Sacramento County Conventional P25 Tacticals

[mcjones2013]

With the decommissioning of the SmartZone radio system, it appears that 16 of the frequency pairs from both SmartZone Site 1 and Site 2 are going to be used for a P25 conventional tactical radio system. This is likely for backup/redundancy purposes if the P25 trunking system was to fail, but there may also be some more specific uses if an agency needs it.

The radio techs were doing some testing today. This is what I captured, based on FCC licensing and listening to the techs:

851.11250	(CITY OF SACRAMENTO)		FREEPORT WATER TOWER
851.16250	(COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO)		CARPENTER PEAK TOWER
851.46250	(COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO)		FREEPORT WATER TOWER
852.10000	(CITY OF SACRAMENTO)	C-TAC-14???	NORTH AREA CORPORATION YARD TOWER
852.17500	(COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO)		CARPENTER PEAK TOWER
852.40000	(COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO)		RANCHO MURIETA TOWER
852.63750	(CITY OF SACRAMENTO)		BRIGHTON HEIGHTS TOWER	NAC 29E
852.71250	(CITY OF SACRAMENTO)	C-TAC-12	MAIN JAIL TOWER	NAC 29F
852.87500	(COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO)		CARPENTER PEAK TOWER
852.96250	(CITY OF SACRAMENTO)		FREEPORT WATER TOWER
853.10000	(CITY OF SACRAMENTO)		MAIN JAIL TOWER	NAC 29B
853.32500	(COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO)		CARPENTER PEAK TOWER
853.42500	(COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO)		CARPENTER PEAK TOWER
853.68750	(COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO)		SSO BOND ROAD TOWER
853.77500	(CITY OF SACRAMENTO)		UC DAVIS MEDICAL CENTER TOWER
853.85000	(COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO)	C-TAC-13	MAIN JAIL TOWER

 

[russbrill]

With the decommissioning of the SmartZone radio system, it appears that 16 of the frequency pairs from both SmartZone Site 1 and Site 2 are going to be used for a P25 conventional tactical radio system. This is likely for backup/redundancy purposes if the P25 trunking system was to fail, but there may also be some more specific uses if an agency needs it.

The radio techs were doing some testing today. This is what I captured, based on FCC licensing and listening to the techs:

851.11250	(CITY OF SACRAMENTO)		FREEPORT WATER TOWER
851.16250	(COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO)		CARPENTER PEAK TOWER
851.46250	(COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO)		FREEPORT WATER TOWER
852.10000	(CITY OF SACRAMENTO)	C-TAC-14???	NORTH AREA CORPORATION YARD TOWER
852.17500	(COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO)		CARPENTER PEAK TOWER
852.40000	(COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO)		RANCHO MURIETA TOWER
852.63750	(CITY OF SACRAMENTO)		BRIGHTON HEIGHTS TOWER	NAC 29E
852.71250	(CITY OF SACRAMENTO)	C-TAC-12	MAIN JAIL TOWER	NAC 29F
852.87500	(COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO)		CARPENTER PEAK TOWER
852.96250	(CITY OF SACRAMENTO)		FREEPORT WATER TOWER
853.10000	(CITY OF SACRAMENTO)		MAIN JAIL TOWER	NAC 29B
853.32500	(COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO)		CARPENTER PEAK TOWER
853.42500	(COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO)		CARPENTER PEAK TOWER
853.68750	(COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO)		SSO BOND ROAD TOWER
853.77500	(CITY OF SACRAMENTO)		UC DAVIS MEDICAL CENTER TOWER
853.85000	(COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO)	C-TAC-13	MAIN JAIL TOWER

Cool, will these Freq's be added to the Database soon???

 

[mcjones2013]

Cool, will these Freq's be added to the Database soon???

I'd say once we verify that all are in use, we can submit them (I listed all that have a conventional code in the FCC database, not all are verified to be in use). I'm not 100% on the NAC codes or the channel naming since I had to do some programming on the fly once I found out they were doing the testing.

 

[russbrill]

I'd say once we verify that all are in use, we can submit them (I listed all that have a conventional code in the FCC database, not all are verified to be in use). I'm not 100% on the NAC codes or the channel naming since I had to do some programming on the fly once I found out they were doing the testing.

Thank you Sir for your hard work...

73,
Russ

 

[gmclam]

At one time Site1 & Site 2 had about 49 frequencies total. They've slowly been "moving" the frequencies over to the P25 system. As of this moment, I am only seeing 30 frequencies on the P25 system (not counting other sites: Twichell, Davis, etc). With the analog system turned off, I've been expecting to see more frequencies pop up on P25, but it hasn't happened (at least yet).

