2 different Westchester Co dispatch freqs

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KC2GSP

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Is there a known reason out there why Westchester has two separate fire dispatch frequencies?
 

radioman2001

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What frequencies are you talking about. The only ones I know about are 46.26 and the very seldom used 33.96. BTW 33.96 WAS supposed to become the main dispatch channel back before the trunking system to alleviate radio traffic from the page out. I know there was a lot of push back from the departments since everyone wanted to continue to listen to the traffic after a page out. I don't know if anyone even uses the 33.96 any more. There were a few departments around Mamaroneck and Larchmont that were using it. I think there was also a VHF Hi-band around 160 mhz in that area too. Have to look in my very OLD notes for that one.
 

Bob1955

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Why Westchester County, NY Has (2) Seperate Fire Dispatch Frequencies

HiKC2GSP, I have been a volunteer firefighter for many years and just became a New York State Exempt due to my area going all career.
46.26 is used for tone-out dispatch for MOST areas in Wetchester County. 33.96 is used for the fire pagers. 46.06 is used for the following departments: Greenville/Port Chester/Rye Brook/Pelham Manor/ fire departments which is low band. 46.06 uses a PL and 46.26/33.96 or CSQ. 60 Control dispatches for all departments except Mt. Vernon, Yonkers and New Rochelle. I'm thinking White Plains Fire just reverted back to their own dispatchers but anyone can correct me if I'm wrong. Also Westchester County Fire uses Motorola Smart Zone II for everything. Example: Fire 15 is (sound shore)Mamaroneck town/Mamaroneck Village/Rye/Larchmont/Harrison. 46.14 is not used much. It was for mutual aid before the advent of the trunking system.
 

KC2GSP

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Yes guys, I was referring to 46.26 and 33.96

From my home, I know I definitely hear Irvington being toned out on 33.96. I was just curious as to what was maybe the rest explanation for it and why there would be different tone out freqs within one county
 

radioman2001

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Going back to as far as the early to mid 70's the radio traffic countywide on 46.26 was getting very busy. You had White Plains using it at 350 watts with PL so they always stepped on everybody when the talked, and their 10 am radio test interfered with many an operation. Including the big IBM fire in 1972, (where my department Hawthorne and about 20 others were at the fire on 9A for a week. It finally took the crash crew from Westchester Airport and over 1 million gallons of foam to put it out.)
The county decided to move all the paging off of 46.26 and on to 33.96, but most radios of the day wouldn't do both bands in the same radio so most departments said no, since once the page went out you couldn't hear what was going on. It was suggested that 46.14 be a talk in and 46.26 be page out but the county coordinators would have part of it, as they wanted to keep their "private channel" for themselves.
 

Bob1955

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Westchester County, NY 46.26/46.14/46.06

radioman2001,
Who can forget about White Plains FD (KED-497)using 46.26 with their PL and stepping on everyone! Wow great memories and times. I remember the New Rochelle High School fire. Then NRFD went off 46.26(chief got tired of all the tones) and they went to 46.06, then Pelham/Pelham Manor/Greenville/Port Chester Fire Districts started their operations on this frequency. Ray Kiernan never cared for the volunteers but was a legend in his time. I remember when they applied for 460.4625 and got it. Like I mentioned before, 80% of everything (most departments)is trunked except tone out. I'm hearing that Westchester County Police/Fire may be all going digital by the end of the year including the City Of New Rochelle Police working on a new system as I type this out.
 

radioman2001

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My info is that at one of the Fire Chiefs counsel meetings they collectively said they are not going to the proposed 700 phase II system. The 470 analog trunking has enough problems (system coverage) where it doesn't work, but when it works it works great, so why move.

If anyone brings up about the T-Band giveback, I'll lay odds 100 to 1 against it happening. NYPD and New York City DOITT has said they are not moving as has many other large system operators throughout the country. There isn't enough bandwidth available on 700 to cover the 470 band loss. The best comment I read was by a NYPD Chief that said."What are they gonna do, take my radios away?".

I doubt the county is going to give away radios again on the new system, this whole exercise is so PD's can go encrypted.
 

Bob1955

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46.26 is mainly dispatch and 33.96 is for the fire pagers that the volunteers carry. Irvington uses 33.96 a lot. New Rochelle tones out on 33.96 and also at the same time, New Rochelle uses 460.4625 except for the tone part.
Hope this clears the air.
Really, that is the known reason. Fire pagers cannot be tuned to do 46.26 and then 33.96. It is too far of a spread.
 

radioman2001

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It's kinda moot now, as most traffic is carried on the trunking system, so having paging on 33.96 while it requires a longer(electrically) antenna can make sense to those that did jump over to that frequency back in the 70's to stay there.

