Thursday, June 16, 2005
NINE ONE WHAT
THIS BLAH-GER IS VERY UPSET !
WHY ? I have warned the 911 people through this Blah-g (and I know they read it) that a major system CRASH could happen at anytime. I also stated that 911 had better be prepared for such a CRASH.
Today the system did just that, it CRASHED ! Not once but twice. The first time the CRASH lasted at least 3 minutes (source: 911 personel)!
911 was NOT prepared !
I WOULD BET THAT THE WESTMORELAND CO. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT TEAM DOES NOT HAVE A TECHNICAL ADVISOR ON STAFF.
I’m talking about someone with an electronics background that would be able to at least understand the system as well as any MOTOROLA tech. A degree in electronics isn’t a mandatory requirement but would help. What should be a mandatory requirement is SMARTS ! If a red light comes on you don’t want someone to be able to “find out why” the light is on, you need someone that KNOWS why the light is on AND what to do about it. Today that light went on several times and no one had a clue.
Did I mention that I am upset… sorry, I’m not upset. I’M PISSED !
Let’s play WHAT IF. What if…
I needed police here immediately, someone’s breaking in !
My Dad fell and an ambulance is needed !
There is grease fire on the stove !
Now at least in this city I KNOW for a fact that Latrobe Police do NOT monitor their old VHF dispatch frequencies ! How do I know this ? Recently on several occasions the State Police have called the Latrobe Police on 154.740 Mhz and they do NOT answer. That is how I know. That would be their back up frequency and someone would have to tell them to SWITCH to that frequency, right ? So if 911 cannot call them on 800 Mhz to tell them to switch because 911’s 800 Mhz is out, then how will they find out ?
MAYBE THEY WILL READ IT HERE FIRST !
= = = = = = = thinking . . . . . . . = = = = = = =
This piece may or may not make any sense as I am going to think out blah-ged about this situation.
911 has, at their figure tips a radio system that controls most emergency communications within Westmoreland County. If the system goes down then 911 cannot talk to any emergency radio vehicle and those radio vehicles cannot talk to each other. So basically when that system goes down no one can talk to each other.
Stat Medivac operates Medical Helicopters. When an engine fails on one of their helicopters does it fall to the ground ? NO ! Why ?
Because each Medivac chopper has two engines !
A trucker going down I-80 sees he is getting low on fuel, should he worry ?
No, because he has an extra back up fuel tank !
I go to the store to buy food and open my wallet to pay for my food and there’s no money, should I worry.
No, because I have credit cards !
PLANNING, BACK UP – BACK UP – BACK UP, REDUNDANT SYSTEMS !!!
All larger alarm system monitoring companies have Satellite Monitoring Centers. No, they aren’t controlled by a satellite in space, they have another center just like the first one that can take over in a heart beat should one center go down. The data stored at these centers is backed up more than twice in case of a CRASH.
= = = = = = = still thinking = = = = = = =
Which brings me back to the 911 Radio System CRASH of today. This system was not designed correctly and should be looked at from start to finish. PERHAPS FROM AN OUTSIDE COMPANY OR ELECTRONICS CONSULTING FIRM. We are not talking about a crappy $400 DELL computer system. This is a multi-million dollar system ! I’ve read a lot of the specs on the equipment they are using and the specs say that their equipment will not fail. So if their equipment won’t fail, it must be the T1 phone lines, the Motorola Radios, or poor design ! What else could it have been, DISPATCHER FLU ? I think not.
THOSE ARE MY VIEWS. PERHAPS WE SHOULD CALL A MEETING OF THE WESTMORELAND COUNTY COMMISSIONERS. I WONDER IF THEY EVEN KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON ??? DO THEY HAVE RADIOS ???
WHY ? I have warned the 911 people through this Blah-g (and I know they read it) that a major system CRASH could happen at anytime. I also stated that 911 had better be prepared for such a CRASH.
Today the system did just that, it CRASHED ! Not once but twice. The first time the CRASH lasted at least 3 minutes (source: 911 personel)!
911 was NOT prepared !
I WOULD BET THAT THE WESTMORELAND CO. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT TEAM DOES NOT HAVE A TECHNICAL ADVISOR ON STAFF.
