Narrowbanding in Maryland

[ka3jjz]

I see where AA county is narrowbanding their 154.01 dispatch - and it's only a matter of time before the BWI fire dispatch (154.10) also undergoes narrowbanding.

Does anyone know when Howard (154.25) is going to do the same? I guess that would include Montgomery and Baltimore city, too. There are still quite a few VHF and UHF users out there...I suspect that it's going to get really ramped up fast now that the Jan 1 deadline is getting close.

Let's see if we can use this thread to keep track of who has narrowbanded.

And as a starting point, here's our wiki on the subject...

Narrowbanding - The RadioReference Wiki

Just keep in mind that UHF T band users (470-512 Mhz) are exempt, which is briefly mentioned in the article

Mike

[ka3jjz]

I got a note from JMarkey that says;
=======================
Frederick County FMARS 154.280 already narrowbanded on Nov. 1. 153.845 fire paging will go narrow Saturday 12/8 at 9am.
=======================

If someone can verify this, it can be submitted to the database...Mike

[ka3jjz]

Can anyone in the Frederick area validate that 153.845 got narrowbanded this morning?

Mike

[jmarkey]

Yes. Completed on 12/08.

[ka3jjz]

off to the database this goes...thanks...Mike

[ka3jjz]

I can't stress this enough - as more of these changes are applied, it's important to get them over to the database team so our listings can be updated. This is something you can do yourself

This is likely to pick up steam as we get closer to the Jan 1 2013 deadline.

Mike

[FiveAlarmPhotography]

Harford County Md Fire & EMS PIO Media Page

Narrow banding will be occurring today. There will be no paging services available. Fire and EMS stations will be on station command mode.

http://www.facebook.com/fireinfo

[ka3jjz]

I just saw a note on Scan-DC that Montgomery 154.16 got narrowbanded. Can anyone confirm?

If true, please get this to the database via the SUBMIT tabs...Mike

[Bote]

I just changed all my conventional frequencies to NFM.

It really doesn't make a huge difference for scanners anyway. If the transmitter is still transmitting "wideband" (5KC deviation) and hitting the audio so hard that your scanner receives it distorted, just change that one channel back to FM until they get around to it.

Otherwise, you only get better signal/noise ratio with the scanner set to NFM and the discriminators on these boxes aren't that critical anyway. I mean, it's not a newfangled APX7500 that costs thousands of dollars after all.

I'm betting that there will be quite a few waivers to continue without narrowbanding in a rush, or maybe the gummint will lessen the slope of the "fiscal cliff" by filling their coffers with some fine money for non-compliant systems.

[ka3jjz]

One point to make here - narrowbanding does not apply to all conventional freqs. Only to those in the lower part of UHF, and all of VHF hi. It doesn't apply to VHF lo or 800 Mhz or above. Making changes in those areas makes no sense.

Mike

[dj0321]

Ok .. I have a scanner here , and I can hear Montgomery talking on both channels 7A and 7B , but I cannot hear other units .. Is there a new frequency now or something ? I have a PRO-137, and a Motorola Minitor IV.. Can someone advise on this please ?

[ka3jjz]

This has nothing to do with narrowbanding - please don't hijack a thread. It's a no-no here. Start a new one instead

To answer your question: the VHF channels only rebroadcast certain talkgroups, dependent on how the freqs are set up. Look at the database to see.

To fully copy Montgomery county, you will need a digital trunktracker, the links for which are below (anything in blue is a link)

Categoryigital Scanners - The RadioReference Wiki

Please note that due to a process known as rebanding, you shouldn't consider the BC250 or BC785 - these scanners are not capable of supporting this

Mike

[ka3jjz]

Does anyone know whether Harford narrowbanded their UHF dispatch channel? Mike

[dpm797]

yes, Harford fire/ems UHF dispatch frequency was narrow banded back at end of November beginning of December around the same time as Anne Arundel VHF-Hi Fire and EMS dispatch channel

[ka3jjz]

Gracias. I'll submit a ticket Mike

[ocguard]

Baltimore City sent out an order to all companies to have their "subway radios" (these are VHF portable radios programmed with the VHF channels) collected. It was noted that they are no longer needed in Metro tunnels, as apparently with the most recent 800mhz upgrades, there is now adequate radio coverage in the tunnels. However, our back-up plan for 800mhz failure calls for the continues use of VHF radios, including VHF base stations and portables. So I can only assume that the collection is for reporogramming to narrowband. Our base stations are far to old for such reprogramming.

[Spleen]

VHF? While there may be an interop use for the BPD to be able to talk on VHF, the VHF frequencies on Metro are operational in nature (Ops, Maintenance Of Way, Supervision, etc.) but the transit police are on UHF. Technically, they're not mandated to narrowband anyway, unless that changed recently...
I can't speak to the radio coverage issue; it has only been a couple of years since they installed the system to allow the transit police to use their UHF radios underground.

Originally Posted by ocguard

Baltimore City sent out an order to all companies to have their "subway radios" (these are VHF portable radios programmed with the VHF channels) collected. It was noted that they are no longer needed in Metro tunnels, as apparently with the most recent 800mhz upgrades, there is now adequate radio coverage in the tunnels. However, our back-up plan for 800mhz failure calls for the continues use of VHF radios, including VHF base stations and portables. So I can only assume that the collection is for reporogramming to narrowband. Our base stations are far to old for such reprogramming.

[ResQguy]

Originally Posted by Spleen

VHF? While there may be an interop use for the BPD to be able to talk on VHF, the VHF frequencies on Metro are operational in nature (Ops, Maintenance Of Way, Supervision, etc.) but the transit police are on UHF. Technically, they're not mandated to narrowband anyway, unless that changed recently...
I can't speak to the radio coverage issue; it has only been a couple of years since they installed the system to allow the transit police to use their UHF radios underground.

This is about the Fire Department, not the Police. The old BCFD VHF frequencies were still maintained when they went to 800MHz for daily operations back in the 90's.

And Transit Police, being on T-Band, are currently exempt from narrowbanding for a few more years.

[Spleen]

Teach me to attempt three things at once...I saw subway and Metro and got discombobulated.
In a sensible world, MTAP would be considering joining MdTA on the new system(s) (I hear rumblings), especially considering the cost savings and the multi-jurisdictional coverage problems that would be almost instantly solved. Note the s-word at the start of that sentence.

Originally Posted by ResQguy

This is about the Fire Department, not the Police. The old BCFD VHF frequencies were still maintained when they went to 800MHz for daily operations back in the 90's.

And Transit Police, being on T-Band, are currently exempt from narrowbanding for a few more years.

[ResQguy]

Happens to the best of us.