Lumpkin County now digital

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kt4cv

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As of 8:00 am Lumpkin County Emergency Services switched to their new digital system. The old analog system is still available but for backup and mutual aid only. However, FD dispatch does still QC tone on the analog system and give the call, I will keep the feed up for now for FD dispatch.

So far I have not been able to find any info on the new frequencies and licenses. From the information available on Lumpkin Counties website it is a two site system I suspect to be TRBO based on the cost.

If anyone has or can help me find the new frequencies and system it would be appreciated. It is sad to lose a 7 year feed.

Thanks and thanks to all my listeners.
 

relicwr

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Are there any surrounding counties that are tied together in a network? They may have gone there. I'm not seeing any trunking licenses either.
 

nunyax

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Lumpkin County has 2 Part 22 CP licenses they received last year, WQYH603 and WQYH602. Check the frequency spectrum they cover as they might be using something in those ranges.

000152.04500000-000152.07500000
000158.50500000-000158.53500000

000152.58500000-000152.61500000
000157.84500000-000157.87500000
 

kt4cv

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Lumpkin County has 2 Part 22 CP licenses they received last year, WQYH603 and WQYH602. Check the frequency spectrum they cover as they might be using something in those ranges.

000152.04500000-000152.07500000
000158.50500000-000158.53500000

000152.58500000-000152.61500000
000157.84500000-000157.87500000

Thanks for the info! I have located three frequencies so far in the upper portion of license local to the area that I monitor. They are indeed TRBO digital but I have nothing to decode them at the moment. However I suspect they will probably be encrypted.

I also heard a disturbing incident where ground personnel could not contact a life flight helicopter on the analog system, causing many minutes of delay and frustration of the pilots for a possibly critical patient.

I hope they can get the bugs worked out one way or another as this is unacceptable to the people of Lumpkin/ County. I have to wonder how much thought they gave to scenarios such as that before switching to digital.

Again, thanks for the info.
 

kt4cv

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Are there any surrounding counties that are tied together in a network? They may have gone there. I'm not seeing any trunking licenses either.

As far as I know they have not coordinated with any of the surrounding counties as they are all on different systems, except for White County as they are TRBO too. Hall is P25 800MHZ, Dawson is NFM analog VHF, Gilmer is NFM VHF, Union I think is still NFM VHF but I usually cannot hear them due to the mountains except for some mutual aid calls.

If their setup is like another county I had experience with as they switched to P25 digital, there may be a Motobridge setup for outside comms but I don't know for sure. IMHO it looks like the big "M" wined and dined their way into yet another county who didn't know any better.
 

lucas2121

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From experience, they seem to forget about life flight helicopters and such when implementing new systems. A simple fix will be to add the state HEAR channel to the radios. What they do in most places is patch HEAR to a tac channel during the event. I know many people don't like Motorola here but, the end user equipment seems to work a lot better than the Kenwood NXDN stuff.
 

kt4cv

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From experience, they seem to forget about life flight helicopters and such when implementing new systems. A simple fix will be to add the state HEAR channel to the radios. What they do in most places is patch HEAR to a tac channel during the event. I know many people don't like Motorola here but, the end user equipment seems to work a lot better than the Kenwood NXDN stuff.

Hi.

I sometimes let my frustration get the better of me over certain things. I have no problem with Motorola equipment. I have a couple of older moto radios and love them. It's the perceived misrepresentation of the system by sales people. That, I have no patience for.

What gets me going is the promises of certain communications equipment sales people who misrepresent the capabilities of their systems and paint a rosier picture than reality dictates. Maybe the end users could have used more training about the systems capabilities and limitations. I've seen this up close with another agency and all the problems and money required to "fix" the system. Meanwhile the end users and taxpayers pay the price.

I'm sure others on this board will tell the same stories about some communication equipment sales people maybe overstating what is needed to migrate to digital and are more interested in commissions than what is best for the agency.

I do appreciate your comments. I've never had to deal with NXDN but am sure it has its problems too.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
 

lucas2121

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I understand your frustration all to well, imagine being the end user trying to use this equipment! I wish local governments would leave things simple and not complicate things more than they need to but, like you said, when slick salesmen paint a rosier picture than reality there's not a lot that can be done.
 

