2 different Westchester Co dispatch freqs

[jrock71984]

This thread is rather old. But, 60 Control has been dispatching New Rochelle FD/Empress EMS Alpha busses on the frequency listed as “NRFD Citywide” for quite some time now. They are NOT dispatched on the lowband paging frequency. They have their own separate channel, use County FG-5 (or their own FG Channel as they have one) and have access to the Trunking system as needed

I just heard them this morning being dispatched on 33.96 and their citywide channel

 

[Ant9270]

I just heard them this morning being dispatched on 33.96 and their citywide channel

I believe 33.96 is simulcasted to their citywide frequency. They’ve been dispatched by 60 Control for a long time now. Going on YEARS.

 

[tbendick]

33.96 is new Rochelle paging frequency.
Recently you will hear tones on the uhf as there is an issue getting lowband equipment.

Paging at some point will move to uhf and leave lowband.

 

[Ant9270]

33.96 is new Rochelle paging frequency.
Recently you will hear tones on the uhf as there is an issue getting lowband equipment.

Paging at some point will move to uhf and leave lowband.

That’s odd, I’ve been hearing tones drop and full dispatch for about a year now on the citywide frequency.

 

[tbendick]

That’s odd, I’ve been hearing tones drop and full dispatch for about a year now on the citywide frequency.

ant you should have only been hearing a long tone on uhf.

 

[Ant9270]

ant you should have only been hearing a long tone on uhf.

It’s odd, I’ve been hearing the long standard NRFD tone and then the call into after. For a while now. Maybe something new and my timeframe isn’t right? Who knows, you’re more credible then I am honestly. I don’t monitor them too much

 

[Bob1955]

New Rochelle Fire is now starting to use the 33.960 Mhz tones on UHF. Low band will be phased out in (2) years when the current Motorola Smart Zone ll UHF trunking system goes all digital. I met a guy at the WECA ham fest and they are now setting up all the new towers. Even Westchester County Police will be moved off 155.310 and going to 700 Mhz digital. They will keep F.3 155.550 analog.

 

[Ant9270]

New Rochelle Fire is now starting to use the 33.960 Mhz tones on UHF. Low band will be phased out in (2) years when the current Motorola Smart Zone ll UHF trunking system goes all digital. I met a guy at the WECA ham fest and they are now setting up all the new towers. Even Westchester County Police will be moved off 155.310 and going to 700 Mhz digital. They will keep F.3 155.550 analog.

County Police will maintain their F-1 Frequency and progress to P-25 Phase I equipment, Until the new Phase II Trunking system is in operation, then they will switch over. Lowband paging operations will also not change, and stay in operation per the multiple PowerPoints on the County “Radio forms/listings” on the website. However, you may know something I/We don’t know.

 

[Bob1955]

County Police will maintain their F-1 Frequency and progress to P-25 Phase I equipment, Until the new Phase II Trunking system is in operation, then they will switch over. Lowband paging operations will also not change, and stay in operation per the multiple PowerPoints on the County “Radio forms/listings” on the website. However, you may know something I/We don’t know.

Ant9270,
I met the gentleman working on the system they will be MOVING off 155.310 within 2 years and ALL low band will be gone on Westchester County Fire. They are building the system now as I type to you and setting up the towers. I met this guy at a WECA Ham Fest (3) weeks ago.
Have a good Summer.

 

[Ant9270]

Ant9270,
I met the gentleman working on the system they will be MOVING off 155.310 within 2 years and ALL low band will be gone on Westchester County Fire. They are building the system now as I type to you and setting up the towers. I met this guy at a WECA Ham Fest (3) weeks ago.
Have a good Summer.

That’s odd, As most of the 700-800 Spectrum frequencies that the county purchased are now expired. I guess time will tell, The listings on the website seem to state otherwise, but I believe you. My understanding from the PowerPoints I read, is that the LowBand dispatch frequencies will be simulcasted until system failure/beyond repair, and the County PD will Be Phase I digital until switching now over to the P2 UHF T band trunk system. I also read that every local PD in the county will be invited onto the system.

 

[GTR8000]

That’s odd, As most of the 700-800 Spectrum frequencies that the county purchased are now expired.

Where are you getting that from?

Westchester's 700 MHz frequencies all have a construction deadline of November 2023. The county was granted an extension last year for all licenses, none of which have expired.

Oh and those frequencies weren't purchased; every county in the state was allocated X amount of 700 MHz spectrum years ago by the Regional Planning Committee (Region 8 in this case). Whether or not the counties accepted that spectrum or subsequently applied for additional spectrum was left to them to decide. Coordination of the 700 MHz general pool (SY) frequencies is solely the responsibility of Region 8, not a traditional frequency coordinator, and so there are no fees involved for the licensing.

 

[Ant9270]

Where are you getting that from?

Westchester's 700 MHz frequencies all have a construction deadline of November 2023. The county was granted an extension last year for all licenses, none of which have expired.

