Several new talkgroups on Lafayette System

[Landman]

Lafayette listeners, I need, and this database needs, your help. One new talkgroup at a time I can handle, but seven? That's a bit much. A few weeks ago, talkgroup ID 53280 showed up in T4Win. I have been recording it 24/7 for a week now but I haven't heard any traffic after I started to record it. On Wed. July 14, I returned home and checked T4Win to find six more new talkgroups logged by T4Win. They all appeared around 3:49 PM a few seconds apart from each other. It looks as if a tech was testing a radio on the new talkgroups by keying up on one, then the next, etc. The talkgroups' ID's are:
55536
55568
55632
55664
55696
55728
Has anyone else logged these on T4Win or Trunker? If anyone who listens to the Lafayette system has a scanner and recorder that they can dedicate to recording these talkgroups one at a time 24/7, please post your reply here so we can figure them out together.

 

[SOUTH300]

Not really sure Landman, but they might be setting up all the new Type II talkgroups for the system to replace the old subfleets. The switch to Type II exclusively is expected by the end of the year.

 

[Landman]

Do you know if the radios will still display the same channel designations such as "2-A", "2-B", etc.?

 

[Landman]

Okay, ten more new talkgroups have shown up on T4Win today at 2:41 PM. Get to work you buncha deadbeats in Lafayette who read these boards and never post. Help me figure out all these talkgroups.

 

[SOUTH300]

Are you hearing any traffic on them? If they are the new talkgroups, they may not have any traffic on them for a while.

 

[Landman]

I entered all 17 of them into a pro-93 and set it in closed mode. I put the pro-93 next to a VOX recorder and let it sit day and night. I haven't gotten anything yet. T4Win again showed the new talkgroups with one keyed up after another a few seconds apart, but the recorder didn't get anything. They may be still testing them. When I start to hear voice traffic, I will begin to record one at a time to figure out what they are for.

 

[Landman]

Finally. I was home when they keyed up on the new talkgroups. Someone just keyed a radio for a few seconds on each talkgorup, but didn't say anything. The person used the same radio for each channel. The radio ID was 51276, which has been on this system for quite some time. I did not, however, have this radio text tagged, so I don't know what agency it belongs to. The talkgroups were definitely analog. My recorder didn't activate because the noise wasn't loud enough to activate the VOX without anyone talking.

 

[SOUTH300]

51276

It looks like that ID is a Lafayette FD radio. The only subfleets I have this Id logged on is Fleet 3. More specifically 3-A thru 3-C. The only other agency I could think of is OEP, but this is not likely because the range of ID's that this one in sitting in, is assigned to LFD. Of course it is possible that the radio that had this ID was killed and the ID was recently reassigned. I would put money on this being a LFD radio, possibly the Chief of Communications portable.

Also Ive noticed on Trunker that the displayed size codes have changed from ddjko222 to adjko222

 

[Landman]

I was at home listening yesterday and caught two radio ID's on the new talkgroups.

radio ID 51691
radio ID 53123

If anyone knows what agency these are for please let me know. The 53123 radio appears to be a new radio to the system. The other has been around for a while. The new talkgroups were silent for almost two weeks, then again yesterday these two radio ID's came up on a few of the new talkgroups. The traffic was the same as before, just dead keying for a few seconds. I have identified 18 new talkgroups, but the only traffic so far has been dead keying like I described in my posts above.

 

[Landman]

The list of new talkgroups has grown to 29. I have finally heard traffic on the new talkgroups, but it is the same thing everytime, "Testing 1 2 3 4." :lol:
Same routine as before, test the radio on one channel, then the next, then the next, etc.
It has been well over a month since these new talkgroups started popping up, but they have not been used for anything except "testing 1 2 3 4."
If anyone is interested, the new talkgroups are:
53280
55056
55536
55568
55632
55664
55696
55728
55760
55792
55856
55984
56528
56560
56592
56624
56656
56688
56848
56880
56912
57040
57072
57104
57136
57168
57200
57232
57296
If anyone has heard anything about any of the agencies that use this system getting any new channels or any agencies in any way associated with the Lafayette City Parish Government getting new radios when they did not have them before or getting more channels, please let us know on this board so we can figure these talkgroups out.

 

[SOUTH300]

Landman,

None of these talkgroups are active yet. (No one is using them yet). They are just setting them all up for the switch to Type II at the end of the year. LFD will be the first to be programmed and switched.

 

[Landman]

It appears that some of these talkgroups are going to be for Acadian Ambulance. I have heard a few of Acadian's administrative personnel doing tests on their radios throughout Lafayette Parish and the surrounding parishes. They seemed particularly interested in how well their portables worked in all of the hospital emergency rooms in Lafayette Parish. They talked about putting together a report for Richard Zuschlag (Acadian's CEO) on how the radios performed in the hospitals and other areas. I have heard these same radio ID's on six of the new talkgroups. When the people testing the radios called headquarters, it was the Acadian Ambulance dispatcher that answered each time.

Okay, enough of the play by play stuff that I have been boring you with. When all the talkgroups are finally active, I will post updates to the database.

 

[SOUTH300]

Switchover

The scheduled switchover to Type II is the second week in November. All agencies have been sent a letter scheduling reprogramming of all portables and mobiles. There are bringing in additional programmers to handle the 2000+ radios on the system.

 

[Landman]

Cool! Thanks for the info. Do you know if they will retain the "names" of the channels such as 2-A, 2-B, etc. or go to some other format like "Dispatch", "Detectives", etc. In the early days of the STX there was not enough room to put long descriptions on the display. The newer radios have more room to put more descriptive names.

 

[SOUTH300]

I wish they would keep up with the times and reformat everything, but unfortuneately there are still some type II STX radios that will be on the system. The system/subfleet arrangement will remain for now.

 

[INDY72]

You meant type I right ??

 

[SOUTH300]

I did not mean type I, the only STX radios that will be on the system are going to be the type IIs. When I say the fleet/subfleet arrangement, I only mean for display purposes.

 

[SOUTH300]

Landman,

It appears that the 223 XTS5000 portables that were ordered from a Homeland Security grant are being programmed at this time. You may hear a lot of dead keys from those radios being tested. They are being issued to all public safety agencies on a percentage of use basis. They are being programmed with the new Type II groups. (Of course since the XTS5000 won't do Type I at all). They are going to be issued before the November cutoff date to ease the transition.

 

[INDY72]

Sorry but you confused me with the statement that the STX's are type II , if they are type II already then there is no issues with fleetmaps lol.. only type I's have any usage of fleetmapping, thats what confused me..

Thanks for clarifying.

 

[Landman]

Now that the whole system will be type II, and now that there are a whole lotta XTS-3000's and some XTS-5000's coming onto the system, is there any talk of going to ASTRO digital, or would that require still more upgrades and more money from the city/parish council?