Alabama Interoperable Radio System (was: Alabama First Responder Network)

[Technoguy58]

What "Fire towers" are you referring too?? Are there Forest Service towers in Baldwin county. Do they use AFRN for communications??

 

[mike36507]

Yes they use that system. They have a north, south, east, west and a central tower. Their old analog vhf channels I can still hear. But I can only hear the central and east tower on the AFRN system or the NXDN system. Scanning all sites and nothing. I live only a few miles from the Robertsdale site and used to be able to pick up all of the towers. But I still can get them on their analog channels.

 

[mike36507]

They are not forest towers, they are for 911

 

[millam]

Technical question: I live near Dale county. If Dale county and Ozark's 700 systems don't
have any neighbor's will anyone else be able to use that system? In other words does the
AFRN sites have to have neighbors assigned to be able to talk through other sites transmitters?
In different other words how does a radio in southeast Alabama talk to a radio in northwest Alabama?

 

[medic9351301]

A USER HAS TO ROAM FROM TOWER TO TOWER
SO A DALE COUNTY DEPUTY WOULD BASICALLY ROAM FROM TOWERS.
EXAMPLE IF HE IS IN HUNTSVILLE HIS RADIO WOULD PROB ROAM FROM FROM A HUNTSVILLE TOWER BACK TO DALE COUNTY .
THAT MIGHT NOT BE THE TECHNICAL TERM.
BUT ITS THE LAYMAN'S WAY TO EXPLAIN IT .
I HAVE HEARD RESCUE OPS FROM DITTO LANDING IN HUNTSVILLE IN BIRMINGHAM BEFORE .
WHEN JACKSONVILLE GOT WIPED OUT FROM A TORNADO I HEARD IT . BECAUSE BIRMINGHAM AGENCIES ASSISTED .
AS FAR IS I KNOW THERE ARE STATE WIDE MUTUAL AID TG ON THE SYSTEM THAT ARE DESIGNED FOR THAT .
I HEAR LIVESAVER 11660 FROM BIRMINGHAM ON THE TELVUE SITE GOING TO EASTERN AL ALL THE TIME .

 

[millam]

Are all these AFRN systems connected by computer or microwave or is it radio to radio?

 

[PapaG]

The AFRN sites are most likely to be connected via microwave and or a combination of microwave and high speed telephone data circuits.

 

[medic9351301]

microwave, rf links and t1 liines

 

[millam]

Are any of these actually in use? Probably in Mobile, Birmingham and Huntsville, maybe Montgomery.
There is no way to tell using DSD, right or would they show up as neighbors?

 

[morganAL]

There are a number of Talkgroups that can and do roam statewide. There are some that roam just regionally too. In North AL certain TGs from Morgan Co roam onto the towers in Madison County and some of their TGs roam onto sites in Morgan Co. Regionally, the sites are connected via microwave. Interzone links (the links between each zone core) are Metro-E AKA high-speed phone lines. There are multiple redundant paths so a single link failure doesn't break Interzone connectivity. As far as distance goes, the sites do not have to be physically close to each other to show in the neighbors list. When the Morgan Co sites were still in staging at Motorola Staging in IL, they were connected back to the Hsv core. Users reported seeing the sites show up as neighbors even though they were 1000 miles away. Neighbors are setup in the system to help radios with site to site roaming on a day to day basis. Just because a site isn't listed as a neighbor to another site, it doesn't mean a radio can't roam to it..

 

[millam]

These talkgroups that can roam statewide have to be entered into each system with the permission of
the owner of the system, right? I guess that somewhere there is supposed to be a overseer of the AFRN
network to see that everything gets done. But MONEY and ME gets in the way, right? Good of yall to
help me see whats going on with system. Just looked at the database for AFRN and saw the statewide
TalkGroups. One looks like what 155.01 did back in the day before cell phones.

 

[joejo95]

Yes the Statewide TGs, Inter OPs TGs, are like what 155.01,State Net, was and is still used for in areas. When Phenix City was installing there system a dispatcher told me the Tech were putting the Inter OPs in and the Powers to be asked what they were. When told they said to take them out they did not want or need them. He told me they told them the State requied they have them installed.

 

[millam]

Thanks, Joejo, I've been trying to see if I could determine if Ozark was a part of AFRN. As you
said the wacn and sys id are not what it should be. It is in the wrong place in the database if it
is a part of it though.

Mil

 

[joejo95]

Also Another reason i think Ozark is not part of the AFRN is it is showed as Site 10. Ozark is somewhat near Troy (Site 11) ,Ozark (Barnes)(Site 12) and Ozark (Dale SO)(Site 13). Site 11, 12 and 13 ,in a decode ,show each other as Neighbor sites but not Ozark(10) and a decode of Ozark shows no Neighbor Sites at all. But Ozarks city TGs will show up on the other 3 Sites.

 

[KJ4TDM]

So are some agencies using both AFRN and JCPS network cause I'm still hearing agencies like Mtn. Brook PD, Bessemer PD, Adamsville PD on JCPS. I looked back at my notes and I confirmed I heard them also on AFRN also. Are the simulcasting their traffic on both networks?

 

[morganAL]

MOre or less, you are correct. All of the AFRN sites are networked together. As sites are added, they are joined to the network. When they are added, the techs go into the Core that the sites are connected to and set permissions for talkgroups to allow them onto the various sites. Each talkgroup is assigned a Site Access Profile and that profile contains a list of sites that the system will allow the talkgroup to operate on.

There are people that are designated to be the keepers of the system. Sometimes it is a tech at a county or city agency and sometimes it is someone at a radio shop contracted by an agency. The MONEY & ME thing isn't really an issue. When a County or City joins the system, there is an agreement that is signed and I believe Interops may be addressed but I am not 100% sure.

These talkgroups that can roam statewide have to be entered into each system with the permission of
the owner of the system, right? I guess that somewhere there is supposed to be a overseer of the AFRN
network to see that everything gets done. But MONEY and ME gets in the way, right?

 

[millam]

Thanks I have a better understanding now.

Mil

 

[KJ4TDM]

I've been monitoring Irondale for 24 hours now on the JCPS network and not a peep but I do hear them on AFRN system. So I take it that have moved 100% of their traffic over. Some are still using both systems. As for Hoover I'm still hearing their pd dispatcher only on UHF 460.350 while everything is on the AFRN system. I'm trying to clean up and organize my scanner database some but there are those still out there using both systems & it doesn't sound like simulcast traffic, it's like they are mixing it up I guess?

 

[medic9351301]

I've been monitoring Irondale for 24 hours now on the JCPS network and not a peep but I do hear them on AFRN system. So I take it that have moved 100% of their traffic over. Some are still using both systems. As for Hoover I'm still hearing their pd dispatcher only on UHF 460.350 while everything is on the AFRN system. I'm trying to clean up and organize my scanner database some but there are those still out there using both systems & it doesn't sound like simulcast traffic, it's like they are mixing it up I guess?

its hit and miss they are still on both systems it just depends on what tower they hit .
depends on what freq or tower you are hearing them on.
huffman, palmerdale and graysville are non simulcast sites.

 

[Jtolar]

I've been monitoring Irondale for 24 hours now on the JCPS network and not a peep but I do hear them on AFRN system. So I take it that have moved 100% of their traffic over.

I have only heard Irondale on AFRN from the Huffman tower for about the last 3-4 weeks. The only traffic I see on the JCPS huffman site is Trussville, BPD Jail and BFD Dispatch.