Oh and those frequencies weren't purchased; every county in the state was allocated X amount of 700 MHz spectrum years ago by the Regional Planning Committee (Region 8 in this case). Whether or not the counties accepted that spectrum or subsequently applied for additional spectrum was left to them to decide. Coordination of the 700 MHz general pool (SY) frequencies is solely the responsibility of Region 8, not a traditional frequency coordinator, and so there are no fees involved for the licensing.

I just realized my goof up. I had a couple of pages open on the ULS system as was looking at some old 800Mhz Data allocated frequencies. They had expired. I do remember the PowerPoint saying it could be a 700MHZ System all dependent on if T band is re-allocated. I guess time will tell, but I heard County PD will be P25 PHASE I VHF for the time being.

 

[Bob1955]

I believe 33.96 is simulcasted to their citywide frequency. They’ve been dispatched by 60 Control for a long time now. Going on YEARS.

33.960 is for the fire pagers and or house alerts.

 

[seagravebuff60]

My understanding from the PowerPoints I read, is that the LowBand dispatch frequencies will be simulcasted until system failure/beyond repair.

I believe this to be the case too, that's what it says on the county site and in all the recent powerpoints. This (Below) is the latest update on the new county paging system according to the Fire Advisory Board. Hopefully, they stick to this but who knows. We will probably have to wait until September or November untill the next update to see if they are still on track with everything.

Paging System: The new UHF system will have three frequencies in the north and one frequency in the south. Two additional south frequencies will be added when suitable frequencies are found and licensed. New UHF and existing Low Band systems will be simulcast until agencies have replaced equipment or the existing system fails and cannot be repaired. The UHF Paging System will utilize 18 sites (pending agreements with site owners).

 

[GTR8000]

Six different frequencies for paging...yuck. I wonder if they'll be multi-casting across all of them, or will simply chop up the county so that certain depts will be assigned to each frequency. Probably the latter. Rockland depts are spoiled with the 12 site simulcast paging that absolutely blankets the entire county and beyond with killer signal.

 

[GTR8000]

BUT...UHF paging is superior to low band paging if you build the sites out correctly, so it'll be an improvement regardless. They may wind up creating small simulcast paging cells of 2-3 sites per frequency anyway to ensure the best coverage. Lots of flexibility in how these things can be setup these days.

 

[PSNY]

Now that this thread is active again for the moment, I also have to mention how bizarre it is that Ossining FD does dispatching and fireground operations on 46.26. Literally the entire call is carried out from A-Z on a main, countywide freq. Presumably, the UHF trunk system has poor coverage there but at least have an alternative freq!

 

[seagravebuff60]

Now that this thread is active again for the moment, I also have to mention how bizarre it is that Ossining FD does dispatching and fireground operations on 46.26. Literally the entire call is carried out from A-Z on a main, countywide freq. Presumably, the UHF trunk system has poor coverage there but at least have an alternative freq!

Ugh! Yes i hate this too. It is very very annoying. Especially if there is a 10-75 (Working Fire) somewhere else in the county. 46.26 is way to overcrowed as it is. Then Ossining has to step in and screw everything up. I think it just is an issue that there is poor coverage closer to the hudson river in Ossining on the UHF trunk system also. I think thats why the use 46.26 for everything.

 

[radioman2001]

46.26 is the ultimate backup frequency every dept has kept it as one, and there are a number of depts not happy with the T-band trunking system. Besides Ossining, Yorktown didn't want to move to it, and coverage in the North East areas of the county have also been problematic, plus any dept mid-county and North along the Hudson has had issues due to the shading from one of the North South ridges (mainly portable as specs call for 95% coverage). Even Pleasntville has been a constant complaint about poor coverage in the village.

 

[CqDx]

Coverage on the T-band trunking system is almost nonexistent once I am at water level along the river towns.

I did two weeks of monitoring on 33.96, 46.06 and 46.26 and here is what I can come up with. The heaviest usage of 33.96 seems to be Port Chester and others are on 46.26. I did hear a callout to Greenwich on 46.26 on one occasion which is interesting.

33.96​	FAIRVIEW
33.96​	IRVINGTON
33.96​	PORT CHESTER
33.96​	RYE BROOK
33.96​	ELMSFORD
33.96​	FAIRVIEW
46.06​	RYE BROOK
46.26​	DOBBS FERRY
46.26​	CHAPPAQUA
46.26​	PURCHASE
46.26​	WEST HARRISON
46.26​	VALHALLA
46.26​	MILLWOOD
46.26​	PLEASANTVILLE
46.26​	ARMONK
46.26​	HAWTHRONE
46.26​	MT PLEASANT
46.26​	GREENVILLE
46.26​	SCARSDALE
46.26​	POCANTICO HILL
46.26​	THORNWOOD
46.26​	GRASSLANDS
46.26​	YONKERS (EMPRESS EMS)
46.26​	NORTH WHITE PLAINS
46.26​	BANKSVILLE
46.26​	GREENWICH, CT