Probably not necessary because everyone is playing P25 (except Charles) and is in-band; WashCo probably has it because the county system is UHF and state users typically don't have dual / multiband radios (except DNR) - at least widely deployed. Maybe that will change.
Rundown from the latest RCB meeting earlier today:
- The long-term budget was approved by DBM without change.
- Adams County PA was approved as an Interoperability partner and will enter tg sharing agreements with individual agencies. They currently use a consolette to coordinate with Frederick County and FiRST and intend to add less than 10 subs to use for special events.
- Jefferson Patterson Park in Calvert County wants access to the system for a few radios to use during special events. Approved.
- MTA is now fully migrated to the FiRST system. Assessing the impact on sites other than Baltimore.
- 30K primary users; 83K total users.
- Phase 5 Interzone enhancement network work starts next Monday; Nokia CWDM fiber multiplexing equipment to support the construction arrived yesterday. They hope to complete it by January, and cutover January - February. Backhaul construction is complete and was a learning experience. Go Live date for Phase 5 is currently scheduled for April 17, 2023.
- St Mary's County plans to use FiRST as a limited backup to their system.
- UMD College Park will be cutover to FiRST later this month, initially using the PG system via ISSI, like how SHA is currently set up.
- Phase 1-4 critical design review for the MPLS backhaul rebuild ongoing; received pricing last week. It will be a multi-year buildout but must be completed by the end of Motorola's contract in mid-November 2025.
- Coverage Improvement Program. FY22: Carroll County cell completed. LaVale subsite complete as a member of the AlleGar cell. Swallow Falls in progress with site work at an existing commercial tower; generator and shelter to be delivered in the spring, online July 2023. FY23: Greenbriar State Park BDA, Davidsonville. FY24: new site in Cumberland to enhance coverage in the city; Patapsco State Park on the Baltimore County side at a DNR mx facility including a new tower. Howard County wants to collocate equipment there. New tower in the Queenstown 50/301 area on SHA property, with the county paying for the shelter (I guess raising the antennas on the Safety Drive subsite was only marginally effective.) Elmer School Road: new site to support DNR along the Potomac River to be placed on an existing Montgomery County tower. NCR / MCOG sites: the plan is now to add two new sites to support operations in DC and to improve coverage in the close-in suburbs. One site to be in downtown DC (no mention of the Hughes Tower as previously proposed,) and another site in Arlington to cover the western portions of DC and NOVA. Depends on grant funding that has not yet been granted. More sites are planned for FY25 and beyond.
- Kleg Grange antenna changeout completed but results are TBD. Wastewater ASR in Jessup (originally added to support DOC) will become a subsite of the Howard County cell and raise the antennas to extend coverage in the area.
- Bozman ASR: The St. Michaels Police Department has reported issues in the area that testing was having difficulty verifying. Just recently it was discovered that the cell phones / body cameras that the officers were using may have been causing the interference that was experienced.
- Smart Connect (wide area Wi-Fi / LTE connectivity) / Critical Connect (Wave) support / testing.
- System Release 2021.1 implemented.
- The System Managers and System Users Committees are found to be useful.
- Talk of disaster planning; mobile site (don't have one); redundant primes; standardized wiring.
- MPLS is a huge deal because it will automatically restore links to sites rather than the current manual process.
- The long-term budget was approved by DBM without change.
- Adams County PA was approved as an Interoperability partner and will enter tg sharing agreements with individual agencies. They currently use a consolette to coordinate with Frederick County and FiRST and intend to add less than 10 subs to use for special events.
- Jefferson Patterson Park in Calvert County wants access to the system for a few radios to use during special events. Approved.
- MTA is now fully migrated to the FiRST system. Assessing the impact on sites other than Baltimore.
- 30K primary users; 83K total users.
- Phase 5 Interzone enhancement network work starts next Monday; Nokia CWDM fiber multiplexing equipment to support the construction arrived yesterday. They hope to complete it by January, and cutover January - February. Backhaul construction is complete and was a learning experience. Go Live date for Phase 5 is currently scheduled for April 17, 2023.
- St Mary's County plans to use FiRST as a limited backup to their system.
- UMD College Park will be cutover to FiRST later this month, initially using the PG system via ISSI, like how SHA is currently set up.
- Phase 1-4 critical design review for the MPLS backhaul rebuild ongoing; received pricing last week. It will be a multi-year buildout but must be completed by the end of Motorola's contract in mid-November 2025.
- Coverage Improvement Program. FY22: Carroll County cell completed. LaVale subsite complete as a member of the AlleGar cell. Swallow Falls in progress with site work at an existing commercial tower; generator and shelter to be delivered in the spring, online July 2023. FY23: Greenbriar State Park BDA, Davidsonville. FY24: new site in Cumberland to enhance coverage in the city; Patapsco State Park on the Baltimore County side at a DNR mx facility including a new tower. Howard County wants to collocate equipment there. New tower in the Queenstown 50/301 area on SHA property, with the county paying for the shelter (I guess raising the antennas on the Safety Drive subsite was only marginally effective.) Elmer School Road: new site to support DNR along the Potomac River to be placed on an existing Montgomery County tower. NCR / MCOG sites: the plan is now to add two new sites to support operations in DC and to improve coverage in the close-in suburbs. One site to be in downtown DC (no mention of the Hughes Tower as previously proposed,) and another site in Arlington to cover the western portions of DC and NOVA. Depends on grant funding that has not yet been granted. More sites are planned for FY25 and beyond.
