I have been listening at random times in the last 2 weeks with my Unication G5 and I haven't received a single transmission. While scanning with my SDS100, I have been getting occasional stops on Test 6 but no voice. Prior to two weeks ago, I was hearing voice with an accent announcing his location and objects nearby. Has anyone been able to monitor any transmissions within the last two weeks? Have they abandoned the test Talkgroups in favor of updated talkgroups? I heard on the P16 system that Fireboat 19 was doing radio testing in the bay. My guess is that some Fire TG's have been designated and the test talkgroups have been abandoned. Can anyone advise?
Anne Arundel County Radio System Upgrade
- Thread starter ThePhotoGuy
- Start date
They’ve been encrypting both side lately, but are only using test talk groups. It’s not unusual for a jurisdiction to provide a boat for testing over water.
I’m just wondering why i no longer hear any transmissions. I guess they’ve gone encrypted with the testing?
I left the recorder running most of today and got no unencrypted voice traffic at all....though I may need a refresher course on programming wildcard aliases in SDRTrunk...
The testing has been all ENC lately, mostly on tg 2 and tg 6.
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Pursuant to 47CFR90.629(c), the County is providing this Fourth Anniversary
Slow Growth/Extended Implementation Status Update for WRCJ217:
• The fixed stations associated with WRCJ217 Locations 1-5 were fully constructed and activated as of August 31, 2022.
• The entire trunked radio system is currently undergoing coverage and functional acceptance testing.
• The County anticipates completion of the mobile and 6.1 meter control stations associated with Locations 6-7 before the end of 2023
Slow Growth/Extended Implementation Status Update for WRCJ217:
• The fixed stations associated with WRCJ217 Locations 1-5 were fully constructed and activated as of August 31, 2022.
• The entire trunked radio system is currently undergoing coverage and functional acceptance testing.
• The County anticipates completion of the mobile and 6.1 meter control stations associated with Locations 6-7 before the end of 2023
Sounds like the end of this year is the go live date. Several traffic channels were being modulated constantly this morning with different waveforms, at least they looked like different waveforms on a waterfall display. Traffic was not being directed to them via the control channel, thus are probably test transmissions / pattern used for aligning the system. Still mostly tgs 1 and 2 being used for voice, all enc, but mostly sporatically.
I’m pretty sure that the Fire Department at least, has not finalized the talkgroup plan yet. I have seen a tentative plan that looks very similar to the COG counties, but nothing in stone. None of our radios have been flashed with the new system yet either.
There has been less coverage testing lately; on Monday they resumed for a few hours with a test pattern up an adjacent channel. But the last few days, not much activity. The contract has over 100 critical buildings and infrastructure that must have adequate coverage - I'm sure that they are working on those areas.
I saw a posting on APCO about the county developing an Emergency Consolidated Center that combines the dispatch function for police and fire under the umbrella of Emergency Management. It sounds like the dispatchers would be employed by EM rather than the individual agencies. Not sure if this is good or bad as the jobs require different skill sets.
It has been done elsewhere. After the initial grumbling due to change, dispatchers can be cross trained and once the dust settles down, it usually works out fine.
Yup. In the county currently, the police department answers all 911 calls. Fire and medical calls are then transferred to the fire department telecommunicators for further processing. One difficulty in transitioning *might* be the 24-hour shift schedule that the fire department utilizes - which is popular with the staff. The police do not use this shift design. We'll see what happens
DIGITALCLUELESS
Member
Will the new system be encrypted or still in the clear? Police? Fire/EMS?
Unknown. Fire will likely be in the clear as they routinely interoperate outside the county and with federal assets. Police will *hopefully* retain their current strategy of district dispatch talk groups in the clear, and tactical and PII talk groups encrypted.
November 2, 2022
On October 17, 2018, the Commission issued callsign WRCJ217 to Anne Arundel
County, Maryland (the County) with slow growth/extended implementation status,
to provide four new 800 MHz frequencies to the County for use in a future Next
Generation APCO-25 Public Safety Trunked Radio system.
Pursuant to 47CFR90.629(c), the County provided its Fourth Anniversary Slow
Growth/Extended Implementation Status Update for WRCJ217 on September 19,
2022. In its September 19, 2022 status update, the County advised that WRCJ217
Locations 1-5 were fully constructed and on the air as of August 31, 2022. The
County further advised that the new public safety trunked radio system associated
with WRCJ217 is undergoing coverage and acceptance testing, and that once this
testing is completed, that the County anticipates completion of the mobile and 6.1
meter control stations associated with Locations 6-7 before the end of 2023.