There has never been a radio (other that the X9000) or pager capable of 46.26 and 33.96 in one package, hence the reason why it never came to total switch over to 33.96. Now there are fewer and fewer manufacturers making anything low band anymore, so I see both 46.26 and 33.96 eventually being phased out as Dutchess County is slowly doing with 46.38. In Dutchess there have been proposals at some Chief meetings to go VHF or UHF digital paging as I have seen in South Carolina, but I have no time frame for that. I do like some of the cell phone text systems(Red Alert and others) out there, but I don't trust them to work properly in the event of an large scale emergency.
 

Bob1955

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radioman2001, Their are a lot of dead spots on the UHF trunking system and one area is in Ossining down by the Hudson River. I remember a 10-75(working structure fire) and nobody could be heard, especially portables. But when it works, it works very well! They have a North tower and South tower and each tower has a data control frequency as I'm sure your aware of.
And yes, fewer and fewer manufacturers are making anything low band anymore. I'm willing to bet that 46.26/33.96 will be phased out but I cannot see tone outs on the trunking system working out. I do remember the Motorola Fire pagers. We had the Minitor lll when the volunteers were active here in the Eastchester Fire District. We started out on 154.340 using tone out and operations, then moved to a UHF repeater system on 453.675/100.0 and it still runs very well. House alerts are still on 154.34 but if the repeater every goes down, they can use the VHF high band frequency.
Have a late afternoon.
You are very knowledgeable, hence your 2,331 postings.
Have a great day buddy.
 

62Truck

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so I see both 46.26 and 33.96 eventually being phased out as Dutchess County is slowly doing with 46.38. In Dutchess there have been proposals at some Chief meetings to go VHF or UHF digital paging as I have seen in South Carolina, but I have no time frame for that. I do like some of the cell phone text systems(Red Alert and others) out there, but I don't trust them to work properly in the event of an large scale emergency.

Dutchess County has a low band transmitter on 46.36 for paging, it is not going anywhere any time soon. Dutchess County also has been paging on 453.900 since the late 80's. In 2007 all the sites for 453.900 were simulcasted.

My agency currently uses Spotted Dog, we are moving to Red Alert. I can tell you from my experience with Spotted Dog that there are times when it alerts at the same time or just shortly after the pager goes off, and then there are times it doesn't alert until after the call is terminated. In my own opinion, these cell phone apps are not reliable as the radio when it comes to being notified of alarms.
 

radioman2001

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Quite"
In my own opinion, these cell phone apps are not reliable as the radio when it comes to being notified of alarms.

I agree and have said so on many threads on the subject as an alternative to sirens.

As far as Dutchess County and the Low Band system, about 10 years ago the County stated they would no longer support the Low Band system. The back lash was pretty intense and the County modified their position to support it as long as they could get parts. My agency actually went out and replaced all the 40+ year old Plectrons with new UHF controllers in anticipation of the eventual shutdown. I don't know what was being on other sites, but at Hosner Mt they had a POS Quintron paging transmitter. I actually gave them a Vocom 350 watt power amp to help when it died. It's about that time that digital paging was brought up and it didn't go over well. I doubt now that any site is exceeding 100 watts on the Low Band.

It's going to be interesting if they decide to go with NYCOMCO's proposal for 700 mhz ( I am sure mother M is in there pitching too). There are a lot dead spots now on UHF, now multiply that by 10 for 700 mhz. They are going to need a lot more towers. Even cell service in the North county area is spotty at best even after 35 years.
 

62Truck

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In my own opinion, these cell phone apps are not reliable as the radio when it comes to being notified of alarms.

I agree and have said so on many threads on the subject as an alternative to sirens.

As far as Dutchess County and the Low Band system, about 10 years ago the County stated they would no longer support the Low Band system. The back lash was pretty intense and the County modified their position to support it as long as they could get parts. My agency actually went out and replaced all the 40+ year old Plectrons with new UHF controllers in anticipation of the eventual shutdown. I don't know what was being on other sites, but at Hosner Mt they had a POS Quintron paging transmitter. I actually gave them a Vocom 350 watt power amp to help when it died. It's about that time that digital paging was brought up and it didn't go over well. I doubt now that any site is exceeding 100 watts on the Low Band.

It's going to be interesting if they decide to go with NYCOMCO's proposal for 700 mhz ( I am sure mother M is in there pitching too). There are a lot dead spots now on UHF, now multiply that by 10 for 700 mhz. They are going to need a lot more towers. Even cell service in the North county area is spotty at best even after 35 years.

