Riverside Sheriff's EDACS : HOW IT WORKS

[zz0468]

Since you are very familiar with this system, is the scanriverside.com site up to date with RSO info.

It appears to be. I see there is a thread where a frequency list is attributed from me, posted at RR. That list is correct. I haven't cross checked it with the database here. There was a question about unused frequencies. At this point in time, it's unlikely that the those unused frequencies will ever be used in the EDACS system. But the hardware IS there in place, and merely needs to be turned on. The reason it's not is because of some necessary juggling that never took place.

I live in Canyon Lake (between Lake Elsinore and Menifee), even though I can pick up West and Central, I primarily listen to Southwest. I lock-out almost everything BUT Elsinore-1 and 2, Perris-3 and 4 and sometimes monitor the cross county 5 and 6. For Elsinore and Perris, the Southwest system on this site is the only one I should listen too right? That is the system that they will broadcast on no matter where they are right?

Sort of. Southwest is a 4 site simulcast system. Elsinore Peak is just one component of that. All of those talk groups will likely be heard on either the Southwest system or the Central system, although Southwest is their primary home. The problem with Perris is that it is close to the edge of the Southwest system's service area, so there is a lot of inter-cell traffic that takes place on those talk groups.

Today I was at the bottom of the Ortega Mountains (Elsinore Peak) right by the lake in Elsinore. I was monitoring the Southwest System. It was coming in horrible there, compared to where I normally monitor which is in Canyon Lake. I thought there was a tower on top of Elsinore? Maybe the signal was just shooting over me?? Curious...

That's a known problem area, although there is a site located across the lake at the Sheriff station that should fill that in. You could have been hearing an artifact of simulcast, being in an area where multiple signals are arriving out of phase. Elsinore Peak itself does a poor job there, a result of high gain antennas with no fill in for the areas close to the base of the mountain.

Hope that helps...

[convE36]

What is your opinion on Radio References list of frequencies? Why doesn't scanriverside.com have those extra sites listed? (IE; Corona, Cactus City) Do they even exist? If I drive through Corona should I have that site programmed? Below is what Radio Reference currently has listed...

Site Name

001 West 01 866.21250 02 866.26250 03 866.71250 04 866.76250 05 867.21250 06 867.71250* 07 868.21250*
08 867.26250 09 868.26250 10 868.71250 11 867.78750 12 868.78750

002 Central 01 866.31250 02 866.81250* 03 867.31250 04 868.31250 05 867.81250 06 867.76250 07 868.81250

003 Desert 01 866.23750 02 866.73750 03 867.23750 04 867.73750 05 868.23750 06 868.73750 07 866.78750
08 867.28750

004 Blythe 01 867.21250 02 866.71250 03 866.21250 04 867.71250 05 868.21250 06 868.71250

005 Santa Rosa 01 866.28750 02 867.78750* 03 868.28750 04 868.78750

006 Southwest 01 866.23750 02 866.73750 03 867.23750 04 867.73750 05 868.23750 06 866.78750 07 868.73750
08 867.28750*

101 Corona 01 867.26250 02 868.26250 03 867.28750 04 867.76250 05 868.76250 06 868.71250 07 866.78750

104 Indio 01 865.71250 02 866.21250 03 867.21250 04 867.71250 05 868.21250 06 868.76250

106 Cactus City 01 866.26250 02 866.76250 03 867.28750 04 867.76250 05 868.26250 06 868.76250

[brandon]

"101 Corona" listed on RadioReference shows many of the West frequencies and 867.7625 is a conventional freq that simulcasts the Jurupa Valley talkgroup. So the "101 Corona" listed at RadioRef does not appear to be a valid system on its own. In Corona you want to scan the West cell for best RSO reception.

The same thing goes for "104 Indio" and "106 Cactus" ... some of those freqs are assigned to the Desert cell and 865.7125 licensed to Nextel. I believe RadioReference archives old data for historical purpose, so this could explain why those sites are listed on their database. During my own monitoring I have not seen them used and would assume it's incorrect/outdated information. Indio Hill, Cactus City (and Edom Hill) are places where the Desert cell is transmitting from so maybe this is where the confusion lies. So to keep it simple: When your in Indio, just monitor the Desert system you will be fine.

I have logged West,Central,Desert,Southwest in UniTrunker and can verify they track properly on a scanner. I will check the Blythe system when I'm in Arizona next month.

[zz0468]

Some history is in order, and then a bit of explanation.

The original system, built in 1992 had West at Box Springs, Elsinore Peak, Corona (at the courthouse), and downtown Riverside. Central was at Box Springs, Elsinore Peak, and Mt. David, with receive only sites at Perris, Lake Elsinore SO, and Hemet SO. Both of these were simulcast, with all sites in a "cell" operating on the same frequency.

The Desert and Blythe were both "multicast", similar to simulcast, but every individual site had it's own set of frequencies. Santa Rosa has always been a stand alone. "Desert" was Whitewater, Cactus City, and later Indio Hill. Blythe was Blacl Rock, Chuckwalla, and Big Maria.

A few years later, thins got shuffled. West became a simulcast cell with Box Springs, Blue Mountain (in Colton), and Pleasants Peak on a different frequency set, with a couple of receive only sites. Central became Mt. David, Elsinore Peak, and Red Mountain, near Anza in a simulcast configuration.

Around 2000, the system changed yet again, to it's current configuration. West is Box Springs, Blue Mt, Paradise Hill (Norco), and a receive site downtown Riverside. Central became Mt. David and Red Mt., Southwest came into being with Elsinore Peak, Hogback Hill, Lake Elsinore SO, and a low level site up the 15 from Elsinore. Both Blythe and Desert became simucast systems with Indio Hill, Edom Hill and Cactus City as one "cell" and Blackr Rock, Chuchwalla, and Big Maria as another "cell".

In about 2004 several conventional systems were put in for fill coverage in areas that were problematic. There's a simulcast channel in the Banning Pass, and one in the Norco-Corona area. Several more were in the discussion phase when the big replacement project was conceived.

There;s the history. Now for the explanation... In a simulcast system, you don't need to know the information for each individual site. It's all transmitting exactly the same stuff - same frequency, same control channel data, same site ID. So, databases that identify "Cactus City" or "Corona" as separate trunking systems are suspect.

The trunking system data I submitted that got reposted here is accurate as of a year or so ago. I don't believe any more changes have been made. Anything else is outdated. I haven't (and won't) compare RR's database, other than to say what I put out was accurate at the time and came from closer to the horse than his mouth, even.

[zz0468]

Edit: I left out a current West site off Cajalco Road in Corona.