Tac Stack

[Whistler]

I guess everyone is familiar with the "TAC STACK". The set of frequencies that have been set aside for Interoperability Nationwide. There is a group in VHF, UHF, and 800. For those of you who keep a good ear on the Air has anyone heard these frequencies being used. I have been listening to the UTAC but haven't heard a thing. If you have heard I would be interested in where you heard it, who it was, and what they talked about. Everyday traffic is not supposed to be used on it but more Mutual Aid and EMS being able to contact Law Enforcement if necessary.

 

[WCRadioGuy]

There are a few comments on here somewhere about MESIN (Maryland Eastern Shore Interoperability Network). It is 800MHzand is currently up and running with some traffic.

 

[ka3jjz]

Here in Central Maryland, I don't think there's been much if any use of the ITAC frequencies since the testing of all those repeaters a year or two ago. This has been written up elsewhere, so I won't go into all the nuts and bolts....

I sincerely doubt VTAC or UTAC would be used in this area for much of anything, given that most of the systems in this area are 800 mhz trunks of one kind or another. The exceptions would be PG County, which has not moved off their old 490 mhz system yet (rumors are that they are looking at a 400 mhz Moto TRS, much like DC did...) and Cecil county (which I think is still testing/simulcasting? on their 150 Mhz Pro-Voice trunk). In both instances, I don't know whether UTAC (for PG County) or VTAC (for Cecil) is even in their radios, much less knowing how/when to use them; this is a similar problem to what we have with the ITAC frequencies. Rarely do you hear of anyone using them, if ever.

In short, interoperability of any kind right now is a dream...sadly....73s Mike

 

[WCRadioGuy]

Here in Central Maryland, I don't think there's been much if any use of the ITAC frequencies since the testing of all those repeaters a year or two ago. This has been written up elsewhere, so I won't go into all the nuts and bolts....

I sincerely doubt VTAC or UTAC would be used in this area for much of anything, given that most of the systems in this area are 800 mhz trunks of one kind or another. The exceptions would be PG County, which has not moved off their old 490 mhz system yet (rumors are that they are looking at a 400 mhz Moto TRS, much like DC did...) and Cecil county (which I think is still testing/simulcasting? on their 150 Mhz Pro-Voice trunk). In both instances, I don't know whether UTAC (for PG County) or VTAC (for Cecil) is even in their radios, much less knowing how/when to use them; this is a similar problem to what we have with the ITAC frequencies. Rarely do you hear of anyone using them, if ever.

In short, interoperability of any kind right now is a dream...sadly....73s Mike

Interoperability is not as much a dream as you may think. The MESIN project was just recently completed and is currently in the maintenance phase. MESIN has been used for interoperability quite a few times in the past few weeks.

 

[ka3jjz]

In your area, sure. But here in Central Maryland, it's still a long way off. Unless MESIN is scheduled to link up with another system....? 73s Mike

 

[dwlipp]

In short, interoperability of any kind right now is a dream...sadly....73s Mike

Interoperability via NPSPAC (800 MHz), UTAC, and VTAC resources is not in high demand on a daily basis on the Western Shore (Baltimore/Washington area) because of the almost complete coverage (with the notable exception of PG for the moment) of the region by 800 MHz trunked infrastructure and system sharing. The vast majority of daily interoperability needs in the region are met through the use of shared talkgroups on these systems.

On the Eastern Shore there is much more system diversity (800 MHz Trunked [Motorola & M/A-Com] and VHF [Trunked and conventional]) making the use of the MESIN network a necessity on a more frequent basis.

In the event of exceptional events on the Western Shore, either requiring resources from outside the region (thus not programmed with shared talkgroups or with incompatible radios) or requiring interoperability among entities that don't normally have a need to talk to one another, the TAC Stacks and other interoperability resources are much more likely to see use; the fact that they aren't active frequently is just a testment the the robust interoperability that exists throughout the region.

Dallas

 

[WCRadioGuy]

In your area, sure. But here in Central Maryland, it's still a long way off. Unless MESIN is scheduled to link up with another system....? 73s Mike

Where in MD? I'll tell you if the dispatch center is tied to MESIN.

