Monday, August 08, 2005
NIGHT-TIME CAFFEINE PILL ?
It's almost time for all little policeman, firefighters and paramedics to go to sleep. I can't give you any pills to keep you awake however I can give you something to think about that might help you stay awake.
This was overheard on an Administration Talkgroup just a short time ago and it should keep you awake all night, as if you really needed any help.
We rent space at many tower sites for our radio equipment so that the Westmoreland County Emergency Management Signals can reach our police, medics and firemen anywhere in the county. Each and every one of the tower sites is critical to this system.
A TOWER SITE IN THE ST. CLAIR TOWNSHIP AREA IS DOWN.
I could be wrong but if I put any weight on the information that I receive here from my emails and phone calls, that makes TWO tower sites we have that are out of service.
Forget about all my SOAP BOX screaming about the millions of dollars we threw out the door... or the excessive amounts of petty money the 911 center is throwing away daily... if this tower site in St. Clair township is out of service then that will affect Ligonier, New Florence, St. Clair, Seward and other Police Services!
Also affected would be all of the fire companies out in the Ligonier Direction ! (Ligonier, Ligonier Township, Wilpen, New Florence, Darlington, Bolivar, and more)
Included would also be the medic units !
Now, if that isn't enough to keep you awake then you need a no doze too !
As I was writing this I was also listening to my scanners and there was one incident where Ligonier Township Police and one incident of Darlington Fire Department both having problems reaching 911. Hmmm...
You may go to sleep now ?
DECODED,
K3SAM
http://800.k3sam.com
Car 5-11 where are you ???
I am certainly blessed that I get to write you a second Blah-g in less than 12 hours !
While waiting for the Shuttle to land early this morning I had the old radio on and I began to hear the audio start to break up. I'm talking about on OUR 800 Mhz system, not on the Shuttle.
I took a quick signal measurement here and it seemed to be normal however it would drop out now and then. Hmmm, that’s not good.
I continued to monitor the signal and listen while watching the screen on my computer to see what the 800 Mhz system was doing. What I saw on the screen was the good old "-1" syndrome.
What does this “-1” syndrome do or mean ? Beats the digi-crap out of me, all I know is that when I see a screen filled with “-1”s in the Talkgroup location of my "dispatch" screen it usually means that the SYSTEM starts to have problems.
Another day another dime as sure enough around 10 AM this morning transmissions started to cut out. “HELL O 9 11” I was losing signal here altogether for a minute then it would come back up spotty.
Another thing that happened was the CONTROL CHANNEL changed. This tells me that the system is in TROUBLE !! Then it Changed again, oh boy !
During that time two things happened, and both to the VANDERGRIFT POLICE DEPARTMENT (Greensburg PD, are you reading this ?)
The first thing of importance was that car 5-11 tried to transmit and the SYSTEM wouldn't let him.
Why Tony wanted to transmit or what he wanted to say isn’t of concern to me. What is of concern to the Booger Blah-ger is that Tony’s transmission wasn’t able to go through !
So, I guess 5-11 was just asking for the time, right ? Maybe he was down and needed help, like in an emergency ! Naw, that couldn’t happen to Tony’s so I guess it doesn’t matter if these radios work all the time, or even work at all.
To hear a condensed audio cut (you know the audio never lies) CLICK HERE. The file’s location is http://www.k3sam.com/800/audio/RadioProblems-08Aug05.mp3 if you would rather use that link.
The other thing of importance that happened to TONY (the same officer, I guess just luck ! Huh Tony ?) was a foot pursuit in Vandergrift where a prisoner broke free from the Sheriff who he was with.
Tony ran after the prisoner and the radio’s transmissions were HORRIBLE !
At the very beginning you can hear the 911 Dispatcher say “down where, Jackson ?”.
Tony’s response was broken up (great multi-million dollar radio system, huh) but you can hear Tony’s broken transmission say “Negative, on foot”. The dispatcher returns with “Heading down Jackson on foot”.
That’s NOT What Was Said !
Remember, the system tower in my area was FUNKY (good system, right) and the audio was also broken… BUT here is the audio clip for the foot pursuit CLICK HERE. The file’s name is http://www.k3sam.com/800/audio/FootPursuit-08Aug05.mp3 if you want the link, in it's condensed form. Just like soup.
= = = = = = =
Just seeing the above two examples of this Multi-Million dollar system would make one wonder. Wonder why anyone is USING it !!
Put up another 15 to 20 towers at OUR EXPENSE and it MIGHT work. OR we can BULLDOZE ALL OF THE MOUNTAINS so this area is FLAT.
Which would be easier ? Hmmm, I know how to drive the bulldozer, someone get the gas. Do we need a permit ?
= = = = = = =
On a lighter note, I heard a nice lady in IRWIN MEDIC 202 today and she was so happy, cheerful, uppity, perky, smilefully (I know, not a word.. I guess you don’t read my blah-gs that often), and just plain old RIGHT with GOD and the world.
