Licking country 33.880 question.

[misterpaul71]

Hey Folks, can anyone tell me who uses an 82.5 hz CTCSS tone on 33.880 in Licking County. Heard here a few times in ireland via skip but not exactly sure what the exact user is. FCC says Newton, Utica and Newark are on that frequency. Any help would be great.

 

[JethrowJohnson]

According to the database, that's the Licking County Fireground 2 frequency (LICK FIRE 2) But it says that transmits on carrier squelch.

 

[misterpaul71]

I can't exactly say what I've heard using that tone - others suggested Licking Co. I've heard them talking about sending a patient to Zanesville. So I know it's the general area.

 

[JethrowJohnson]

That's probably what you're hearing then. That's a tactical channel for all the fire departments in Licking County.

 

[ibagli]

I don't think 33.88 has been in regular use as a tactical channel for a very long time, so based on the number of people reporting it in the skip threads (going back a few years apparently), a fire department might have started using it to repeat transmissions from MARCS (the state's digital trunked system).

 

[W8UU]

Years ago, Licking County operated on 33.86 MHz with 300 other Central Ohio fire departments. This predated the 1980s when the metro Columbus area was mainly farmland and the region was dotted with smallish volunteer fire departments, most of which ran EMS. The population explosion that happened in the mid 1980s forced many agencies to other 33 MHz fire channels, or to VHF high band, or on rare occasion, to UHF. As departments upgraded to repeater systems (sometimes coincidental to establishing county or regional dispatch facilities), many maintained a link to 33 MHz for mutual aid purposes. Licking County operated a 151.0175 MHz VHF repeater system which, if I recall correctly, was slaved to the 33 MHz dispatch channel. I'm guessing this is what brought the multiple DX reports because every county dispatch would have been rebroadcast on the legacy 33 system. Ohio MARCS has a bunch of talkgroups for Licking County EMS and Fire but I'm not in the area and I'm not certain about how much they're being used. Hopefully someone closer to the action can fill in the blanks.

 

[wa8pyr]

Years ago, Licking County operated on 33.86 MHz with 300 other Central Ohio fire departments. This predated the 1980s when the metro Columbus area was mainly farmland and the region was dotted with smallish volunteer fire departments, most of which ran EMS. The population explosion that happened in the mid 1980s forced many agencies to other 33 MHz fire channels, or to VHF high band, or on rare occasion, to UHF. As departments upgraded to repeater systems (sometimes coincidental to establishing county or regional dispatch facilities), many maintained a link to 33 MHz for mutual aid purposes. Licking County operated a 151.0175 MHz VHF repeater system which, if I recall correctly, was slaved to the 33 MHz dispatch channel. I'm guessing this is what brought the multiple DX reports because every county dispatch would have been rebroadcast on the legacy 33 system. Ohio MARCS has a bunch of talkgroups for Licking County EMS and Fire but I'm not in the area and I'm not certain about how much they're being used. Hopefully someone closer to the action can fill in the blanks.

Licking County is entirely on MARCS now. One or two departments are using 33.86 for local pager rebroadcast, but I don't think I ever heard anything on 33.88 MHz; it might be a local "as needed" patch that's infrequently used (MARCS is death on long-term patching). I'll monitor it to see if anything pops up.

I might also add that use of low-band in the metro Columbus area continued well into the 1990s as departments slowly (and grudgingly, in some cases) migrated to other bands; eventually nearly everyone in Franklin County ended up on the City of Columbus trunked system, while Delaware, Licking, Madison and Union counties went VHF, Fairfield County went UHF, and Pickaway County went 800 MHz EDACS.

Everybody is on MARCS now except Upper Arlington, Norwich Twp, Washington Twp, Worthington and Delaware County, which are all on COIRS.

 

[W8UU]

Thanks Tom! You're probably one of the best and most credible sources on what's happening with MARCS in Central Ohio, and ... maybe just about everywhere. Hope you are doing well!

 

[W8UU]

Everybody is on MARCS now except Upper Arlington, Norwich Twp, Washington Twp, Worthington and Delaware County, which are all on COIRS.

How much longer do you think COIRS will exist? I figured MARCS woudl have swallowed them up by now just like most of the other alternative radio systems in Ohio.

 

[wa8pyr]

How much longer do you think COIRS will exist? I figured MARCS woudl have swallowed them up by now just like most of the other alternative radio systems in Ohio.

I don't figure they're ever going to go away. In my opinion it's primarily based on a question of system governance; COIRS is governed by a Council of Governments (COG) in which each stakeholder (Delaware County, Upper Arlington, Norwich Twp/Hilliard, Washington Twp/Dublin, Worthington) has an equal vote in the operation of the system. MARCS is governed by a steering committee made up of state agency representatives.

As long as I can remember, Franklin, Delaware and Pickaway counties have had a pretty strong sense of maintaining local control; several other areas in the state with their own systems are much the same. When everybody in Franklin County was joining the City of Columbus and Franklin County systems in the pre-P25 days, there were some pretty pointed discussions about how to configure COCAC (Central Ohio Communications Advisory Committee) so that everybody would have a voice in system governance, but it got done and has worked pretty well. COCAC carried over to the process of joining MARCS as Tier 4 partners.

And to be fair, there is a Local Government representative on the MARCS Steering Committee now, and over time I think the Steering Committee will become more representative of the overall user base. And MARCS does listen and respond to user concerns.

As for COIRS, there is a really strong sense of individuality there and I don't think they'll ever give up their own system; the most I would expect to see would be limited connectivity via ISSI for interoperability.

Just my opinion.....

(PS being an old Liberty Township guy, you might be interested to know that they're running automatic response with Columbus FD quite a bit these days....)

 

[W8UU]

(PS being an old Liberty Township guy, you might be interested to know that they're running automatic response with Columbus FD quite a bit these days....)

I figured that would happen some day, especially with Station 322 just off Sawmill Parkway.

 

[wa8pyr]

I figured that would happen some day, especially with Station 322 just off Sawmill Parkway.

I hear them running with 27s quite a bit.

Wonder if they'll get to a 10:1 ratio like Perry did (10 to Columbus for every 1 received); Washington and Worthington don't get that nearly high because they laid very strict limits on where they'll go and what they would send.

 

[DualReverse]

And to be fair, there is a Local Government representative on the MARCS Steering Committee now, and over time I think the Steering Committee will become more representative of the overall user base. And MARCS does listen and respond to user concerns.

As for COIRS, there is a really strong sense of individuality there and I don't think they'll ever give up their own system; the most I would expect to see would be limited connectivity via ISSI for interoperability.

Connectivity to COIRS is pretty tough with MARCS. I understand and respect COIRS's choice of independence, but as a MARCS user, I find it quite difficult to interact with COIRS talkgroups with any sort of regularity.