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I may have a new TG ID for Soundtransit. I heard 60272 for a bit today on the COLTWR system during the BA practice.

I didn't realize this was a new ID for me, so I wasn't paying attention to the chatter specifically. I think it was someone calling but I don't remember.

Here's what I got for them so far:

60048 STLink Ops1 Mainline
60080 STLink Ops2
60112 STLink Ops3
60144 STLink Ops4?
60176 STLink Ops5
60208
60240
60272 STLink? Heard today (8/1/09) Seafair BA Practice
60304 Metro Bus Tunnel Security

60208 12/2/08 13:00:48 "here(?) too". Dead key right after; another one 1.5 minutes later, another 7 minutes later. 3/5/09 14:17:16 Someone tapping on the mic. 4/22/09 Two dead keys; 206 calling 223; 3 more dead keys. 5/18/09 15:26:27 "Link Control to Sam12" twice.

60240 is OPS 7, it's usually the same two guys troubleshooting cameras and VMS signs.

60272 4/22/09 09:49:42 Dead key, another 5/8/09 11:58:24.

60304 is indeed the d-bags in the tunnel providing "security"

Those TG's were fairly active yesterday during Seafair. Not a lot of interesting activity though.

Yeah I haven't been monitoring them much lately. All of them are on the the stream.

Inside the LRV, the cab-mounted Astros have access to "all channels that Sound Transit paid for" which is "a lot of channels". This also includes the bus tunnel "security" (60304). Most "activities" have two channels; i.e. two for Mainline Ops (known as ML Ops 1 and ML Ops 2), and two vehicle maintenance channels (not sure the TGs). Yard Ops might not have a pair. There's also a channel for the fare inspectors ("Fare" maybe?) that doesn't get used any more. The fare inspectors do not hang out on ML Ops 1, rather they're on some other channel. Train operators used to carry an XTS-5000 with them, however I believe this has ceased many months ago.

Only hybrid buses operate in the tunnel because they have the Allison parallel drive with hush mode. The hybrids have an XTL-5000 that only has ML Ops 1 programmed in. The XTL should only roam on the tunnel site--site 16 (860.9625). Bus operators use this to communicate with Link Control, AKA LCC when something out of the ordinary happens in the tunnel. LCC controls all movement in the tunnel for both buses and rail.

UHF "Channel 3" (453.375 I think) as well as the data channels 452.375 and 452.800 are also repeated in the tunnel. Channels 2 and 4 might be in there, though I doubt it. It is highly unlikely that channel 1 is repeated in the tunnel.

Talkgroup 24016, Channel 7 is used in the tunnel. Link Control, the tunnel "guards", and Metro/Sound Transit PD (contract KCSO) can all be heard on 7. Channel 7 is patched to 453.525 (141.3).



All of these frequencies and the known talkgroups are in the database; save for a couple of the 800 frequencies which I'm editing right now.

Kick ass, just got the list.

1 Main Line Operations 1 (60048)
2 Main Line Operations 2 (60080)
3 DSTT Operations (60112)
4 Yard Operations* (60144)
5 Maintenance 1 (60176)
6 Maintenance 2* (probably 60208)
7 DSTT Maintenance (60240)
8 Fare Inspection (probably 60272)
9 Security 1 (60304)
10 Security 2 (probably 60336)

*not required in DSTT and Bacon Hill tunnels

I've also gotten two hits on 60368, which would be channel 11.



The interface between the Sound Transit radio console equipment and the King County Regional 800 MHz Trunked Radio System will be provided by a system of 10 (ten) 800 MHz control stations (one control station per Sound Transit talkgroup).

The Tunnel Radio System will include two conventional 800 MHz repeaters in each tunnel operating on ITAC interoperability channels to provide backup communications in the tunnels in the event of the complete failure of one or both of the base station repeater sites or failure of one or both of the fiber links between the base station repeater sites and the tunnel segments. One repeater will provide backup communications for public safety users. The other repeater will provide backup communications for ST users. The ST conventional repeater will be linked to the ST control center via a dedicated four (4) wire E&M link, over the ST communications backbone system.

