Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Sit down kids... this is a long one
You might as well get your coffee or coke as this is a long bugger...
It sure is nice to know that others agree with the Blah-ger and believe I am not blowing off RF steam. With that said I received several emails from two “new” people yesterday and I would like to say thanks and welcome!
I appreciate their readership and also their willingness to help by pointing out a few items I was unaware of.
They were also helpful in confirming a few items that I had written about earlier in my Blah-gs. It is nice to have someone feed you a nice piece of information but then you are left with only having it confirmed by one source. When someone else steps up with the same information then it is pretty much etched in stone.
So again, thanks.
I had mentioned in yesterdays Blah-g about the Mobile Command Center Truck Bus Post and the 50 Motorola Portable Radios that ride (or sit) along idle with it, in fact I have written about that several times however the one thing that I failed to bring up was the COST to the COUNTY for purchasing these DO NOTHING radios that were programmed incorrectly anyhow.
I don’t have the exact figure of course as I am not 911 Management (thank God) but to the best of my ciphering abilities and guessing capabilities, Westmoreland County (WC) WASTED another $119,950.00 ! That figure is based on 50 Motorola XTS-2500 radios at a cost of $2,399 each.
It would appear that the exact price of the different radios are a big hush hush with the county however the different fire companies have told me what they are paying for them. It also seems that if you know the Motorola Salesman you might get a better price.
I SURE HOPE TO HELL NO ONE HAS PAID ANYTHING EXTRA TO GET YOUR RADIOS PROGRAMMED ! THIS MUST BE A FREE SERVICE !
That should be a FREE service of 911 Management and/or Staley Communications within the county contract. If I had the cable and the program I’d gladly program the radios for you (Police / Fire / EMS).
Speaking of programming, I know of at least three fire companies that received their radios back in 2004 with the programming being incorrect and to this date 911 has yet to reprogram them correctly. I wonder how many other departments, companies or services are like this… care to drop me an email ? news@k3sam.com
Do you remember a Blah-g that I wrote concerning ALL of the base station radios that were installed through out WC and questioned WHY we needed so many bases when portable radios will work just as well (as claimed by Motorola) within this Trucked Radio System (TRS) ?
Each Police, EMS and Fire department has an outside antenna and a base radio. With the exception of New Kensington, City of Greensburg, Latrobe and a few others where the base station is manned almost 24/7 I see all the other base stations and antenna installations a WASTE OF TAX PAYER MONEY. All you have to do is pick up a portable radio and talk, no need for a all that extra luxury !
If all the base radios and base station antennas would have been REMOVED from the contract, WE would have saved about $500,000.00 ! Now add that $120,000.00 from the Mobile Command Centers 50 Portable Radios and that’s $620,000.00.
Hehe, ha ha. Sorry… I forgot about the price of the Mobile Command Center itself which we REALLY don’t need.
R E A L L Y !
That MONSTER COST US well over $600,000.00. I would have rather seen WC have a raffle for a new MANSION for some lucky WC resident ! At least that way a home would be used whereas the Command Center gathers dust.
Do we pay someone to wash and wax that thing ? How many Miles Per Gallon of Gas or Diesel Fuel does it get ? How many miles does it have on it now ? Do we pay someone extra for driving it and is that all they do on the Pay Roll, drive a BUS ?? What is the annual maintenance cost for the BEAST ?? How many other radios are installed inside ?? What did those radios cost ? How many Radio Consoles are installed inside and at what cost ??? CAN I STOP NOW ???
Could someone PLEASE answer the above questions, I would appreciate knowing the answers by 5 PM Tuesday so I can add it to my Blah-g for Wednesday, GARBAGE DAY.
My mind is RU$HING with Dollar $igns right now.
HOW MANY PORTABLE RADIOS DID THE COUNTY BUY ?? Each smaller police station received 5 Motorola XTS-1500 at a cost of around $1,400.00 EACH (or they could have taken 3 Motorola XTS-2500 radios at a cost of around $2,399.00 and maybe have enough for one XTS-1500). I believe that each smaller department received something like $7,300.00 dollars to PLAY with.
Get this. If the City of MoosePerks received $7,300.00 to use for their Fire Radios, and the total for their radios came to $6,450.00, they would be left with a balance of $850.00 dollars. Right ?
NOT ENOUGH money to buy another radio and a NICE AMOUNT EXTRA to use for repairing some other equipment or buying a new hose BUT Homeland Security or the County Would Not Allow Them to Use That Extra Money On Anything BUT more radios.
