SBCoFD Desert / River Disp

tkenny53

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I have been listening today on Mountain Sim, High Desert Sim and Wrightwood sites.
I have not heard the Desert /River Dispatch ?
I have heard tach and command for high desert area.
Any ideas?
 

tsalmrsystemtech

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Yes, that is pretty strange as it's been talked about before where SBDCO wanted to make sure all of their sites within their system had 2-DISP-1 and 3-DISP-2 running at all times on all of their sites. I am hearing 2-CMD-4 on Mt. Simulcast and it should be working but it could be a maintenance issue they are working on.

Trust me listening to the MT. Simulcast or the High Desert for Sure should be dispatching on 3-DISP-2 for sure. Lot's of times we are not Privy to this information on why its not working. Maybe its just a temporary thing. Wondering if they are dispatching everything on 2-DISP-1 for now. Just not sure. I have never listened to the WrightWood Site so I would not have any information on what talkgroups are being used on that site.

Anyways if I hear anything tonight or tomorrow and so on I will post. I do remember a couple of years ago and so on that I would be in Palm Desert and I was able to pickup the Onyx Site which covered the desert Tac's. Sometimes I wouldn't hear 3-DISP-2 from time to time. For sure that site would cover the 3-DISP-2 site for sure. It's pretty strange sometimes why and why not. Hopefully this helps. When I would not hear 3-DISP-2 on the Onyx Site it would confuse me too. Weird stuff sometimes.

I know this is not a good idea but call their dispatch center and ask why or why not. HAHA. I know they have consolidated less dispatchers and they patch certain talkgroups together I think later in the night with less dispatchers as they can cover multiple areas using the console patch feature. I know its been talked about too as they patch like 2-CMD-4 and 3-CMD-9 together. I am not sure if this is at all times or not. Your guess is as good as mine.
 

MEDIC135

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Do NOT call Comm Center. They will not answer your question and ask why you’re calling as a simple enthusiast. But as to the original question, it seems that County 800 might be doing some work on those sites causing 3-DISP-2 to not come in. But the dispatch channels should be coming in on every single site in the system. And as for talkgroup patching, talkgroups are patched 24/7 due to the lack of dispatchers in Comm Center.
2-CMD-1 and 2-CMD-3 are patched
2-CMD-4, 3-CMD-6 and 3-CMD-9 are patched
2-CMD-5 and 3-CMD-7 are patched
 

tsalmrsystemtech

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Like I said in the past Onyx Peak was not working somedays for no reason. Never knew why. This has been happening for a few years now
 

f40ph

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The only "guaranteed" sites where you'll hear 3-Disp-2 are the areas where "Desert" fire stations exist.
Such as:
High Desert Simulcast, Wrightwood site, Baker or Turquoise site, Paxton, Donnell, Spirit Mtn or Needles, Trona hill or SBSO Trona. Some of these are "or" because it's assumed there's only one fire station radio sitting on the dispatch channel. Fire engine radios are not normally left on the dispatch channel, they scan it. If a station radio affiliates with one local site, you won't hear 3-Disp-2 radio traffic on the other site.
Yes, a Yucca Valley area fire station "could" affiliate with Onyx on occasion forcing 3-Disp-2 to be broadcast but if you think about it, that's only going to happen if Paxton goes down temporarily.

I've found radios that for one reason or another affiliated with a more distant site. Rebooting the radio caused it to shop around for a strong signal locally and it went back to "normal". Why did it lose the strong local signal in the first place? Not sure - perhaps the local site went down then came back up?
 
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MEDIC135

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The only "guaranteed" sites where you'll hear 3-Disp-2 are the areas where "Desert" fire stations exist.
Such as:
High Desert Simulcast, Wrightwood site, Baker or Turquoise site, Paxton, Donnell, Spirit Mtn or Needles, Trona hill or SBSO Trona. Some of these are "or" because it's assumed there's only one fire station radio sitting on the dispatch channel. Fire engine radios are not normally left on the dispatch channel, they scan it. If a station radio affiliates with one local site, you won't hear 3-Disp-2 radio traffic on the other site.
Yes, a Yucca Valley area fire station "could" affiliate with Onyx on occasion forcing 3-Disp-2 to be broadcast but if you think about it, that's only going to happen if Paxton goes down temporarily.

I've found radios that for one reason or another affiliated with a more distant site. Rebooting the radio caused it to shop around for a strong signal locally and it went back to "normal". Why did it lose the strong local signal in the first place? Not sure - perhaps the local site went down then came back up?
This info is spot on! Station radios (XTL5000) for station alerting are always left on the respective dispatch channel. While the rig mobile radios (also XTL5000) will be scanning their respective dispatch, command, tac and sometimes either an EMS and/or PD channel. As for portable radios (XTS5000 and APX8000), they will be the same as the rig radios.
 

