[TrunkCom] EDACS System Questions

[Justin W. Pauler]

To Everyone:

I live in La Grange, TX and our sheriffs department and all of the local
police departments in our county, Fayette County, are part of the LCRA
Wide Area Radio System. This system is an EDACS system with many towers
throughout central Texas. 

My questions are these:

1. Every once-and-awhile, you will hear a few seconds of the data
channel come across on one of the voice channels and then disappears.
The data seems to come across our dispatch talk group and is sometimes
followed by voice traffic, but not always. I am sure it isn't a problem
with my radio as I was in Radio Shack the other day and my scanner along
with three other displays caught it at the same time. It seems this is
some type of data being transmitted as none of the units in the patrol
cars nor the handhelds are picking it up. Any ideas?

2. Some of the traffic is followed by a period of white space. You can
hear the end of the transmission, but the carrier stays open for a few
seconds longer. This creates a problem because while your scanner is
stuck on this white space, the unit is replying to the transmission on
another channel. Several people in this area are hearing the same thing
and it is not because of the delay feature.

3. Finally, does anyone have any idea about where I-Call's are
transmitted? All of the units in our county have this option, but I have
only one time been able to catch them talking and I did not remember to
write down where I heard it. The new uniden radio says it is able to
track I-Calls, so I do believe it is out there. I have opened my radio
to search all of the talk groups when I am sure that they are talking on
the I-Call feature, but I can never pick anything up. Anyone have any
luck with this?

I would appreciate any help anyone could give. I am looking forward to
scanning the systems in our county reliably after I get over these few
humps. In case it matters, I am scanning with a Radio Shack Pro-94.

-- jwp
 
Justin W. Pauler <justin@jwpauler.org>