Issues with 9/11 report

[zerg901]

https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/NCSTAR/ncstar1-8v1.pdf ... 300 pages

Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster ... The Emergency Response Operations

There might be some major issues in this report in regards to the FDNY VHF radio system.

First ... Can anyone confirm that 154.43 simplex was "Command 1" and 153.89 simplex was "Command 2"? ie they would turn off the Citywide Repeater system (154.43R 153.89in} and utilize the 2 freqs as 2 distinct simplex channels? maybe with "Command 2" for chiefs only?

Second ... you can search the report for 153.89 ... on page 184 of 296 they say the repeater has an output of 153.89 ... but on page 186 of 296 it shows an repeater output of 154 mhz ... me thinks page 184 is wrong ... seems that the repeater inputs and outputs got confused and reversed

Third .... something tells me this report is somewhat off the mark in regards to FDNY radio comms on 9/11 .... for example ...one person across the street from WTC1 or WTC2 with a 2 watt portable radio would have had clear comms all the way to the top of the building (on one side] ... so the loss of the WTC repeater should not have made a huge difference

 

[fredva]

Don't know the details on this specific system, but if you switch a radio to a "talkaround" frequency, it will transmit and receive on the repeater output frequency, which means it bypasses the repeater because the repeater input frequency is not being used. There's no need to turn the repeater off; the radio just doesn't transmit through it.

 

[Outerdog]

This should end well.

What basis do you have for disputing the facts as presented in the report?

The report is organized by section numbers and actual page numbers. Figures and tables are also identified. You might have a better discussion if you referenced things appropriately.

Figure 7-2 (on page 132) is clearly presented as an example and should not be used as a comparison to the information presented in 7.3.3 (page 130).

As to your third point, there were many things happening that day which fall into the category of "never in a million years". As such, there were likely many things improvised. It is not safe to assume that one person with a 2 watt portable standing across the street would have "clear comms" as you assert.

What is your point, exactly? Do you really think you've "cracked the case"?

 

[KevinC]

I really see no merit in rehashing a 16 year old document. Maybe you can take this issue up with the NIST.

Closing.