This explains what is going on. 30 on P25 and 16 for conventional only leaves 3 that I'm uncertain of. Thanks!

 

[scannerboy02]

The maximum amount of talk paths (including the control channel) per site is 30.

 

[mcjones2013]

This explains what is going on. 30 on P25 and 16 for conventional only leaves 3 that I'm uncertain of. Thanks!

There's only 20 channels on Site 12 per Unitrunker, for now.

There are times in the middle of the day that it appears all voice channels are unavailable for use, so I'm sure we'll see them add more channel capacity soon.

 

[mcjones2013]

From the June 23, 2020 board packet for SRFECC: Radio Failure Plan in progress - will include CTAC2 and CTAC3 repeaters. Analog radio system shut down 06/01/2020. All local fire agencies have migrated to P25. Some agencies still working on audio or transition issues

 

[mcjones2013]

Thank you to whoever submitted the information on the C-TAC channels!

I am curious though. When they were doing the initial testing, the NACs were in the $29x range. Are the new NACs listed in the DB verified? I haven't had much time in a past couple weeks to listen to them, so I don't know myself.

 

[ccsochp11]

SAC COUNTY SIMPLEX
SPLX 1 FIRE 851.137500 851.137500 4 kHz / 20 kHz 659 659 DPL 67.0 XZ 412 False DPL 67.0 XZ 412 False
SPLX 2 CITY LG 851.412500 851.412500 4 kHz / 20 kHz 659 659 DPL 67.0 XZ 532 False DPL 67.0 XZ 532 False
SPLX 2 RANCHO 851.412500 851.412500 4 kHz / 20 kHz 659 659 DPL 67.0 XZ 131 False DPL 67.0 XZ 131 False
SPLX 3 CITY LG 851.775000 851.775000 4 kHz / 20 kHz 659 659 DPL 67.0 XZ 532 False DPL 67.0 XZ 532 False
SPLX 3 RANCHO 851.775000 851.775000 4 kHz / 20 kHz 659 659 DPL 67.0 XZ 131 False DPL 67.0 XZ 131 False
SPLX 3 RT 851.775000 851.775000 4 kHz / 20 kHz 659 659 DPL 67.0 XZ 412 False DPL 67.0 XZ 412 False
SPLX 4 CITRUS 851.887500 851.887500 4 kHz / 20 kHz 659 659 DPL 67.0 XZ 565 False DPL 67.0 XZ 565 False
SPLX 4 CNTY LG 851.887500 851.887500 4 kHz / 20 kHz 659 659 DPL 67.0 XZ 131 False DPL 67.0 XZ 131 False
SPLX 4 ELK GRV 851.887500 851.887500 4 kHz / 20 kHz 659 659 DPL 67.0 XZ 261 False DPL 67.0 XZ 261 False
SPLX 5 AIRPORT 852.037500 852.037500 4 kHz / 20 kHz 659 659 DPL 67.0 XZ 532 False DPL 67.0 XZ 532 False
SPLX 5 CIRTUS 852.037500 852.037500 4 kHz / 20 kHz 659 659 DPL 67.0 XZ 565 False DPL 67.0 XZ 565 False
SPLX 5 CNTY LG 852.037500 852.037500 4 kHz / 20 kHz 659 659 DPL 67.0 XZ 131 False DPL 67.0 XZ 131 False
SPLX 5 ELK GRV 852.037500 852.037500 4 kHz / 20 kHz 659 659 DPL 67.0 XZ 261 False DPL 67.0 XZ 261 False
SPLX 6 FOLSOM 853.362500 853.362500 4 kHz / 20 kHz 659 659 DPL 67.0 XZ 134 False DPL 67.0 XZ 134 False
SPLX 6 WST SC 853.362500 853.362500 4 kHz / 20 kHz 659 659 DPL 67.0 XZ 412 False DPL 67.0 XZ 412 False
SPLX 6 R TP 853.362500 853.362500 4 kHz / 20 kHz 659 659 DPL 67.0 XZ 532 False DPL 67.0 XZ 532 False
SPLX 6 GALT 853.962500 853.962500 4 kHz / 20 kHz 659 659 DPL 67.0 XZ 261 False DPL 67.0 XZ 261 False
SPLX 6 EGWS 853.962500 853.962500 4 kHz / 20 kHz 659 659 DPL 67.0 XZ 565 False DPL 67.0 XZ 565 False
ALL LG 853.562500 853.562500 4 kHz / 20 kHz 659 659 DPL 67.0 XZ 532 False DPL 67.0 XZ 532 False
TAC 15D 852.900000 852.900000 4 kHz / 20 kHz 659 659 PL 162.2 5B 023 False PL 162.2 5B 023 False
TAC 16D 853.962500 853.962500 4 kHz / 20 kHz 659 659 PL 162.2 5B 023 False PL 162.2 5B 023 False


