All of your questions do have answers...
User047 said:
Okay since these new radios will be used personally by me in the future I have a few questions... I do realize that there may be some unknown answers.
1.) How many potential trunking channels can be used at one given time? Meaning if one police officer from each zone, one firefighter, and one emt all keyed up at the same time on their own talk groups could the system handle all of these transmissions at one time?
The county-wide network is broken down into five systems; a central system, south system, west system, north system, and the fulton tower (it's own system). The central system has 14 channels, one is the control channel, so essentially, the central system can handle 13 voice calls simultaneously. The south, west, and north systems each have ten channels, one being a control channel, so each system can handle 9 voice calls. The fulton system is a "filler" system for the tough coverage areas along the Susquehanna River near Peach Bottom. It has three channels, so two voice calls can occur simultaneously.
To make a long story short, the new system can handle many more voice calls at once than the systems currently in place in York County.
2.) Is there an update on when they will put the radio system to use?
System acceptance is anticipated in early summer (full foliage on trees allows more thorough system testing) and user loading will begin shortly after that. All county users will be loaded by the end of the year, but likely much sooner.
3.) Is there anywhere online I can monitor the live feed during testing throughout the week (on the new system)?
This
site has popped very recently and seems to have a feed of the testing of the new system. Please keep in mind that the system is not optimized, so if some of the audio sounds rough, well, it's still a work in progress.
4.) On the York county website there are three tan portable radios and three black radios...Does anyone know what model will be issued to police, fire and ems?
Most users will receive the tan looking radios (they are in fact more gray then tan in person) with the display and limited key pad. Users requiring high-tier functions (mainly encryption) such as sensitive police units and the QRT will get the black radios.
5.) Have any of the radios been installed in York County Control as of this date?
Yes. I believe there are control stations. I'm not sure if they are wired into the console system, or being used as desktop units.
6.) How will the radios be compatible with other agencies? Do you need to call county with a set of codes or frequencies of the agency you want to speak with or can they just patch you through?? How does this work?? Example: Say I am dispatched to an area outside of Pennsylvania, say into Maryland....can I just turn the knob to that pre-programed frequency and talk to them or do I need to call York County and say I would like to talk to Westminster Fire Department ?
Currently, there are no counties bordering York County who have systems on which our new portables can operate directly, with the exception of conventional UHF med channels (Dauphin, Cumberland, Adams) and Dauphin's UHF police channels. Dauphin County is building a UHF P25 system similar to York's, which will allow direct operation of York's radios on their new system (not to say that that's how it'll work, but is
could). From what I understand, interoperability with other counties who have proprietary systems will be done through patches and gateway connections, depending on how each county's system will allow. This may be accomplished through VOIP, microwave, or radio links. These are connections directly to the other countys' systems. Since voice within our system is carried in an IP format, it is very flexible, and can be carried in many different ways. Some of these 'patches' may be in place full-time, and some may need to be established as needed. But rest assured, M/A-Com's system does allow for very versatile interoperability options.
I hope I answered your questions thoroughly and in a way everyone can understand. Nick and Dave, if you have any corrections, additions, or clarifications, don't hesitate!
