Broome County P25 Phase II TRS

[GTR8000]

Applications pending for a two cell P25 Phase II UHF trunked system.

West cell - 10 sites - 6 channels

https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/ApplicationSearch/applMain.jsp?applID=11680866

https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/ApplicationSearch/applMain.jsp?applID=11680954

453.2750
453.4000
453.4250
453.6750
453.8375
460.2875


East cell - 6 sites - 4 channels

https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/ApplicationSearch/applMain.jsp?applID=11678232

453.5875
453.7250
453.8750
460.4375

 

[mshumeyk]

January of this year Broome County government officials held a press conference to announce the plan to create a new radio system that would be utilized by all law enforcement, fire and ems agencies in the county. They estimated at least some of the system will be in operation in 2021. I have been periodically checking the data base for licenses for the new system. Today I noted that the licenses for the new system were granted just a few weeks ago and are in the Radio Reference "latest grants" in the database. As expected the system will utilize 453mhz and 460mhz frequencies. There are to be approximately 18 sites, with quite a few towers already constructed for the recently added 159.105mhz countywide fire and ems simulcast dispatch toneouts system. This new paging system is a great improvement over the prior system which often required the dispatcher to announce the call individually on multiple frequencies and also repeat the announcement on each of the 33.90mhz transmitters.

Broome County to modernize emergency communication systems

Broome County is proposing increasing the monthly 911 surcharge to fund the project.

www.pressconnects.com

 

[MtnBiker2005]

BROOME, COUNTY OF - Trunked System Licenses:

FCC Callsign WREJ493 (BROOME, COUNTY OF)

FCC Callsign WREJ493 (BROOME, COUNTY OF)

www.radioreference.com

FCC Callsign WREJ647 (BROOME, COUNTY OF)

FCC Callsign WREJ647 (BROOME, COUNTY OF)

www.radioreference.com

FCC Callsign WREJ651 (BROOME, COUNTY OF)

FCC Callsign WREJ651 (BROOME, COUNTY OF)

www.radioreference.com

 

[KevinC]

I merged the 2 threads discussing this.

 

[chrismol1]

WOW

There's a picture of radios on a table from link above

Quite an ancient collection on the table

An oddball yellow Harris P25 radio, HT1000, MT1000, Maxtrac, MT500 wow I guess they never upgraded to HT1250's on lowband, and the metal lunchbox radios??? One looks like a PT400 plastic lunchbox, the other is metal from the 60-70s! Seriously? Looks like someone dug thru the old fire station broom closet. Those portable use ni-cad batteries discontinued from motorola since the first bush administration, yea ok the MT1000's were made into the late 90s but still

 

[GTR8000]

Does anyone have a status update on this system? We haven't heard a peep about it in years, despite the fact that the county signed off on the sites supposedly being constructed back in 2017.

 

[mshumeyk]

Does anyone have a status update on this system? We haven't heard a peep about it in years, despite the fact that the county signed off on the sites supposedly being constructed back in 2017.

Broome Emergency Services has occasionally posted photos of tower sites going up, the most recent probably a couple of months ago. Many of the sites are in fairly rugged terrain and required creation of access roads. I suspect COVID has slowed things down. One of the first towers to go up just a mile from my house has had a fully array of the antennas for many months. I search the UHF frequencies every few days and have not yet heard any control channels, but will post information once I find a site is online.

 

[GTR8000]

Thanks for the update. Looks like that PDF was created in Feb 2019, so over two years old at this point, assuming it's the most recent document released.

 

[k2hz]

Broome County filed notice with the FCC (File #0001959359) on 7/22/2020 that construction had been completed on the sites authorized on license WREJ651 granted in 2019 which covered the additional sites for the system. Sites previously licensed had been notified as constructed in 2016 and 2017. The final page of Schedule K attached to that filing on 7/22/2020 says:
"By signing the Main Form, the applicant certifies, as set forth in 47 C.F.R. §1.946(c) of the Commission's rules, that it has commenced
service or operations by the expiration of its construction period, or met its coverage or substantial service obligations by the expiration
of its coverage period"
So, according to official FCC filings, the final sites were constructed and placed in service as of 10 months ago yet nothing has been heard on the air????

 

[mshumeyk]

I found a document from February 2020 (too large to upload here due to color photos of a new site) stating the purchase of real estate for some sites was still in progress and there were also issues with the loss of two frequency pairs. I am currently away but as of 10 days ago all communications were still on VHF and UHF analog and no control signals were on the air. As Broome is a county of many hills and valleys (most local FM stations have transmitters in 2 or 3 different locations/frequencies) it makes no sense to switch any agencies to the P25 system until all sites are online. There is some activity on the some of the frequencies of the new system but it is the analog comms of Broome County Security and Transportation as well as the Binghamton University DMR system. Those frequencies are to be repurposed in the new P25 system.

