CMARC

[firebal]

Well this is a bit of a headache. I am not able to receive CMARC from Towson even with a few sites in the vicinity. Anyone have any ideas? And sorry about all the postings, just have had a bit of time on my hands for my interest in radio again.

 

[maus92]

Well this is a bit of a headache. I am not able to receive CMARC from Towson even with a few sites in the vicinity. Anyone have any ideas? And sorry about all the postings, just have had a bit of time on my hands for my interest in radio again.

CMARC is a bit of a mystery, if not an outright waste of taxpayer's money - FIRST essentially eclipses its usefulness. Similar to DELWIN in Delaware.

 

[tvengr]

Harford Co is about the only user of the CMARC system. Their nine 800 MHz frequencies were incorporated into the system when they upgraded to P25 from the old Harford Co stand-alone Motorola Type II system. I doubt that you will receive Harford Co from Towson. I am about a mile from Harford Co and could not receive it on my SDS100 until I added the Remtronix REM-820S antenna. I believe that the intention of CMARC was to establish an interoperable system for the counties in the Baltimore Metro area.

 

[maus92]

Harford Co is about the only user of the CMARC system. Their nine 800 MHz frequencies were incorporated into the system when they upgraded to P25 from the old Harford Co stand-alone Motorola Type II system. I doubt that you will receive Harford Co from Towson. I am about a mile from Harford Co and could not receive it on my SDS100 until I added the Remtronix REM-820S antenna. I believe that the intention of CMARC was to establish an interoperable system for the counties in the Baltimore Metro area.

It's almost like Harford leveraged its allotment of CMARC frequency resources to create a 700 / 800 MHz TRS, maybe because they couldn't find enough 800 MHz frequencies when they moved from 460 MHz - they were 460 prior? It would be interesting to know the history / design process behind it.

 

[u2brent]

Before the inception of FIRST, There was CMARC.. 2005

Officials unveil communications system for first responders

During the Howard Street Tunnel fire, firefighters from the city and Baltimore County had to exchange radios to talk to one another as they battled the underground inferno.

www.baltimoresun.com

Now it's basically Harford County on it's own..
Perhaps, Someday down the road.. It will just be folded into the FIRST System.. Similar to Franklin Co PA's P25 move. South Central Interoperability Network

 

[maus92]

Before the inception of FIRST, There was CMARC..

Officials unveil communications system for first responders

During the Howard Street Tunnel fire, firefighters from the city and Baltimore County had to exchange radios to talk to one another as they battled the underground inferno.

www.baltimoresun.com

Now it's basically Harford County on it's own..

I'm looking at a ppt from 2004 (apparently there were PowerPoint Rangers back then, too) describing the concept behind CMARC. At that time, it was mostly leveraging 8TACs to be controlled by MEMA ala carte, as it is today. The sites in AACo are fairly low power, the sites in the greater Baltimore area are full power. Interestingly, QACo was included in CMARC at the time.

 

[maus92]

Before the inception of FIRST, There was CMARC.. 2005

Officials unveil communications system for first responders

During the Howard Street Tunnel fire, firefighters from the city and Baltimore County had to exchange radios to talk to one another as they battled the underground inferno.

www.baltimoresun.com

Now it's basically Harford County on it's own..
Perhaps, Someday down the road.. It will just be folded into the FIRST System.. Similar to Franklin Co PA's P25 move. South Central Interoperability Network

Reading the linked article, they mention "An additional 20 to 30 antennas and towers will begin to be installed this summer to expand the coverage area of the radio system to include the metropolitan area, Crist said. The $5 million cost will be funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice..." Pretty sure that never happened.

 

[u2brent]

CMARC's TG's would fit very well with the FIRST TG layout out of the starting box...

 

[maus92]

CMARC's TG's would fit very well with the FIRST TG layout out of the starting box...

I believe there was some actual pre-planning that went into county TG assignments... I'm curious to see what AA and Montgomery county's TG map will look like.

 

[maus92]

It's almost like Harford leveraged its allotment of CMARC frequency resources to create a 700 / 800 MHz TRS, maybe because they couldn't find enough 800 MHz frequencies when they moved from 460 MHz - they were 460 prior? It would be interesting to know the history / design process behind it.

The were likely 460 PRIOR to being on 800, but they migrated their 800s into the county's CMARC cell to create their current TRS. Each county owns their own CMARC site infrastructure apparently.

 

[u2brent]

The old system..

Harford County Trunking System, Bel Air, Maryland

Harford County Trunking System Profile

www.radioreference.com

 

[ThePhotoGuy]

I believe there was some actual pre-planning that went into county TG assignments... I'm curious to see what AA and Montgomery county's TG map will look like.

I believe it is a set of pre-planned talkgroup assignments. Wicomico is the outlier with their odd talkgroup layouts though.

 

[tvengr]

The old system.

Your old system isn't that old. Originally, Harford Co was using 866, 867, and 868 MHz frequencies. When they rebanded the Motorola system, I reprogrammed a lot of scanners for Harford Co firefighters.