Cambria County New UHF system

[CHAWMAN24]

Local news media was reporting the other night that significant progress is being made on the new system. They reported that one cause for delays was ice several weeks ago at the tower sites. Anyone have any other updates as to when radio testing may begin? Or when system is expected to become fully operational

 

[RedPenguin]

Speaking of the new system

Speaking of the new system, what frequencies will Metro police have for special ops?

Before we had 453.6, 453.5, and 453.55 as special channels, but we no longer have those frequencies as police only.

South, North, and Central all have op channels, but where are Metro Ops? Or can they just use the South channels?

Also, anyone know what happened today on Bedford St and Scott Ave? Police and Ambulance had both streets blocked today but I didn't hear anything on the scanner, because I only knew about it after.

 

[druhe]

Local news media was reporting the other night that significant progress is being made on the new system. They reported that one cause for delays was ice several weeks ago at the tower sites. Anyone have any other updates as to when radio testing may begin? Or when system is expected to become fully operational

The final tower in which you are referring has been completed. Antenna and equipment installation is taking place as I type this. Some testing should begin within the next two weeks. This will be concentrated mainly on the simulcast system adjustments.. The second phase of testing will take place after that. This will consist of testing field radios and siren systems for each department. As for when a full switch over will take place depends on the testing results.

 

[druhe]

Speaking of the new system, what frequencies will Metro police have for special ops?

Before we had 453.6, 453.5, and 453.55 as special channels, but we no longer have those frequencies as police only.

South, North, and Central all have op channels, but where are Metro Ops? Or can they just use the South channels?

Also, anyone know what happened today on Bedford St and Scott Ave? Police and Ambulance had both streets blocked today but I didn't hear anything on the scanner, because I only knew about it after.

They will be incorporated into the South Operations plan.

 

[druhe]

Testing has begun

Heard some testing going on the South and Central Operations channels. What I monitored sounded really good. They were using portables in vehicles through out the county, so far so good.

 

[RedPenguin]

April 29th?

I was talking to a local volunteer fireman that I know, who already has a new pager and I believe he said they got to play with the new radios, but he heard a date of Apr 29th is supposed to be the day that they are completely done.

Has anyone else heard this?

Also, what's with 453.550? I notice that this is supposed to be EMS Dispatch, but yesterday, it kept making "breathing"-like noises over and over, like someone was getting ready to talk, than just stopped, over and over.

For the ops channels, will it be setup like it used to be, where you could really only hear Central ops in Central Cambria, only really hear South in Southern Cambria, and North in Northern Cambria? Or are they having all towers link all channels like a huge interop like thing?

I'm interested because it seems like I can just hear somethings better, like Central police in Southern Cambria, but then again, I've also been hearing Altoona clearer in Southern Cambria, so maybe it's just a better time to hear further things, who knows.

 

[CHAWMAN24]

The local news media reported that April 29th is the official start date. I'm not real sure about the other questions you asked about the other frequencies. I believe that the repeaters for Altoona City are on top of Wopsy Mountain which may be why you can receive them so well.

 

[RedPenguin]

Testing

I guess that they are definately getting ready for tomorrows offical date because it's 4:53PM now on April 28th and 453.55 (The new EMS) just keeps saying "Testing 1 2 3" over and over like 60 some times right now.

So it all looks good for tomorrow I assume.

I assume it's an automated voice because I think a human would get tired of saying it 60+ times in a row LoL.

 

[RedPenguin]

Definatly being transitioned

It looks like the system is defiantly being transitioned because around 5:02PM (1702 hrs for your true scanner geeks) and they started to tell everyone to switch.

Did anyone hear who 690 was turning in to?

I heard Dispatch tell 670 and 680 to switch to South and that 670 will be 840 and 680 will be 855, but I didn't hear them tell 690 anything.

I'm just so glad to see fire actually have PL tones, because while trying to ever listen to Fire, everything seemed to screw up my scanner, when using the 33.x channels. Anything from a Router/Switch to a CRT monitor. Sometimes stuff I don't even know, just stuff that interfered while I walked down the street.

EDIT: Who is Police Car 304? I don't see it on any of the lists but I've been hearing it all day today.

 

[ocguard]

what end user equipment is being used? Are there plans for eventual P25 transition?

