Tier 3 Standard (TAIT) - System H3

Site: 4.8 (31) NL: Name: CONF:
UNK 454.03125 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

Site: 5.1 (32) NL: Name: CONF:
UNK 454.40625 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

Site: 5.4 (35) NL: Name: CONF:
UNK 454.61875 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

Site: 5.8 (39) NL: Name: CONF:
UNK 454.58125 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

Site: 6.8 (47) NL: Name: CONF:
UNK 454.56875 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

Site: 11.1 (80) NL: Name: CONF:
UNK 454.29375 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

Site: 11.8 (87) NL: Name: CONF:
UNK 454.43125 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

Site: 14.2 (105) NL: Name: CONF:
UNK 454.44375 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

Site: 14.3 (106) NL: Name: CONF:
UNK 454.65625 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

Site: 14.5 (108) NL: Name: CONF:
UNK 454.23125 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

 

[officer_415]

Mt. Tam has a control channel on 454.61875, showing as TIII (TAIT) Site:H3-3.4 DCC:0 with the following neighbors:

H3-1.1
H3-1.3
H3-2.1
H3-2.3
H3-2.5
H3-3.3
H3-4.1
H3-4.3
H3-4.8
H3-5.1
H3-5.3
H3-6.1
H3-6.3
H3-7.1
H3-8.1
H3-11.6
H3-13.6
H3-13.7
H3-14.1
H3-14.2
H3-14.4
H3-14.5
H3-15.1
H3-15.2
H3-15.5
H3-15.6
H3-15.7
H3-16.6
H3-19.1

 

[officer_415]

Also receiving 454.43125, Site H3-2.5 DCC:0 RAS with the following neighbors:

H3-1.3
H3-2.1
H3-2.3
H3-3.3
H3-3.4
H3-4.1
H3-4.3
H3-4.8
H3-5.1
H3-5.3
H3-6.1
H3-6.3
H3-7.1
H3-8.1
H3-13.6
H3-13.7
H3-14.1
H3-14.2
H3-14.3
H3-14.4
H3-14.5
H3-15.2
H3-15.5
H3-15.6
H3-15.7

Also receiving a very weak signal on 454.53125, Site H3-14.4 DCC:0

 

[WayneH]

Wow, so after implementing a NorCal wide-area MPT1327 system they're spending the money on upgrading to this, like instead of putting it into the aging electrical infrastructure (yeah, sorry, had to dig). I was able to check out one of their MPT portables a while back and the UIX was horrible; the navigation of TGs was not structured like a typical trunked portable.

Per a web search Tait has had a services contract with them since the MPT install days (2014) so this seems on par with how big comm companies are selling these managed service contracts and introducing upgrade services.

 

[scannerboy02]

I believe Tait is the only company still selling MPT-1327 radios and they offer a radio that will do MPT and DMR in the same radio.

With most analog trunking systems being phased out of support they really don't have a lot of other options besides cellular and I'm definitely thankful they aren't relying on the cellular infrastructure like many others (including public safety) are.

 

[WayneH]

I believe Tait is the only company still selling MPT-1327 radios and they offer a radio that will do MPT and DMR in the same radio.

With most analog trunking systems being phased out of support they really don't have a lot of other options besides cellular and I'm definitely thankful they aren't relying on the cellular infrastructure like many others (including public safety) are.

Yeah, the radio I had in my hands was a TP9300 which I see will do both. This was over 10 years ago so they've had that ability for a while. Actually could have been an upgrade that only resulted in some of the infrastructure getting replaced.

PG&E maintains quite a large microwave radio network they transport a lot of services over, which includes LMR and other wireless data related services. So they certainly have the private infrastructure to transport it. That's probably what their telecom dept is most experienced with anyway since they didn't have much to support prior to MPT. So offloading it to Tait makes more sense than hiring it in-house.

 

[scannerboy02]

I have created a Google Map of the licensed YG, IG and MG sites for PG&E to help anyone who wants to do some site searching.

This is not meant to be an indication that any of these sites are online as part of the DMR system or are at all part of the DMR system, it's just some places to perhaps check.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company - 2025-04-03 - Google My Maps

Pacific Gas and Electric Company - 2025-04-03

www.google.com

 

[ScannerDude244]

I wonder what happened to nxdn? PG&E NXDN System

 

[scannerboy02]

I wonder what happened to nxdn? PG&E NXDN System

Perhaps they realized they already had radios that will do MPT and DMR in the same radio.

 

[mcjones2013]

I had a few minutes while waiting to pick someone up, so I sat at a park near Mather Airport, watched some planes and ran the 454 band.

Compared to what I saw in Folsom, here's my notes.

Site: 4.1 NL: Name: Heard Mather CONF:
UNK 454.55625 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

Site: 4.2 NL: Name: Heard Mather CONF:
UNK 454.50625 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

Site: 4.8 NL: Name: Heard Folsom/Mather CONF:
UNK 454.03125 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

Site: 5.1 NL: Name: Heard Folsom/Mather CONF:
UNK 454.40625 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

Site: 5.4 NL: Name: Heard Folsom/Mather CONF:
UNK 454.61875 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

Site: 5.8 NL: Name: Heard Folsom/Mather CONF:
UNK 454.58125 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

Site: 6.8 NL: Name: Heard Folsom/Mather CONF:
UNK 454.56875 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

Site: 8.2 NL: Name: Heard Mather CONF:
UNK 454.34375 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

Site: 8.6 NL: Name: Heard Mather CONF:
UNK 454.26875 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

Site: 11.1 NL: Name: Heard Folsom/Mather CONF:
UNK 454.29375 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

Site: 11.8 NL: Name: Heard Folsom/Mather CONF:
UNK 454.43125 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

Site: 14.2 NL: Name: Heard Folsom CONF:
UNK 454.44375 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

Site: 14.3 NL: Name: Heard Folsom/Mather CONF:
UNK 454.65625 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

Site: 14.4 NL: Name: Heard Mather CONF:
UNK 454.53125 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

Site: 14.5 NL: Name: Heard Folsom CONF:
UNK 454.23125 DCC: 0 CONTROL CH

 

[norcalscan]

I was able to check out one of their MPT portables a while back and the UIX was horrible; the navigation of TGs was not structured like a typical trunked portable.

PGE's current system is zoned out by major divisions, then in each zone, the talkgroup are different geographic areas/offices or functions. So think Gas Transmission, Gas Distribution, Gas Maintenance and Ops, Gas Construction, Hydro Division, repeat for Electric Trans, Dist, Ops, Maint, Const. Each of those zones then have talkgroups for Burney, Los Banos, Chico, Eureka, etc. They also have UHF conventional standalone repeaters.