Eng74

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Government Peak has 3-Disp-2 all the time. Every so often it will come up on El Paso Peak. El Paso is normally pretty quiet and have to log with the VHF channel.
 

tkenny53

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thanks for the insight, I started to hear Disp coming up on Lone Pine, but I could not see which of the 3 it was coming from. since I live in WW part time, I'm across the canyon from the tower. I got a 536, sds100 and a 436. I keep the 100 on 3-d-2. I may add Baker in as well.
 

f40ph

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You might consider also monitoring the Tiefort Pk site if you're driving down from Lone Pine. It's fairly far north, a little closer than Baker, and might be something you'd hear.
 

tkenny53

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North Desert Sim has been working well.
Lone Pine is a natural dead spot.
545am tuesday was up to listen to a brush a few blocks away.
Its a tough area to monitor, with a mix of 800 and P25 going on.
536 in one spot and the sds200 in another. On the 200 with a 700/800 ducky hears better, than the discone on the 536, on 800 patches.
 

tsalmrsystemtech

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North Desert Sim has been working well.
Lone Pine is a natural dead spot.
545am tuesday was up to listen to a brush a few blocks away.
Its a tough area to monitor, with a mix of 800 and P25 going on.
536 in one spot and the sds200 in another. On the 200 with a 700/800 ducky hears better, than the discone on the 536, on 800 patches.
Yes those older BCD536HP do not do well with those 800 mhz Simulcast Towers. I had the BCD996P2 and it just did not function well at all. The only thing is to use obviously a single band 700/800 Moto or next I would use a Unication G5 which honestly is the best out there. Better than the SDS-100 and SDS-200 but limited to dual band. It's a give and take situation. But anyways having the G5 with VHF/700/800 is the best bet for dual band out in SBDCO area. You get BLM and Calcord SBDCO FIRE BDC-VHF Tacticals that cover all the way to Primm Neveda and I believe the 40 frwy all the way to Needles and Lake Havasu area.

If you live in LA you wouuld want two of those radios. 1. VHF/700/800 and 2. UHF-2/700/800 mhz. I love my G5 actually really instead of using my Moto when in 700/800 mhz Trunking Mode. My G5 will blow all radios away with the sensitivity of these little pager radios. These are hidden GEMS.

Hopefully I did not get off topic. I was just responding back as it was stated its a tough area to monitor because of the mix of 800mhz and P25 Trunking going on with Simulcasting. It's a big deal to make sure you get the right radio for these areas that are vast that need the sensitiviy to pickup towers that a regular scanner or a Moto will not pickup. Anyways Just a recomendation if you live out in these areas and have receiving issues.
 

tsalmrsystemtech

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thanks for the insight, I started to hear Disp coming up on Lone Pine, but I could not see which of the 3 it was coming from. since I live in WW part time, I'm across the canyon from the tower. I got a 536, sds100 and a 436. I keep the 100 on 3-d-2. I may add Baker in as well.
Honestly if you were to buy the Unication G5 in those rual areas in the desert you are going to start picking up other towers or sites we call it and have more to listen too. The sensitivty is amazing.

I am only able to pickup the MT. Simulcast Tower up on Strawberry Peak with a G5 only. The SDS-200 on the same directional GRIDDY Antenna will not work. But I do need to make sure I use the directional antenna. Here is a link to what I am talking about. No bars in the house at all. With the Griddy antenna I am at least getting four bars now. Not missing any comms either. I had an older gentleman one night talk to me on HAM VHF SIMPLEX on 146.52 and he recommended this antenna and for 200.00 bucks, and honestly the most amazing antenna ever. I will attach some pictures too.


Its really only use is for

The ultra-wideband, super high gain Grid Parabolic Antenna, to help get the most out of your LTE modem, booster, or WiFi device!

But it works beautiful using N connector to Coax and terminated off on a splitter. Amazing for sure. In the picture you can see the pig tail from N connector to Coax as a feedline since its for receive only. The center part of the antenna moves in and out on a slide to set it at what band you are looking for and then you lock it down.
 
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tsalmrsystemtech

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I know sometimes people think I am off the walls but wanted to contribute something really cool if you guys ever decide you have issues at home with 700/800 mhz Trunking. This antenna will do the trick. I took a DirecTv old Mount and turned it upside down as a mount. You have to be spot on and lock down the bolts and you are done. I swear by this antenna and that's why I am attaching pictures so if anybody is living out in SBDCO area and needs some help pulling in Sites or Towers this is your best solution. Think about it too, its in the attic and still doing amazing. You put this up at 30 to 40 feet on a pole in the clear blue sky then you are GOLDEN. The Mountain Simulcast Tower is 60 to 80 miles away from where I live. Still has to go over some small hills to point to Strawberry Peak and still is pulling in some amazing signal and it never changes. Its locked down and does not ever move.

IMG_9341.jpg
 

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