Changes coming to AA Fire

[marksmith]

I ran into a weak spot this past week on the west side of BWI along 170 that I never noticed before. Other than that though, I am still getting the system strong in places like Security Blvd, which cannot be assisted/explained by water.

Mark
536/HP1e/HP2e/996P2/996XT/396XT/PSR800/PRO668/PRO652

 

[riveter]

Nor by altitude, Security lies at about or just under 400' AGL, but Catonsville is a little higher than that, so it should theoretically be masked by terrain. Neat.

 

[marksmith]

Could be because it's nearly the only analog things still around that I listen to but it seems some of the recent tech work on the AA system may have done something to reduce the power on the system. As I am driving around I routinely get static/weak reception in places in the county that seem unusual. In some cases, it's likely this is the result of cell towers but it definitely seems like more weak spots than in the past.

On another note - heard some playing around yesterday with a phone patch on the system. Haven't heard that for quite some time.

It used to be that no matter where I put the little dongle antenna for unitrunker I would get a full strength 100 percent health green signal for Anne Arundel County's trunked system.

Noticing that this evening that is no longer the case and a strong 78% yellow signal is what is available.

Does not seem to have much effect radio comms, but it definitely seems like there is less signal strength out there.

This is in line with what some of you are reporting.

Mark
536/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/
396XT/PSR800/PRO668/PRO652

 

[marksmith]

AA is pulling in 100% signal on unitrunker today.

Mark
536/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/
396XT/PSR800/PRO668/PRO652

 

[marksmith]

We are flipping control channels on the Anne Arundel County site this morning.

856.6375 - This is the frequency used for voice that seemed to get the over modulation effect when the signal was analog.

864.5125 - Is this a new frequency on this system? Unitrunker now wants to pull it in and I don't remember anything higher than the 856.6375 voice channel. The system is also marking it as an alternate control channel and I am not seeing any voice comms on it.

Mark
WS1095/536/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PRO652

 

[troymail]

I've sometimes seen weird invalid frequencies on Unitrunker in the past. The frequency isn't part of Anne Arundel County as far as I know and not on the recently renewed licences. Doing a search on fcc.gov, that frequency is listed on any license in the state of Maryland. It does show up on many, many Nextel licenses (most in the western part of the country).

 

[ResQguy]

864.xxxx is no longer a public safety allocation. Looks like a computer glitch.

 

[ThePhotoGuy]

Seems like there was some kind of communication issue in the middle of the night in the 3rd Battalion area. Fire Alarm toned out Fire Alarm 5.

OEM-3 was headed to take MCCU-1 from Station 4 to a Southern part of the County.Chiefs were doing some radio checks also.

Fire Alarm has been on Condition Yellow for the past 30 minutes or so.

Communication Techs channels were active this morning also.

 

[marksmith]

Ultimately it did not sound like they took MCCU-1 anywhere, but I don't know if the problem resolved itself or what.

Mark
WS1095/536/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PRO652

 

[troymail]

All I can say is I watched the control channel thrashing constantly last evening... Not sure I'd ever seen it that crazy jumping around before.

 

[marksmith]

I heard the end of the overnight conversations and by the end there seemed to be less urgency.

I noted that I could not hold the control channel the previous day when I noticed the strange frequency in there. It was going from control to alternate almost minute by minute.

Mark
WS1095/536/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PRO652

 

[troymail]

Sounds like they lost a controller at the Sudley tower and it was fixed in the 1000 hour this morning. Not sure if that means they couldn't communicate from down there at all for a time overnight or the radios starting relying on a tower farther north. Things are bad enough down there with the tower operational - particularly on the western edge near PG County.

 

[maus92]

AACo is on the alternate CC atm.

 

[marksmith]

The last several days I have noticed that when there is a water rescue box running, one of the AA fireboats has the ability to come up now on the Dept of Natural Resources frequencies and has been doing direct comms on the DNR Police channels. Don't think all of them do but i have heard a couple in the past few days. Today one contacted DNR to advise they need not respond to an incident.

This is definitely something new as there was a real void in comms during these incidents.

Mark
WS1095/536/HP1e/HP2e/996P2/996XT/325P2/396XT/PSR800/PRO668/PRO652

 

[maus92]

Hmm, interesting. Wonder if it's a multi band AA radio, or a DNR portable?

 

[marksmith]

Hmm, interesting. Wonder if it's a multi band AA radio, or a DNR portable?

Not sure. I think fireboat 36 is one of the fireboats I heard making direct contact with DNR responding patrol boats today. The patrol boat was inquiring of their base if they were still required on scene. Fireboat 36 broke in on the DNR frequency and advised the responding DNR boat that they could disregard incident, no injuries.

This is the second situation where I have heard this. It may have been the same fireboat on the other occasion. I recorded but don't remember. I am going to guess a DNR portable, since only hearing recently and not from all boats.

They needed some type of comm ability. I don't think all incidents will be this way, but at least as long as this radio/boat is involved they have it.

Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652

 

[K4EET]

<snip> Fireboat 36 broke in on the DNR frequency... <snip>

What is the DNR frequency that you mentioned? TIA! Dave

 

[marksmith]

In my case I was listening to the Solley repeater output on 155.940 but I am sure it was probably also on other repeated output frequencies in the Anne Arundel area.

Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652

 

[ThePhotoGuy]

I was busy and wasn't monitoring. Any idea what happened and when? I would like to check the archives.


From Facebook:

Anne Arundel County Professional Fire Fighters
6 hrs ·
Today, as always, IAFF Local 1563 members went above and beyond to keep the citizens of Anne Arundel County safe. Several members stepped outside their regular assigned duties to assist the Communications center during unexpected difficulties today. Congratulations and Thank You All for a JOB WELL DONE!

 

[FIREBOX2914]

I was busy and wasn't monitoring. Any idea what happened and when? I would like to check the archives.


From Facebook:

Anne Arundel County Professional Fire Fighters
6 hrs ·
Today, as always, IAFF Local 1563 members went above and beyond to keep the citizens of Anne Arundel County safe. Several members stepped outside their regular assigned duties to assist the Communications center during unexpected difficulties today. Congratulations and Thank You All for a JOB WELL DONE!

Nothing to "Check"..... CAD Crashed and all associated programs crashed/stopped working. It was true Pencil & Paper Situation. Apparently office of IT planned it and didnt warn the FD.