Friday, June 24, 2005
TGIF
NEWS
As promised a tad more to go with your coffee !
A large fire overwhelmed the talkgroups last night as there was a barn fire at the Grandview Farms in Ligonier Township. Fire companies from all around with at least 10 tankers were called to the scene. I believe they had to call for another tanker from Somerset County just to be on stand-by.
The Radio System worked fine however, and this is a big HOWEVER with much confusion ! Who is what talkgroup is where on dispatch what ?
Tankers could not get organized due to "Command" giving orders to the Engines, others arriving on scene were not being heard. Way too much traffic at first caused just enough confusion. Finally another talkgroup was issued just for the tankers. Better late than never.
I wouldn’t assign any blame as of yet because the system is too new. 911 gave the incident the proper TAC channel, TAC 3 which falls between 3 and 5. Those are reserved for structure fires, explosions and the like. Later TAC 4 was assigned for the tankers. The firefighters were the ones that realized that they needed an extra TAC channel and thus, requested one. It took two attempts at requesting the second TAC channel before 911 issued it and again no blame as everyone was pushed and the blood pressure was running high.
In other news, GMan (www.gmans.net) sent me an article about the lady that fled from Avonmore after her Meth Lab was raided. Seems she went to Louisiana to seek shelter in a treatment clinic. Well, here is the article out of the Valley News Dispatch. I post it here because it shows the FINE work of the GUYS and GALS in 50 !
Meth lab suspect found in Louisiana
By Chuck BiedkaVALLEY NEWS DISPATCH
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Police have learned the location of an Avonmore woman wanted for allegedly making the illegal drug methamphetamine. Care Anne Speranza, 37, of Clearfield Avenue, Avonmore, is in a "meth treatment clinic in Louisiana," said Avonmore Police Chief James Shaffer.
"We're in the process of faxing our warrant so that she can be detained once she is discharged," Shaffer said Tuesday. "We will then make arrangements to get her back."
On Monday charges were held against Speranza's husband, David, 32, during a preliminary hearing Monday in front of District Judge Lawrence Franzi. Speranza is charged with making methamphetamine and related charges. At the hearing, a prosecutor added charges of methamphetamine and marijuana possession.
Speranza is being held in the Westmoreland County Jail lieu of a $50,000 bond. On June 11, Speranza and his wife were in a car stopped along Route 380 for alleged careless driving. Police said the couple appeared to be under the influence and took them to separate hospitals. Police said Speranza allegedly told them that he and his wife were in the process of cooking meth that morning. They say he gave police permission to search the car trunk. Police allegedly found Sudafed and other items commonly used to make methamphetamine.
Police later searched the couple's Avonmore house and allegedly found a meth lab. A special state police meth lab team was called to clean up the hazardous materials.
Meth is highly addictive stimulant that can be injected, snorted, smoked or swallowed.
Way to go Chief Shaffer and thanks GMan !
Staley Communications will be in Delmont today for some top secret activities. I’ve heard Ligonier Ambulance Medics 706 and 707 on the air the last few days talking but not using 800 Mhz for their actual calls yet. I believe they are due on the air before the end of the month or perhaps at a July 1 switch-over. I have also heard Latrobe Hospital Emergency Room key up their radio, however no talking.
Vascar is due in Latrobe, Derry and Ligonier and we expect to break the 90 degree temperature lock that was placed on us in the Fall of 2002. If you are old people like me try to stay inside in the air conditioning all day as being outside could be hazardous to your health. I don’t know about you but I need every valid reason I can find to stay indoors next to the A/C and this is a good one.
AUDIO VOL. I
I received several comments after posting the Best of Westmoreland Co.’s audio .mp3 file yesterday with all of them being good except for one. The one that was questionable was of the audio quality. In the email they say “Is that some kind of warble on the voices to make them not identifiable but somewhat readable ??”. Actually no.
