Tuscarawas County MARCS

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firemantom26

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Tuscarawas County has also made a commitment to move to MARCS.
Tuscarawas County will be standing up a seven (7) site 10 channel
simulcast in partnership with MARCS. Equipment is being installed and is
expected to be on the air shortly according to the MARCS Minutes from the October meeting
 

mtindor

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I do not either. But I made one up that shows (a) six county owned sites -- which likely will be six of the seven sites in the simulcast and (b) surrounding MARCS sites.

You'll have to use your imagination regarding which one of the two MARCS sites in the county is going to be the 7th site of the simulcast and which of the 6 MARCS sites outside of the county the county will have access to.

https://goo.gl/PpbpCH

a. The MARCS New Phila site isn't on a MARCS tower

I'd guess it would "go away" and that they would used the county-owned site in north New Phila

b. The MARCS Peoli/Port Washington tower is a DAS tower constructed in 2004

Not sure if they would take down Peoli/Port Washington and use the existing county-owned site (Gilmore) or not. But that's probably the case. I'd bet that Peoli/Port Wasington will go away.

And A and B above are probably true because every document I've seen suggests that the six county-owned sites will be used for six of the seven sites in the simulcast.

But, then again who knows. They might keep Peoli/Port Washington MARCS and not use Tusca GILMORE.

The seventh site in the simulcast is supposed to be another site on the edge of the county run (and probably owned) by MARCS. That's either going to be Newcomerstown MARCS or Stone Creek MARCS. And, depending upon which of those two sites will become part of the simulcast, the other of the two sites may end up remaining online as a standalone MARCS site.

From what I have read in the past year, they were either going to have a 6-site Simulcast and have access to 6 MARCS sites, OR they were going to have a 7-site Simulcast and have access to 5 MARCS sites.

And I"m guessing that when they say "have access to", they mean that ALL Tuscarawas agencies can roam to those other 5 or 6 MARCS sites outside of the county. I believe SOs are allowed by default to roam statewide, and if so they wouldn't be limited.
 

firemantom26

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I keep checking every day and I have to report that Tuscarawas County MARCS Simulcast is not on line as of today. I thought for sure that they would be,
 

wa8pyr

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I do not either. But I made one up that shows (a) six county owned sites -- which likely will be six of the seven sites in the simulcast and (b) surrounding MARCS sites.

a. The MARCS New Phila site isn't on a MARCS tower

I'd guess it would "go away" and that they would used the county-owned site in north New Phila

b. The MARCS Peoli/Port Washington tower is a DAS tower constructed in 2004

Not sure if they would take down Peoli/Port Washington and use the existing county-owned site (Gilmore) or not. But that's probably the case. I'd bet that Peoli/Port Wasington will go away.

One thing to keep in mind is any agreements in place with other users of the MARCS towers in question. According to news reports last year, MARCS has some sort of agreement with their network provider that the provider has the right to rent space on state-owned towers to third party for-profit users, and keep the money.

Not sure about the legality of for-profit entities utilizing government resources at government expense, so it would probably come under very close scrutiny. Might be easier for MARCS to keep their own towers in place so the county isn't affected.
 

mtindor

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One thing to keep in mind is any agreements in place with other users of the MARCS towers in question. According to news reports last year, MARCS has some sort of agreement with their network provider that the provider has the right to rent space on state-owned towers to third party for-profit users, and keep the money.

I wasn't aware of Agile Network Builders having specific rights to lease space. I know that Agile Network Builders is definitely benefitting from the ability to use microwave equipment that they put on state towers to provide access to private customers. I see their microwave licenses all the time - not just ones for the state P2P links but for links from the state towers to various private customers of Agile. Agile is even getting down into WV now, I believe. They became pretty huge and ?successful? thanks to their relationship with MARCS. I guess it's working out for MARCS though too.

I had forgotten all about that relationship that you mention though -- and it now has me thinking. You're basically making me think about the fact that MARCS towers can't just disappear unless Agile equipment is migrated over to county towers, since Agile has agreements in place for the use of state-owned towers.

Mike
 

n8jsw

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Just a update as of 12/22/2018 Tuscarawas County is still on their analog system
 

firemantom26

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Doesn't look Tuscarawas County will make the switch before the end of the year. I guessing sometime in the first quarter of 2019.
 

n8jsw

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I was up there yesterday and they were still on the old system
 

n8jsw

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Yw. I hope they switch soon lol. I think they will by march at the very latest
 

wa8pyr

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Yw. I hope they switch soon lol. I think they will by march at the very latest

Don't want to burst any bubbles but don't expect it to happen too soon. If construction hasn't even started yet, it will take a few months at least for that to be completed. Then you'll have a period of testing which will probably last a month. Only then could they start to migrate users, and there are so many variables on how to do that I'd be reluctant to assume anything.

Even if construction has already started March would be optimistic.
 

firemantom26

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Don't want to burst any bubbles but don't expect it to happen too soon. If construction hasn't even started yet, it will take a few months at least for that to be completed. Then you'll have a period of testing which will probably last a month. Only then could they start to migrate users, and there are so many variables on how to do that I'd be reluctant to assume anything.

Even if construction has already started March would be optimistic.
I agree that March sounds more realistic now since we have not seen any new activity or new peers pop up with neighboring MARCS sites.
 

n8jsw

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It’s the state of Ohio any thing is possible
 

jrl44430

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Hope they will not be ENC. My county should be up in a few months and the rumor is everything will be ENC.
 
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