 

[druhe]

what end user equipment is being used? Are there plans for eventual P25 transition?

There was some specifications released, but as for make and model that was up to the end user. The system is P25 capable, however there is no plan to implement it at this time

 

[RedPenguin]

Hey....

There was some specifications released, but as for make and model that was up to the end user. The system is P25 capable, however there is no plan to implement it at this time

Hey DRuhe since you are around, do you know who car 304 is? I've been hearing it on Central for a while but it's on no list, including yours.

Also, what car number did 690 turn to on South? Apparently 670 turned to 840 and 680 turned to 855, but I never heard what they wanted 690 to turn to.

 

[druhe]

Hey DRuhe since you are around, do you know who car 304 is? I've been hearing it on Central for a while but it's on no list, including yours.

Also, what car number did 690 turn to on South? Apparently 670 turned to 840 and 680 turned to 855, but I never heard what they wanted 690 to turn to.

304 = Adams Twp

690 = 801-805
680 = 855-857
670 = 840-843

 

[RedPenguin]

Thanks Again

304 = Adams Twp

690 = 801-805
680 = 855-857
670 = 840-843

Thanks again DRuhe.

I guess someone must of been having fun on the radio yesterday, I swear once in a while something sounded like Indian calls (seriously) and once it sounded like the National Anthem or something. LoL.

I figured maybe they concluded the tests with the National Anthem maybe but it seemed to be interrupted and more tests went on. Sounded like many stations had pager activation but no siren activation. Those sirens must be a pain in the butt, LoL.

 

[druhe]

Thanks again DRuhe.

I guess someone must of been having fun on the radio yesterday, I swear once in a while something sounded like Indian calls (seriously) and once it sounded like the National Anthem or something. LoL.

I figured maybe they concluded the tests with the National Anthem maybe but it seemed to be interrupted and more tests went on. Sounded like many stations had pager activation but no siren activation. Those sirens must be a pain in the butt, LoL.

Some of the fireman thought they were being funny screwing around as they did. Lets just say the matter has been taken care of.

As for the sirens failing. The timing on the tones needed adjusted or tweaked. It was nothing serious just time consuming due to the number of them that needed changed.

There still maybe some testing today, but much less than yesterday. Everything has been going well and there were a lot of important people with big smiles yesterday

 

[RedPenguin]

Oh I see

Some of the fireman thought they were being funny screwing around as they did. Lets just say the matter has been taken care of.

As for the sirens failing. The timing on the tones needed adjusted or tweaked. It was nothing serious just time consuming due to the number of them that needed changed.

There still maybe some testing today, but much less than yesterday. Everything has been going well and there were a lot of important people with big smiles yesterday

Oh so the National Anthem sounding thing was a "joke" also?

Note: I wasn't laughing at something serious like fireman playing on the radios but I laughed because I thought it was weird that I was hearing stuff like that, at first I thought I was hearing things. I mean when your scanner starts to play music, you just are like "WTF??!!@?". Anyway, I guess some of the fireman were mad that it took so long to put the system up but it couldn't really be helped.

So I assume they moved Adams Twp to Central, because your list has them as under South. Plus the new 69x you told me about seem to replace where Adams Twp is on your list.

Also, I know a couple of fireman that probably were happy also, because like I said before, they were mad that they system wasn't up last August than Dec, and were saying that old system had so many problems it needed changed, one fireman told me that Johnstown's "new" channel wasn't working at first and they had to use the new Fire Dispatch for a little while, obviously this was before the switch.

Anyway, I'm glad to see the new system up, I hear much smoother communications and for some reason can now hear MedStar talking instead of Dispatch only, but don't think that has anything really to do with the new system but maybe it does. I did notice when I'm in Cambria Twp/Route 22, I kept hearing 453.4875 making scratchy like noises as if someone was talking but sounding like a bee or something, or a speaking going bad. That's similar to how Central Ops 1 sounds in Johnstown, a little hard to understand but it's probably like the old towers where ops are only on the towers for that location like Central on Central Towers and South on South Towers.