She made me smile ! I hope a few of those pills in the Ambulance didn’t jump out of a bottle, hit the driver on his left nose, Rica shay off the oxygen tank and fly down her throat... I doubt it BUT SHE WAS HAPPY !!
I saved that audio clip too, just for you ! CLICK HERE or you can find it at http://www.k3sam.com/800/audio/Medic202-08Aug05.mp3.
If you don’t carry an 800 Mhz radio, have a good day.
If you do carry an 800 Mhz radio, I’ll pray for you.
DECODED,
K3SAM
http://800.k3sam.com
While waiting for the Shuttle to land early this morning I had the old radio on and I began to hear the audio start to break up. I'm talking about on OUR 800 Mhz system, not on the Shuttle.
I took a quick signal measurement here and it seemed to be normal however it would drop out now and then. Hmmm, that’s not good.
I continued to monitor the signal and listen while watching the screen on my computer to see what the 800 Mhz system was doing. What I saw on the screen was the good old "-1" syndrome.
What does this “-1” syndrome do or mean ? Beats the digi-crap out of me, all I know is that when I see a screen filled with “-1”s in the Talkgroup location of my "dispatch" screen it usually means that the SYSTEM starts to have problems.
Another day another dime as sure enough around 10 AM this morning transmissions started to cut out. “HELL O 9 11” I was losing signal here altogether for a minute then it would come back up spotty.
Another thing that happened was the CONTROL CHANNEL changed. This tells me that the system is in TROUBLE !! Then it Changed again, oh boy !
During that time two things happened, and both to the VANDERGRIFT POLICE DEPARTMENT (Greensburg PD, are you reading this ?)
The first thing of importance was that car 5-11 tried to transmit and the SYSTEM wouldn't let him.
Why Tony wanted to transmit or what he wanted to say isn’t of concern to me. What is of concern to the Booger Blah-ger is that Tony’s transmission wasn’t able to go through !
So, I guess 5-11 was just asking for the time, right ? Maybe he was down and needed help, like in an emergency ! Naw, that couldn’t happen to Tony’s so I guess it doesn’t matter if these radios work all the time, or even work at all.
To hear a condensed audio cut (you know the audio never lies) CLICK HERE. The file’s location is http://www.k3sam.com/800/audio/RadioProblems-08Aug05.mp3 if you would rather use that link.
The other thing of importance that happened to TONY (the same officer, I guess just luck ! Huh Tony ?) was a foot pursuit in Vandergrift where a prisoner broke free from the Sheriff who he was with.
Tony ran after the prisoner and the radio’s transmissions were HORRIBLE !
At the very beginning you can hear the 911 Dispatcher say “down where, Jackson ?”.
Tony’s response was broken up (great multi-million dollar radio system, huh) but you can hear Tony’s broken transmission say “Negative, on foot”. The dispatcher returns with “Heading down Jackson on foot”.
That’s NOT What Was Said !
Remember, the system tower in my area was FUNKY (good system, right) and the audio was also broken… BUT here is the audio clip for the foot pursuit CLICK HERE. The file’s name is http://www.k3sam.com/800/audio/FootPursuit-08Aug05.mp3 if you want the link, in it's condensed form. Just like soup.
= = = = = = =
Just seeing the above two examples of this Multi-Million dollar system would make one wonder. Wonder why anyone is USING it !!
Put up another 15 to 20 towers at OUR EXPENSE and it MIGHT work. OR we can BULLDOZE ALL OF THE MOUNTAINS so this area is FLAT.
Which would be easier ? Hmmm, I know how to drive the bulldozer, someone get the gas. Do we need a permit ?
= = = = = = =
On a lighter note, I heard a nice lady in IRWIN MEDIC 202 today and she was so happy, cheerful, uppity, perky, smilefully (I know, not a word.. I guess you don’t read my blah-gs that often), and just plain old RIGHT with GOD and the world.
She made me smile ! I hope a few of those pills in the Ambulance didn’t jump out of a bottle, hit the driver on his left nose, Rica shay off the oxygen tank and fly down her throat... I doubt it BUT SHE WAS HAPPY !!
I saved that audio clip too, just for you ! CLICK HERE or you can find it at http://www.k3sam.com/800/audio/Medic202-08Aug05.mp3.
If you don’t carry an 800 Mhz radio, have a good day.
If you do carry an 800 Mhz radio, I’ll pray for you.
DECODED,
K3SAM
http://800.k3sam.com
DOMS - BLAH-HUMBUG
Oh boy, Sunday already. By the time you read this it will be Monday morning unless it isn’t, in that case one of us is in trouble.
WECOME
If you are a first time reader of the BLAH-G, let me be the first to welcome you and let you know what you are in for. Most times I attempt to bring some humor into your life so that you will bust a gut and pee your pants… HOWEVER the other times I am AS STRAIGHT FORWARD as any one person can be when it comes to YOUR LIFE, MY LIFE, and the Westmoreland County Department of Emergency Management’s New 800 Mhz Radio System (or should I say the Tax Payers).
