Huntsville Area SouthernLink

[Caddop22]

I have recently heard a few transmissions on the Hsv Public Safety system referring to SouthernLink.

I heard a transmission of HFD Tac 4 where a firefighter told another to turn on his SL radio. I also heard an HPD officer refer to his SL radio.

I have never heard anyone speak of them until the last few weeks. Is this something that is migrating up to Northern Alabama, or has it always been in place?

Has anyone else heard of them being used up this way?

Thanks for any input,
Ken

 

[MESDA6]

SouthernLinc

I have done some work with various Emergency Management Agancies in Alabama. They use Southern Linc to communicate among agencies and with the state. Someone local will need to provide specifics on how they are setup/networked. It is a Push To Talk Service similar to Nextel and other carriers.

Here's the link: http://www.southernlinc.com/index.asp

Hope this helps.

Don

 

[wwhitby]

SouthernLinc offers a pretty good deal to public safety personnel and their family members. I can't remember the particulars, but I remember seeing the details of one of those specials, and it substantially beat the good deal I got with T-Mobile.

BTW, don't forget that SL is an iDEN SMR, not a cellular service.

Warren

 

[kingpin]

It's becoming more commonplace for agencies to take personal or sensitive communications over to another medium. We do that here in Baldwin County not only because it keeps Joe Scanner out of the loop, but it's efficient. Most agencies carry them as a secondary means of communication now.

 

[713]

Southernlinc has had coverage in the HSV area since they built out their network. However, I haven't heard of public safety using it here until now. (Except EMA). Over the past few years, I have known Madison city to use Nextel radios for the type of comms mentioned.

 

[RevGary]

I think Kingpin might remember back in September 2004 when Hurricane Ivan came calling - SouthernLinc was down for nearly two weeks up to 30 miles inland in southern Baldwin County, while standard Public Safety two way radio systems that were damaged were back up in less than 3 days in most cases. Even Alltel Cellular was back on in days, not weeks.

 

[wwhitby]

I think Kingpin might remember back in September 2004 when Hurricane Ivan came calling - SouthernLinc was down for nearly two weeks up to 30 miles inland in southern Baldwin County, while standard Public Safety two way radio systems that were damaged were back up in less than 3 days in most cases. Even Alltel Cellular was back on in days, not weeks.

SL going down has happened around my part of the woods twice this Spring. Once was when the tornado hit Prattville back in February. SL also went down in Montgomery county due to bad weather on one occasion. In both cases, it was hours instead of days, but still it was down.

SL may be fine for admin or chit chat, but I can't see why anyone (like the EMA) would use it as a primary comm system.

Warren

 

[morganAL]

Easy. They practically give the agency the phone/radio and all they have to do is buy the airtime (which is on State Contract). Plus they can talk to their buddy in another part of the state with the push of a button.

SL may be fine for admin or chit chat, but I can't see why anyone (like the EMA) would use it as a primary comm system.

Warren

 

[emcom]

Yes, several city depts have been assigned linc radios....non emergency services such as trash, busses, etc. Police/Fire supervisors would only use for secondary comms.

 

[N_ALSCAN]

If you heard HPD communications referring to Southern Linc, it was very likely that the comms were occurring between S.T.A.C. officers. The STAC team is the narcotics division of the Police Dept. Officially, it is a team controlled by the District Attorney Office, and it's members are provided by Huntsville Police Dept, Madison County Sheriff Dept., DEA agents, and several of the other surrounding counties. I believe Marshall County still has a presence on the team. They have moved most of their communications off the Huntsville trunked system, and onto a private talkgroup on Southern Linc.

Last year, HPD attempted to replace the shift phones, which is the phone carried by the watch commander, and the phones for the School Resource Officers with Southern Linc phones. This was a disaster, as they were not properly tested for coverage in the areas where they would be used.

One glaring example of a coverage hole was the entire South precinct. I believe Southern Linc had to place a BDA amplifier in the precinct to provide coverage. Also, I believe there were numerous problems of no coverage inside many of the schools.

During the Gov Siegelman tenure, I had heard that the State spent about $80K, per month, for Southern Linc service. Supposedly, this was from a contract with the State Finance Dept (which apparently is in charge of communications systems for the State.) Coincidently, the Finance director (at that time) was a previous Southern Company executive.

Rob
N_Alscan
Huntsville, AL

 

[Caddop22]

Yes, several city depts have been assigned linc radios....non emergency services such as trash, busses, etc. Police/Fire supervisors would only use for secondary comms.

This explains why quite a few of the TGID's are no longer active. Thanks for the info.