There is only once site that has LB equipment on the air and that is Clove. IIRC they are running 330 watts on 46.36.
 

jrock71984

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HiKC2GSP, I have been a volunteer firefighter for many years and just became a New York State Exempt due to my area going all career.
46.26 is used for tone-out dispatch for MOST areas in Wetchester County. 33.96 is used for the fire pagers. 46.06 is used for the following departments: Greenville/Port Chester/Rye Brook/Pelham Manor/ fire departments which is low band. 46.06 uses a PL and 46.26/33.96 or CSQ. 60 Control dispatches for all departments except Mt. Vernon, Yonkers and New Rochelle. I'm thinking White Plains Fire just reverted back to their own dispatchers but anyone can correct me if I'm wrong. Also Westchester County Fire uses Motorola Smart Zone II for everything. Example: Fire 15 is (sound shore)Mamaroneck town/Mamaroneck Village/Rye/Larchmont/Harrison. 46.14 is not used much. It was for mutual aid before the advent of the trunking system.

pound ridge still uses 33.96 and both mount kisco and millwood are dispatched both on 46.26 and 33.96
 

jrock71984

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white plains has its own dispatchers they use 453.5000 as their dispatch channel and I believe 453.5500 as fire ground on occasion I have heard 60 control dispatching white plains on 453.5000
 

Sonic1131

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I recall 33.96 being a page out frequency for County Coordinators. ( Back in the 1980s} When Mutal Aid was requested for a working fire, 60 Control would alert Coordinators.
Also, 33.96 is currently used for “House Alert” for every New Rochelle alarm and Medical call.

Just want to share in this thread. It will be interesting to see the next year or so with the changes.
 

Bob1955

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I recall 33.96 being a page out frequency for County Coordinators. ( Back in the 1980s} When Mutal Aid was requested for a working fire, 60 Control would alert Coordinators.
Also, 33.96 is currently used for “House Alert” for every New Rochelle alarm and Medical call.

Just want to share in this thread. It will be interesting to see the next year or so with the changes.
Sonic-I'll add further comments on this thread. I'm a New York State Exempt Firefighter with the Eastchester Fire District, Eastchester, NY and also have a valid FEMA Certificate dated back from 2006 that never expires.
46.14 was used way back for mutual aid. Now, most departments use Motorola Smart Zone ll for trunking for example, the Sound Shore area is Fire 15, Fire 18 would be used IF Mt. Vernon had a 10-75 requiring mutual aid from New Rochelle, Yonkers, Pelham, ect. otherwise they use 154.145. Yonkers Fire house alerts is 46.50 and operations is 484.7125. Eastchester Fire tone out is 154.340 and our operations is 453.675 but if we get a 10-75 on Garth Road for example since numerous population and many apartment buildings(we had a job there a few months ago--big) then it will be a dual response with Greenville, Scarsdale, New Rochelle depending upon how the call comes in. The other week at around 1am, Scarsdale Village had a reported fire in the living room. Numerous departments responded and 60 control had everyone assigned to Fire 19. That is on the trunking system. Rumor has it that this current system is NO longer supported by Motorola now so they will be eventually replacing this possibly to a digital or 700 Mhz system. I'm not going to address police agencies here.
Westchester County Fire also known as 60 Control still has coordinators and also a C&O Team required by New York State.
For further information, please message me anytime.
 

jrock71984

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Why Westchester County, NY Has (2) Seperate Fire Dispatch Frequencies

HiKC2GSP, I have been a volunteer firefighter for many years and just became a New York State Exempt due to my area going all career.
46.26 is used for tone-out dispatch for MOST areas in Wetchester County. 33.96 is used for the fire pagers. 46.06 is used for the following departments: Greenville/Port Chester/Rye Brook/Pelham Manor/ fire departments which is low band. 46.06 uses a PL and 46.26/33.96 or CSQ. 60 Control dispatches for all departments except Mt. Vernon, Yonkers and New Rochelle. I'm thinking White Plains Fire just reverted back to their own dispatchers but anyone can correct me if I'm wrong. Also Westchester County Fire uses Motorola Smart Zone II for everything. Example: Fire 15 is (sound shore)Mamaroneck town/Mamaroneck Village/Rye/Larchmont/Harrison. 46.14 is not used much. It was for mutual aid before the advent of the trunking system.
New Rochelle is dispatched by 60 control as I monitor them daily at my job I’m wondering if this is something fairly new I am unaware of them not being dispatched by 60 although I have only been monitoring them a year or so
 

Ant9270

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New Rochelle is dispatched by 60 control as I monitor them daily at my job I’m wondering if this is something fairly new I am unaware of them not being dispatched by 60 although I have only been monitoring them a year or so

This thread is rather old. But, 60 Control has been dispatching New Rochelle FD/Empress EMS Alpha busses on the frequency listed as “NRFD Citywide” for quite some time now. They are NOT dispatched on the lowband paging frequency. They have their own separate channel, use County FG-5 (or their own FG Channel as they have one) and have access to the Trunking system as needed
 
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