MTS2000des

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I sometimes let my frustration get the better of me over certain things. I have no problem with Motorola equipment. I have a couple of older moto radios and love them. It's the perceived misrepresentation of the system by sales people. That, I have no patience for.

What indication or evidence are you referring to that Lumpkin was oversold?

What gets me going is the promises of certain communications equipment sales people who misrepresent the capabilities of their systems and paint a rosier picture than reality dictates. Maybe the end users could have used more training about the systems capabilities and limitations. I've seen this up close with another agency and all the problems and money required to "fix" the system. Meanwhile the end users and taxpayers pay the price.

Again, what evidence or supporting arguments are relevant to this particular system being oversold?

From what I have been informed of from folks involved, they bought what they could afford. Their prior NB analog FM system was woefully inadequate and due for replacement. They got what they paid for.

Are their users complaining of performance issues?

I'm sure others on this board will tell the same stories about some communication equipment sales people maybe overstating what is needed to migrate to digital and are more interested in commissions than what is best for the agency.

That is not always the case. Yes, there is some overselling. But speaking from the stand point of someone who was directly involved in implementing a multi-site P-25 trunking system, most of the times vendors are pushed to a price point and "not to exceed" bids and this presents some challenges on the customer end.

North Georgia also presents some unique challenges, mainly funding related, to rural counties like Lumpkin being able to modernize aging communications infrastructure. I don't see how they got "ripped off" or "oversold" as you claim in your posts. What I do see is that whatever they bought doesn't play nice with consumer scanners. I would be more concerned about why the scanner manufacturers keep pumping out junk that can't properly demodulate modern digital waveforms.
 

N9JIG

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I spoke to a client today in Lumpkin County saying they were going digital but she didn't know which format. She said that they were working with Dawson County.

I looked at Dawson County and they have added P25 conventional to their license but so far there is no confirmation either way.

The Part 22 licenses are paging, and would not be used for two-way communications.
 

nunyax

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The Part 22 licenses are paging, and would not be used for two-way communications.

From the license waiver attachments:
Exhibit to Form 603
ATTACHMENT B
REQUEST FOR WAIVER
The County of Lumpkin, Georgia (“Lumpkin County”), respectfully requests a
waiver of Section 20.9(a)(6) of the FCC’s rules, 47 C.F.R. § 20.9(a)(6)(2009), to permit
it to incorporate Part 22 Paging and Radiotelephone Service channels into a private land
mobile radio system to support public safety activities.

Section 20.9(a)(6) states:
The following mobile services shall be treated as common
carriage services and regulated as commercial mobile radio
services . . . pursuant to Section 332 of the
Communications Act, 47 U.S.C. §332: . . . (6) Paging and
Radiotelephone Service (Part 22, Subpart E of this
chapter).
As explained in the accompanying “Description of Application,” Lumpkin County
proposes to deploy the Part 22 channels identified in the assignment application to
support public safety communications that are not offered on a common carrier basis. It
therefore respectfully seeks a waiver of this rule.
The grant of a waiver in this case is justified under Sections 1.3 and 1.925 of the
Commission’s rules. Id. at §§ 1.3, 1.925. First, a waiver would promote long-standing
policy objectives of the Commission, in particular: (1) the deployment of spectrum to
meet public safety needs, and (2) the efficient utilization of scarce spectrum. Second, the
grant of a waiver would not frustrate the underlying purpose of the Commission’s
licensing scheme governing the use of private land mobile radio channels and paging
channels. Last, a waiver would be in the public interest, convenience and necessity, as
Lumpkin County proposes to use these channels to support public safety activities within its
jurisdiction.
 
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N9JIG

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I am surprised that the license was issued in the Part 22 service instead of in the Part 90 service. Usually when there is a cross-service license the license would go into the operational service, not the donor service.
 

DanRollman

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I am surprised that the license was issued in the Part 22 service instead of in the Part 90 service. Usually when there is a cross-service license the license would go into the operational service, not the donor service.

Part 22 frequencies are often purchased or leased (as market licenses, not site licenses) for DMR radio systems, and remain a Part 22 license. Take a look at White County, Georgia (VHF MotoTRBO conventional with IP site connect) and Habersham County, Georgia (VHF MotoTRBO Connect Plus TRS). Both use entirely part 22 frequencies.

It appears Lumpkin has recently done exactly what White, Habersham and several other counties have done before.

Dan
 
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