On Dec 16th 2020 many of the SAR radio’s were reprogrammed, which has changed the location of the channels we use. First a bit of terminology:
TalkGroup or Channel: A TalkGroup is a virtual channel dedicated to a particular organization or need. The Colorado State 800mhz DTRS (Digital Trunked Radio System) has literally 100’s of talk Groups. The term “Channel” is frequently used interchangeable with TalkGroup. Particular radio frequencies are not permanently assigned to a Channel/TalkGroup. When you press the Talk button on your radio, a radio frequencies is dynamically assigned by a tower for the duration of that transmission.
Zone: A group of TalkGroups or channels on your radio. On our radio’s, each Zone can contain 16 TalkGroups/channels. Our Talk Groups (“AC SAR” and “AC OEM”) used to be respectively, Zone & Channel A-10 and A-16. Our radios support Zones from “A” to “W”.
Our radio’s are all Motorola XTS-2500’s and there are three models:
Model 1
Model 2
Model 3
Most of our radio’s are model 2’s. The three TalkGroups we typically use and their new Zone/Channels are:
“AC OEM” ==> F-1
“AC SAR” ==> F-2
“Simplex” ==> F-3
How do I get my Radio on Zone “F”? On the front of the radio are three buttons. The one on the left (with one dot) will move backwards in the alphabet. The middle one (with two dots) will move forward.
Once you are in Zone “F”, indicated by the letter in the upper left, use the knob on the top of the radio to select F-1, F-2, or F-3 .
Note: Simplex is not really a TalkGroup (i.e. it does not use the State 800mhz DTRS system). In Simplex mode the radio’s communicate directly with each other like “Walkies-Talkies”.
Three of the Talk Groups have changed names:
AC County is now AC Law Dispatch
PFPD 1 is now Pagosa Fire Dispatch
EMS 1 is now AC EMS Dispatch
AC Law Dispatch is still on A-1.