Athens County EMS

Athens County EMS is slated to switch to MARCS-IP on Friday May 8th. They will join the Athens County Sheriff's Office, Athens Police, and the Athens Fire Department on the new system.

Rick, W8UU

W8UU said:

Athens County EMS is slated to switch to MARCS-IP on Friday May 8th. They will join the Athens County Sheriff's Office, Athens Police, and the Athens Fire Department on the new system.

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Rick,

Any plans to migrate the VFDs? I expect they're too cash-strapped to be Tier 1 customers on MARCS, like most of the volunteers up here, but stranger things have happened.

Tom

Tom,

The MARCS-IP county zone plan will have dedicated talk groups for Nelsonville Police, Hocking College Police, a common channel for all of the village marshals and police departments, and a common dispatch channel for the volunteer fire departments. There will also be a bank of shared tac channels for every agency in the county to use as needed.

Ohio University PD is supposed to convert to MARCS-IP by the end of the summer. They already have some of the equipment in place.

The Athens County Commissioners are exploring the MARCS user fees and initial radio costs for the volunteer fire departments. The county may be buying radios for all the fire trucks and they are studying some type of a small local tax or surcharge to cover user fees for all MARCS subscribers but nothing is absolute right now. They are just looking at all the possibilities.

Athens County will be building out a multi-cast synchronized VHF one way paging system to alert fire, EMS, and anyone else who will carry a beeper. Everyone will be alerted on the same frequency. This is what should have happened years ago but didn't. I have no idea what the frequency will be or when the project will be completed.

Hope this helps.

Rick, W8UU

Here is the Athens County EMS MARCS-IP Zone Plan:



ZONE 1 – ATHENS COUNTY EMS

Athens County EMS
Athens County Volunteer Fire
Athens Fire
Athens County Sheriff
Athens County Law Enforcement
Athens Police
Ohio University Police
Nelsonville Police
Hocking College Police
Ohio Health Nelsonville ER
Holzer Jackson ER
Holzer Meigs ER
Hocking Valley ER
Marietta Memorial Belpre ER
O’Bleness ER

ZONE 2 - ATHENS COUNTY SHARED

Athens County EMS
Athens County Volunteer Fire
Athens Fire
Athens County Sheriff
Athens County Law Enforcement
Athens Police
Ohio University Police
Nelsonville Police
Hocking College Police
Athens County 9-1-1
Athens County EMA
Countywide TAC 1
Countywide TAC 2
Countywide TAC 3
Countywide TAC 4
Countywide TAC 5

Zone 2 will be standardized in all Athens County MARCS radio equipment.

Rick, W8UU

W8UU said:

Tom,

The MARCS-IP county zone plan will have dedicated talk groups for Nelsonville Police, Hocking College Police, a common channel for all of the village marshals and police departments, and a common dispatch channel for the volunteer fire departments. There will also be a bank of shared tac channels for every agency in the county to use as needed.

Ohio University PD is supposed to convert to MARCS-IP by the end of the summer. They already have some of the equipment in place.

The Athens County Commissioners are exploring the MARCS user fees and initial radio costs for the volunteer fire departments. The county may be buying radios for all the fire trucks and they are studying some type of a small local tax or surcharge to cover user fees for all MARCS subscribers but nothing is absolute right now. They are just looking at all the possibilities.

Athens County will be building out a multi-cast synchronized VHF one way paging system to alert fire, EMS, and anyone else who will carry a beeper. Everyone will be alerted on the same frequency. This is what should have happened years ago but didn't. I have no idea what the frequency will be or when the project will be completed.

Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

That's great, thanks. Just curious as to what might happen down yonder; I'm still partial to Athens and Athens County, thanks to being suitably brainwashed while at OU.

I'm really hoping this never happens, we don't have the money for it..

Migration plans cancelled. Code plugs from MARCS all screwed up. Zones not done correctly. Lost all communication with local hospitals. Pretty much a disaster. Athens County EMS is back on the old MARCS system until someone can fix these issues.

Rick, W8UU

I miss running my scanner feed in Athens. Would have been nice to see all the agencies on the same P25 system. Hopefully they can get the issues resolved.

We will try again on Wednesday June 3. Athens County EMS undergoing a programming blitz to join the P-25 world on MARCS-IP.

See you on the other side of the rainbow.

Rick, W8UU

I still say all but county fire should be on marcs... save money, but with area wide range like SO and EMS should do it for the coverage etc...

W8UU said:

See you on the other side of the rainbow.

Click to expand...

Don't you mean rabbit hole, Alice?

Athens County EMS now on MARCS-IP
Ohio Health O'Bleness Hospital now on MARCS-IP
Nelsonville Police and OU Police will be online in late summer or fall.

Rick, W8UU