There's also "a RF interface between the Tunnel Radio System and the KCRS dual-redundant base station equipment, the 700 MHz control station interface to the KCM radio system and the 800 MHz control station equipment [which] provide[s] the interface between the Sound Transit radio console equipment and the KCRS 800 MHz system"


The current county-wide system, circa 2001: "has been designed to provide a very high grade of service (One percent blocked calls, maximum blocking delay of one second during the peak busy hour) when loaded with a maximum of 15,000 mobile and portable radios. The system will ultimately be loaded with between 12,000 and 13,000 radios when all users planning to migrate to the system are incorporated. The present loading is approximately 12,500 units, approximately divided
between 33 percent portable radios and 67 percent mobile radios. Traffic and usage statistics for the system are constantly measured and monitored to assure that adequate capacity is maintained as system loading and use changes.

The regional system currently uses analog audio technology rather than digital audio technology. Analog technology for 800 MHz trunking is proven and reliable, and provides better audio quality with fewer sites when compared to a digital trunking system. ... Because digital technology does appear to be the direction for communications in the future, however, the system uses, to the extent possible with today’s technology, infrastructure equipment that can be migrated to digital technology in the future when the need exists, when the costs are more reasonable, and when the technology is stable."


Back to the ST system: "Tunnel Radio System [will] include a radio frequency distribution system consisting of RF/Fiber conversion equipment at the Sound Transit Operations and Maintenance Center RF Headend and at the two RF Distribution Hub locations at University Station and Beacon Hill Station; downlink power dividing equipment; uplink power combining equipment; and BDA (bi-directional amplifier) equipment designed to feed 800 MHz signals to the two distributive antenna systems (DAS) described in the next paragraph. All fiber links used in this distribution system will consist of continuous fusion spliced fiber runs terminated at the radio system demarcation point with FC/APC connectors. Each hub location will be provided with main and backup diverse route fiber feeds, with switching at both the headend and hub locations to select either the main or the backup fiber feed.

Dark single-mode fiber for the fiber interconnects between the Tunnel Radio System Headend at the ST O&M Facility and the Distribution Hubs at University Station and Beacon Hill Station ... The demarcation points for the fiber interconnect system ... will be the connectors on the fiber termination modules at the ST Operations and Maintenance Center, the University Station hub site, and the Beacon Hill hub site."

"[N]ew distributive antenna systems (DAS) in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (“DSTT”) and in the Beacon Hill Tunnel, which are to be used by the Sound Transit Link light rail trains. The fiber distribution system described above will provide the interconnection between the 800 MHz RF base station equipment at the Sound Transit Operations and Maintenance Center and the distributive antenna systems located in the two tunnels."

"[F]our (4) 700 MHz control stations [will be] used to provide shared talkgroups between the KCRS and the new King County Metro (KCM) 700 MHz transit radio system in the DSTT, and to be installed at the University Station Distribution Hub in the DSTT"

Regarding the ITAC repeaters: "One repeater will operate in stand-alone mode to provide public safety communications within the tunnel. The other repeater will be linked via a 4-wire E & M wireline circuit to the radio console at ST Central Control to provide emergency backup communications between the train controller and the trains in the tunnel segment (DSTT or Beacon Hill) served by each backup repeater."

Control Stations and Control Station Antenna System at ST Link O&M Center: "[T]en (10) 800 MHz trunked control stations [will] provide RF access to the KCRS for the radio console at the ST Control Center. Each control station shall be configured to operate on a single dedicated talkgroup on the KCRS 800 MHz system. The control stations shall be configured to provide direct audio and control links to the ST radio console equipment in the ST Central Control facility via a four (4)-wire E & M interface with an M lead.
Control station transmitter combining/receiver multicoupling equipment and antenna equipment shall be provided to allow all ten (10) 800 MHz control stations to operate over a single transmit antenna and a single receive antenna
The transmit and receive antennas for the control station interface shall be mounted on the roof of the OMF building ... These systems shall, to the extent possible, be located at the point of entry into the OMF Central Communications Equipment Room and shall be connected to the equipment room ground system using an entry port panel designed to support the devices and to provide a low impedance connection to the equipment room ground system. The entry panel shall be attached directly to the equipment room ground system so as to minimize the impedance of the panel-to-ground path at RF frequencies."

And I'm getting tired of copying and pasting, so pick up on page 490 here.