EG EMERGENCY 860.787500 815.787500 5 kHz / 25 kHz 659 659 DPL 67.0 XZ 165 False DPL 67.0 XZ 165 False
8YOLO 859.937500 814.937500 5 kHz / 25 kHz 659 659 PL 156.7 5A 023 False PL 156.7 5A 023 False
SECA 1 858.462500 813.462500 5 kHz / 25 kHz 659 659 PL 107.2 1B 023 False PL 107.2 1B 023 False
SECA 2 858.937500 813.937500 5 kHz / 25 kHz 659 659 PL 107.2 1B 023 False PL 107.2 1B 023 False

 

[ccsochp11]

Not sure what these are ?

 

[ccsochp11]

To your question about the nacs those are the hex version that are submitted. So you are right. They are in the 29 range but I only had the hex version

 

[mcjones2013]

EG EMERGENCY 860.787500 815.787500 5 kHz / 25 kHz 659 659 DPL 67.0 XZ 165 False DPL 67.0 XZ 165 False
8YOLO 859.937500 814.937500 5 kHz / 25 kHz 659 659 PL 156.7 5A 023 False PL 156.7 5A 023 False
SECA 1 858.462500 813.462500 5 kHz / 25 kHz 659 659 PL 107.2 1B 023 False PL 107.2 1B 023 False
SECA 2 858.937500 813.937500 5 kHz / 25 kHz 659 659 PL 107.2 1B 023 False PL 107.2 1B 023 False

I've submitted a correction to the database regarding these (they were added this past week to Sacramento County).

EG EMERGENCY (860.78750 DCS 165)
This is a district-wide emergency calling channel for the Elk Grove Unified School District. Each school site has a set of 800 MHz radios for on-campus communications, and in those radios, EG EMERGENCY is programmed as one of the channel options. EG EMERGENCY is on a repeater at the district complex on Gerber Road, and is monitored by the EGUSD Police Services dispatcher (who also works the EGS PD talkgroup on SRRCS P25).

8YOLO (859.93750 156.7)
This is a repeater located on Bald Mountain in Yolo County, licensed and used by the Yolo Emergency Communications Agency (YECA). It is for interoperability purposes for 800 MHz agencies coming into Yolo County, and also serves as a backup repeater for those Yolo County agencies normally using 800 MHz trunking. It should be listed in the Yolo County database, not Sacramento County. NOTE: There's also a 4YOLO UHF version as well (realize that Yolo County is mostly VHF, but has county neighbors who primarily use UHF and 800 MHz)

SECA 1 (858.46250 107.2) and SECA 2 (858.93750 107.2)
These are repeaters located in Solano County, and are part of a multi-band interoperability system. There is a VHF, UHF, and 800 MHz version of SECA 1, SECA 2. There is also a SECA 3 VHF, and there are some talkgroups on the Vacaville/Fairfield trunking system that are tied into it as well. They are cross-band repeated as needed. They should not be listed under Sacramento County, but under the Solano County database, for which they already are, but they are not listed as SECA 1 or SECA 2, but as Solano Co 800 T1 (and T2) under the Services subsection.

 

[officer_415]

NOTE: There's also a 4YOLO UHF version as well

Do you have the frequency/tone?

 

[ccsochp11]

Nice explanation. I always wondered what those channels were for

 

[mcjones2013]

I've finally added these in to a dedicated conventional radio this past week, and I've noticed what seems to be infrequent but "routine" use of these channels by some agency. They're mostly just radio checks and status checks, I believe using "Paul" and "X-Ray" call signs. I think it *may* be Los Rios PD, but not sure. At one point they did their radio check, then said "going back to prime", which I assume means back to their primary channel. I've heard use this week on CTAC 2, CTAC 7, and CTAC 9.

 

[stingray327]

So does this mean the Sacramento PD and Sheriff's Office that I programmed into my HP II and BCD 436 3 to 5 years ago that I am going to have to scrape all of those frequencies and reprogram with the new frequencies that are in the Sentinel databases for the two above scanners?

 

[gmclam]

So does this mean the Sacramento PD and Sheriff's Office that I programmed into my HP II and BCD 436 3 to 5 years ago that I am going to have to scrape all of those frequencies and reprogram with the new frequencies that are in the Sentinel databases for the two above scanners?

It is a constant effort to keep frequencies and TGs up to date for each and everything you want to monitor.

 

[stingray327]

It is a constant effort to keep frequencies and TGs up to date for each and everything you want to monitor.

I see. I used to drive through that area alot so I had banks in the scanners but from where I am at now as a base station I can't receive Sacramento stations anyway even if I had the proper frequencies.