So I’m just curious I have an sds100 scanner I live in the Lubbock area and wanted to know how can I hear the dps outside of the county?? All I ever hear is the units and dispatch within the county however any units outside of the county I don’t hear I only hear dispatch… now I know they have repeaters but is there anyway to listen to those???
Texas dps
- Thread starter lild83
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nd5y
Member
Program the statewide channels at the top of the list.
Depending on the area the troopers may be more active on the local county SO dispatch repeater.
Depending on the area the troopers may be more active on the local county SO dispatch repeater.
Department of Public Safety (Texas) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference
Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Department of Public Safety (Texas)
www.radioreference.com
SA_tx_88116
Rather listen than to stream
If your listening to the conventional system you must have the dispatch frequency and mobile frequencies programmed but correct me if I’m wrong but I think the mobile frequencies are simplex.
That’s going to vary by location. For units out of “simplex” range of their dispatch location, you would hear both sides of a conversation on one of the mobile repeater sites (those have a frequency starting with. “159.xxx”.
For those close to their dispatcher, dispatch can set the base to carry both sides of a call. In many of the metro areas, DPS units may be using a TGID on that area’s trunked system.
nd5y
Member
Sometimes you can hear the dispatcher but not mobiles because dispatch is multicast on more than one site but the mobiles are only repeated on the local site they are using.
Some of the 155 MHz frequencies are repeated and some aren't. It could be that they all are now but you can't hear mobiles from other sites because of the reason above.
As far as I know all of the 159 MHz frequencies are repeated.
theoleman
Member
Set your scanner to record at night then see what shows up. I have discovered in the rural areas of West TX that I have more DPS radio activity 11P to early mornings. The Hale Center or Crosbyton repeater might be receivable if you antenna is high enough.
Yes, this is how I know they are nearby in central Texas. When I used to travel up IH44, I would encounter aircraft running VASCAR in Oklahoma & Missouri when they used to be on low band. I would know when I was getting near the ground units by hearing both sides of the conversation.
Is it possible to receive simplex frequencies on sds100
Yes. But regardless of which scanner you're using (SDS series, x36HP, or a number of others), you'd need to be pretty close to the field unit transmitting.
Got it so basically the dps units outside of Lubbock county I can’t hear unless I have a taller antenna or close to that repeater that they use
No, It means they are Not using a Repeater.
nd5y
Member
The repeaters surrounding Lubbock are all more than 40 miles away. You might not be able to receive any of them without an outdoor antenna.
TXDispatcher1
Member
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I think that one thing that you guys are overlooking is that in many rural counties DPS units communicate much more with the local sheriff's dispatcher than they do with DPS communications so that all the law enforcement in that county is coordinated and everybody knows where everybody else is and what they're doing. In many counties DPS units will mainly communicate with their own dispatch just to go 10-41 or 10-42, and will talk most of the time on the local SO channels so they can back up SO units and vice versa. They'll even usually call out on traffic and get returns through the SO dispatcher in many counties instead of going through DPS dispatch. Even a lot of Parks and Wildlife units do the same thing. Technically they're now dispatched by DPS, but they do a lot of radio traffic on the local SO channels.
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I hear the DPS units check in with Grayson County each shift and will hear them call the county for plates on occasion.
I miss the days before cell phones when you could hear them on their car-to-car channels.
Good times.
nd5y
Member
Troopers occasionally use car-to-car simplex around here.
Check 155.445, 155.46, 159.21 all with NAC 162.
TXDispatcher1
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Yea, those were the good old days. They used to talk car to car sometimes on 155.46 and frequently used intercity 155.37/154.95 to communicate with local SO's, PD's and their units. I even go back far enough to remember when they used 42.9/42.74 with those big fishing pole antennas (my father gave me my 1st police radio when I was 9 yrs old-before scanners were invented!).I hear the DPS units check in with Grayson County each shift and will hear them call the county for plates on occasion.
I miss the days before cell phones when you could hear them on their car-to-car channels.
Good times.
Did anyone ever see the Sugarland Express where Steven Spielberg used real DPS dispatchers and local radio traffic to make things more authentic? That was a great movie
DPS works a great amount of time without use of the radio. If they're on a routine traffic stop, unless the vehicle/driver is wanted for something, everything is done using the onboard computer. Listening to conversation between troopers and dispatchers, the dispatcher has the ability to see the trooper's activity and can run information in the event the trooper is getting slow or no responses from the computer.
