Erie County P25 System

[scnrfrq]

As far as I know, Presque Isle State Park in Erie is part of the state Opensky system. But I found this FCC license page, and now I wonder if Presque Isle is on separate system. Can someone look at this and let me know if you can tell if this is an Opensky system, or maybe a P25 instead? I'm not sure if they will join the new Erie County system or not later this year. ULS License - PubSafty/SpecEmer/PubSaftyNtlPlan,806-817/851-862MHz,Trunked License - WPQE661 - COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

 

[jland138]

There's a pending application with the Erie County Department of Public Safety for 460.1000:

ULS License - Public Safety Pool, Conventional License - WQZD326 - ERIE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

Looks they are finally going to take over dispatch for the East Erie County police departments. There's a note about in the RR DB. Did the Wesleyville, Lawrence Park, and North East decide against joining the new P25 Phase II system?

 

[Railbender]

There's a pending application with the Erie County Department of Public Safety for 460.1000:

ULS License - Public Safety Pool, Conventional License - WQZD326 - ERIE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

Looks they are finally going to take over dispatch for the East Erie County police departments. There's a note about in the RR DB. Did the Wesleyville, Lawrence Park, and North East decide against joining the new P25 Phase II system?

This may be the TAC frequency mentioned in the referenced note; "When this takes place Wesleyville PD, Lawrence Park PD, and North East PD will be dispatched on 1 repeater frequency. All departments will have their own simplex frequencies for Car to Car and Tactical operations."

 

[scnrfrq]

There's a pending application with the Erie County Department of Public Safety for 460.1000:

ULS License - Public Safety Pool, Conventional License - WQZD326 - ERIE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

Looks they are finally going to take over dispatch for the East Erie County police departments. There's a note about in the RR DB. Did the Wesleyville, Lawrence Park, and North East decide against joining the new P25 Phase II system?

I just received this update from the 911 Center Director:
"The East County Emergency Communications Center will remain independent of Erie County Dispatch; however, East County Emergency Services (police, fire, EMS) including East County Dispatch have opted-in to the new P25 NG Radio System for early 2018".

 

[scnrfrq]

Here's another update from the 911 Center Director:
"A public meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 21st at the Perry Hi-Way Hose Company, 8281 Oliver Road, Summit Township.

The Presque Isle State Park Rangers will continue to operate on the State 800 MHz Radio System for daily operations; however, an ISSI Interface has been considered (established) to provide for interoperability between systems."

 

[scnrfrq]

The Erie County Department of Public Safety will host a public meeting to provide an update on the progress in the procurement and implementation of the county’s Next Generation Public Safety Radio System.

The meeting, which is open to the public, will be Wednesday, June 21, at 6 p.m. at the Perry
Hi-Way Hose Company (Station 43) Social Hall, 8281 Oliver Road in Summit Township.
The project update and discussion will be facilitated by Mike McGrady, president of MCM Consulting Group, and John Grappy, director of Public Safety. In addition, representatives from radio manufacturer E.F. Johnson will be in attendance to provide information on the system design and to address questions from emergency service providers and the general public.

The goal of the project is to migrate current county radio systems to a common platform, providing a technologically advanced communications system that meets the needs of all Erie County residents and first responders.

Emergency service providers and the general public are encouraged to attend.

 

[Railbender]

The Erie County Department of Public Safety will host a public meeting to provide an update on the progress in the procurement and implementation of the county’s Next Generation Public Safety Radio System.

The meeting, which is open to the public, will be Wednesday, June 21, at 6 p.m. at the Perry
Hi-Way Hose Company (Station 43) Social Hall, 8281 Oliver Road in Summit Township.
The project update and discussion will be facilitated by Mike McGrady, president of MCM Consulting Group, and John Grappy, director of Public Safety. In addition, representatives from radio manufacturer E.F. Johnson will be in attendance to provide information on the system design and to address questions from emergency service providers and the general public.

The goal of the project is to migrate current county radio systems to a common platform, providing a technologically advanced communications system that meets the needs of all Erie County residents and first responders.

Emergency service providers and the general public are encouraged to attend.

That would be a very good time NOT to bring up encryption! The radio people are aware of it but any politicians there may not be and lets not give them any ideas.

 

[scnrfrq]

That would be a very good time NOT to bring up encryption! The radio people are aware of it but any politicians there may not be and lets not give them any ideas.

Good idea! I think I recall in looking at the proposal, there are a couple encrypted channels designated for the PD. I am attending the meeting, and will post any significant news.

 

[scnrfrq]

Good idea! I think I recall in looking at the proposal, there are a couple encrypted channels designated for the PD. I am attending the meeting, and will post any significant news.

Well, I did attend the meeting and encryption was brought up by a police chief in the audience. He asked if their dispatch channel could be encrypted, or if a group of police agencies in his area could all encrypt. The answer was the police radios cost more, and encryption could be done for any agency. It wasn't clear to me if all police will be encrypted automatically in the county or not, so I'm trying to get that clarified. They are providing low-power non-repeated encrypted channels already as part of the proposal.

