Cecil County

[Dispatcher308]

Will Cecil County Stick with 46.180 for Dispatching when they go to the VHF Trunked system or use new VHF Dispatch.

 

[jpsmith2]

I have information that says the new dispatch frequency will be 154.10

 

[ka3jjz]

Not a good choice at all - even with PL, there's going to be problems. BWI fire dispatch uses that, and if memory serves, Caroline County. Under skip conditions, that's not such a good thing....73s Mike

 

[TinEar]

The fact is that there is no VHF frequency that isn't subject to interference from tropo/skip conditions. However, a careful selection of either a PL or DPL tone to go with it would minimize chances of that interference. 154.10 isn't used at all in DE and it's not overly used in PA or NJ either. BWI and Caroline County wouldn't bother them at all unless they did something really stupid like operate in CSQ mode. I like it only because it should be able to be heard from my location whereas a VHF low freq more than likely wouldn't.

 

[ka3jjz]

All too true, but you can have a little more insight into a frequency's use within a certain radius. That brings up an interesting question; just how do they decide on a new frequency in cases such as this? Are there a pool of released or otherwise unassigned frequencies that a manager uses on the FCC db? I would have thought, for example, that one of the old Howard county PD freqs would have been a nearly ideal choice; but perhaps those freqs aren't available yet? They too would be subject to tropo, of course, but at a much lesser chance from a Maryland station.

Nathan? Know anything about this? 73s Mike

 

[mlevin]

I thought the old Howard Co freqs were eaten up by DNR?

 

[skipshark773]

The DNR holds a licence for a majority of them, but I was never able to confirm with them weather or not it was a mutual aid kind of thing or if they were planning on using them.

[edit]: the licence that DNR holds for the old howard county frequencies is WQAM220.

 

[ka3jjz]

Yeah, I'd forgotten that DNR gobbled them up, but I've checked them sporadically and not heard much. Still though the original question is still out there - how does a county find a new frequency to use when they move to a trunk system? It's seems to be a trend that if the old frequency (for fire dispatch) is on low band, then it is moved to a vhf hi freq.

73s Mike

 

[tolley]

154.10 not good for Cecil

I agree with Mike. 154.100 is not a good choice for Cecil. It is only 25 miles by air from the Goldsboro tower in northern Caroline County to the Southern part of Cecil County.

 

[skipshark773]

Still though the original question is still out there - how does a county find a new frequency to use when they move to a trunk system? It's seems to be a trend that if the old frequency (for fire dispatch) is on low band, then it is moved to a vhf hi freq.

73s Mike

I would assume that they would have to go through the FCC and APCO's regional frequency coordinator to select a new frequency? I'm not quite sure, but if that is the case I would hope that they would see the folly of selecting 154.100 for use in cecil...

 

[TinEar]

Can someone be specific about why 154.10 is a poor choice for Cecil? That seems to be the prevailing opinion but I don't get it. If they select a different PL/DPL than Caroline County, there will be absolutely no interference from them - or from anyone else in the four state area that uses a different tone as long as the communications director/manager for Cecil does his homework and makes sure the tone is not duplicated.

How are things going out in Colorado skipshark?

 

[skipshark773]

oh, I didnt read carefully enough before. I thought someone had said that Cecil would be using 154.100 in CSQ. I think with the proper PL/DPL it could be properly utilized.

Colorado is great! Low humidity, mild days, great view! I'm just beginning to get the hang of scanning out here. The State of Colorado has a statewide digital TRS which certanly is different than anything I'd ever handled in the Baltimore area. I do still miss Baltimore though...theres a real shortage of decidious trees out here and my lawn keeps drying out if i dont water it everyday....

[edit]: And how are things for you all in Baltimore? Still tropo chasing?

 

[TinEar]

Yeah, still chasing the signals all up and down the coast. Conditions have stayed great. I've been hearing the FDNY freqs every night for a couple of months now. Mike, you must be far enough west of Denver to be out of the smog basin. Clean, clear air...I sort of remember what that's like. Glad to hear all is going well with you. Stay in touch. And get that Colorado database filled in. <g>

 

[skipshark773]

ah, figures tropo conditions are great as soon as I leave. I'm actually south and west of the smog basin. My backyard is the foothills (literally). As for the Colorado DB, its a bit messy, but ill have that licked in a jiffy.

[/hijack]

 

[WCRadioGuy]

In my experience, it really doesn't matter what paging frequency they use or whether it does or does not have PL or DPL. The pagers aren't really affected by skip unless they are in monitor mode. The paging base should be set up to not repeat audio. This will alleviate the base from not sending tones due to any type of intereference. Doesn't help much for the scanner freaks but, we can't all be happy.

 

[jpsmith2]

I have information that says the new dispatch frequency will be 154.10

I think my previous information was wrong...

I was wondering if 155.52750 would make more sense? I haven't been told that it is the new frequency, but I see in the FCC License table that it is a new license (2005-05-16) listed to Emergency Services, is a conventional channel, and has 1000 paging receivers listed to it.

I do know that Cecil County is providing the volunteer firefighters with personal pagers...

 

[jpsmith2]

Confirming 155.5275 as the dispatch/paging frequency. Listeners will be able to hear dispatch messages & units responding. Units will then switch to a digital ops channel.