I know for a fact that some people are upset over these Blah-gs ! Why, because I am telling the truth when it comes to how BAD the 800 Mhz System is and some people just don’t want to hear about it.
To those people I can only say that YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN TELLING EVERYONE HOW GREAT IT IS.
Lies get you no where.
I have to tell you that I have never worked so hard in my life as I have in the last few days getting information together, answering phone calls, sending and receiving emails, connecting new equipment at the “Booger’s Operations Command and Control Center”, faxing important papers to important people, cutting and editing audio, and a whole bunch of secret information. WOW, busy beaver I am ! (remember, I said busy, not dizzy)
AUDIO CD TIP CONTEST
Remember that in just 10 days the Boogerette will be pulling a name from the Chief Booger’s hat for a CD filled with miscellaneous audio clips from the Westmoreland County Department of Emergency Management. This happens every month on the 17th.
How do you get entered for a chance to win this CD you say ? Well, those of you that have turned in a tip for me (like towers getting hit during a thunderstorm, names of dispatchers, radio broken at a fire station, Blackberry’s ordered by 911 Management… that kind of stuff) all have a chance to win ! Each tip you send in gives you another chance to win.
<-- just click on the link !If the tip comes in anonymously, I will post the tip that won. If you wish to collect your CD then you can email me and we will work something out. For all those others I will send you the CD by email.
YES, I break it up into tiny pieces then stuff it in my COM 1 PORT and attach it to an email. If you want to receive it the old fashioned way, me and my Camel will hump it over to ya.
Better yet, why not just send it to you via USPS Mail ? That’s the ticket.
If you are the winner, I’ll find someway of getting it to you... unless you politely tell me where to put it !
DO YOU SUFFER FROM DOMS
DOMS stands for DISPATCHER OPEN MIC SYNDROME and it seems to be spreading faster than butter on woods or fire on bread !
In the last few days I have heard at least two dispatchers with their microphones keyed down and no one to talk to. I have both of these recorded however in each case the DOMS episode lasted longer than 3 minutes and in the case of the female dispatcher it was almost five minutes ( place your own comment here.. it's free ).
I could hear laughter, yawning, heavy breathing (oh my), a cough or two, other dispatchers in the back ground answering phones, and in one case some kind of a thumping noise that sounded like an old man walking across a marble floor with a swimming suit on and carrying a black and white photo of Tiny Tim in Drag.
No wonder the dispatchers can’t hear the police, fire and ambulance people call into the center… they are too busy cutting out the world with their own headset switches !
It’s also possible that they do not have their headset plug pushed in the whole way into the console !
This could cause DOMS by keying the transmitter when the dispatcher is not ready to talk and could also cause a pregnancy in shorter people. To avoid this, USE ABC GUM... Already Been Chewed, so she says !
OH GREENSBURG
Sunday night and well into Monday Morning the Greensburg City Police were testing their radios on their new Talkgroup (TG) channels. In fact I believe that this was their very first official police broadcasts on 800 Mega Hurts when they called in a 10-28 (that makes it official).
I was truly hoping for another Frick and Frack ordeal where they would treat these new radios as room intercoms or children’s band radios while they learn how to use them, but they didn’t.
It would have been funny to hear the Big City Boyz talking about their shoe smell and how many French Fries they can shove up their noses… but it just didn’t happen.
I think most people will remember the original Frick and Frack from the Washington Township Police.
Remember, they would talk about anything and everything from how clean the floors were in their homes to the greasy steering wheel in Car 5-54.
Although the original F&F are still around and very active, they just don’t place their food orders over the 800 Mhz radios anymore (well, only on TAC 4) and then describe each piece of food as it went down the old food tube.
Well any which way, Greensburg, enjoy your new 800 Mega Hurts radios.
If you haven’t kept up with the Blah-g then you may wish to read all of the back issues.
You are putting your lives in the hands of a radio system that hasn’t, and in my opinion won’t prove itself in this hilly terrain anytime soon. That is why I say “800 Mega Hurts” !
TIME TABLE
It was Sunday evening when I started this edition of the BLAH-G however because of different obligations that I had and some other things going on, I didn’t get back to finish this until the wee wee hours of Monday Morning (didn’t want you thinking that I was a 1 wpm typist).
With that I will say good night and good morning.
This Booger Blah-ger is going to find a clean sheet somewhere and throw it over me. Would someone please water me about every 2 hours ? While your at it, turn me over too as I get moon burn very easy… and I can’t find my Crater Clumps Magic Moon Burn Oil made of Homogenized Moose Milk !
DECODED,
K3SAM
http://800.k3sam.com for updates
www.gmans.net for live broadcasts
http://messages.k3sam.com for interactive messaging
www.k3sam.com for all of your local frequencies
(Next issue will contain some sort of meal for you. It's just after that BLACKBERRY ISSUE of the BLAH-G a few days back I lost my appetite. All I can think about is seeing 911 Management carrying these expensive toys around when there is critical equipment that is broken down at the 911 center and they say there's no money to fix it ! BLAH-HUMBUG!!)
