Town of Payson (AZ) police has disappeared from their VHF radio channels

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tonyguevara

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The only thing heard on Payson's police channels these days are volunteer neighborhood patrols. I'm assuming they are on a new radio system as they have just spent $25,000 on new radios. Anyone have any insight as to what happened or where they went?
 

Ravenfalls

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Check FCC data for other frequencies. Also try to scan VHF 153-160.

State System has not expanded to N Gila County. That's not an option.

What radios are you saying the town just purchased?
$25,000 is not alot in today's radio market. That would pay for 1 take home vehicle with a Motorola APX mobile & portable radio.
 

tonyguevara

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DPS District 11 has already been assigned to AZ (WINS) system for Globe/Payson. The goal for Gila County is a consolidated radio system. While $25,000 doesn't seem like a lot, Payson's police department is not that large given it has only 29 certified officers on it's force including administrative personnel. And whether or not there is evidence of a state expansion doesn't mean it's not in the works.
 

Ravenfalls

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Good news, even though WINS is seperate subject.
Submit an update to Wins with the Mt Ord. Has WINS expanded to any sites beyond Mt Ord?

Is Payson VHF still silent?
 

cellphone

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Good news, even though WINS is seperate subject.
Submit an update to Wins with the Mt Ord. Has WINS expanded to any sites beyond Mt Ord?

Is Payson VHF still silent?

I can also confirm that Payson PD VHF channels are silent. I searched VHF and UHF extensively and did not find them on another freq. I was next to a PD incident at a gas station stop with numerous officers, and did not get a close call hit. This makes me think NXDN or DMR since those won't trigger Close Call. Sheriff was also onsite, and I got a close call hit on a Gila Co Sheriff input frequency.

I'm thinking Payson PD might have moved to this system:
R and M Repeater Trunking System, Phoenix, Arizona - Scanner Frequencies (radioreference.com)
Talkgroup 550 (encrypted) was very active on this system on the Payson site.

Regarding AZWINS, there are currently no active AZWINS control channels on Mt. Ord or Diamond Point. DPS D11 is active on AZWINS, but it is a patch with UHF which is still very active in Gila County.

Radio ID 38100 on AZWINS is the mobile patch with UHF frequencies. All D11 mobile transmissions that I monitor on the Phoenix AZWINS sites have a Radio ID 38100, so they are still using UHF primarily.
 
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KE5ZBG

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The only other possibility I can think of is that they moved to using cellular PTT..
 

InspireWaukesha87

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The Town of Payson Police Chief is Ron Tischer and he was the former chief of police at the La Crosse, WI Police Department and after he became chief the city of La Crosse upgraded from an analog Motorola 800mhz trunked system and went to a P25 800mhz trunked system and the police went encrypted about 4 years ago I don't live in AZ but I suspect there is a strong possibility that the police are now encrypted unfortunately
 

Ravenfalls

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Makes sense. Kenwood radios are dual mode. They can use NXDN on R&M now & the radios also do P25 Phase 1/2 when the state system expands north. Kenwood price very competitive!

The IACP 103rd meeting held in Phoenix, specifically addressed encryption to be used for the agency.

They also discussed breaking encryption during investigations.

Federal money to pay for linking all public safety systems together & pushing for encryption.
LINK
 

mcjones2013

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While they may not be licensed for digital, has anyone checked to see if they're running mixed mode on their repeater? Perhaps all the sworn personnel are operating in P25 mode (either open or encryption), and the volunteers are using older radios without P25 capabilities on the analog side? In the actual subscriber radios and dispatch consoles, you can program the channel for mixed mode, meaning the the radio or console will receive both P25 and analog traffic on the same channel knob position.
 

apco25

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While they may not be licensed for digital, has anyone checked to see if they're running mixed mode on their repeater? Perhaps all the sworn personnel are operating in P25 mode (either open or encryption), and the volunteers are using older radios without P25 capabilities on the analog side? In the actual subscriber radios and dispatch consoles, you can program the channel for mixed mode, meaning the the radio or console will receive both P25 and analog traffic on the same channel knob position.

Quick review of their licenses shows ALL their licenses are already set up for P25 Phase 1 emission designation.
 

cfsimmont

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Anybody up there tried seeing if they are using their current VHF frequencies as P25, DMR, etc.? I agree $25,000 isn't nearly enough to re-outfit all portables, mobiles, and dispatch console with newer technology even for a small department, but it's possible they received a grant for the bulk of the purchase and the $25,000 came out of the budget.
 

cellphone

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What is this license?..It is DMR. $25K could buy several DMR radios.


This license is for the County and is attention to "Gila County Flood Control District". I have only monitored data on these frequencies, and no DMR voice. This is likely used for telemetry data for monitoring water levels around the county.
 

AzTac

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If I were a bettin' man... Site 018 (12)

System ID List

System ID
HEX: 146 DEC: 326

System Frequencies
Red (c) are primary control channels | Blue (a) are alternate control channels | Site Map(s): FCC Callsigns RR Locations

SiteNameCountyFreqs
001 (1)Diamond PointGila857.1625c858.1625860.6125
002 (2)Site 2Maricopa854.0375854.2875855.0125858.7875855.5625855.5875c858.69375c
003 (3)Site 3 - Possibly Squaw PeakYavapai859.675857.525858.525c858.53125859.65625
004 (4)Site 4Maricopa860.625c860.650c856.525c
006 (6)MesaMaricopa854.2875c855.5625c
007 (7)Signal PeakGila856.3875c
009 (9)Site 9Maricopa858.550c
015 (F)Shaw ButteMaricopa855.0125c
018 (12)PaysonGila858.6875c859.6875860.6875
 

AzTac

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An excerpt from Payson PD's 2020 Annual Report:

The 2020 Payson Police Department Annual Report is herein presented for your review. Although policing during a pandemic has had its challenges, the Police Department, through the support of the Town Council, was able to accomplish a great deal this year. As many agencies found themselves short staffed or unable to fill vacancies, the Payson Police Department was able to recruit and hire for several positions. This past year we’ve hired six officers, four dispatchers, a Communications Manager, and a Community Service Officer (CSO, formerly Police Aide). Payson is one of a few Law Enforcement agencies and Dispatch Centers in the Country that have been able to maintain nearly full staffing levels during this past year of turmoil. Along with the new faces at the PD, we have also been working on squad car upgrades and replacements. We’ve received a lot of positive feedback on our new squad car design. We’ve also upgraded and added new equipment. Through grants, we’ve been working on replacing our outdated radio system (the officer’s lifeline) with a new digital 800 MHz radio system. This radio system will provide exceptional coverage for the officers throughout the Town and surrounding areas. The system should be functional near the end of the year or early January 2021.
 

waynedc

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Check this license. It is comprised of three sites that would be beneficial to the Town of Payson.

Trunked License - KNRT354 - R&M REPEATER LLC

Wayne
 
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