Williamson County Digital coming soon

[Beaky]

Digital radios are being installed and reprogramed in some agencies. I've heard that the switch might be flipped as early as November.

 

[W5TWX]

Thanks Dave for the update. Keep us posted.

 

[garyva]

If all stays on schedule, Round Rock will cut over on November 6th, Georgetown on November 8th, and Williamson County (and the agencies for whom we dispatch) on November 13th, with Cedar Park's specific date TBD but right in there somewhere.

 

[W5TWX]

Great, thanks for sharing the latest info Gary. Will the control channels and talk group ID's change with the new system? I'm sure they probably will. Just not real sure and concerned.

Thanks,
Roy

 

[SCPD]

If all stays on schedule, Round Rock will cut over on November 6th, Georgetown on November 8th, and Williamson County (and the agencies for whom we dispatch) on November 13th, with Cedar Park's specific date TBD but right in there somewhere.

Thanks Gary. That explains a recent Unitrunker log of Williamson County with only 7 channels in rotation.

 

[W5TWX]

Unitrunker - you lost me on that statement about there only being 7 channels. What does that mean? Please explain.

 

[W5TWX]

I'm not picking up Round Rock F.D. today. Anyone know what's up with that?

 

[SCPD]

\you lost me on that statement about there only being 7 channels. What does that mean? Please explain.

There are roughly 14 channels on the analog system. Last I checked ... only seven of them were actually being used. My guess is the new system is using (or capable of using) the other seven channels. The new digital system appears to be using two of the old control channels - 857.9625 and 860.9625. There's little or no voice traffic. I expect the "missing" channels to become active on the new system as users are added.

 

[Russell]

Will the system type change from Moto Type II SmartNet to APCO P25 Standard like Austin/Travis County or will it stay Moto Type II and just carry P25 digital voice channels?

A/TC http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&sid=2
WillCo http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&sid=78

Russell

 

[W5TWX]

UNITRUNKER

I sent you a P.M.

 

[FlashSWT]

I think it was Unitrunker who posted back during the testing phase that the Williamson County system was broadcasting the same System ID as the Austin/Travis County system. Now based on that (and realize I don't live up there anymore and have no first hand knowledge) my assumption is that once the switchover is complete, the old system will no longer exist and be obsolete:
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&sid=78

And technically and for our purposes here the new WilCo digital system will actually be a part of the A/TC system which will need to be renamed: "Austin / Travis County / Williamson County / Middle Rio Grande System"
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&sid=2

You can see on the A/TC page that there is already a tower site listed for WilCo. If things are the same as during testing (same SysID) I think we'd just complete the frequency list for WilCo tower site 120 on the A/TC page and start submitting the new WilCo talkgroups to the A/TC page as we find them.

Does this make sense? Does it sound accurate or am I completely crazy and misunderstanding?

.

 

[Russell]

I think I'm going to have to buy into this theory. I'm running Pro96Com on 860.9625 right now. It's reporting this as the primary channel for Site 120 and 857, 858 and 859 as alternate channels. Since these have historically been listed as the control channels for the WilCo system and are licensed to Williamson County, it seems obvious that a merge will be taking place.

It is also reporting towers 101 and 102 as neighbors and connected, but no radios are affiliating.

It's a good thing they are planning to migrate an agency at a time, it will make it easier to identify talk groups as they move. This changeover should be very interesting.

Russell

 

[FlashSWT]

Good to hear I'm not totally nuts. It should be interesting, I really wish I was up there to listen in as it happens and help identify the new TGs.

.

 

[W5TWX]

If I understand this correctly, it sounds to me like i'm not going to have to change my control channels on my 396. All I need to do is start searching instead of scanning and try to ID the new talkgroups. Is that correct or not? I'm confussed...

 

[SCPD]

If I understand this correctly, it sounds to me like i'm not going to have to change my control channels on my 396. All I need to do is start searching instead of scanning and try to ID the new talkgroups. Is that correct or not? I'm confused...

My expectations ...

During the transition - both new and old systems will be active. I suggest you copy the control channels to a new system but set the system type to P25 or 9600 trunking (I forget the exact wording on the radio).

After that you'll see a mix of new, unknown Wilco talkgroups plus existing, known Austin / Travis County talkgroups on the new Williamson county P25 site.

Eventually, the old Motorola system will go silent.

 

[rattlerbb01]

My expectations ...

During the transition - both new and old systems will be active. I suggest you copy the control channels to a new system but set the system type to P25 or 9600 trunking (I forget the exact wording on the radio).

After that you'll see a mix of new, unknown Wilco talkgroups plus existing, known Austin / Travis County talkgroups on the new Williamson county P25 site.

Eventually, the old Motorola system will go silent.

Perhaps they might have it set up for Wilco like they do for the two simulcasts in Travis County, where the Wilco users stay on the Wilco tower, which will be another large simulcast, unless the signal just totally goes to s***, like if they were going into downtown Austin. And the same for the current TC users: They stay on their simulcast barring a long excursion into Wilco, such as a police chase to Georgetown. If agencies in TC were hitting the Wilco towers better than the TC towers because of their location, the Wilco tower could get overloaded quickly, especially since it is a countywide simulcast.

 

[W5TWX]

Garyva - where are you?
We need more info please.

 

[FlashSWT]

Unitrunker, that is my assumption also. Eventually the 16 frequencies long associated with the WilCo system will comprise the A/TC Site 120 Williamson County simulcast. Right now sounds like they are split between the two and I would imagine they would slowly move more channels as more agencies switch over to the new system. Eventually once everyone has switch they can move the last 3 or 4 from the analog system and it will be turned off.

W5, create a new system in your 396 and set the type to: Motorola P25
Use the same four control channels as the existing WilCo system and set it to ID SEARCH. On the dates listed above, start listening for the agencies to switch over. Compare the TGs you are seeing to the ones listed here:
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&sid=2
Lock out any verified A/TC talkgroups for the moment so you can continue only identifying the new WilCo unknowns. As you verify the new WilCo TGs post back here so we can get them in the database and y'all can compare notes on what is what.

Keep your existing WilCo system unchanged so you can keep listening to agencies before they switch. Eventually you'll only hear traffic on the new system and none on the old. At that point you can just delete the old system from your programming.

.

 

[W5TWX]

Flash
That's what I was thinking but I forgot about the program setting for the P25 until Unitrunker mentioned it. I gonna try it that way and see what I can come up with. I'll post.

 

[BaLa]

If I understand this correctly, it sounds to me like i'm not going to have to change my control channels on my 396. All I need to do is start searching instead of scanning and try to ID the new talkgroups. Is that correct or not? I'm confussed...

Isn't the new Sys supposed to be P25.


If that's the case, you will still have to create a new system on the 396.