Friday, June 17, 2005
WESTMORELAND CO. PA SYSTEM UPDATES
Ok, I am a bit calmer today however changes still need to be made concerning the backup system of the Westmoreland County Emergency Management Center. If they have one now it's not working...
Staley Communications worked late last night taking part of the communications system DOWN for a few minutes each at 01:00 and 04:00 early this morning. The police in Allegheny County were quite confused as 911 said on the air that they would give a 10 minute warning before SHUTTING DOWN. This Booger is here to tell you that 911 NEVER GAVE THE WARNING !! (I was listening…)
It would appear that when they took the system “down” they only shut down the District 5 Police Desk Consoles for software updates as the actual TRUNKING COMPUTER stayed on line and the Police Cars could talk back and forth to each other (my computer showed system operation was normal). I don’t know what the update included, perhaps more radio numbers and text tags, but no noticeable difference was seen on this end.
BIG DAY TODAY
Fire Departments from Waterford, Wilpen, New Florence, Seward, Ligonier, Darlington and Bolivar were busy assisting Indiana County at a Mine Bunker Fire at or near the Power Plant. The Trunking Repeater system worked very good from that site as they were operating on Fire TAC 11 and all transmissions were heard loud and clear (it’s a repeater system damn-it, all signals are always loud and clear !).
Penn Township was busy yesterday looking for a Bear while Latrobe and the State Police were looking for a masked man spotted at a business in Lloydsville. The chopper was flying so low that Scotty J. said that he could hit it with a stone and estimated it was hovering at about 40 feet off the ground. THAT’S LOW ! Scotty J. thought at first it was the WKRP Helicopter and was waiting for his Turkey.
There was an accident in Vandergrift that Station 51 handled. I won’t attempt to cover the accident but 911 used their cross band repeater-link to link the Helicopter that was operating on VHF and the fire department that was operating on our 800 Mhz System using TalkGroup (TG) 214 which is FIRE TAC 6.
That is a very nice feature that Motorola has incorporated into our new system. If ANY non-800 conventional frequency needs to talk through our system, 911 can cross-band-link them in. For example, if a fire chief that may only have 33.52 Mhz (low band, old fire operations) needed to talk to his fire crew on 800 Mhz, 911 could link him in. It’s called cross band because one is on one frequency band and the other is on another.
We have used cross-band-repeaters and linking in amateur radio for years. It's a simple process. Just took Motorola years watching us do it.
Now as the Booger types yet another FIRE TAC channel is being assigned. FIRE TAC 3 is now being used for a house fire in Washington Township which turned out to be a controlled burning. Seems everyone was disappointed, not that there wasn’t a house on fire, but that they were all pumped up and ready for action. Response time by all companies was excellent.
UPDATE
Police Stations and their current 800 Mhz Status
DISTRICT 1
Jeannette – On Line
Irwin – On Line
North Irwin – On Line
Manor – On Line
Adamsburg – On Line
Trafford – On Line
North Huntingdon – On Line
Penn Township – On Line
DISTRICT 2
Murrysville – N/A
Delmont – (with district 5)
Plum Borough – N/A
DISTRICT 3
Greensburg – N/A
Southwest Greensburg – N/A
South Greensburg – N/A
Seton Hill – N/A
DISTRICT 4
Latrobe – On Line
New Florence – On Line
St. Clair Township – On Line
Bolivar – On Line
Seward – On Line
Derry – On Line
Lynn Run Park – N/A
Keystone State Park – N/A
Ligonier – On Line
Ligonier Township – On Line
DISTIRCT 5
Loyalhanna Township – On Line
Bell Township – On Line
Avonmore – On Line
Vandergrift – On Line
Oklahoma – On Line
E. Vandergrift – On Line
Beaver Run – On Line
Washington Township – On Line
Allegheny Township – On Line
Hyde Park – On Line
West Leechburg – On Line
DISTRICT 6
Scottdale – N/A
Mt. Pleasant – N/A
Rostraver – N/A
North Belle Vernon – N/A
West Newton – N/A
Sutersville Borough – N/A
DISTRICT 7
Monessen – N/A
Belle Vernon (Fayette County) – N/A
Donora (Washington County) – N/A
NO DISTRICT 8 (someone didn’t know how to count)
DISTRICT 9
Lower Burrell – On Line
New Kensington – On Line
Upper Burrell – On Line
Arnold – On Line
That’s for now…
800 MHZ ON LINE GUIDE
DECODED,
K3SAM
Staley Communications worked late last night taking part of the communications system DOWN for a few minutes each at 01:00 and 04:00 early this morning. The police in Allegheny County were quite confused as 911 said on the air that they would give a 10 minute warning before SHUTTING DOWN. This Booger is here to tell you that 911 NEVER GAVE THE WARNING !! (I was listening…)
It would appear that when they took the system “down” they only shut down the District 5 Police Desk Consoles for software updates as the actual TRUNKING COMPUTER stayed on line and the Police Cars could talk back and forth to each other (my computer showed system operation was normal). I don’t know what the update included, perhaps more radio numbers and text tags, but no noticeable difference was seen on this end.
