Williamson County Digital coming soon

[Russell]

Updates

4780 EMS to Scott and White - Round Rock
4723 is not Fire Marshal. Maybe some type of Public Works?

New activity today on these. Not sure what they are. Possibly Public Works or Parks and Rec?
4632
4661
4723
4786

I am plugging these into the DB sporadially at this point mostly straight from this thread. We don't typically put 'unconfirmed' data in the DB. However, since this is a migration with so much input and the unknowns will be short term, we're moving ahead with any info provided at this point.

Thanks,
Russell

 

[FlashSWT]

Russell, that makes sense. It will also help others who haven't seen this thread realize there are new TGs on the system and maybe they'll switch to SEARCH/OPEN modes and help with the identification.

.

 

[steve0328]

Flash and W5 thanks for the help yesterday, loaded up the control freqs last night and heard RR quite clearly. In fact did not get any of the "warbling" that I sometimes hear when I listen into the Austin / Travis system.

I'll keep mine on search and hopefully be able to identify some TG's for the board, especially as G-Town is scheduled to move over today.

Steve

 

[FlashSWT]

No problem, let us know what you come up with on the TGs.

.

 

[Russell]

4756 has encryption

I bet RR PD loves that capability.

 

[W5TWX]

Here's a few more I picked up today.

4655 RR water dept
4708 RR fire on EMS 2
4766 seems to be another tac channel for RRPD. Will keep my ears open and try to figure it out for sure.

I did not hear any GT today. Not sure when they will show up to the new system now.

Will post as I hear more.

 

[Russell]

Here's a few more I picked up today.

4655 RR water dept
4708 RR fire on EMS 2
4766 seems to be another tac channel for RRPD. Will keep my ears open and try to figure it out for sure.

I did not hear any GT today. Not sure when they will show up to the new system now.

Will post as I hear more.

I believe 4766 is Tac 4 based on what I've heard. This would lead us to the possibility that 4764 is tac 2 and 4765 is Tac 3. We need to confirm these.

 

[josephdavis13]

Interoperability Talk groups

Interoperability Talk groups Under the Austin /Travis County/ Williamson County/ Middle Rio Grande.

Will these Interoperability Talk groups work with the entire system or, are they only associated with specific systems, i.e. Williamson County only.

 

[Russell]

Interoperability Talk groups Under the Austin /Travis County/ Williamson County/ Middle Rio Grande.

Will these Interoperability Talk groups work with the entire system or, are they only associated with specific systems, i.e. Williamson County only.

I heard APD InterOp 1 and APD InterOp 5 on Williamson site (120) yesterday for a couple of hours. These should work across the entire system. I would expect any TG to pop up anywhere on the system if there's a radio in the area on the TG.

I also noticed the newly posted PS InterOp TGs that PacRat posted to the DB yesterday. I haven't tried these, yet.

Russell

 

[W5TWX]

I believe 4766 is Tac 4 based on what I've heard. This would lead us to the possibility that 4764 is tac 2 and 4765 is Tac 3. We need to confirm these.

I heard Tac 4 mentioned yesterday as well. I think it would be safe to go ahead and tag it.

I think we are missing some control channels. I say this because RRPD has been very quiet the last 3 days compared to what they normally were. Something is not right there.

Examlpe - There was UNIT 421 on there everyday pulling cars over as soon as he let one go. I mean steady! Left and right! He looked for any little thing to write out tickets for. He watched all intersections like a hawk. I bet he would write out 20-25 tickets an hour everyday!!! Have not heard him on the new or old system at all.

Have not heard any SPECIAL OPS either.They had been working cases everyday as well on the old system.

What are your thoughts?

What do you guys think about the use of these simplex freqs. Do you think Round Rock would be using any of these?

Simplex Frequencies in use by system users:
I-Call-Central 866.01250 repeater only
I-Call 1D NE 866.51250 repeater on I-Call NE, simplex on I-Call 1D
I-Call 2D SE 867.01250 repeater on I-Call SE, simplex on I-Call 2D
I-Call 3D SW 867.51250 repeater on I-Call SW, simplex on I-Call 3D
I-Call 4D NW 868.01250 repeater on I-Call NW, simplex on I-Call 4D
Critical 1D 867.37500 simplex
Critical 2D 867.45000 simplex
AFD DIR 16 866.97500 simplex

What control channels would you use for the Interoperability Talk groups that PacRat posted?

Many unknowns

 

[W5TWX]

I just noticed there are 3 more control channels list for site 120. I'm going to enter those and see what I hear.

855.21250, 855.71250, 858.98750

 

[steve0328]

Control Channels

Its strange you bring that up W5, I have recently been taking my scanner to work with me listening to Austin/Travis. I had expected to hear non-stop action as I have both the Sim 1 and Sim 2 Systems scanning --- to my surprise I hear mostly Austin Energy, and Water, very little on any of the EMS,PD,TCSO, and FD's.

