My scanners went dark for waxahachie a few days ago. Finally had time to sit down and look. Did they switch to P25 is there a was to figure out the talk group? Any help greatly appreciated
Waxahachie
- Thread starter nightsbird
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It's a stretch for me, but I'm picking up the Ellis County site from Bedford, and just saw a new to me talkgroup pop up of 7736. Waiting to try and ID it.
North Texas Interoperable Radio Network (NTIRN) Trunking System, Various, Texas
North Texas Interoperable Radio Network (NTIRN) Trunking System Profile
www.radioreference.com
That's the same I'm seeing, Ben. I see that the Waxahachie TGIDs are P25 Phase II. Also, the Midlothian & Red Oak TGIDs are also Phase II now, so apparently the conversion is complete.
I get good reception from my house in SW Dallas. I'm running a discovery session on my SDS200 to see how many new TGIDs turn up. I'll probably let it run through the weekend, till Monday or Tuesday, to see what other Waxahachie departments may have moved as well. I'm sure as time goes by, we'll see additional PD & FD talkgroups show up.
I wonder when Ellis County will make their move to the system.
Also, looking at city council minutes for Ennis, I see they let a contract to Motorola for 'public safety radio systems upgrades'. But in looking back over previous meeting minutes, I did not find details on what they were getting for their $1 million plus purchase.
City of Ennis - Document Center
ennistx.civicweb.net
Still wading through older sessions, trying to see if I can get more details.
Found it.
Looks like Ennis will also be joining FWRRS.
ennistx.civicweb.net
I have not, so far, found a specific time line as to when this will go into use.
Looks like Ennis will also be joining FWRRS.
City of Ennis - Document Center
ennistx.civicweb.net
I have not, so far, found a specific time line as to when this will go into use.
Awesome thanks for the info guys. Now to search for a phase 2 scanner lol. May try the sdr.. What frequency is the control on those do you know?
I had the 2 pd and 1 fire streaming through zello app. It worked awesome on my phone much better for battery life than a live stream. Until your pocket tones out from the fire dept and people in the store stare at you. If I can figure out the p25 will stream it again
The FWRRS system is in the database.
North Texas Interoperable Radio Network (NTIRN) Trunking System, Various, Texas
North Texas Interoperable Radio Network (NTIRN) Trunking System Profile
www.radioreference.com
For the Waxahachie, Midlothian, & Red Oak agencies, you need to program site 1-10, Midlothian.
North Texas Interoperable Radio Network (NTIRN) Site: Ellis County
North Texas Interoperable Radio Network (NTIRN) Site: Ellis County Details
www.radioreference.com
I know that as part of Waxahachie & Ellis County joining the system, three more transmit towers were being added, so it will be a five-site simulcast. I don't know if the three additional towers have come online yet. One will be on the northeast side of Hwy 287, one east of Ennis, and the third in Forreston,
I'm hoping that the new additional sites will make this system easier to hear for me here in Joshua. I can hear the Midlothian site all the way up into Downtown Dallas/north of Downtown, but cannot pick it up here in Joshua.
Anyone seen any kind of timeline for the transition of Ellis County?
Anyone seen any kind of timeline for the transition of Ellis County?
I don't think, offhand, that the new sites will help you much. The Waxahachie site (on the northeast side, near FM875 & US287), and the Ennis site (southeast of Ennis) are even further away than the Midlothian or Red Oak sites, and likely are 'over the hill' from you. The other new site, near Forreston, is also farther away, but might have a slightly better signal path to Joshua.
I've skimmed through the Commissioners Court minutes for Ellis County for the past year. The only two things I saw were an authorization for the County Judge to sign the interlocal agreement between the County, Midlothian, Red Oak, and Waxahachie, for using the expanded system. The other was an approval to pay an invoice, from June 2019, from Crosspoint Communications (a Motorola vendor) for a couple of thousands. I did not read all the minutes for each meeting, but nothing I saw on the agenda schedules had any sort of date or changeover schedules.
As time permits, I've started going through city council meeting notes for the various other cities in the county, to see how many more will switch as well. There should be some of the VFDs, as Ellis County dispatches most of them. I found that Ennis will switch, but no timeline given. If I find more, I'll note them.
I had a 7744 pop up talking about a lady wanting to pick up german shepherd. I am running sdrtrunk not sure if it reads the alpha tags but I dont see it listed. Given that its close to the other Waxahachie ones maybe its the public works or dog catcher. Is there a way to submit found talkgroups?
You would go to the page for FWRRS.
North Texas Interoperable Radio Network (NTIRN) Trunking System, Various, Texas
North Texas Interoperable Radio Network (NTIRN) Trunking System Profile
www.radioreference.com
Then, on the upper left area, there is a "Submit" button. Clicking that brings up a form where you can enter whatever you need to submit.
However, you also would need to try & verify the usage, as well as the agency, as to who is using it for what purpose.
Looking at my Discovery log, I see that 7744 has come up a number of times, along with a couple more that are "new". I'll end the Discovery session this evening, then listen to the recordings to see if I can fill in the blanks on the unidentified talkgroups.
While 7744 may well be an animal control talkgroup, the question is if it is the city (Waxahachie) or county. On the old frequencies (look at the Ellis County page in the database), Animal Control , frequency 155.3925, was listed under the county. (The frequency is licensed to the county, not the city.)
After I review the logging's & recordings, I'll submit the ones that I can verify.
When the changeover happened I heard Waxahachie city police dispatch talking to our city animal control to come in for radios. I dont think the county has switched over to trunked yet but you may see more than I can with your units.
I appreciate all your help
Jeff
I caught a couple of calls on 7744 a little earlier (live calls; have not downloaded & reviewed recordings yet). Definitely is used for Animal Control. The dispatcher I was hearing sounded exactly the same as the female dispatcher I was hearing on the Waxahachie PD talkgroup.
So far, I have not heard anything that appeared to be Ellis County. Everything I've picked up so far has been Midlothian, Red Oak, or Waxahachie.
We know that the county will switchover at some point, and based on what I noted earlier (from Ennis city council meeting minutes), Ennis will also switch. But so far, I have not found anything that appears to be a timeline for their conversion.
I went through Maypearl's meeting minutes yesterday, & saw nothing. Still need to look at Ferris & Palmer. Since Ellis County does the dispatching for the smaller cities, like Italy & Forreston, I would suspect that they may switch as well, if they can obtain compatible radios.
Thanks for the info on your VFD. Changing all the VFD personnel to using P25 Phase II systems would be very expensive, so maintaining the current Vhf, for now, is a no brainer.
That's basically the same pattern I've seen in other counties. When the county switches to a new system, such as a digital trunked system, the VFDs either get, or are encouraged to get, at least a few radios capable of using the new system, for chief personnel and selected equipment. Meanwhile, everyday operation continues on the legacy frequencies already in use.
Yes I did, but it was a very brief transmission, not enough recorded audio so be of help. But it probably is Waxahachie FD Ch 2 (since 7748 is their dispatch TGID). I have not heard them respond to a working fire as yet, but they might use it as a fireground channel.
7744 is Animal Control. I presume it's Waxahachie, since the dispatcher I was hearing is the same voice that I was hearing on Waxahachie PD dispatch.
I'm running a session on something different right now, but will set back up for the Ellis County site next week. Should be more radio traffic during the week, especially for departments other than public safety, like water utilities & public works, if any of them have made the move as yet.
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