Anne Arundel Co TRS Failure

[FireEM09]

There was a brief radio system failure of some magnitude this morning between 1145 and 1215. In general, Fire Alarm and Radio could transmit, but could not receive any comms from units.

~1145, AAPD advised on all their dispatch channels that "Radio channels have gone down. If you can, switch down to talkaround and copy. We will be dispatching through CAD."

~1157, AAFD advised "Fire Alarm is now on Condition Red, all base sets must remain open, press the P1 button once and the yellow light will illuminate indicting the set is open. All radio operating procedures will remain as normal and all status buttons will remain in operation. Fire Alarm can transmit, but cannot receive verbals."

~1215, AAPD advised that Radio is back up and will be conducting roll call.

~1234, AAFD advised that Fire Alarm is off Condition Red.

Fire Alarm advised BC 35 on 4K BC X that they had set up CMARC, 8CALL90, 8TAC91, and 8TAC92 for operations. BC 35 advised they had planned to use Zone 3 Oscar (T/A) for box alarms and when he tried keying up on Zone 1 TGs, he got the Out of Range tone.

I also had Unitrunker up and running at the time and saw no issues with monitoring AA on CC 854.41250, saw only dispatcher consoles from both AAFD and AAPD transmitting, but no other units transmitting.

 

[troymail]

Gotta wonder if failures like this are simply the age of the systems, something to do with folks touching the system components related to future upgrades, or some combination of both (Upper Shore counties also started experiencing failures before going to FiRST).

 

[ThePhotoGuy]

Thanks for the update.

Eastern was also having that issue earlier this morning before that timeframe. A unit marked up on Channel 5 advising that they were trying to transmit on Eastern and was getting the "bonk" tone.

 

[maus92]

Gotta wonder if failures like this are simply the age of the systems, something to do with folks touching the system components related to future upgrades, or some combination of both (Upper Shore counties also started experiencing failures before going to FiRST).

Are they even that close to start "touching" components to start prepping for replacement? Have they done the pilgrimage to Illinois to look at all new the gear? (I've never understood why that happens.) They still have a lot of towers to build, and I *think* money was shaved from this year's budget, so I'm leaning towards a telecom failure or misconfiguration. Interesting failure mode though.

 

[ResQguy]

Have they done the pilgrimage to Illinois to look at all new the gear? (I've never understood why that happens.)

System acceptance at staging is one of the most important things in the process. The whole thing is connected and operating, and tested on your frequencies with your subscribers. https://www.motorolasolutions.com/en_us/products/integration.html

 

[maus92]

System acceptance at staging is one of the most important things in the process. The whole thing is connected and operating, and tested on your frequencies with your subscribers. https://www.motorolasolutions.com/en_us/products/integration.html

I'm still curious why this is done in what is essentially a controlled / lab setting - are there that many variables that the uniqueness of each system design needs to be proved before it is installed on site? I guess I'm answering my own question...

 

[ResQguy]

Well it eliminates geography as a variable. This just accepts that the stuff performs as paid for. It still has to go thru another acceptance upon installation with foliage and etc.


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[Mr_Boh]

I'm still curious why this is done in what is essentially a controlled / lab setting - are there that many variables that the uniqueness of each system design needs to be proved before it is installed on site? I guess I'm answering my own question...

Pretty much. Take the variables that affect RF out of the equation so when it’s deployed at the site you are more confident it’s a reception issue and not a system operation issue during practical testing

 

[riveter]

Staging is done with the system completely constructed EXACTLY as it will be deployed, even down to the same racks and (mostly) same cables... with the sole exception that it's set to low power and is sitting in one room in Elgin. This allows the customer to say "Yes, this is the system we have paid for, and we have now tested that it is fully working prior to being transported and installed in its final geography." It really is a major milestone in the build-and-deploy process, second only to the final acceptance.

And RE failures like this.... this system is just OLD at this point. AA isn't prepping for an upgrade yet, as far as I know that's still a stalled process with AA not wanting to move forward fast enough, so nobody should be touching anything for upgrade prep. That's still a LONG way out. I don't have firsthand knowledge on that particular failure, but likely something just crapped out.

 

[maus92]

Staging is done with the system completely constructed EXACTLY as it will be deployed, even down to the same racks and (mostly) same cables... with the sole exception that it's set to low power and is sitting in one room in Elgin. This allows the customer to say "Yes, this is the system we have paid for, and we have now tested that it is fully working prior to being transported and installed in its final geography." It really is a major milestone in the build-and-deploy process, second only to the final acceptance.

And RE failures like this.... this system is just OLD at this point. AA isn't prepping for an upgrade yet, as far as I know that's still a stalled process with AA not wanting to move forward fast enough, so nobody should be touching anything for upgrade prep. That's still a LONG way out. I don't have firsthand knowledge on that particular failure, but likely something just crapped out.

The county has been doing some work though, as evidenced by the acquisition of new sites and performing the related studies and FCC registrations and licensing. The budget for this year shows they have already spent (or allotted) $22.5M, intend to spend $10.5M in FY19, $5.5M in FY20, $13.5M in FY21, $2.4M in FY22, $3.6M in FY23, and $2.1M to finish up in FY24. But yup, definitely slow-growthing the project.

As far as staging in Elgin is concerned, how do they demonstrate a multi-phase project like FiRST that is purchased and built over many years? Do they do a show-and-tell for every phase?

 

[riveter]

For phased systems, those tend to be more hands-off from Elgin. They tend to do a factory acceptance for the initial core, especially if it has dispatch and RF sites going in with it in the first phase so the testing can be seen and heard. After that, it tends to be more of a process of building, configuring, function checking, packing, and shipping as phases progress. Different customers require different phaseline signoffs though, so there can be some big variance in how that's done. One of the nice benefits of large phased projects is there tends to be (as in the State's case) a very involved integrated State-and-Motorola systems integration team that puts it together on site and brings the phases on line. With those sorts of projects, those phaselines and milestones become much more critical than factory acceptance.

 

[dwlipp]

System acceptance at staging is one of the most important things in the process.

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