Maybe we are missing some control freqs??? or maybe its just the strange world of radio?

Steve

 

[W5TWX]

Steve - I think you have a problem with your programing. Recheck your control channels for simulcast 1 & 2. Make sure you got all the ones in red and blue. I have no problems picking up the ones you mentioned.

 

[FlashSWT]

Control channels don't work like that. If you are hearing one (from the right system and tower) it is the only one broadcasting at that time. By that I mean, Tower Site 120 of the A/TC/WC/MRG System will only be broadcasting a single control channel at any given time. If your scanner is picking it up (displaying a solid signal strength) then you aren't missing anything. Since most digital scanners operate in "control channel only mode" they pickup the voice channels automatically. It isn't like the old days with the Type II system where you could miss conversations if you forgot to program in 1 of the 16 total channels the system uses.

When programming your scanner enter the 4 control channels: 857.9625, 858.9625, 859.9625, 860.9625 and set the mode to "Control Channel Only." Those other frequencies you see listed are voice frequencies (not control channels) and do not need to be programmed in CC-Only mode.

I'd guess it might just be slow today. As for that one officer with the non-stop citations yesterday: there is an RRPD officer in administration (who shall remain nameless) that whenever he gets bored or more likely annoyed with being stuck in the office all day will go out and run traffic like crazy. As such he isn't out there at any predictable time but will show up now and again pulling people over non-stop.

.

 

[W5TWX]

Understand. That makes sense now.

This guy is out everyday, I suppose he could take a few days off though.

 

[W5TWX]

Am not receiving all transmissions. Usually on friday nites, you can hear PD working high school footballs game. Didn't hear any tonite andI know the games were being played. Just might have to take my frequency counter over there and see what I can detect.

Nothing new to post as far as ID's go. Radio traffic was very slow today.

 

[FlashSWT]

OK, I wonder if this is the problem. One of the CCs for the new system is actually still in use as the CC on the old system. According to a quick check of the live scanner at www.ScanCenTex.com 859.9625 is still in use on the old system. (EMS Primary, Jollyville Fire and Cedar Park Fire are active on the old system right now which is no surprise.)

Make sure that your scanner programmed for the new system hasn't locked onto this CC by accident and is thus causing the problems you're experiencing. Maybe even remove 859.9625 from your P25 system until the old one turns off completely. Just don't forget to program it back in later.

That's the only thing I can think of off-hand.

.

 

[W5TWX]

I just now heard this: "training channel is now reopened to routine traffic"

I was not hearing any training tonite. I'm wondering if that is the one they were using for the football games. That's the one they use for working the EXPRESS games. I haven't paid any attention to the talkgroup they were using for the football games in the past.

I've still got the old system running because they are still toning out RRFD on the old system for some reason.

I'll try what your talking about and see what happens.

 

[Russell]

All four control channels are listed on Tower 120 because the tower is advertising all 4 freqs as control channels. However, only 860.9625 is actually being used as the control channel for the new site. The other three are still being used on the old analog system as control channels. To program the digital site, it is only necessary to enter 860.9625 as the sole control freq at this time. I expect it to stay this way until at least half the users have moved over. I would also expect more of the voice channels to move as more users move from the analog system to the digital system.

I am in Dallas this evening through Tuesday night an won't be able monitor the control channels. I am using Pro96Com with either the Pro96 or the PSR500 and the GRE USB cable that came with the PSR500. Pro96Com is only available through the Pro96Com Yahoo group in the files section. If you're lucky enough to have a Pro96 and a PSR500 then use the Pro96 with Pro96Com using either the old or the new cable to monitor the control channel. Pro96Com decodes only with a Pro96 or PSR500, but can remote control many models. A new version was just released today. Unfortunately, I can't run it against the WillCo site from Dallas.

I understand UniTrunker is being readied for use with the PSR500, as well. I eagerly await the new version of UniTrunker to do some control channel monitoring using a radio with a discriminator tap and the audio input port on your PC. UniTrunker is available from UniTrunker.com, has a Yahoo Group and is discussed extensively in the Radio Refernce Trunker/Etrunker/T4Win Decoders forums.

Give either of these a shot, as they are both indispensable. Pro96Com is for 9600 Apco 25 systems. UniTrunker can be used or Moto and EDACS, analog or dgital. Both are excellent programs and both can remote control many radio models.

Monitoring the control channel provides much more info than just monitoring the audio. You can log system activity over any period of time and then analyze that data to decide what to plug into the scanner to peg the TG's actual uses. I was able to watch a radio step through his programmed TGs and then back to his home TG without him ever hitting the transmit button. I've used UniTrunker for several years, especially when we were updating the LCRA sites and freqs. I've also used it to log countless analog Moto systems. I am relatively new to Pro96Com and get excellent results on both. I wish I could code like that. Rick and Mike have added a whole new view to the hobby.

Russell

 

[W5TWX]

I've simply got a 396T.