Saturday, January 21, 2006
Car 5-91 where are you ?
It is STEELER WEEKEND in this part of the DEAD SPOT and the Blah-g is wishing a Grand Victory to our friends in Black and Gold !
I would like to congratulate Sam Bray of Westmoreland County (WC), the WINNER of this months Blah-g Tips and Comments Contest.
Normally most winners like to remain anonymous however Sam says “ It should be known Who Hates the 800 “. Sam works for a few Westmoreland Co. EMS Services and he has been telling the Blah-g for along time of all the problems he can personally attest to, the DEAD SPOTS, the Digi-Crap Audio, and other MAJOR problems with the WC 800 Meggy Hurts so called emergency radio system.
Anyhow, CONGRATULATIONS SAM !!
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A follower of this Blah-g sent me the following news article that appeared in the weekend Tribune Review. Many of you I’m sure haven’t seen this as it only appears in regional Trib papers.
I would also say that I would rank this as “FICTION”, even though Delmont Police was the department interviewed.
I don’ t know what was in Chief Klobucar’s coffee that morning but what he had to say is NOT the way it is. IMO he must be thinking of a different communications system, not the one in WC.
Either way, here is the article:
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Safe and sound: Delmont uses grant for new radios
Officials say the new devices provide reliable communication with no transmission 'dead spots'
By Sean McPartland
T.J. Klobuca has always striven to keep up with others around him. He never gave in to opposition and wouldn't let financial obstacles obscure his vision of success.
As current Delmont police chief, Klobucar has made do with available resources to keep his borough safe and sound.
Recently, a $16,000 grant presented by state Rep. Tom Tangretti paved the way for increased safety of four full-time and seven part-time officers via 800-MHz radios.
"My goal is to keep up with the best security possible," Klobucar said.
His community backs him.
"When we need something done, the community comes together," he said.
The radios provide officers with improved, safe communications through encryption. Each radio has an emergency button, and the devices allow officers to communicate throughout the borough without transmission "dead spots."
Patrolman A.J. Yonek says each unit measures about a foot tall, including the antenna.
With each unit weighing only as much as an inflated football, the radios don't hinder officers.
"It's the other stuff on your belt that's weighing you down," Yonek said.
The 800-Mhz units operate on a trunk radio system to seek the best signal available from multiple towers, says Mark Brammell, a Department of Public Safety spokesman.
"(They work from) cell phone-type technology," he said.
For example, if an officer was pursuing a suspect on Route 66 towards Greensburg, he or she wouldn't lost contact with other law enforcement officials.
"They system was built county-wide," he said.
In the past, if an officer couldn't make direct contact with a dispatcher in an emergency situation, he or she would have to leave the scene and scramble to the cruiser to contact 911, Klobucar said.
Klobucar descriped citizen support for the department.
After collecting blood from a crime scene, Klobucar was concerned because the department did not have a refigerator to store evidence at a proper temperature. The next morning, the president of Concerned Citizens shoed up with a donated refridgerator.
In another case about two years ago, officers were investigating a robbery at a borough grocery store. On the cold, snowy night, nearby residents provided the officers with blankets and hot chocolate as they conducted interviews.
One woman donates $50 to $100 a month to the department.
In his three years as chief, Klobucar is happy to say that residents don't shy from the police, but instead wave to them.
"Other communities turn their backs on police," Klobucar said.
Delmont police responded to 1,775 calls in 2005, he added.
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Those Police Officers in District 5 will probably remember all the times that DELMONT POLICE have not answered their radios due to them being in a DEAD SPOT !
911 had to dispatch other police services to Delmont to CHECK ON THEIR OFFICERS BECAUSE THEY LOST RADIO CONTACT due to DEAD SPOTS !!
The STATE POLICE HAD TO RUSH INTO DELMONT because all radio contact was LOST with the DELMONT OFFICER while on a traffic stop, due to DEAD SPOTS.
When Chief Klobucar says “The radios provide officers with improved, safe communications through encryption. Each radio has an emergency button, and the devices allow officers to communicate throughout the borough without transmission "dead spots." “ he must have forgotten about all the times the STATE POLICE, Murrysville and other Police Forces went to look for a MISSING OFFICER ! He must have forgotten about all those FALSE EMERGENCY BUTTON PRESSES they have had.
I don’t think I’ve EVER heard DELMONT POLICE USE ENCRYPTION.