I’m talking about someone with an electronics background that would be able to at least understand the system as well as any MOTOROLA tech. A degree in electronics isn’t a mandatory requirement but would help. What should be a mandatory requirement is SMARTS ! If a red light comes on you don’t want someone to be able to “find out why” the light is on, you need someone that KNOWS why the light is on AND what to do about it. Today that light went on several times and no one had a clue.
Did I mention that I am upset… sorry, I’m not upset. I’M PISSED !
Let’s play WHAT IF. What if…
I needed police here immediately, someone’s breaking in !
My Dad fell and an ambulance is needed !
There is grease fire on the stove !
Now at least in this city I KNOW for a fact that Latrobe Police do NOT monitor their old VHF dispatch frequencies ! How do I know this ? Recently on several occasions the State Police have called the Latrobe Police on 154.740 Mhz and they do NOT answer. That is how I know. That would be their back up frequency and someone would have to tell them to SWITCH to that frequency, right ? So if 911 cannot call them on 800 Mhz to tell them to switch because 911’s 800 Mhz is out, then how will they find out ?
MAYBE THEY WILL READ IT HERE FIRST !
= = = = = = = thinking . . . . . . . = = = = = = =
This piece may or may not make any sense as I am going to think out blah-ged about this situation.
911 has, at their figure tips a radio system that controls most emergency communications within Westmoreland County. If the system goes down then 911 cannot talk to any emergency radio vehicle and those radio vehicles cannot talk to each other. So basically when that system goes down no one can talk to each other.
Stat Medivac operates Medical Helicopters. When an engine fails on one of their helicopters does it fall to the ground ? NO ! Why ?
Because each Medivac chopper has two engines !
A trucker going down I-80 sees he is getting low on fuel, should he worry ?
No, because he has an extra back up fuel tank !
I go to the store to buy food and open my wallet to pay for my food and there’s no money, should I worry.
No, because I have credit cards !
PLANNING, BACK UP – BACK UP – BACK UP, REDUNDANT SYSTEMS !!!
All larger alarm system monitoring companies have Satellite Monitoring Centers. No, they aren’t controlled by a satellite in space, they have another center just like the first one that can take over in a heart beat should one center go down. The data stored at these centers is backed up more than twice in case of a CRASH.
= = = = = = = still thinking = = = = = = =
Which brings me back to the 911 Radio System CRASH of today. This system was not designed correctly and should be looked at from start to finish. PERHAPS FROM AN OUTSIDE COMPANY OR ELECTRONICS CONSULTING FIRM. We are not talking about a crappy $400 DELL computer system. This is a multi-million dollar system ! I’ve read a lot of the specs on the equipment they are using and the specs say that their equipment will not fail. So if their equipment won’t fail, it must be the T1 phone lines, the Motorola Radios, or poor design ! What else could it have been, DISPATCHER FLU ? I think not.
THOSE ARE MY VIEWS. PERHAPS WE SHOULD CALL A MEETING OF THE WESTMORELAND COUNTY COMMISSIONERS. I WONDER IF THEY EVEN KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON ??? DO THEY HAVE RADIOS ???
FINAL THOUGHT
I suggest that the Westmoreland County Commissioners send the current 911 system directors (one per shift) to Motorola school to learn the technicial operations of this system. They should be able to do anything a Motorola Tech can do with the exception of actually fixing a radio. Without that you are going to see more and more problems that mirror today's CRASH.
We can't depend on MOTOROLA or STALEY COMMUNICATIONS to give instructions to our emergency vehicles, like they did today.
DECODED,
K3SAM
FLASH - LEVEL 3 ALERT
THE ENTIRE 911 SYSTEM CRASHED TWICE
THIS MORNING BETWEEN APPROX. 8:30 AM AND 9:30 AM LEAVING WESTMORELAND CO. WITHOUT 800 MHZ COMMUNICATIONS !
FIRST TIME LASTED OVER 3 MINUTES !
911 COULD NOT REACH ANYONE IMMEDIATELY TO TELL THEM TO SWITCH OVER TO VHF RADIO FREQUENCIES FOR BACK UP. MOTOROLA HAD TO STEP IN TO NOTIFY THE DIFFERENT AGENCIES.
FIRE / POLICE / EMS DOWN !!
More as I hear it.
THIS MORNING BETWEEN APPROX. 8:30 AM AND 9:30 AM LEAVING WESTMORELAND CO. WITHOUT 800 MHZ COMMUNICATIONS !
FIRST TIME LASTED OVER 3 MINUTES !
