Daviess County Officials Hear Options to Replace Communication System
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A few fire departments were given 1 portable radio for the chief to use. And it used with simulcast. It worked very well. That lasted close to a month. Those portables have since been taken away from the FD due to warranty concerns they said. A few deputies are still using them I think.According to the article in the newspaper today, the "live" date of the new system is now projected to occur in mid-summer. Although I'm sure the contract wouldn't allow it, it would be nice if they could start using the new system once the south and east towers are operational since even just having two towers would still be far better than what they're using today. If it were up to me to decide, I would issue portable radios to the deputies and all fire departments in the east and south sides of the county and let them "test" the system during the course of their normal activities with only two towers available . Since they simulcast their VHF frequencies on the new system, they would have both the old and new radio systems in their vehicles so they wouldn't miss any calls.
Work begins on county radio project
Work has started on upgrading the county’s radio system for sheriff’s deputies and firefighters, with plans to have the new system up and running by next summer.www.messenger-inquirer.com
That is what they are doing, joining the city P25 system. The system was set to be operating in December 2021 for the county. Now they are deciding to add a 3rd tower for more coverage so it is now looking like summer-ish 2022 before the switch is made.
So, what are the new DCPS deputies using? I hear the 21xx units sometimes and they always sound great regardless of their location. I thought maybe that since they were a new organization that maybe they had been given 800 MHz radios that operate on the city’s P-25 system, but that’s just my guess. I have to admire the county dispatchers since they often seem to be able to understand transmissions from the units even when they’re pretty much unreadable, although I think they sometimes are “filling in the gaps”. I’m not sure the old VHF system is going to last long enough to make it to mid-summer 2022 since lately the poor transmissions seem to have gotten worse. If I were the county, I would push to have Motorola get the east and south towers operational as quickly as possible and transition everyone over and call it operational. I would look at the west tower to be an enhancement for improved coverage. It’s sad that we’re spending $7 million for a radio system that will have sat unused for nearly a year simply because they had to start from scratch in building their own tower in the west.
Henderson had a similar issue when they went live after testing. They found poor coverage in the east part of the county, but they went live knowing the limitations since they knew the coverage issue would be fixed within a few months. Daviess County may not have great indoor coverage with their portables without the west tower, but their mobiles in the west would likely have success in hitting either the south tower or the city’s tower. If nothing else, as soon as the east and south towers are operational put a mobile in a vehicle and drive around the west part of the county and see how well it works. Should they go live with a partial system that will provide great communications for 80+% of the county or keep using what they have for another 6-9 months and have completely unreliable communications for nearly 100% of the county?
dwh367
Amateur Radio Operator
I recently saw a picture of one of the DCPS cruisers and I didn't see any communications antennas on it at all.
Does anyone have an updated codes and signals list used by DCSO and OPD? There's a list on the Daviess County Wiki page, but it appears to be incomplete. Lately I've been hearing signal 25 and signal 26 that are broadcast without any unit identifier or response by the dispatcher and I can't figure out what they mean.
Update on the new P-25 system: the county commission at their meeting on 26 Jan 22 approved a change order in the amount of $282,000 to construct the 250 foot tower at the landfill using a state master agreement. They said they still expect the system to go live in late Spring to early Summer.
Update on the new P-25 system: the county commission at their meeting on 26 Jan 22 approved a change order in the amount of $282,000 to construct the 250 foot tower at the landfill using a state master agreement. They said they still expect the system to go live in late Spring to early Summer.
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dwh367
Amateur Radio Operator
Right now they're patching Daviess County Sheriff, Daviess County Fire and Daviess County Fireground, to the city's TRS, via Phase 1. This a hopeful sign that maybe they won't go Phase 2.