Then Patrolman A.J. Yonek continues with how light weight the units are. Gee, that will save a life, won’t it ?
Of course good old Mark Brammell has to put in his cent and a half and say something VERY IMPORTANT. Mark states that OUR SYSTEM works just like CELL PHONES, same technology.
That just proves my point Mark, how many times have you attempted to make a call and you DID NOT HAVE CELL SERVICE ?
da, when in ROAM... call a Dead Spot !I know with my Cellular Provider there are many places within WC that I cannot use my phone. In fact I can speak first hand on the following services: Sprint, Cingular, NexTel, T-Mobile and Verizon. Each one of those services has problems in this county in different locations.
So Mark, I guess if our system works on the same technology then you are ADMITTING again that our system has DEAD SPOTS. At least with Cellular Phones you have the ROAMING FEATURE. That is NOT available with our emergency management 800 Meggy Hurts Radio System.
Last item I would like to point out about Delmont Police and what I’ve heard for approximately the last year… Delmont Police says I can’t hear you 911, and could you repeat that 911, you were garbled, and how do I reset this thing, and my radio isn’t working JUST AS MUCH as all the other police services on our WC 800 Radio Cyst-Em.
Just for the record, I KNOW DELMONT POLICE DOES GOOD WORK and they have a good Police Force. I am only directing my comments to Delmont as they were the Police Department interviewed by the Trib. Also, My Comments are directed towards the DELMONT POLICE RADIO SYSTEM and COMMENTS about that system, not the Delmont Police itself.
Also, I sent the Trib writer Sean McPartland an email but apparently he changed his email address. So for the Blah-g readers, here is the email that I sent to Mr. McPartland and perhaps he will see it here. He also has my phone number as I called the Tribune Review Dispatch Center and they gave it to him.
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Hello Mr. McPartland,
I received a copy of your story about Delmont Police's new radio system, which is part of Westmoreland County's (WC) new trunking radio system from a friend of mine today.
First let me state that I am retired radio maintenance with 35 years of service for our county and I owned two businesses. I hold every FCC license available and I'm a Certified Electronics Technician.
There are many points in that article that are not true that I thought you might be interested in, the biggest being that Delmont does not have any "transmission Dead Spots".
The fact is that on several occations other police departments have had to rush into Delmont to check on the status of the Delmont Police Officers when they failed to respond to calls due to these DEAD SPOTS.
Many times during a traffic stop Delmont has failed to give status reports to 911 because their radios could not reach one of the 26 tower sites in WC. This also caused other police departments including the State Police to rush into Delmont to check on that police officers condition.
This is fact.
Another point was the mention of the emergency button on each radio. While it is true that these buttons are there, what is not mentioned is the fact that the buttons don't work when the police are in one of these DEAD SPOTS.
Another thing is the physical location of these buttons. On both the portable and mobile radios the emergency buttons are placed right where they can be pressed in-error. That is exactly what happens about 5 times a day, false emergency alerts from officers, EMT's and firemen.
When Delmont presses their emergency button in error and the signal is received at the 911 center, then 911 calls them for a status check and the officer has moved into a DEAD SPOT, 911 then treats that like an actual emergency.
Then all other local police rush in Code 3 thinking the Delmont Police Officer has been shot or something... but it's only a DEAD SPOT causing poor communications.
The statement about scrambling to a cruiser to contact 911 prior to these new radios is also incorrect. In fact the whole article was pretty much exactly the way it is NOT, as opposed to the way it is.
I will provide my contact info below should you wish to contact me for an overview of how this system is suppose to work and WHY it doesn't work.
From my experience, Mr. Mark Brammell along with Director Richard Matason and at least two of the sitting WC commissioners are covering this system's failures up.
Besides Sean, it is not just this county where these problems exsist. Any county that I've found that is using the Motorola Astro 25 System (that's what we bought) is having problems. Systems in Ohio, Texas, Philadelphia... all over if you wish to check. IMO, the Astro 25 System isn't good enough for use with Taxi services.
Thanks for your time.
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I will update the readers of the Blah-g if Mr. McPartland replies or calls me.
Go Steelers ! I bet the Steelers wouldn’t want to use our Radio Cyst-Em… Can you see Big Ben saying “What”, “Pardon me Bill”, “what was that last play Coach, I thought I was suppose to be intercepted !”….
DECODED,
K3SAM
http://800.k3sam.com – website
news@k3sam.com – tips and comments / Steeler Tickets / war stories / whatever…