On October 12, 2022, the County received an email notification from Mr. David
Steinour of the FCC advising that WRCJ217 still shows a buildout deadline of
October 17, 2022 despite the County’s September 19, 2022 construction status
update.
Upon closer examination, the County determined that a four-year slow growth
buildout period was requested by the County’s licensing consultant in the original
application for WRCJ217. The County was operating under the mistaken belief that
a full five-year slow growth buildout period was requested and granted for all the
new sites and frequencies associated with the new 800 MHz trunked public safety
radio system. As stated in the County’s September 19, 2022 letter to the FCC, all of
the fixed locations for WRCJ217 were fully constructed and on the air as of August
31, 2022.
In telephone discussions with Mr. Tracy Simmons of the FCC on 11/1/2022 and
11/2/2022, the County was advised to file a final construction notification for
WRCJ217 Locations 1-5, and to attach a statement to the application that attests to
the actual number of mobiles that are currently in operation on the radio system.
The County certifies that there are currently a total of twenty (20) MO stations
currently operating on the system. Cutover is planned to occur before the end of
2023. At that time the County’s full public safety and local government radio user
fleet will be migrated from the current system to the system. The County will file
an application to modify WRCJ217 to add the remaining mobile stations to the
license in 2023 once all system functional and coverage acceptance testing is
completed.
On October 17, 2018, the Commission issued callsign WRCJ217 to Anne Arundel
County, Maryland (the County) with slow growth/extended implementation status,
to provide four new 800 MHz frequencies to the County for use in a future Next
Generation APCO-25 Public Safety Trunked Radio system.
Pursuant to 47CFR90.629(c), the County provided its Fourth Anniversary Slow
Growth/Extended Implementation Status Update for WRCJ217 on September 19,
2022. In its September 19, 2022 status update, the County advised that WRCJ217
Locations 1-5 were fully constructed and on the air as of August 31, 2022. The
County further advised that the new public safety trunked radio system associated
with WRCJ217 is undergoing coverage and acceptance testing, and that once this
testing is completed, that the County anticipates completion of the mobile and 6.1
meter control stations associated with Locations 6-7 before the end of 2023.
On October 12, 2022, the County received an email notification from Mr. David
Steinour of the FCC advising that WRCJ217 still shows a buildout deadline of
October 17, 2022 despite the County’s September 19, 2022 construction status
update.
Upon closer examination, the County determined that a four-year slow growth
buildout period was requested by the County’s licensing consultant in the original
application for WRCJ217. The County was operating under the mistaken belief that
a full five-year slow growth buildout period was requested and granted for all the
new sites and frequencies associated with the new 800 MHz trunked public safety
radio system. As stated in the County’s September 19, 2022 letter to the FCC, all of
the fixed locations for WRCJ217 were fully constructed and on the air as of August
31, 2022.
In telephone discussions with Mr. Tracy Simmons of the FCC on 11/1/2022 and
11/2/2022, the County was advised to file a final construction notification for
WRCJ217 Locations 1-5, and to attach a statement to the application that attests to
the actual number of mobiles that are currently in operation on the radio system.
The County certifies that there are currently a total of twenty (20) MO stations
currently operating on the system. Cutover is planned to occur before the end of
2023. At that time the County’s full public safety and local government radio user
fleet will be migrated from the current system to the system. The County will file
an application to modify WRCJ217 to add the remaining mobile stations to the
license in 2023 once all system functional and coverage acceptance testing is
completed.
Oops. The originally filed buildout period indicated that the system was to be completed by the end of this year, but apparently nobody checked the consultant's work against the contractor's timetable. A bit of an oversight by the project management team I suppose. It does explain why new programming has not yet occurred in the fleet radios. If the end of 2022 were to stick as the go-live date, it would be a mad scramble to get the 5000+ existing APX radios reflashed, and the final tranche of new radios distributed - and everyone trained.
Side note - I keep forgetting to mention this, but the fire department command staff has some digs in the flex office space behind the infamous 888 Bestgate Road building across from Annapolis Mall. The county also locates some police and sheriff's department offices in adjacent spaces. Also heard that there are long term plans to locate the new communications center off General's Highway behind Rams Head Roadhouse on county owned property. We'll see if that holds.
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