Baltimore County Fire

[K3JTP]

I am not picking up Balt. County fire on digital today. I get the old dispatch analog 46.46, but nothing on P25 Phase I Balt. County. Has the system gone to Phase II (which my rcvrs. do not handle). Incidentally, Balt. City has resumed simulcast dispatch 154.415.
LJP

 

[ka3jjz]

Dumb question; do you have all the control channels programmed? If you don't, and the system moves to one you don't have, it will fail...Mike

 

[atlong]

I am fairly certain they remain Phase I. Have you double checked the correct the control channel programming in your scanner? Back in July/August they decommed the North site and combined everything into one simulcast site. Maybe the old programming is still in there?

 

[atlong]

Dumb question; do you have all the control channels programmed? If you don't, and the system moves to one you don't have, it will fail...Mike

Jinx.

 

[K3JTP]

Sorry if it appeared a dumb question.I had programmed the control and alternate control channels using Butel programming software, so that is not the reason. thanks for replies; I will reprogram the software and try again.
Les

 

[atlong]

It's not a dumb question. Things change on TRS's all the time and sometimes you have to double check what you have programmed. I wish I was closer to tell you which control channel is active right now and which are alternates, but I'm too far away to receive the system. You may want to just look at what's programmed and match it up to the DB and see if it is good. If it is, move on to some other troubleshooting.

 

[hill]

Baltimore County is going strong on the County's Trunked Radio System along with all other users on it. It worked for me this afternoon along I95 from the Southewest side to home on the Eastside. Must be on your end.

Current control channel is 856.2125

 

[K3JTP]

Problem solved! Somehow, the database populated incorrect frequencies for both Balt. Cy. and CMARC. Most likely my programming error resulted in GIGO.
Sorry.

 

[tvengr]

Here is an ARC-XT file for Baltimore Co Fire. Give this one a try and see how you like it. System quick key 1. Save the attached zipped file to your computer and extract. Open the extracted file with ARC-XT and Upload to Scanner.

 

[atlong]

Glad you got it resolved.

 

[firebal]

I updated the wiki to reflect that Baltimore County TRS is now a single site. Please feel free to edit my changes and tweak my wording.

 

[maus92]

Reviewing the Wiki entry for Baltimore County, there are still references to the North and South systems: is this still the case?

"The third battalion is assigned AC 30 thru TAC 39 and AC 40 thru TAC 49. These are non-wide-area talk groups that will only work on the south system."

and

"There are two sets of non-wide-area talk groups for the north system, AC 110 thru TAC 119 and AC 120 thru TAC 129. These are currently not regularly assigned, and are reportedly for site trunking and failsoft conditions.

Also, what are the channel positions for the dispatch tg? A1,B1,C,1,D1, etc? What channel positions for the North, Central, East and West tgs, and what exact is their defined use? Seems to be mostly EMS dispatcher describing patient symptoms.

 

[hill]

No North and South systems anymore. Last summer timeframe it was made into one simulcast system. It may be wrong in the Wiki, but it's correct in the database.

 

[hill]

The North Talkgroup isn't used. Would guess the dispatch is on 1, centeral 2, East 3 and West 4.

 

[maus92]

The North Talkgroup isn't used. Would guess the dispatch is on 1, centeral 2, East 3 and West 4.

Knob positions 3 and 4 are already programmed with Tacs x2 and x3. I'm curious if the battalions use a "home" zone, e.g. B, C, D? Thus the Ops tg *might* be B2, C2, or D2 depending on battalion?

 

[maus92]

No North and South systems anymore. Last summer timeframe it was made into one simulcast system. It may be wrong in the Wiki, but it's correct in the database.

Based on this, I removed the references to North and South sites.

 

[firebal]

Knob positions 3 and 4 are already programmed with Tacs x2 and x3. I'm curious if the battalions use a "home" zone, e.g. B, C, D? Thus the Ops tg *might* be B2, C2, or D2 depending on battalion?

North is still occasionally used but not on a routine basis.

The knob positions such as A1,B1,C1,D1 on the database are VERY outdated and refer back to when Baltimore County was using the XTS500s not the APX 7000/8000s used today.

 

[maus92]

North is still occasionally used but not on a routine basis.

The knob positions such as A1,B1,C1,D1 on the database are VERY outdated and refer back to when Baltimore County was using the XTS500s not the APX 7000/8000s used today.

Any possibility that you can correct the database?

 

[firebal]

Maybe hahah the issue is two fold. First at least for the fire side Baltimore county doesn't announce knob positions. And second like you said before the talkgroups and the knob positions vary per zone.

 

[atlong]

Maus92, what needs to be corrected in the DB exactly? I can correct any anomalies there. Please submit the corrections and let me know, and I can jump on the fixes immediately.