 

[k2hz]

I found a document from February 2020 (too large to upload here due to color photos of a new site) stating the purchase of real estate for some sites was still in progress and there were also issues with the loss of two frequency pairs.

So are you saying the County needs to purchase and license additional sites and add frequencies before the system can go operational? The FCC filings indicate that all presently licensed sites and frequencies were ready for operation last year. If they are still at the point of needing to purchase, license and construct new sites, and coordinate, apply for and receive a license to install additional frequencies, that can take several months or likely well in to next year.

 

[GTR8000]

Yet another fine example of a trunked system that has taken many more years to get anything tangible done than promised with much fanfare, along with the customary fudging of certification for site buildouts to disingenuously stop the FCC's clock. Certainly COVID had a big impact over the past year and a half, however COVID can't be the excuse when a system was supposed to be operational by the end of 2019. Of course now it just provides an additional thing to point out, which no one will question. Oh well, I'm not invested in this system anyway, so I suppose I'm just venting about the same routine for so many of these systems over the past decade. Over-promised and under-whelming.

 

[mshumeyk]

I’m wondering whether the upcoming P25 system roll out will be somewhat anticlimactic compared to some major changes in recent years. These include development of a 911 center for dispatch of all county and municipal LE, FD and EMS, 911 polling of Sheriff and NYSP units on the county SO channel, creation of a consolidated channel plan for all FD’s on high band, and a change from toning out all FD/EMS agencies on their respective dispatch channels to a single countywide high band multicast paging frequency utilizing some of the towers planned for the new system. The new system will hopefully offer improvements in the rural areas where FD’s are on low band, EMS agency’s high band systems have poor coverage and Sheriff’s deputies have to manually switch to different towers. However, as I mentioned earlier, Broome is a land of many hills and valleys and we will need to see how closely actual coverage matches predicated coverage.

 

[mshumeyk]

A few months back an RR member inquired about the status of the Broome County P25 communications system upgrade announced January 31, 2019. I replied that I was unaware of any sites being online. With a rare free moment today I thought I would take a moment to post some additional information on the system.

As of today I have still not found any control signals and all communications remain on analog VHF/UHF. The tower nearest to me is in full view from my window, only 0.7 miles away at the top of a hill.

For those interested I have attached links to 2 relevant documents from the County Website. The System Assessment document is dated August 3, 2012.

I've also attached a photo of the photo of the tower on Andrews Road in Vestal taken from my home.

Business Project Plan (gobroomecounty.com)

Public Safety Communications System Assessment and Design (gobroomecounty.com)

 

[mshumeyk]

I have been regularly scanning the frequencies licensed for the Broome County P25 Phase ll system for a sign of life but nothing yet. I did however find this brief mention on a local AM news station website. At least the finally got all of the towers up.


Broome Emergency Communications Tower Goes Up in Deposit (wnbf.com)

 

[mshumeyk]

FINALLY, after months of searching for activity on the frequencies allocated for the Broome County P25 Phase ll Communications System I have just detected a control channel signal on 453.425. I actually just downloaded Unitrunker for the first time this past weekend so I am a novice at mapping new trunked systems under construction, but I will share data I think will be helpful to those more experienced:
System ID: 2AE
WACN: BEE00
Site: 008
RFSS 1
Frequencies: 453.425 (control); 453.275; 453.8375; 454.300
Peers: none

Although retirement is on the horizon I am still working full time plus and in fact am on call this evening so I don't have much time to collect data on this system but I will share and when appropriate submit data as I am able.

 

[GTR8000]

I assume that the other three frequencies are flagged as alternate control channels. Can you please take a look for the NAC in Unitrunker's site window? It should be 2A8 but I'd rather not assume when adding the site to the database. If you're running UT v1 you can find it on the site Info tab, if UT v2.1 it'll be on the site Properties tab.

 

[mshumeyk]

Both of your assumptions are correct.. After my post I saw in the channels tab the other three frequencies are indeed marked as control channels. The NAC is 2A8. For some reason the NAC was blank in Unitrunker so I set up the system in my SDS100 and that display shows the NAC 2A8.

 

[AuntEnvy]

After updating the database I see that Broome doesn't come up in the system... Is that because no TG's are known/being used yet? I guess I didn't realize you couldn't load them via library imports with just the site/control channels frequencies...

 

[AuntEnvy]

Speaking of which, I wonder why Cortland County has never been listed/affiliated with this CNY system since they are a part of it. I see the site #'s jump from 006 to 008. I presume 007 is for Cortland..?