The EXTRA MONEY IS LOST or GOES BACK TO EITHER THE DHS OR THE COUNTY, I'm not sure. (this was from information received)
Catch 22 !
HOW MANY POLICE DEPARTMENTS ARE THERE ??
A quick guess is WC has 44 different Police Departments. Can someone come up with a better figure ?? At $7,300.00 for each Police Station that’s another $321,200.00 COUNTY DOLLARS. Really not that much for Radios when you consider how Motorola Jacks Their Prices Higher Than Timothy Leary.
THE BIG DIFFERENCE HERE is that the POLICE, EMS and FIRE DEPARTMENTS DID NOT RECEIVE ENOUGH MONEY
AND
TOO MUCH MONEY WENT INTO A COMMAND TRUCK, RADIOS for Court House and Park Maintenance which are NöT First Responders and do not save lives PLUS the County PERK Vehicles for 911 Management (and their Blackberry Cell Phones) !
& 
= Waste !I know I’m only breaking the ICE HERE. There are so many other areas where MONEY has been WASTED. Some I know about and many others I’m sure I’ll find out about.
Too Much PORK !
If I wrote about a few of the areas where 911 Management has literally thrown money in the trash can I know a few Dispatchers and Supervisors that would lose their jobs. That is the reason I must let some things alone for right now.
It has come to my attention that some at the 911 center believe Joe is feeding me the information that I am printing as he is a friend of mine.
I will put an END to that theory right now.
NOTHING THAT I HAVE EVER WRITTEN ABOUT CONCERNING THE WC 911 SYSTEM WAS FEED TO ME BY JOE N. I know he was catching some flack and Joe didn’t tell me… so there you have it.
What are we going to do, TAX PAYERS of Westmoreland County. Are we going to continue to let the Management at 911 run wild with an open check book ? Somewhere we have to have a REVIEW BOARD to make sure the equipment at the CENTER gets fixed and the needless PERKS go away ! YOU THINK I write this BLAH-G because I know how to type ?
HELP ME FIX 911, IT IS BROKEN !!
BUY THE POLICE, EMS and FIRE DEPARTMENTS THE RADIOS THEY NEED !
Let's have a town hall "radio" meeting for all of the Westmoreland County Residents that are interested in how 911 is run, how the signals are suppose to go from the 911 center to the radios in the field (and don't sometimes), why there are dead spots, what the dispatchers jobs are and how management is suppose to keep the center running. Everything ! 911 is our life line to all of the emergency services, right ? Is anyone interested in fixing 911 ? news@k3sam.com And yes, if this would ever happen the Commissioners and 911 Management would be invited to defend everyting that is written in these daily Blah-gs.
I got an email yesterday concerning one of the topics I covered on Sunday… HEIGHT of our ANTENNAS on the Crown Towers. It was reported that the Antenna at the site near Markle is only up HALF WAY, so that would be 175 Feet if it is a 350 Foot Tower. Why isn’t it higher ?? No wonder they have problems receiving and transmitting to the 911 Center !
PUBLIC SAFETY SHOULD HAVE TOP PRIORITY AT EVERY TOWER SITE !
There is SO much wrong with our current 911 system that it would take a new director YEARS to untangle. UNBELIEVABLE !!
I must stop here before I blow a fuse.. I always keep a 400 Amp 24,000 Volt fuse handy but Damn they are expensive and HARD to find.
Merry Christmas !
To Work In Management and Receive Tax Payer Pork Means It's Christmas Everyday, All The While Equipment Remains Broken and Tower Sites Are Down !Shouldn't It Be That All The Equipment is Working, All The Radio Towers Are Operational and Management Drives 1978 AMC PACERS ?
DECODED,
http://800.k3sam.com - website with photos, audio, and the naked truth
news@k3sam.com - email, comments and tips
www.ThisCrapMustStopAndSoon.Com - unknown site, kind of like our 800 Mhz Radio Sytem... if it works I'll be surprised.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: If the bosses vehicle was broke down would it take as long to fix it as it is taking to fix our towers, radios and equipment ?
AND TO BEAT ALL GET OUT, The Reason For This Blah-g is To Get Our Radio System Changed to Another Group of Frequencies OR Erect Many More Towers To Eliminate The 1,000's of 800 Mhz Radio Signal Dead Spots. Then to Re-Program Every Radio So That It Conforms To The Department of Homeland Security Radio Plan,
Everything Else Is Just Plan Old Mismanagement That Has Been Uncovered !!
Blah-ger
