Sunday, November 27, 2005
INTER-MIS-BROKEN-NOT-WORKING-ABILITY
BLAH-G QUICK TAKE
I pulled this off the Westmoreland County Department of Public Safety’s Website and although I’ll make a short comment on the whole statement I really only want to highlight one word out of the whole paragraph, Interoperability.
From their question and answer section:
Q. Why do we need a new radio system in Westmoreland County?
A. There have been many complaints over the past years around Westmoreland County regarding deficiencies in radio communications’ systems. Complaints have centered around many aspects of their particular system such as, lack of wider area coverage, dead spots, no secure communications, lack of interoperability with other municipal agencies, need for telephone interconnect, instant call for emergency, identification of units (unit ID), future use of Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL), Mobile Data, etc. A well designed trunked radio network would address all of these issues and would correct them.
Word and Definition
Inter-operability ( Between or Among / Performing Work – Or Working Together )
On several occasions, Friday night being the last occurrence during a vehicle accident with Allegheny Township County Fire and Police, County Ambulance, Road Crews and MedEvac Helicopter there was absolutely NO INTEROPERABILITY between any of those units.
The Ambulance, Fire Department and the Police were requesting information from the Road Crews due to slippery road conditions.
The POLICE needed to relay information back to the ambulance through 911.
The ambulance needed information relayed to MedEvac.
MedEvac needed the Police at their helicopter.
The Fire Department needed the Police.
The Ambulance needed information from the Police…
it was a HUGE 911 RELAY OPERATION with none of the 5 agencies talking directly to each other.
The system as a whole was performing alright, not at 100% but with the exception of a few choppy digi-crap transmissions it was working. The word interoperability here is a JOKE.
I’m not sure what service handles the road salting, I do not believe it is the Westmoreland County Road Department but perhaps what 911 could have done was to put the Ambulance, Fire and Police on a County-wide TAC Channel so they could ALL talk to each other, making the Fire Department Chief the “Command” (person in charge).
This still would have left out the Road Crews and MedEvac from Direct Communications HOWEVER MedEvac could have been “cross-band-repeated” from 33.64 Mhz low band VHF to the 800 Mhz system which is done at the dispatchers option.
Do you follow me so far ?
NO ONE COULD TALK TO EACH OTHER !
911 COULD HAVE MOVED EVERYONE TO A COMMON TALK GROUP ! (with the exception of the road crews)
Why do we have this system if it is NOT used ?
The way the communications was handled at the wreck Friday night was the EXACT same as if the old system was in place.
I would like to see Commissioner Tom Balya as a dispatcher for a day, let him run the mess he got us into.
Please note that this is only one instance I am commenting on, this has happened over and over and over again. Is it lack of training, orders from the 911 Director not to use the County-Wide TAC Channels… were the RADIOS PROGRAMMED WRONG ?
What is the problem ?
Let me reply on 911’s entire statement. (here is their Q&A answer again)
There have been many complaints over the past years around Westmoreland County regarding deficiencies in radio communications’ systems. Complaints have centered around many aspects of their particular system such as, lack of wider area coverage, dead spots, no secure communications, lack of interoperability with other municipal agencies, need for telephone interconnect, instant call for emergency, identification of units (unit ID), future use of Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL), Mobile Data, etc. A well designed trunked radio network would address all of these issues and would correct them.
My Professional Reply:
I would personally like to see all the complaints that 911 received in the past about the old system. It was working fine however I agree that changes were needed, not 800 Mhz changes though.
Although this NEW system is using 26 towers that does not mean it has a wider coverage area. If the 800 Mhz DEAD SPOTS were covered then I would agree that this new system would have a better coverage area but NOT the way it sits now.
Secure communications are a JOKE as this system is still NOT SECURE regardless of what 911 is preaching to the police and the county detectives.
Interoperability again is a JOKE with other municipal agencies.
Telephone interconnect IS NOT in place nor is there any PLANS for doing so.
Instant call for emergency (the little red and orange buttons on the radios) is a JOKE as the buttons are placed on the radios where you almost have to push them in order to use the radio and when pushed ties up the 911 dispatchers console. 911 wastes time almost everyday giving out directions on how to deactivate these emergency button signals as radio operators have not been properly trained or forget the procedure.
Identification of the units takes place at the 911 console and should be working alright however 911 keeps asking the police what car they are in and the fire departments which truck is transmitting ??
Forget about any future use of this system as I don’t believe we will go too much further.
At least we shouldn’t go any further until the current problems are fixed.
I know of one police agency that will be installing Mobile Data Terminals for OUR system this or next week on a trial basis however the 800 Mhz system is JAMMED TO THE GILLS NOW to where it is hard for FIREMEN to make any transmissions as the system is always busy !
What I hear from firemen almost everyday is that their radio keeps beeping at them, telling them the system is either FULL and they have to WAIT or they are in a DEAD SPOT. This will just add to the system working harder and less chance of those FIREMEN getting an open frequency.
Either way, NO ONE should ever hear a DAMN BEEP !
and
Everyone should be able to talk to each other – LACK of INTEROPERABILITY !
For 14 Million Dollars plus many more, this is a system we should really be proud of having…
Ok, that is all I had to say. As that beer commercial says “it just doesn’t get any better than this”.
Isn’t that a shame.
DECODED,
K3SAM
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