I have a few questions about the PANCOM System. I'm in the Panhandle area of Texas and i'm a little confused about the system. We have various systems in the area ie: FMN, P25, P25 Phase 2 , and now TDCJ (prison system) has changed to DMR and of course the PANCOM System. I'm trying to figure out how to monitor the PANCOM System, I have no clue if it's DMR, FMN, P25, is it a trunked system , i'm completely lost... If someone can explain it to me in very simple layman's terms i would greatly appreciate it. I'm using a Whistler WS-1040.... Thank you
PANCOM System
- Thread starter KVA4FC
- Start date
I’m not extremely familiar with PANCOM, but it's not something you would program as a trunked system with talkgroups.
PANCOM stands for the Panhandle Regional Interoperable Communication System. It was built through the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission, which is basically the regional council of governments style organization for the panhandle.
PANCOM is a VHF based interoperability system using P25. You can think of it more like a network of conventional VHF repeater channels spread across the Panhandle, not DMR nor a P25 Phase II trunked system.
So for your Whistler, you would want to program the actual PANCOM VHF repeater frequencies as conventional channels, not as a trunked system.
The easiest way to think about it:
PANCOM = regional VHF repeater/interoperability system
not DMR/trunked etc
no talkgroups
program the individual frequencies conventionally
A local example from my area would be the North Central Texas Council of Governments system. NCTCOG helped coordinate regional interoperability communications in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, but their setup was more of a 700/800 MHz P25 trunked overlay/interoperability system. PANCOM is the Panhandle version of regional interoperability, just using a more straightforward VHF conventional repeater setup.
The goal is the same...give public safety users across the region common channels they can use without having to figure out what local mutual aid channel, NIFOG channel, or county specific repeater is available in every area.
I attached an older PANCOM map. The map I found is dated 2010 and was retrieved around 2018, so it may not be completely current. At the bottom, it shows that some sites were linked by VHF, others by microwave, ethernet, etc.
Look for the PANCOM frequencies listed for your county or nearby counties in RR and program them as conventional VHF channels.
EDIT: It appears some counties use them as full time dispatch channels, so you'll probably hear a lot more routine traffic than interop if that's the case, where as in Potter County it looks like they use their own trunked system, not sure if it's patched to the PANCOM VHF channels or not. Something to keep in mind if you don't hear traffic in some areas.
PANCOM stands for the Panhandle Regional Interoperable Communication System. It was built through the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission, which is basically the regional council of governments style organization for the panhandle.
PANCOM is a VHF based interoperability system using P25. You can think of it more like a network of conventional VHF repeater channels spread across the Panhandle, not DMR nor a P25 Phase II trunked system.
So for your Whistler, you would want to program the actual PANCOM VHF repeater frequencies as conventional channels, not as a trunked system.
The easiest way to think about it:
PANCOM = regional VHF repeater/interoperability system
not DMR/trunked etc
no talkgroups
program the individual frequencies conventionally
A local example from my area would be the North Central Texas Council of Governments system. NCTCOG helped coordinate regional interoperability communications in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, but their setup was more of a 700/800 MHz P25 trunked overlay/interoperability system. PANCOM is the Panhandle version of regional interoperability, just using a more straightforward VHF conventional repeater setup.
The goal is the same...give public safety users across the region common channels they can use without having to figure out what local mutual aid channel, NIFOG channel, or county specific repeater is available in every area.
I attached an older PANCOM map. The map I found is dated 2010 and was retrieved around 2018, so it may not be completely current. At the bottom, it shows that some sites were linked by VHF, others by microwave, ethernet, etc.
Look for the PANCOM frequencies listed for your county or nearby counties in RR and program them as conventional VHF channels.
EDIT: It appears some counties use them as full time dispatch channels, so you'll probably hear a lot more routine traffic than interop if that's the case, where as in Potter County it looks like they use their own trunked system, not sure if it's patched to the PANCOM VHF channels or not. Something to keep in mind if you don't hear traffic in some areas.
Someone told me years ago when the full system was submitted that the sites are all VOIP linked to where dispatchers can link them together when chases, wildfires, and MCIs require it. Up there and outside of Amarillo, trunking would be WAY overkill for many of those counties with a single, sometimes maybe two, deputies on at any time.
Project25_MASTR
TX-COMU
It's a conventional P25 system. I believe it was originally built on EF Johnson's IP25 solution using EF Johnson 3800 series repeaters but I don't know if the actual linking was done via the IP25 core or if it was done through consoles and patches. I believe those repeaters are still in place but don't know what's being used for the backend today.
Now conventional P25, especially EFJ's Atlas infrastructure can be very adaptable typically. For example, you can configure it to where everything is a generic TG 1 for traffic going to each site or you can get much more granular and assign talkgroups and it really just depends on the system. I've never been around the PANCOM system long enough to really get good in-site on how it operates and even while I was at EFJ most of the engineers that set that system up had either retired or moved on and I didn't play much outside of the trunked environments.
Now conventional P25, especially EFJ's Atlas infrastructure can be very adaptable typically. For example, you can configure it to where everything is a generic TG 1 for traffic going to each site or you can get much more granular and assign talkgroups and it really just depends on the system. I've never been around the PANCOM system long enough to really get good in-site on how it operates and even while I was at EFJ most of the engineers that set that system up had either retired or moved on and I didn't play much outside of the trunked environments.
nd5y
Member
I don't know if this is still up to date.
wiki.radioreference.com
