Radio Identifiers for State Law Enforcement

[EMT1301]

Hello all,

I searched this forum and could not find an answer to this question, so here goes: does anyone have a list, or can point me to a source for information about the unit identifiers for various state law enforcement officers? For example, here in Somerset County, the DCNR State Forest Rangers utilize the IDs D51 ("Delta-51"), D52, D53 and D54. Game Commission uses 228, 229 and 230. Fish Commission uses F30 and F41. State parks personnel just use the name of the state park from which they are based, plus a number ("Laurel Hill 3", "Laurel Hill 4", etc). The state dog law officer for Somerset County utilizes "54-2". I believe I remember that in the case of DCNR Forestry units, the D in their designator refers to the district? I would like to see statewide lists for these units if they are available. I remember seeing a webpage with this information on it years ago, but I haven't been able to find that information recently and am not sure where to look. PA's portal page for the State Radio Office doesn't have anything pertinent. Thank you for any assistance!

 

[druhe]

Craig,

Check your email

 

[HM1529]

There is a forum discussion that contains a map I posted a while back showing almost all the PGC WCO district numbers statewide (there are a couple blanks where my notes did not match the current district alignment). I'm sure Dan will set you straight on the DCNR stuff, also, if he's contacted you directly. I also have a PFBC map like the one I posted for PGC, but it is not as up to date because my old numbering lists do not match the current district alignment due to staffing changes. If I have time, I will try to post the maps to the wiki page for the agency. You can get to these wiki pages either by searching the site wiki or by going to the database page for a particular state agency and looking for the wiki link on the upper right. I know the DCNR wiki page has a map of the districts and their letter designators.

Keep in mind, too, that some units from each of these agencies may also carry a county radio and many now also have access to county comm centers via their STARNET radios and the county interop talkgroups. This only works in counties that monitor their STARNET interop talkgroup. Unfortunately, all 67 counties do not necessarily monitor their talkgroup...defeating the purpose, really.

Those officers who carry radios that operate on county systems may use county assigned ID's that differ from the ID they would use on their private channels. For instance, here in Montgomery Co, any PFBC, PGC, or DCNR unit carrying a county portable will ID with the comm center using a 98-xxx radio number. In some areas the state unit just uses their normal state ID on the county channels. This varies by whatever policy the county comm center uses for communications. So, no consistency there.

Budget constraints for the agencies may limit who is carrying what kind of radios. All DCNR law enforcement units should have state 800 STARNET radios and many also have VHF radios. In an area where the local county is VHF (i.e. Clinton, Lycoming, etc), those frequencies are programmed into the VHF radios along with the DCNR channels. PGC and PFBC still use lowband. But, in many areas, they also have VHF or UHF radios for county interop (or even 800 trunked radios for a county system). PGC is in the process of migrating to STARNET. The SC region has several dozen 800 STARNET radios issued. The other 5 regions have a more limited cache for now. PFBC has no firm plans to migrate (funding) but there are some STARNET radios issued to WCO's in that agency, too...although it is pretty limited from what I understand. As of now, I am not aware of any STARNET radio also being programmed for a county 800 system (other than having the national interop repeaters in the STARNET radio). Perhaps, as the state transitions to a P25 system, consideration will be given to programming certain radios appropriately so that both state and county systems can be in one radio. This would be of particular use in the southern half of the state where there are a number of P25 trunked systems coming online in the 700/800 band.

 

[EMT1301]

Keep in mind, too, that some units from each of these agencies may also carry a county radio and many now also have access to county comm centers via their STARNET radios and the county interop talkgroups. This only works in counties that monitor their STARNET interop talkgroup. Unfortunately, all 67 counties do not necessarily monitor their talkgroup...defeating the purpose, really.

Those officers who carry radios that operate on county systems may use county assigned ID's that differ from the ID they would use on their private channels. For instance, here in Montgomery Co, any PFBC, PGC, or DCNR unit carrying a county portable will ID with the comm center using a 98-xxx radio number. In some areas the state unit just uses their normal state ID on the county channels. This varies by whatever policy the county comm center uses for communications. So, no consistency there.

Budget constraints for the agencies may limit who is carrying what kind of radios. All DCNR law enforcement units should have state 800 STARNET radios and many also have VHF radios. In an area where the local county is VHF (i.e. Clinton, Lycoming, etc), those frequencies are programmed into the VHF radios along with the DCNR channels. PGC and PFBC still use lowband. But, in many areas, they also have VHF or UHF radios for county interop (or even 800 trunked radios for a county system). PGC is in the process of migrating to STARNET.

Thanks, and I look forward to perusing these maps. I am a 911 dispatcher for Somerset County. Fish and Game Commission units have direct radio access to us via low band VHF on a deprecated police frequency that we still use only to communicate with them (45.00 mhz). The three Game Commission district supervisors have also been allocated conventional 800 mhz portable radios so that they can contact the municipal police in our county and/or communicate with 911 through our radio network. DCNR and State Parks rangers exclusively communicate with us via STARNET, and we do monitor our county interop channel. PSP recently installed multiband radios in their cruisers in Somerset County and now can contact us via STARNET or 800 mhz conventional (municipal police channels). They also have access once again to their deprecated VHF high band channels that were phased out in favor of STARNET, but only use them to supplement coverage of STARNET (theoretically). The state dog law officer has contact with us via high-band VHF, but we mostly communicate with him via cell phone. All of these state law enforcement units utilize their native radio IDs when communicating with 911 or municipal police. They have never been assigned any identifiers consistent with the county numbering scheme. Thank you again, I appreciate all of the information very much.

 

[EMT1301]

Map uploaded for Fish Commission

I created a map with QGIS from the data available through PASDA, and uploaded it to the WIKI page for PFBC.

http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Fish_and_Boat_Commission_(PA)

 

[EMT1301]

I created a map with QGIS from the data available through PASDA, and uploaded it to the WIKI page for PFBC.

http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Fish_and_Boat_Commission_(PA)

Oops, broken link. The wiki is here: Fish and Boat Commission (PA) - The RadioReference Wiki