Everything on the .mp3 file is completely digital and no special effects were used. The warble is actually just one of the many strange digital effects heard using this system. Echo is the most popular by law enforcement officers (not). Another strange effect heard sometimes is digital repeat. It is not uncommon to hear “ Ok… k” where the last part of a word or sentence, or even the first part might be repeated.
I know the echo is an effect also heard on the expensive radios however I am not sure if the other effects are just common to scanners. I would have to compare them to an actual radio.
The only editing I will use on audio files posted on my website is to shorten the file (cutting the dead air) and a slight encryption on top of any private information or I will just cut that out too. You will not hear a full license plate or drivers license number, vehicle owners names or address and the full names of the radio operators. What I need is one of those big red dots that appear on peoples faces like on the TV news, but for audio.
UPDATED FILE
Forgot to mention that I posted a new PRO96COM data file to my website yesterday. The new zip file has over 40 new radio numbers and text tags for your program. The file can be found at http://downloads.k3sam.com.
ALLEGHENY COMMUNCIATIONS
Ken, WA3FKG sent the following to our Westmoreland County 911 Yahoo Group.(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wc911)
The NewCom dispatch center will cut over to their new physical locationat 06:30 on 24-June-2005. I don't know what kind if any interactionthere is between NewCom and the Westmoreland County dispatch center butsince there are a number of areas where their boundaries run parallelI'm sure they "talk to each other" at times. This is one of the largermoves in the effort to consolidate all public safety dispatchingoperations in Allegheny County. Should be interesting.
QUESTION
Ok, time for me to ask a question. On the ambulance channels (and TAC) I hear the different response codes, E1 through E3. My guess is that they are about the same as the state police response codes 1 through 3 where 3 is lights, sirens, expedite !
Are those the same basic codes and if that is so which one is expedite, E3 ?
Answer this AND send in all your news, tips, updates, comments, extra money, and unused toilet paper to: news@k3sam.com Thanks !
OK, ready to break for a peanut butter and ketchup sandwich. Enjoy your lunch and stay cool.
DECODED,
K3SAM
As promised a tad more to go with your coffee !
A large fire overwhelmed the talkgroups last night as there was a barn fire at the Grandview Farms in Ligonier Township. Fire companies from all around with at least 10 tankers were called to the scene. I believe they had to call for another tanker from Somerset County just to be on stand-by.
The Radio System worked fine however, and this is a big HOWEVER with much confusion ! Who is what talkgroup is where on dispatch what ?
Tankers could not get organized due to "Command" giving orders to the Engines, others arriving on scene were not being heard. Way too much traffic at first caused just enough confusion. Finally another talkgroup was issued just for the tankers. Better late than never.
I wouldn’t assign any blame as of yet because the system is too new. 911 gave the incident the proper TAC channel, TAC 3 which falls between 3 and 5. Those are reserved for structure fires, explosions and the like. Later TAC 4 was assigned for the tankers. The firefighters were the ones that realized that they needed an extra TAC channel and thus, requested one. It took two attempts at requesting the second TAC channel before 911 issued it and again no blame as everyone was pushed and the blood pressure was running high.
In other news, GMan (www.gmans.net) sent me an article about the lady that fled from Avonmore after her Meth Lab was raided. Seems she went to Louisiana to seek shelter in a treatment clinic. Well, here is the article out of the Valley News Dispatch. I post it here because it shows the FINE work of the GUYS and GALS in 50 !
Meth lab suspect found in Louisiana
By Chuck BiedkaVALLEY NEWS DISPATCH
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Police have learned the location of an Avonmore woman wanted for allegedly making the illegal drug methamphetamine. Care Anne Speranza, 37, of Clearfield Avenue, Avonmore, is in a "meth treatment clinic in Louisiana," said Avonmore Police Chief James Shaffer.
"We're in the process of faxing our warrant so that she can be detained once she is discharged," Shaffer said Tuesday. "We will then make arrangements to get her back."
On Monday charges were held against Speranza's husband, David, 32, during a preliminary hearing Monday in front of District Judge Lawrence Franzi. Speranza is charged with making methamphetamine and related charges. At the hearing, a prosecutor added charges of methamphetamine and marijuana possession.