Someone else asked about what scanner listeners could hear, and they talked about how expensive the scanners are now, and how it's difficult for them to monitor P25 systems (?).

Another big thing that came up was a new implementation schedule. Originally testing was to be done in January, 2018, with implementation starting in March. Now, testing won't be done till Spring, with agencies starting to use it in July. Completion not till December. Reason given was they don't want to test till the leaves come out on the trees (?), since testing with no leaves in January wouldn't be a true test. This was never given as a reason before, and all the news agencies are still reporting March as the completion date.

There will be 2 simulcast cells, urban including Erie City and Millcreek as one cell, and the rest of the county as another cell. Hopefully this may cut down on scanner listening problems caused by simulcasting. No new towers have been built yet, as they are only doing core drilling sampling now.

The presentation file of the meeting will be posted on the web soon. I'll provide more info as I get it.

 

[Septa3371CSX1]

They need to do the coverage testing when the leaves are on the trees because it affects signal penetration and coverage.

 

[W3DMV]

Would one of you guys please confirm some info
regarding Presque Isle SP.

Are they using the DNR frequencies (VHF-H) listed
in the RRDB or on the 800 open sky system ?
Perhaps both ?
There have been several heated debates on RR
and no clear answer has emerged..
Thanks...

 

[Railbender]

Would one of you guys please confirm some info
regarding Presque Isle SP.

Are they using the DNR frequencies (VHF-H) listed
in the RRDB or on the 800 open sky system ?
Perhaps both ?
There have been several heated debates on RR
and no clear answer has emerged..
Thanks...

It is all Open Sky now. Rangers, life guards & maintenance.

 

[scnrfrq]

It is all Open Sky now. Rangers, life guards & maintenance.

Agree, that is correct. They are using it, but coverage is terrible for the lifeguards. They plan to stay on the new state VHF system too, but encryption plans are not yet known.

 

[W3DMV]

Thanks for the input..

 

[scnrfrq]

Well, I did attend the meeting and encryption was brought up by a police chief in the audience. He asked if their dispatch channel could be encrypted, or if a group of police agencies in his area could all encrypt. The answer was the police radios cost more, and encryption could be done for any agency. It wasn't clear to me if all police will be encrypted automatically in the county or not, so I'm trying to get that clarified. They are providing low-power non-repeated encrypted channels already as part of the proposal.

Someone else asked about what scanner listeners could hear, and they talked about how expensive the scanners are now, and how it's difficult for them to monitor P25 systems (?).

Another big thing that came up was a new implementation schedule. Originally testing was to be done in January, 2018, with implementation starting in March. Now, testing won't be done till Spring, with agencies starting to use it in July. Completion not till December. Reason given was they don't want to test till the leaves come out on the trees (?), since testing with no leaves in January wouldn't be a true test. This was never given as a reason before, and all the news agencies are still reporting March as the completion date.

There will be 2 simulcast cells, urban including Erie City and Millcreek as one cell, and the rest of the county as another cell. Hopefully this may cut down on scanner listening problems caused by simulcasting. No new towers have been built yet, as they are only doing core drilling sampling now.

The presentation file of the meeting will be posted on the web soon. I'll provide more info as I get it.

Here's the info I received from Erie County on possible encryption on the new system:
"The decision on the encryption for the police channels will be made with a committee made up of staff from the county, MCM and the police departments."

The presentation file from the 6/21 meeting can be found here:
https://www.eriecountypa.gov/county-services/safety-law/erie-county-department-of-public-safety.aspx

 

[Slufoot733]

Interesting info. I was in Erie all last week and had two scanners (an old Uniden 100 channel analog and a GRE PSR-700) operating. I could hear Millcreek PD just fine but nothing from Erie City Police all week. Has the city switched over already?

 

[scnrfrq]

Interesting info. I was in Erie all last week and had two scanners (an old Uniden 100 channel analog and a GRE PSR-700) operating. I could hear Millcreek PD just fine but nothing from Erie City Police all week. Has the city switched over already?

EPD is still using their long-time freqs: 460.05, 460.20, and 460.25.

 

[Alain]

Currently, new Eric County radio system is $3 million under budget!

Erie County Emergency Radio Overhaul Set for Early 2018 Completion

 

[scnrfrq]

Erie County Emergency Radio Overhaul Set for Early 2018 Completion

Don't go by the erroneous headline. Doesn't match the actual date in the article of December, 2018.

 

[jland138]

Looks like the frequencies for Simulcast Cell A (Urban) will be; 460.25, 460.35, 460.45, 460.55, 460.025 and 460.125 and and Simulcast Cell B (Rural) will be: 453.05, 453.175, 453.4125, 453.55, 453.65 and 453.75

ULS License - Public Safety Pool, Trunked License - WQZS950 - ERIE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

(The emission on the license are listed as Phase I, not Phase II. Not sure what that's about.)