911 COULD NOT REACH ANYONE IMMEDIATELY TO TELL THEM TO SWITCH OVER TO VHF RADIO FREQUENCIES FOR BACK UP. MOTOROLA HAD TO STEP IN TO NOTIFY THE DIFFERENT AGENCIES.
FIRE / POLICE / EMS DOWN !!
More as I hear it.
AUDIO, NUMBERS, FILES and BEER ?
Just a few things for this early AM. First, any files downloaded from my website (http://www.k3sam.com/) have been checked for viruses. They were all VIRUS FREE WHEN IT LEFT ME !
Third, I had mentioned that I have recorded some audio and was going to make it exclusively available to the readers of this blah-g (hey peoples, this ain’t even on my website yet!).
So here you go. I have lots of 1’s and 0’s to go through yet, but the first two clips I pulled from the digital files are dooooseys ! The first was recorded from the conventional frequencies (non-800) and the second came from your new 800 Mhz system. I’ll let you guess who they are (clue, look at your media player’s title).
= = = = = = = = = =
CLIP ONE – CONVENTIONAL
(a voice etched in stone)
CLIP TWO – DIGITAL 800 SYSTEM
(the police quote of the day “just when I think I’m out… they pull me back in”)
= = = = = = = = = =
You will need Windows Media Player or something similar that will play .mp3 files.
RED OCTOBER
I will leave this space blank as those in the know understand.
NEW RADIO NUMBERS
The PRO96COM program identifies each “text tag” with a radio number, and each radio number is different.
For example, every time Avonmore Police Car 5-5 transmits, the radio serial number 22082 is transmitted. EVERYTIME ! So when this number pops up on the PRO96COM program, it looks to see if I have entered a name for it before. In this case I had entered the Avonmore Car 5-5 information a few days before so that is what shows up on my computer screen when they transmit. Otherwise is would have shown the TG (talkgroup) it was first heard on along with the time and date first heard.
GMAN (www.gmans.net) and I have been swapping numbers that we collect during the day and between us I think we have just about every base, car and portable unit that is operational now in Westmoreland County ! GMAN’s list can be found on his website, my downloadable list is at http://downloads.k3sam.com.
When you download this file and install it in your PRO96COM directory you will then get all the numbers to the radios that we have collected.
In other words you will be up to date and
you will see what I see (what I see)
numbers flashing, on the screen
you will see what I see
you will see what I see (see what I see)
A Car, a car... a Washington Township Police Car
Followed by an Ambulance or three
Informing you of happenings for you and for me
dum dum dum, da da da dummmm
Sorry, Christmas has been on my mind ALL day !
My files were updated prior to listing this BLAH-G so they are current !!
ABOUT MY SURROUNDINGS
I don’t have to talk about radio ALL the time.. do I ?
My surroundings.. I have a chair, a nice desk, a phone… WAIT, I mean this city and the surrounding towns and villages. Specifically I wish to tell you about Latrobe, Pa. and Rolling Rock Beer.
As you know Rolling Rock Beer has been brewed in Latrobe since.. well forever. And on each and every bottle of Rolling Rock the number “33” is on it. That has been the topic of beer lovers for longer than I’ve been on this Earth, WHAT DOES THIS 33 MEAN !
People have thought they knew the answer but, naw. In fact I knew one of the ORIGINAL FOUNDERS of Rolling Rock personally and he told me what it meant… so I thought. Seems he had a very good since of humor and use to tell each person a different story, what you see on my website is the “story” he told me.
I had posted on my website a whole section on this “33” business and it was there for years and years with the REAL answer. Well out of the blue a few months ago I was put in contact with one of the family members of the original founders. He said that the information that I had on my website is very INCORRECT. Fortunately he did tell me the REAL ANSWER TO 33 ! I feel very "included" in the few that actually know the real meaning of this "33" and now I’m here to tell you that I CAN’T TELL YOU !
Sorry, but that was my agreement. I did include Scotty J. to this very much secret SECRET ! What I would like to hear from you is, what do you think 33 stands for on all those beer bottles ! I can’t tell you the answer if you are wrong however I can maybe give you a good boogy award if your guess is correct.
If you go to my website (www.k3sam.com) and click on ABOUT LATROBE, then click on 33MYTHS at the bottom of the page, you will see what most people think “33” means and you will also see what I was told it means (which as I said is wrong).