Sounds like part of the new system is beginning to come online. While doing a scan today I found two new frequencies using the same system ID as the city's P-25 system. The two frequencies I found are 791.96875 and 791.971875. They seem to be simulcasting the city's P-25 trunk groups, although I don't hear traffic on these frequencies every time I do on the city's system so there may be other voice frequencies I haven't yet discovered. I didn't detect a separate control channel for these new frequencies. Both came in clear so no multicast distortion or phase II issues.
dwh367
Amateur Radio Operator
I think you were hearing an image from the city's system. Those frequencies aren't in the 700 MHz public safety band.
I think you're right. After I posted I kept wondering if they were harmonics of the 852 MHz frequencies, especially since they had the same system ID,. I checked the FCC database and didn't see any 700 MHz frequencies assigned to Central Dispatch. I also tried putting those frequencies into my Unication G4 and it told me they were outside the valid range, so that kind of confirmed they weren't valid. Unfortunately RR won't allow me to delete my earlier incorrect message. I keep searching, but unfortunately I haven't found anything new since I heard the new trunk groups for DCSO and DCFD last September.
dwh367
Amateur Radio Operator
That's the odd thing. One would think they would have at least applied for the frequencies by now. I know they're still building it out but they can't even test it until it's licensed.
I was only looking at the frequencies licensed to Central Dispatch. It may be that they applied for additional frequencies under a different name. Then again, it doesn't appear that the current system is overloaded even after DCSO and DCFD were added last year, so maybe they're planning on sticking with what they have now. If they use Phase II that will double the number of voice channels they'll have available, although I don't know if the current city agencies and school systems have Phase II capable radios. I guess the city and schools could keep using Phase I while the county uses Phase II, which would be more efficient that what they have today. The city currently has 7 voice channels in addition to their control channel, which really should be more than enough to meet their needs. The last place I lived , St Clair County, IL, has a Phase I system with 16 voice channels, 10 simulcast tower sites, and over 420 trunk groups (which includes all city/county agencies, Illinois State Police, Illinois Dept of Transportation, and Ameren utility company), and many of the trunk groups were very active. FYI, the P-25 system in Illinois is a state-wide system owned by Motorola that leases the radio service to public agencies, whose radios affiliate with any tower with the strongest signal. A user can travel anywhere throughout the state and their trunk group will follow them regardless of their location.
By the way, I noticed that the control channel changed a few months ago to 852.575 and I no longer hear their previous control channel frequency on 853.8375 being used at all anymore.
btlacer
KI4SJU/ Fire Captain/ EMTFR
So does anyone know if Daviess has officially moved onto Henderson County Towers yet? I was told that the county fire departments are using the towers currently but I have not yet been able to confirm that. I know Henderson operates on 700 while Daviess is on 800 so not sure if they just used our towers to mount their antennas on or if they are actually connected to Hendersons radio system.
dwh367
Amateur Radio Operator
To the best of my knowledge the county is still on analog with 3 patches to the city system. They haven't even started testing the new system yet as they're still building one of the towers.
Markinsac
Member
First responders pull the plug on decades-old radio system (msn.com)
Nothing that says WHAT the new system is going to be - just posting to help people figure it out.
Nothing that says WHAT the new system is going to be - just posting to help people figure it out.
The county license is now pending with the FCC 0010121056
It is an 800 MHz simulcast of 6 channels at three sites:
1) Utica - WBKR tower off HWY 149
2) Owensboro - Broadcast tower off Hobbs Rd by landfill
3) Hawesville - Self supported cell tower off Indian Hill Rd
It is an 800 MHz simulcast of 6 channels at three sites:
1) Utica - WBKR tower off HWY 149
2) Owensboro - Broadcast tower off Hobbs Rd by landfill
3) Hawesville - Self supported cell tower off Indian Hill Rd
dwh367
Amateur Radio Operator
Thanks for the update! Their license was approved by the FCC today ULS License - PubSafty/SpecEmer/PubSaftyNtlPlan,806-817/851-862MHz,Trunked License - WRTP256 - DAVIESS, COUNTY OF - DAVIESS COUNTY COURT HOUSE
Sorry ,I am confused.Looks to me this COUNTY system has NOTHING to do with the Owensboro CITY system?There will be 2 Sep trunked systems? or...
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