 

[ka3jjz]

I had heard a 2nd hand rumor that MESIN would at some point tie into the ICall repeaters that have been put up in and around the I95 corridor in central Md. - it would kinda make sense since several of the 800 systems in the area now have ICall in their channel plans.
Unfortunately, as I understand it, most jurisdictions have not trained their personnel to use ICall, nor has the OK to use it come down from the higher muckity mucks (which usually comes down to politics, turf protection, money or any combination thereof). So it wouldn't surprise me at all if that 2nd hand rumor was false. 73s Mike

 

[GARRETT]

The system is not used in southern maryland at all, In fact Calvert Co. is in the process of getting its radios programmed for the 3rd bank of channels to be charles (the first bank is Anne Arundel the 2nd bank is Calvert and the 3rd will now be Charles, the biggest problem is with St. Marys units still have to have a portable from the county they run mutual aid with or be have the dispatcher patch a designated TG to St. Marys Co. Unless the communications centers have the TAC STACK it is not programmed in to the mobile or portable radios of any units., In Southern Maryland that I am aware of.?

 

[lawman349]

Garrett-

You couldn't be more wrong about southern Maryland. As a matter of fact, Charles county has been using 8CALL and 8TAC freqs with St. Mary's county for quite some time now.

When the Lighthouse Restaurant caught fire on Solomons, Charles and St. Marys sent a quite a few pieces of apparatus down. At the same time, PG had huge brush fires, waldorf had a townhouse on fire, and there was a PI involving a fire truck and a Charles county school bus.

I heard St Marys county fire personnel on our system responding to calls, but the display showed no unit IDs.I switched to 8TAC1 and discoverd the same conversation. They had been patched into our system through 8TAC.

I have also run calls with units from St Mary's county fire where they were using 8CALL to talk to our guys. I have personally seen these NPSPAC channels on St. Marys fire radios. I dont know if police have them or not. ALL Charles county public safety (police, fire, ems) have NPSPAC programmed into their portables AND mobiles.

I am not sure about the status of Calvert, but St. Mary's and Charles are using the NPSPAC system and it sounds practically seamless when in use.

FYI

 

[GARRETT]

Thanks for clarifying that I was unsure of Charles and St. Marys I did not think they did because I have never heard anything on the national freq.s (CALVERT DEFINATELY DOES NOT)I am an officer with Calvert Co. and I know this to be true, that is why on the Solomons fire we could not communicate with the other St. MArys units that do not have Calvert portables and we had to send about 10 portables down from the control center to the Island. We also have seperate portables for Charles co. and for St. Marys Co. we need to be patched in to our FMA talk group.

 

[w1rrl]

I was wondering if this antenna has something to do with the TAC stack system? These antenna's are going up all around Washington County. Rumor has it that it is, but i was wondering if someone knew more on how this antenna array works?

Thanks

 

[riveter]

Just a .02 from an open ear on the subject- I've heard some use of VTAC frequencies in BCo.. but it doesn't sound like public safety agency use- heard some stuff on VTAC2 that sounded like a bus service or something like that, and that smells like accidental frequency misuse based on old frequency planning or a similar administrative oopsie.

 

[Spleen]

Just a .02 from an open ear on the subject- I've heard some use of VTAC frequencies in BCo.. but it doesn't sound like public safety agency use- heard some stuff on VTAC2 that sounded like a bus service or something like that, and that smells like accidental frequency misuse based on old frequency planning or a similar administrative oopsie.

Did you mean VTAC12, 154.4525?

 

[riveter]

Pretty sure it was on 2. Didn't sound much like wideband bleed either, it was real clear. Haven't had that freq unskipped in a good few months though, so I haven't heard it lately.

 

[Spleen]

Just checking....the old VTAC2 is now VTAC12, according to the latest NIFOG.

There's two different versions of the VTAC/UTAC/etc. lists on RR, depending on if you search for Federal or Interop....

 

[riveter]

Ah, well I just checked my PSR, and it appears you're right- the 800 downloaded 154.4525 as VTAC2 based on whatever list I happened to use from the DB.