BIG DAY TODAY
Fire Departments from Waterford, Wilpen, New Florence, Seward, Ligonier, Darlington and Bolivar were busy assisting Indiana County at a Mine Bunker Fire at or near the Power Plant. The Trunking Repeater system worked very good from that site as they were operating on Fire TAC 11 and all transmissions were heard loud and clear (it’s a repeater system damn-it, all signals are always loud and clear !).
Penn Township was busy yesterday looking for a Bear while Latrobe and the State Police were looking for a masked man spotted at a business in Lloydsville. The chopper was flying so low that Scotty J. said that he could hit it with a stone and estimated it was hovering at about 40 feet off the ground. THAT’S LOW ! Scotty J. thought at first it was the WKRP Helicopter and was waiting for his Turkey.
There was an accident in Vandergrift that Station 51 handled. I won’t attempt to cover the accident but 911 used their cross band repeater-link to link the Helicopter that was operating on VHF and the fire department that was operating on our 800 Mhz System using TalkGroup (TG) 214 which is FIRE TAC 6.
That is a very nice feature that Motorola has incorporated into our new system. If ANY non-800 conventional frequency needs to talk through our system, 911 can cross-band-link them in. For example, if a fire chief that may only have 33.52 Mhz (low band, old fire operations) needed to talk to his fire crew on 800 Mhz, 911 could link him in. It’s called cross band because one is on one frequency band and the other is on another.
We have used cross-band-repeaters and linking in amateur radio for years. It's a simple process. Just took Motorola years watching us do it.
Now as the Booger types yet another FIRE TAC channel is being assigned. FIRE TAC 3 is now being used for a house fire in Washington Township which turned out to be a controlled burning. Seems everyone was disappointed, not that there wasn’t a house on fire, but that they were all pumped up and ready for action. Response time by all companies was excellent.
UPDATE
Police Stations and their current 800 Mhz Status
DISTRICT 1
Jeannette – On Line
Irwin – On Line
North Irwin – On Line
Manor – On Line
Adamsburg – On Line
Trafford – On Line
North Huntingdon – On Line
Penn Township – On Line
DISTRICT 2
Murrysville – N/A
Delmont – (with district 5)
Plum Borough – N/A
DISTRICT 3
Greensburg – N/A
Southwest Greensburg – N/A
South Greensburg – N/A
Seton Hill – N/A
DISTRICT 4
Latrobe – On Line
New Florence – On Line
St. Clair Township – On Line
Bolivar – On Line
Seward – On Line
Derry – On Line
Lynn Run Park – N/A
Keystone State Park – N/A
Ligonier – On Line
Ligonier Township – On Line
DISTIRCT 5
Loyalhanna Township – On Line
Bell Township – On Line
Avonmore – On Line
Vandergrift – On Line
Oklahoma – On Line
E. Vandergrift – On Line
Beaver Run – On Line
Washington Township – On Line
Allegheny Township – On Line
Hyde Park – On Line
West Leechburg – On Line
DISTRICT 6
Scottdale – N/A
Mt. Pleasant – N/A
Rostraver – N/A
North Belle Vernon – N/A
West Newton – N/A
Sutersville Borough – N/A
DISTRICT 7
Monessen – N/A
Belle Vernon (Fayette County) – N/A
Donora (Washington County) – N/A
NO DISTRICT 8 (someone didn’t know how to count)
DISTRICT 9
Lower Burrell – On Line
New Kensington – On Line
Upper Burrell – On Line
Arnold – On Line
That’s for now…
800 MHZ ON LINE GUIDE
DECODED,
K3SAM
