First Student Rochester

[k2hz]

ULS License - Industrial/Business Pool, Conventional License - WQJM208 - FINGER LAKES COMMUNICATIONS CO INC - Frequencies Summary

It is interesting that the VHF frequency pair on that Finger Lakes license, 151.655/159.630, is the frequency being used by Rural Metro Ambulance under their own license WQNV259.

There seems to be only a single user on the Finger Lakes 464.450 TRBO but no way to determine who with the encryption in use.

The "15 Panda Dr" control point on the license is no help. There is no such address. There is a 15 Pamda Dr in Irondequoit that is a single family residence. The phone number listed is a cell phone.

 

[DaveNF2G]

That Panda Drive thing sounds familiar. On which license did you see that address?

 

[k2hz]

That Panda Drive thing sounds familiar. On which license did you see that address?

WQJM208 the Finger Lakes license I was discussing.

It is aslo interesting the 464.450 was added to the license later. It was originally just the VHF pair.
I think Rural Metro may have operated under this VHF license before they got their own.

 

[fdny448]

That Panda Drive thing sounds familiar. On which license did you see that address?

ULS License - Industrial/Business Pool, Conventional License - WQJM208 - FINGER LAKES COMMUNICATIONS CO INC

Been creeping on this thread for a while. Thanks for all the info!

 

[Mtnrider]

Transmitter address site 1 VHF = 125 ST PAUL STREET ROCHESTER, NY MONROE County
Transmitter address site 4 UHF = 1000 SOUTH AVE ROCHESTER, NY MONROE County

The other's are "Contact person" address's...AKA "Control points"

Not to say either are correct....been known to happen on FCC license

 

[w2csx]

It's still strange to me why Flower city left out LCN #4??? That just seems very weird to me.

 

[ThePagerGeek]

The licenses and applications tell the tale:

Flower City HAD the 464.4500 under license WNSH508. That expired 5/21/2005.

Finger Lakes licensed the UNUSED frequency of 464.4500 officially 7/30/2010 on WQJM208 after going thru the coordination and Canadian concurrence. (Makes sense since it had been available for 5 years.)

Flower City seemed to have re-licensed 464.4500 on KFK341 officially on 6/24/2013 after coordination, but interestingly, the COSER never went to Canada for concurrence, nor did they get a letter of concurrence from the adjacent user (Finger Lakes). (Reference the application 0005576516:
ULS Application - Industrial/Business Pool, Conventional - 0005576516 - FLOWER CITY COMMUNICATIONS - History

What this tells me:
It looks like Flower City realized they lost 464.4500 and tried getting it back, but now they are sharing it with another user VERY close. It's going to be tough to win the argument since Finger Lakes went through the process correctly, BEFORE they did. (3 years.) Finger Lakes has a VERY good argument for interference.

Lesson learned.... renew your licenses before they expire. Whoopsie... Flower City messed up on this one... now all the buses will have to get reprogrammed, or change channels in the radio to be assigned to the normal trunk.

 

[k2hz]

The major issue here that puts Flower City in bad position is that the KFK341 license is conventional, NOT trunked. That is why there are running the modified version of LTR that uses no signaling except when the channel is active with voice communications.

464.450 has had a variety of co-channel issues that were probably the reason it has not been an active LCN on the trunked system and now has been activated on a stand-alone basis. If it were part of the trunked system under the present circumstances it would be an even bigger mess than it is now. Finger Lakes is not the only co-channel system license of concern. Clearcom has a conventional license at Bristol and Saia has trunked licenses in Cattaraugus Co on the frequency. Early Monday morning I was also hearing another school bus system I think was West Genesee School District in Onondaga County.

As ThePagerGeek says, Finger Lakes is properly licensed and operating in accordance with their license. Flower City is and has been operating a quasi-trunked system under a conventional license which leaves them in a questionable position.

The best short term solution would seem to be to forget about 464.450 and put Colfax on a TG on the main system. The present use of 464.450 with LTR protocol on a single, isolated and shared channel seems to be the worst of all possible alternatives

 

[k2hz]

Breaking news!!--

Flower City has put LCN02 back up on the Flower City Bristol system. It is now running with LCN 01,02 & 03 trunked.

Colfax is now on Bristol TG 0-02-027 and making radio checks with all their buses. The bad news is that some buses are reporting poor reception. Not surprising since the repeater is about 30 miles away and it is shadowed in some parts of Rochester althought it is at a high elevation site.

It sounds like this TG on Bristol may be at least a temporary solution for Colfax. It now seems to be routine communications after all the testing. They refer to Bristol TGs as "Bravo Channels"

Bristol is licensed as a trunked system but it may have its own interference issues. LCN02 461.600 is also licensed to Park Ridge Hospital in Rochester for a conventional repeater. I don't know if Park Ridge is still active but that may be the reason that Flower City has not used 461.600 for a while before today.

UPDATE - Colfax advised all units that radios were to remain on "B-Colfax" (Bristol 0-02-027) tomorrow and until further notice.

 

[fdny448]

Breaking news!!--

Flower City has put LCN02 back up on the Flower City Bristol system. It is now running with LCN 01,02 & 03 trunked.

Colfax is now on Bristol TG 0-02-027 and making radio checks with all their buses. The bad news is that some buses are reporting poor reception. Not surprising since the repeater is about 30 miles away and it is shadowed in some parts of Rochester althought it is at a high elevation site.

It sounds like this TG on Bristol may be at least a temporary solution for Colfax. It now seems to be routine communications after all the testing. They refer to Bristol TGs as "Bravo Channels"

Bristol is licensed as a trunked system but it may have its own interference issues. LCN02 461.600 is also licensed to Park Ridge Hospital in Rochester for a conventional repeater. I don't know if Park Ridge is still active but that may be the reason that Flower City has not used 461.600 for a while before today.

UPDATE - Colfax advised all units that radios were to remain on "B-Colfax" (Bristol 0-02-027) tomorrow and until further notice.

Colfax drivers were told today that "Lightning hit the tower"

 

[w2csx]

Colfax I just heard dispatcher to switch to Bristol repeater "B Colfax"

 

[DaveNF2G]

The phone number for the Panda Drive location is a Verizon cellphone. Has anybody tried calling it?

 

[fdny448]

The phone number for the Panda Drive location is a Verizon cellphone. Has anybody tried calling it?

That would be an employee of Finger Lakes Comm.

 

[w2csx]

Colfax is now back on the Pinnacle Hill site.

 

[ThePagerGeek]

On their trunk? or the 464.4500 frequency again?

 

[w2csx]

Yes they are back on 464.4500

 

[w2csx]

Has of last night and this morning, Colfax told all driver to switch back to Bristal Colfax site!

 

[w2csx]

Colfax is now back on the Pinnacle Hill site.[

 

[k2hz]

An update on the First Student Rochester bus system:

Everything is now back to a normal LTR operation on the Flower City Rochester (Pinnacle Hill) site.

464.450 is no longer isolated and is back as LCN04 on the system. Colfax now has 2 TGs on the system along with a new TG that appears to be supervisors.

https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=1147

 

[w2csx]

I've not heard a thing on any Colfax groups.