Cobb County TDMA X2

[rapidcharger]

Actually they had lunch at copelands here on barrett and had a meeting or presentation at cobb safety village about the new radio system..."ribbon cutting"

No self-respecting mover and shaker would be seen at copelands. Next time the ceremony should be held at Chops or Bones or Mckendricks or Kevin Rathbuns or if they insist on chain restaurants then maybe Flemings. They've worked so hard on the next phase of the project they deserve it.

Copelands. .. please.

Sent using my beta tester iPhone 7 using Tapatalk.
Ssh though. just dont tell anyone.

 

[MTS2000des]

They've worked so hard on the next phase of the project they deserve it.

Copelands. .. please.

They may only be able to afford Steak n Shake or Waffle House...and after the replacement of all 3,000 plus subscriber units, maybe Taco Bell or Wendy's value menu.

 

[rapidcharger]

The cost of a red carpet photo shoot and black tie dinner is a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of a R2W system. They can't be eating at waffle house.

Sent using my beta tester iPhone 7 using Tapatalk.
Ssh though. just dont tell anyone.

 

[MTS2000des]

The cost of a red carpet photo shoot and black tie dinner is a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of a R2W system. They can't be eating at waffle house.

They are probably holding out for the grand opening gala at the upcoming Race to Waste stadium, which the cost of a new radio system pales in comparison to. ($400 million dollars and rising)

 

[ButchGone]

So, given the history of conversions to Phase 2 in Georgia, will Cobb also start encryption?
BG..

 

[K4SVT]

No...they will be capable though...im moving to FL...as long as my xts2500 holds up until feb 20th...im good...then on to the east coast...EDACS world..its been real you radio heads have a good one..thanks for all your help here in GA..

 

[rapidcharger]

No...they will be capable though...im moving to FL...as long as my xts2500 holds up until feb 20th...im good...then on to the east coast...EDACS world..its been real you radio heads have a good one..thanks for all your help here in GA..

You're moving to florida? Where in florida?

 

[K4SVT]

Titusville...10min from Kennedy Space Center..

 

[MTS2000des]

You're moving to florida? Where in florida?

Watch out residents of Brevard county.
I hear they have zero tolerance for many things, I am sure hacking their EDACS TRS is one of them. Even standing on the street with a cellphone can cause this to happen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBWLYBHWv-4

I can only imagine what would happen if they caught one with an M-RK with their radio traffic blasting out of it.

 

[MTS2000des]

So, given the history of conversions to Phase 2 in Georgia, will Cobb also start encryption?
BG..

The fleet map is not changing other than enabling TDMA.

Use of encryption on Cobb has always been restricted to those who need it: MCS, CID, SWAT.

The public safety in this county is much more pro-actively engaged with keeping it's citizens informed than most others in this regions, not just by NOT hiding dispatch traffic, but the use of social media to keep us abreast of all our ongoing crime and traffic problems that go hand in hand with a Race to Waste stadium.

Cobb, Marietta, Smyrna and the other cities use Nixle, Facebook, and Cobb PD has had the PENS system for many years now. They really do "lead and others follow" in this regard. Unlike some counties in the metro area, which apparently are not proud of what their police officers do, nor do they believe in letting their citizens know of breaking incidents of importance, like missing kids, violent crime with fleeing suspects, dangerous weather or road incidents.

In those areas, you must keep tuned into your local media outlets for such information.

 

[rapidcharger]

Titusville...10min from Kennedy Space Center..

I used to live in that area. Brevard county has the friendliest people of anywhere I've lived before. Despite that video that was just posted. You can have a lot of fun with radio there.

Sent using my beta tester iPhone 7 using Tapatalk.
Ssh though. just dont tell anyone.

 

[MTS2000des]

You can have a lot of fun with radio there.
.

I'll bet there are lots of repeaters to obsessively kerchunk. I imagine after February 20th, the repeaters in Brevard county will be going kerchunk, kerchunk, kerchunk...like leaf blowing, kerchunking repeaters seems to be a fetish for some folks.

 

[RobertsRadio]

What is the source of this information? We are a user on the system and were given totally different information that indicated a much earlier time frame, and procured phase 2 radios earlier in the year as a result of that information.

Obviously, the person at your employer who is in charge of the radios was either told a different date than the other users on the system, was not listening very well when the County originally gave a date or decided to expedite the date on his/her own in order to get your employer to go ahead and purchase radios. I have a friend who works for one of the cities in northern Cobb County who told me in August or September of last year that they were originally given a deadline of January 1, 2018 to have all radios replaced. However, I spoke with my friend last week and I understand representatives of the six cities in Cobb County have been negotiating a new radio contract with the County and there has been discussion about changing the deadline to have all radios replaced by pushing it back to January 1, 2019. Since the radio contract hasn't been finalized then we will have to wait to see what they finally agree on.

 

[MTS2000des]

Obviously, the person at your employer who is in charge of the radios was either told a different date than the other users on the system, was not listening very well when the County originally gave a date or decided to expedite the date on his/her own in order to get your employer to go ahead and purchase radios.

The decision to replace the radios was dependent upon information given to them by a radio manager who is on this forum. Maybe that person will pipe up. I was not involved with that procurement decision. In my particular unit we procured NXDN radios (at my urging) for our use as a backup communications tool.

However, I spoke with my friend last week and I understand representatives of the six cities in Cobb County have been negotiating a new radio contract with the County and there has been discussion about changing the deadline to have all radios replaced by pushing it back to January 1, 2019. Since the radio contract hasn't been finalized then we will have to wait to see what they finally agree on.