 

[n3uhh]

Listening to the new system, everything sounds awesome! The sound quality of Fire and EMS dispatch frequencies are better than anything I've heard since the front console at Richland Fire Central! (and no teletype!) I sort of wish the operations and also police frequencies were more widely simulcast, but it's still all good. I wonder if any other upgrades are coming--Dan did you hear if Central police are still switching to the north frequency... It also seems that Central, Metro, and JFD frequencies haven't been upgraded thus far. It's been enjoyable listening over the past few days--like a dream come true!!






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Dispatcher 83

 

[druhe]

Listening to the new system, everything sounds awesome! The sound quality of Fire and EMS dispatch frequencies are better than anything I've heard since the front console at Richland Fire Central! (and no teletype!) I sort of wish the operations and also police frequencies were more widely simulcast, but it's still all good. I wonder if any other upgrades are coming--Dan did you hear if Central police are still switching to the north frequency... It also seems that Central, Metro, and JFD frequencies haven't been upgraded thus far. It's been enjoyable listening over the past few days--like a dream come true!!






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Dispatcher 83

Richland Fire Central, now your talking old time dispatching, it didn't get any better, believe me know ! Dispatcher 4 at your service ..

Well there is no need to simulcast the operations channels, their coverage is better than expected anyway. Central police was scheduled to move, however coverage into the 869 corridor was determined to be unacceptable, so that change is on hold and back in the engineers lap. City police and fire channels are on the new system and appears to be working fine. There is an issue with some intermod with a nearby paging terminal. The problem maybe corrected by now as I have not heard it for several days. There are a few other minor problems being worked out but that's to be expected with a project this size.

That's all I have for today

 

[RedPenguin]

Alright no simulcast but....?

Richland Fire Central, now your talking old time dispatching, it didn't get any better, believe me know ! Dispatcher 4 at your service ..

Well there is no need to simulcast the operations channels, their coverage is better than expected anyway. Central police was scheduled to move, however coverage into the 869 corridor was determined to be unacceptable, so that change is on hold and back in the engineers lap. City police and fire channels are on the new system and appears to be working fine. There is an issue with some intermod with a nearby paging terminal. The problem maybe corrected by now as I have not heard it for several days. There are a few other minor problems being worked out but that's to be expected with a project this size.

That's all I have for today

Alright, I admit under normal circumstances ops channels do not have to be simulcasted which I assume you mean like Central Ops being on every tower instead of just central towers.

My question is how will the new system help in a major problem or disaster?

One of the major problems during 9/11 seemed to be the Fire Departments and Police Departments organizing into a giant unit and all cooperating with each other.

Let's say something big happens and the entire county needs to be able to talk to each other or just something small like Addams Twp from Central Ops and Richland from South needs to talk, are there patches or something so they can talk? Or does Cambria (Dispatch) just use diff dispatchers to relay between channels?

The big thing I see is interoperability. My other question is can Fire, EMS, and Police talk to CamTran+ (Rural Division) as well as just CamTran (Urban)? I mean I know sometimes Urban is used for evacs and rehabs but what about if something happens in Ebensburg and they need CamTran, I mean I guess you can go through dispatchers but not after 4:30PM and defiantly not on a Saturday or Sunday at any time.

So again to sum up my entire post, how does this new system help up in interoperability between different parts of the county, not just Central talking to other Central units, but perhaps South talking to Central.

 

[n3uhh]

Richland Fire Central, now your talking old time dispatching, it didn't get any better, believe me know ! Dispatcher 4 at your service ..

Thanks Dan, nice post. I remember those day's well, "KYU839", and your boss--Dispatcher 1--he was the best in the business. So many memories...I'll never forget the morning of the '77 flood, listening to him when he pretty much took over coordinating all of the units on county fire. When I had arrived at Cambria, he had already departed, so I never got to work with him.

Regarding the operations frequencies, I guess my question should be whether each tower has a seperate frequency. For example, does Pendelton have Central Ops 1 and New Germany Central Ops 2, or are all of the Central Ops out of the New Germany site...regarding police, since Rt 869 is a coverage issue, apparently the plan was to dispatch the central cars out of the Carrolltown site rather than simulcast Carrolltown and New Germany together. In the same vein, years ago when East Conemaugh was operating on south, there was always problems for them to hit the Industrial park site---I am curious how it is different now that they switched back to south--I assumed they just did a simulcast over Cover Hill. Thanks for your previous reply Dan, the info is appreciated!!!

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Dispatcher 83