Franklin Fire Districts on Somerset TRS

[rr60]

It seems to me that Franklin Township Fire (8A27) may have migrated to the Somerset TRS 500MHZ Site 3 exclusively.

While Franklin has its own 6 channel Smartzone system many have pointed out it’s system likes to failsoft frequently. @FT752

Any solid information on why this is? It would appear to me that it changes the Site 3 Somerset system loading at periods of peak usage.

Many have heard or seen requests “stay off the system” or “return to your legacy system”.

Besides the Franklin District TG‘s, Ops 8 is also popular.

 

[FT752]

Fire Ops 8 is used very often by 23F for their cover assignment coordination. Keeps it off of Ops 4 for the rest of the departments like Somerville while they continue business as usual.

 

[rr60]

A closer look finds Franklin Twsp Districts on both systems continuously.

They appear on their own TRS system AND the Somerset TRS simultaneously, plus the VHF multicasts.

That’s efficient 🤣.

 

[FT752]

I thought the VHF multicasts were shot?

 

[rr60]

Active. 166.250 D3, I will add the others.

Also note all Districts hit out by County. Some on 470 and some on 154.310. They use (2) 154.310 transmitters. One North and one South.

District 3 on the North 154.310 for dispatch.

 

[rr60]

The Franklin system appears to have been restored 6/27 9:47am after yesterday‘s T storm activity. Rolling CC’s though.

 

[rr60]

Whatever happened in Franklin seems to have impacted 911 calls.

SCCC is taking the 911 calls and relaying to Franklin via the PS TG. Franklin must be handling the RWJ details of “where is the squad”.

Also noted an IO TG 1680 on Franklin trying to pin down.

Many EMS calls going over.

I do not recall this in the past.

 

[robbinsj2]

1680 is the County Alarms talkgroup, no?

 

[FT752]

1680 in SmartZone hexadecimal is 690. The County Alarms TG on Somerset County TRS is 069. This matches what was showing on DSD+ when SCC was transmitting over County Alarms with an unknown patch which coincided with an analog multi-select on 1680 via the Franklin TRS' voice channels. Maybe 1% of the transmissions pertained to Franklin; traffic context vastly differed each time if it was anything but 10-4. More PD Region 7 traffic than anything.

This just goes to show how many calls in Franklin slide right past your ears when they keep a lot of inter-facility communication to Fire Main or landline. I also was surprised by the volume of EMS calls. But yes, Franklin Police handles all Police & EMS, so right to MedCentral.

 

[FT752]

1680 is the County Alarms talkgroup, no?

That, but in analog.

 

[GTR8000]

Or just divide TGID 1680 (SmartZone) by 16 to arrive at TGID 105 (ASTRO 25) and you get the match to County Alarms.

 

[rr60]

Things are returning to “normal“. No more double system loading for now. Franklin appears to be back on Franklin TRS and not both systems. At least not for now. How about that?

D1 out on County paging.

 

[rr60]

If talk group airtime on the Somerset TRS Site 3 is really limited ( “go to your legacy systems or Tac channels” ) why does Franklin appear on BOTH Somerset and Franklin Smartzone systems simultaneously?

Today a large drill has both systems burning. District 2.

If Police were isolated to Site 4 and blocked from Site 3 ( I see plenty of LEO denials looking for better coverage) why would Franklin not be isolated to their own multi subsite system.

Seems to me unnecessary system loading is occurring, unless I am missing something.

 

[FT752]

“go to your legacy systems or Tac channels”

Can you elaborate on "go to your legacy systems"? I want to be sure that you're referring to what I think you are, which is Franklin and the temperamental SmartZone.

The Tac channel line comes from what is referred to as "Storm Mode". Not a new line, especially if you've been at the mercy of utilities like PSE&G during these weather events. It's a human thing, not a system thing. When large call influxes occur and the dispatchers at SCC are tied up coordinating, intaking, dispatching, etc., it is distracting to hear nuisance scene chatter 5-times over because agencies delay moving to OPS or PS TACs. In addition to broken transmissions when attempting to talk back to a trunk site from the basement of a house or building multiplied by the factor of td. Solve for bonk /s. Communications on the Fire & EMS Regions during these times are limited to essential messages for units responding to a scene, and those applicable to SCC's responsibilities. Not a one-size-fits-all for every event, but that's the gist.

 

[rr60]

The intent was to use “the now infamous phrase” as method to illustrate the Somerset TRS Site (3) is maxed out with TG time capacity at times.

Hits show Franklin Fire as the leader of Site 3 usage airtime, naturally so, as a result of size and subscribers. While Franklin’s TRS system at times may be troubled, most of the time it is not. The question was intended to highlight TG utilization BOTH systems SIMULTANEOUSLY at times, even during heavy talktime loading. I believe this dual system usage may be relatively new. This practice adds unnecessary loading on the inefficient FDMA Site (3) IMHO. It creates talktime competition and potential conflict.

Wants and needs are different, when it comes to FG communications. This is often validated after investigations by the State DCA Division of Fire Safety following accident injuries. NFPA even chimes in on this. TAC or Simplex can be problematic too. This is especially so when considering FF accountability. After the fact investigations of what may or may not have transpired during an incident can be difficult. This has been noted in the past and regrettably will be noted again in the future.

I concur, there is no on size fits all. Money, RF engineering and training can solve the above problems and many have. It starts at the top, good people, properly qualified, compensated and motivated . The organizations that have addressed this display a higher level of interest in safety and accountability IMHO. BOLO . Still waiting and watching for label makers for (6) x (6) unused GTR8000’s. 😳