Send me your thoughts on 33, about this BLAH-G or about my website. Good or bad I would love to hear them. Webmaster@k3sam.com or if you have some inside information about the 800 Mhz Radio system that I don’t know about please send me a quick note at news@k3sam.com.
Thatz its fer know, da proper speling pill has done worn off.f
DECODED,
K3SAM
Third, I had mentioned that I have recorded some audio and was going to make it exclusively available to the readers of this blah-g (hey peoples, this ain’t even on my website yet!).
So here you go. I have lots of 1’s and 0’s to go through yet, but the first two clips I pulled from the digital files are dooooseys ! The first was recorded from the conventional frequencies (non-800) and the second came from your new 800 Mhz system. I’ll let you guess who they are (clue, look at your media player’s title).
= = = = = = = = = =
CLIP ONE – CONVENTIONAL
(a voice etched in stone)
CLIP TWO – DIGITAL 800 SYSTEM
(the police quote of the day “just when I think I’m out… they pull me back in”)
= = = = = = = = = =
You will need Windows Media Player or something similar that will play .mp3 files.
RED OCTOBER
I will leave this space blank as those in the know understand.
NEW RADIO NUMBERS
The PRO96COM program identifies each “text tag” with a radio number, and each radio number is different.
For example, every time Avonmore Police Car 5-5 transmits, the radio serial number 22082 is transmitted. EVERYTIME ! So when this number pops up on the PRO96COM program, it looks to see if I have entered a name for it before. In this case I had entered the Avonmore Car 5-5 information a few days before so that is what shows up on my computer screen when they transmit. Otherwise is would have shown the TG (talkgroup) it was first heard on along with the time and date first heard.
GMAN (www.gmans.net) and I have been swapping numbers that we collect during the day and between us I think we have just about every base, car and portable unit that is operational now in Westmoreland County ! GMAN’s list can be found on his website, my downloadable list is at http://downloads.k3sam.com.
When you download this file and install it in your PRO96COM directory you will then get all the numbers to the radios that we have collected.
In other words you will be up to date and
you will see what I see (what I see)
numbers flashing, on the screen
you will see what I see
you will see what I see (see what I see)
A Car, a car... a Washington Township Police Car
Followed by an Ambulance or three
Informing you of happenings for you and for me
dum dum dum, da da da dummmm
Sorry, Christmas has been on my mind ALL day !
My files were updated prior to listing this BLAH-G so they are current !!
ABOUT MY SURROUNDINGS
I don’t have to talk about radio ALL the time.. do I ?
My surroundings.. I have a chair, a nice desk, a phone… WAIT, I mean this city and the surrounding towns and villages. Specifically I wish to tell you about Latrobe, Pa. and Rolling Rock Beer.
As you know Rolling Rock Beer has been brewed in Latrobe since.. well forever. And on each and every bottle of Rolling Rock the number “33” is on it. That has been the topic of beer lovers for longer than I’ve been on this Earth, WHAT DOES THIS 33 MEAN !
People have thought they knew the answer but, naw. In fact I knew one of the ORIGINAL FOUNDERS of Rolling Rock personally and he told me what it meant… so I thought. Seems he had a very good since of humor and use to tell each person a different story, what you see on my website is the “story” he told me.
I had posted on my website a whole section on this “33” business and it was there for years and years with the REAL answer. Well out of the blue a few months ago I was put in contact with one of the family members of the original founders. He said that the information that I had on my website is very INCORRECT. Fortunately he did tell me the REAL ANSWER TO 33 ! I feel very "included" in the few that actually know the real meaning of this "33" and now I’m here to tell you that I CAN’T TELL YOU !
Sorry, but that was my agreement. I did include Scotty J. to this very much secret SECRET ! What I would like to hear from you is, what do you think 33 stands for on all those beer bottles ! I can’t tell you the answer if you are wrong however I can maybe give you a good boogy award if your guess is correct.
If you go to my website (www.k3sam.com) and click on ABOUT LATROBE, then click on 33MYTHS at the bottom of the page, you will see what most people think “33” means and you will also see what I was told it means (which as I said is wrong).
Send me your thoughts on 33, about this BLAH-G or about my website. Good or bad I would love to hear them. Webmaster@k3sam.com or if you have some inside information about the 800 Mhz Radio system that I don’t know about please send me a quick note at news@k3sam.com.
Thatz its fer know, da proper speling pill has done worn off.f
DECODED,
K3SAM