- Kleg Grange antenna changeout completed but results are TBD. Wastewater ASR in Jessup (originally added to support DOC) will become a subsite of the Howard County cell and raise the antennas to extend coverage in the area.
- Bozman ASR: The St. Michaels Police Department has reported issues in the area that testing was having difficulty verifying. Just recently it was discovered that the cell phones / body cameras that the officers were using may have been causing the interference that was experienced.
- Smart Connect (wide area Wi-Fi / LTE connectivity) / Critical Connect (Wave) support / testing.
- System Release 2021.1 implemented.
- The System Managers and System Users Committees are found to be useful.
- Talk of disaster planning; mobile site (don't have one); redundant primes; standardized wiring.
- MPLS is a huge deal because it will automatically restore links to sites rather than the current manual process.
Thanks for the update!
This should be UMD College Park... Is it just their Police moving over or is all their users that use their 800mhz system?
This should be UMD College Park... Is it just their Police moving over or is all their users that use their 800mhz system?
Well in June 2017...
" - University of Maryland (College Park) – Brandon advised that this would be just for their police department. They have 270 subscriber units. They want primary and backup console sites. The system they are using is aging and will no longer be supported by Motorola. "
The smart thing to do with DC is to use the Hughes Tower and if they do get funding and place a tower in Arlington, then that would allow a select few NOVA PD, Fire/EMS including VA SP agencies to be able to coordinate with agencies that are on the MD 1st system for a large scale response in case of a incident where there might be a MCI aka Mass Causality Incident or some other Incident that requires a large scale response plus it would allow VA SP to talk direct with MSP troopers, Montgomery and PG PD for any vehicle chases that are crossing from VA to MD or vise versa on 495. Also that would allow for better coverage along the Potomac River when an agency needs to contact FFX , who is the Potomac emergency contact, but funny thing is Montgomery Fire is the responding agency for just about all river rescues.
I do not think DMR would work with metro subway and bus system legacy 800 channels unless they get all new radios because it is a totally different setup inside the radio unit if I remember correctly.
I do not think DMR would work with metro subway and bus system legacy 800 channels unless they get all new radios because it is a totally different setup inside the radio unit if I remember correctly.
I went down a budget rabbit hole today and noticed that MEMA has been reorganized into its own Department of Emergency Management, thus is no longer be part of the Military Department (DMIL). I'll submit changes to the rrdb re: MEMA tgs.
DNR has been appropriated $6M in FY23 to replace its OH-58 (Bell 206) helicopter with an Airbus H125M (formerly AS350.)
DNR has been appropriated $6M in FY23 to replace its OH-58 (Bell 206) helicopter with an Airbus H125M (formerly AS350.)
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I believe that they are an interoperability partner, but not a primary user. Essentially that means that they can operate on the interoperability / tac channels and likely have a talk group sharing agreement with Cecil County for operations with the county / mutual aid purposes - but no talk groups for their own use. There are some RIDs that have been associated with PPFD mentioned elsewhere in this forum.
Now that UMD College Park Police will be cutting over to “FIRST” actually heard them on the radio today discussing the cutover. I will need to upgrade from my Radio Shack Pro-96. This thing has been a workhorse for almost 20 years I’ve had it. Any suggestions or help on a new radio purchase? Thank you in advance.
Did they say when they are doing the switchover? Only hearing testing so far on FiRST.
Seems U of MD, College Park Police made the switchover today.
8451 - Police Dispatch
8451 - Police Dispatch
Noticing some newer radio id ranger showing up (key ups, log ons, test counts) on various interopable talkgroups in recent weeks. I have a pretty extensive radio id log but these are new ranges to me.
86798xx
86757xx
86756xx
58370xx
86798xx
86757xx
86756xx
58370xx
On what site did you see these - although if they are on the statewide tacs, I guess that doesn't matter? They don't seem to conform to existing local jurisdiction or state user RID schemes; I'm trying to think of recently approved interoperability partners.
Brief observation. I was working in the office a few days ago when I heard the Centreville Barrack directly contact MdTAP Lane Bridge requesting backup for a call on Kent Island, bypassing the telephone. I realize that MdTAP has a central dispatch facility (I think at Fort McHenry, maybe Key Bridge) but they did it over the air, which allows their on-the-air units to hear the request real time. Worked well as they started responding immediately, rather than the delays introduced via telephone call processing.
May I ask what radio were you using to monitor MSP or was you listing to MdTAP TG'S ?