This is interesting. I will have to reach out to some of my contacts and get more information on this.

None the less, potentially good news for scanner listeners who won't have to run out and replace their phase 1 stuff just yet if this is in fact the case.

 

[K4SVT]

Just so you guys know EDACS in my county sounds better than a P25 system...

 

[RobertsRadio]

What about Forsyth County? Since they have "mutual aid" on the Cobb system, are they going to convert their system to Phase II as well?

If my understanding of how Phase 2 works is correct then Forsyth County will eventually migrate to Phase 2 compliant radios and infrastructure, if they do not have these already, but until the time when Forsyth County is ready to change the Cobb System can handle both Phase 1 and Phase 2 transmissions system wide at the same time. Each talk group in the system can be programmed to be either FDMA only, TDMA only or set to operate in either mode based on what type of radio is selected to a specific talk group. When a radio affiliates the system controller knows if it is an FDMA only radio or if is an FDMA & TDMA radio. This allows the system to select the mode based on the type of radios on a specific talk group and allows the best utilization of system resources (the channels). Example: Lets say the Cobb County Sheriff's Department is the only department on the Cobb System that has all Phase 2 compliant radios and the radio system administrator has set the Cobb County Sheriff Talk group #1 to operate in both FDMA & TDMA modes. When the radios used by Cobb County Sheriff's personnel are the only radios affiliated on Cobb County Sheriff's Talk group #1 the system will put all transmissions on this talk group in TDMA. If a Forsyth County Sheriff's radio that is only Phase 1 affiliates on the Cobb County Sheriff's Talk group #1 then all transmissions on this talk group will be broadcast in FDMA until there are no longer any FDMA radios affiliated on this talk group.

This is a great concept and definitely takes advantage of spectrum usage, but like any form of new technology there are some draw backs that could create problems for field personnel until all radios on a system are Phase 2 compliant and the majority of the talk groups are set to TDMA only mode. One of these is when an agency with Phase 1 only radios has been use to scanning the primary dispatch talk groups for other agencies on the system and an agency acquires all Phase 2 compliant radios then the radio system administrator sets that agency's primary dispatch talk group to either TDMA only mode or to operate in both FDMA and TDMA modes. The Phase 1 only users cannot hear radio traffic on a talk group when transmissions are in TDMA mode even though the Phase 1 user has the other agency's talk group in their scan list. This could result in important information not being heard that was transmitted about an incident in a neighboring county police zone. Example: An armed robbery occurs in a Cobb County Police Zone just outside the City of Kennesaw and Kennesaw PD officers routinely scan the talk group used by the Cobb Police Zone adjacent to their City, but this Cobb Police Zone switched out all of their Phase 1 only radios today for Phase 2 compliant equipment and the radio system administrator set their dispatch talk group to operate in both FDMA and TDMA. If only Phase 2 compliant radios are affiliated to this Cobb Police Zone's dispatch talk group then the Kennesaw PD officers who normally scan this Cobb Police Zone's radio traffic wouldn't be able to hear the conversations about the armed robbery on this talk group. A lookout on the armed robber's car is transmitted on the Cobb Police Zone's talk group and it is headed toward Kennesaw, but before the Cobb Police Dispatcher can pick up the phone to call Kennesaw PD's dispatcher a Kennesaw PD Officer sees the car speeding down Main Street and executes a traffic stop. What do you think will happen and the outcome will be? If the outcome is bad will the radio system be to blame?

 

[MTS2000des]

If my understanding of how Phase 2 works is correct then Forsyth County will eventually migrate to Phase 2 compliant radios and infrastructure, if they do not have these already, but until the time when Forsyth County is ready to change the Cobb System can handle both Phase 1 and Phase 2 transmissions system wide at the same time.

The zone core is what determines the capability, and the recent uplift to 7.14 added phase 2 with DDM (dynamic dual mode) which allows for talkgroups to support FDMA and TDMA.

You raised some valid concerns which any system manager has to consider when migrating a large fleet to a new core. Running DDM can limit the capacity of RF channels across zone boundaries and thus limit the useable RF capacity of the network overall. In a DDM configuration, if ONE FDMA subscriber registers (affiliates) with a DDM talkgroup, then ALL members of that TG are forced to FDMA. This means that channel capacity is cut in half.

Conversely, if a talkgroup is provisioned as TDMA only, an FDMA subscriber radio will be denied registration on it.

Thus, when sharing a zone core like Cobb is doing through their IGA with Forsyth, everyone must be on the same sheet of music during any new fleet mapping and subscriber replacement cycles. Then there is the issue of interoperability with outside agencies who may still be using phase 1 hardware, which for all practical purposes, is the majority of the metro Atlanta area (Fulton, COA, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Walton, etc). All those radio ID's are likely FDMA only.

As far as Forsyth county roaming, it is my understanding that very few radio ID's are provisioned for wide area (interzone) roaming as most of their users don't need to be on Cobb county sites. But I may be wrong.

As far as the Cobb fleet replacement, my guess is it will be done in phases and the talkgroups would only then be modified in provisioning manager to reconfigure them to enable TDMA. Whether or not DDM is enabled is a decision the system manager would have to make and not an easy one to do.

From what I have heard, some of the cities are not so warm and fuzzy about having to replace their entire radio fleet of barely broken in phase 1 subscriber hardware, especially considering the ASTROnomical cost of phase 2 gear. But that's life in the fast lane in the new home of the Race to Waste stadium!

I'm sure you've heard that money trees grow in this county.