Speranza is being held in the Westmoreland County Jail lieu of a $50,000 bond. On June 11, Speranza and his wife were in a car stopped along Route 380 for alleged careless driving. Police said the couple appeared to be under the influence and took them to separate hospitals. Police said Speranza allegedly told them that he and his wife were in the process of cooking meth that morning. They say he gave police permission to search the car trunk. Police allegedly found Sudafed and other items commonly used to make methamphetamine.
Police later searched the couple's Avonmore house and allegedly found a meth lab. A special state police meth lab team was called to clean up the hazardous materials.
Meth is highly addictive stimulant that can be injected, snorted, smoked or swallowed.
Way to go Chief Shaffer and thanks GMan !
Staley Communications will be in Delmont today for some top secret activities. I’ve heard Ligonier Ambulance Medics 706 and 707 on the air the last few days talking but not using 800 Mhz for their actual calls yet. I believe they are due on the air before the end of the month or perhaps at a July 1 switch-over. I have also heard Latrobe Hospital Emergency Room key up their radio, however no talking.
Vascar is due in Latrobe, Derry and Ligonier and we expect to break the 90 degree temperature lock that was placed on us in the Fall of 2002. If you are old people like me try to stay inside in the air conditioning all day as being outside could be hazardous to your health. I don’t know about you but I need every valid reason I can find to stay indoors next to the A/C and this is a good one.
AUDIO VOL. I
I received several comments after posting the Best of Westmoreland Co.’s audio .mp3 file yesterday with all of them being good except for one. The one that was questionable was of the audio quality. In the email they say “Is that some kind of warble on the voices to make them not identifiable but somewhat readable ??”. Actually no.
Everything on the .mp3 file is completely digital and no special effects were used. The warble is actually just one of the many strange digital effects heard using this system. Echo is the most popular by law enforcement officers (not). Another strange effect heard sometimes is digital repeat. It is not uncommon to hear “ Ok… k” where the last part of a word or sentence, or even the first part might be repeated.
I know the echo is an effect also heard on the expensive radios however I am not sure if the other effects are just common to scanners. I would have to compare them to an actual radio.
The only editing I will use on audio files posted on my website is to shorten the file (cutting the dead air) and a slight encryption on top of any private information or I will just cut that out too. You will not hear a full license plate or drivers license number, vehicle owners names or address and the full names of the radio operators. What I need is one of those big red dots that appear on peoples faces like on the TV news, but for audio.
UPDATED FILE
Forgot to mention that I posted a new PRO96COM data file to my website yesterday. The new zip file has over 40 new radio numbers and text tags for your program. The file can be found at http://downloads.k3sam.com.
ALLEGHENY COMMUNCIATIONS
Ken, WA3FKG sent the following to our Westmoreland County 911 Yahoo Group.(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wc911)
The NewCom dispatch center will cut over to their new physical locationat 06:30 on 24-June-2005. I don't know what kind if any interactionthere is between NewCom and the Westmoreland County dispatch center butsince there are a number of areas where their boundaries run parallelI'm sure they "talk to each other" at times. This is one of the largermoves in the effort to consolidate all public safety dispatchingoperations in Allegheny County. Should be interesting.
Thanks Ken. Our Yahoo Westmoreland County 911 (WC911) Scanner Group is Open to All. Come Join.
QUESTION
Ok, time for me to ask a question. On the ambulance channels (and TAC) I hear the different response codes, E1 through E3. My guess is that they are about the same as the state police response codes 1 through 3 where 3 is lights, sirens, expedite !
Are those the same basic codes and if that is so which one is expedite, E3 ?
Answer this AND send in all your news, tips, updates, comments, extra money, and unused toilet paper to: news@k3sam.com Thanks !
OK, ready to break for a peanut butter and ketchup sandwich. Enjoy your lunch and stay cool.
DECODED,
K3SAM
