Friday, September 02, 2005
IT NOW GONNA COST US MO MONEY !
Good Morning People of My County, Wastemoreland PA.
I was doing some research and stuff on Thursday and Man oh Man did I find a BIG, make that HUGE problem with the Wastemoreland Co. 911 Radio System !!
This problem that I uncovered WILL cost the county a couple of million dollars more of our pocket change.
Hmmm, if we (the residents) don’t keep our eyes open and watch what goes on in the controllers office you might miss this money falling from your wallet, in-between Gas Fill-ups that is.
Geepers, this WC 911 story goes on and on. And in the meantime everyone that I talk to about this system basically says “we know there are lots of problems but we also know they will be corrected given time”.
Why on Earth would you even say "I'll trust my LIFE and the LIVES of everyone in this community on a Public Safety Radio System I know is full of flaws, BUT that’s ok… it will be fixed someday".
What I’m hearing is that some directors, fire and police chiefs are pushing for an additional 2-4 radio towers be installed immediately. They don’t have to be the BIG 350 CROWN ME type sky scraper towers, just another antenna with equipment to cover the known dead spots.
My goodness, that would take at least another 15-22 towers, not 2 to 4 !
I spoke to another Radio Engineer (such as your modest Blah-ger is) and the two of us engineers both have come to the conclusion that the problem that I uncovered with this 800 Mhz system IS indeed a problem and will need corrected and that Westmoreland County did NOT do a 400 Mega Hurtz field study, and that 400 Mhz would be a much better band to operate in for this County.
The Westmoreland County Commissioners and 911 Management SCREWED that one up pretty bad. In fact, whoever “scoped” this county for 800 Mhz and accepted the end results also SCREWED things up too.
800 Mhz is just to Damn High of a frequency for this terrain ! The higher the frequency the shorter the coverage. The more mountains and hills you have, the lower the frequency that is needed. We have hills, we need a lower frequency. DA.
This is like telling a contractor you need greater air flow in your house, so he drills a single 14 Million Dollar ¼” hole in your house. Hmmm, that’s what Tom Balya, Rich Matason and Mark Brammell did with our radio system.
We said we want to have signal coverage into all of Westmoreland County and Motorola drilled one hole ! So you need more air flow, huh ? You drill more holes, or put in more tower sites, RIGHT ?
Well, we are up to 25 holes (towers) already and the air still isn’t flowing, errrr I mean the signal still isn’t reaching to all areas in Westmoreland County ! So what are we going to do ?
Two options, one is to drill bigger holes (lower radio frequency, like 400 Mhz) or two, drill more holes (install more tower sites) so the signal (errr, air) gets to more places.
MAN, if you can figure out what I typed above, you get 2 things. FIRST, an award for understanding this layman’s terms for our radio system and B, a better idea of what is wrong with the POLICE, EMS and FIRE radio system that was just installed !!!
* * ** * *
The MAIN RADIO TOWER site for this area for fire tone dispatch was crippled (CRASHED) most of yesterday with 911 NOT able to do any dispatching.
MAN if that isn’t BIG news !!
I’m waiting on a technician to call and give me the skinny. If he calls I will have the info for you. If not I'll see what's behind door number 2 or 3.
But what the HELL, 911 can just set off all the fire department’s sirens and pagers using 800 MEGA HURTZ NEW 14+ MILLION DOLLAR SYSTEM !
Ahhh, that’s right. This 14 Million Dollar system will NOT DO TONES ! The new system will NOT set off the fire sirens or pagers !!! HA HA HA HA… sorry for laughing, was everyone that designed our radio system ON DRUGS ?
* * ** * *
I also received a memo sent our by 911 to all the fire and police chiefs. I was going to post it in it’s entirety but it’s so full of lies that I was thinking you might confuse it with something I endorse or believe in.
I will say that The Westmoreland Co. Department of Public Safety (911) is telling everyone that we now have 95% coverage IN-ALL-BUILDINGS and 95% coverage on each and every STREET in Westmoreland County.
Oh so wrong and so misleading of a statement. In my honest opinion Westmoreland County is lucky to have 70% coverage, PERIOD. But some of the fire chiefs I speak to are just concerned with their own departments and not the overall picture.
Taking the stand that my car battery is good and my car works and I don’t care if everyone else on my street has a dead battery or not is really pea poor. We need all the radios to work everywhere for everyone !
I should hold a seminar locally somewhere so I can answer questions until you have no more questions to ask. I wonder how many police and firemen would come ? Hmmm.
That’s it for now. My Mega Hurts, I have found out so much more about this system in the last few days that I can’t tell you yet.
If I mentioned which fireman gave me the news letter I might get his cousin and uncle fired that work for the county… so I have to be careful what I put in...
this Blah-g, the TRUTH of WASTEMORELAND COUNTY.
DECODED,
K3SAM
http://800.k3sam.com – website, check out the new audio clips !
news@k3sam.com – end me your tips / comments / pocket change / defective radios / Motorola Hats / WC Public Safety Tee Shirts (hey, I need one of those) / internal memos / left over sticky buns / gate cards / la de da, la de de !
TOWER FLASH
The BearCave 911 Tower Site Is DOWN.
This means that FIRE COMPANIES in the Eastern part of Westmoreland County that rely on 33.70 Mhz to set off their sirens and pagers will have to find another method, like a stout-bodied short-legged bird... or carrier pigeon.
Again, YOUR SIRENS and PAGERS WON'T WORK !!
The Eastern section consists of Fire Companies such as Wilpen, Derry, Derry Township, Ligonier, Ligonier Township, Darlington, Lloydsville, Youngstown, New Alex, Waterford, and a bunch more.
This may also effect Ambulance Services.
Unclear if 800 Mhz service was included in the signal outage.
The tower site has actually been down most of the day Thursday, I don't know the exact times but I should have a full report in the next few days.
Geeeeesh !
DECODED,
K3SAM
http://800.k3sam.com - website
news@k3sam.com - send your comments / tips
This means that FIRE COMPANIES in the Eastern part of Westmoreland County that rely on 33.70 Mhz to set off their sirens and pagers will have to find another method, like a stout-bodied short-legged bird... or carrier pigeon.
Again, YOUR SIRENS and PAGERS WON'T WORK !!
The Eastern section consists of Fire Companies such as Wilpen, Derry, Derry Township, Ligonier, Ligonier Township, Darlington, Lloydsville, Youngstown, New Alex, Waterford, and a bunch more.
This may also effect Ambulance Services.
Unclear if 800 Mhz service was included in the signal outage.
The tower site has actually been down most of the day Thursday, I don't know the exact times but I should have a full report in the next few days.
Geeeeesh !
DECODED,
K3SAM
http://800.k3sam.com - website
news@k3sam.com - send your comments / tips
