These projects tend to be multi-year efforts, particularly when the supply chain is affected by global events. There is a new site in far western Maryland that is on an extended timeline because demand for the precast concrete shelters is high (BBB funding) and production cannot keep up (labor shortage). That said, I believe the King George project is making use of existing facilities when able, so it could be fairly quick build out when compared to a large county system that might have 20+ sites. and new tower construction is involved.
King George Migrating to 700 MHz P25
- Thread starter dtscho
- Start date
They are staging equipment in their EOC for servers and control stations I've heard. So its still a work in progress.
Linuxcave
Member
Excerpt from the 4/16/24 board of supervisors minutes:
That was a system that was going to be implemented
here in the county. To this day, I want to go through and show some of the progress, where
we are at, some of the construction steps and where we are today with the project. Just a
quick overview, the purpose of the system is to go from a conventional system to a trunked
system. This is going to allow for more simultaneous conversations in the county, and that
way emergency services can have more conversations at one time and be able to
effectively communicate with each other without stepping on each other. This allows for
EMS dispatch and the sheriff's office to be able to talk all at one time if there's multiple
emergencies going on. So it is a pretty significant step. We are upgrading two existing
sites. One of the sites is down at Acura Auto and the EMS Tower behind the old school.
There are four new sites, one off Luca Road, one in Kings Mill, one next to the Hillcrest
Hotel and Sealston out going towards Fredericksburg. Let us see if I can get this right here.
All Right. So I was able to go around and get some pictures. We have construction crews
come out and prepare some of the sites. So they were able to dig it up and level the
ground, prepare foundations so that we can put new shelters in, new generators and
propane tanks, that way every site is self-sufficient and can stay supported through
inclement weather. Inside the shelters, you have your new system, the microwave system
and the radio system are being installed. We have installed all brand-new antennas and
microwaves on all the sites. So we are getting much closer to completion and we are
completing the construction phase now, and we are aligning and pathing all of our
antennas to make sure that the county has the coverage that it was promised. All right, so
what is coming up? So testing and optimizing is what is going to be our biggest next step,
and we want to make sure that we are ensuring all the dispatch facilities and emergency
vehicles are all equipped. So all of the new radios have been installed in the fire trucks and
in the sheriff's vehicles. Coming up next, we will have all the schools and school buses,
they will be connected into the service, so they will be able to directly contact emergency
services through this network. And the whole entire purpose is to have a safer King George
County by having all these services come together. And the project completion, we are
looking at the beginning of August, end of July. It should be done by then.
That was a system that was going to be implemented
here in the county. To this day, I want to go through and show some of the progress, where
we are at, some of the construction steps and where we are today with the project. Just a
quick overview, the purpose of the system is to go from a conventional system to a trunked
system. This is going to allow for more simultaneous conversations in the county, and that
way emergency services can have more conversations at one time and be able to
effectively communicate with each other without stepping on each other. This allows for
EMS dispatch and the sheriff's office to be able to talk all at one time if there's multiple
emergencies going on. So it is a pretty significant step. We are upgrading two existing
sites. One of the sites is down at Acura Auto and the EMS Tower behind the old school.
There are four new sites, one off Luca Road, one in Kings Mill, one next to the Hillcrest
Hotel and Sealston out going towards Fredericksburg. Let us see if I can get this right here.
All Right. So I was able to go around and get some pictures. We have construction crews
come out and prepare some of the sites. So they were able to dig it up and level the
ground, prepare foundations so that we can put new shelters in, new generators and
propane tanks, that way every site is self-sufficient and can stay supported through
inclement weather. Inside the shelters, you have your new system, the microwave system
and the radio system are being installed. We have installed all brand-new antennas and
microwaves on all the sites. So we are getting much closer to completion and we are
completing the construction phase now, and we are aligning and pathing all of our
antennas to make sure that the county has the coverage that it was promised. All right, so
what is coming up? So testing and optimizing is what is going to be our biggest next step,
and we want to make sure that we are ensuring all the dispatch facilities and emergency
vehicles are all equipped. So all of the new radios have been installed in the fire trucks and
in the sheriff's vehicles. Coming up next, we will have all the schools and school buses,
they will be connected into the service, so they will be able to directly contact emergency
services through this network. And the whole entire purpose is to have a safer King George
County by having all these services come together. And the project completion, we are
looking at the beginning of August, end of July. It should be done by then.
Has anybody been able to identify a control channel yet? I tried today, based on the given timeline for project completion being within the next month. I couldn't find anything that matched up to the licensed frequencies.
Linuxcave
Member
I have been monitoring their new frequencies but have not received anything, I drove past one of their tower sites hoping close call would catch something but received nothing. The end of July go live seem doubtful at this point.
Linuxcave
Member
Looks like the system went live today
Linuxcave
Member
correction, partially online, i get a signal but not activity
Linuxcave
Member
I hope the power is just turned down but here is what I have captured so far, no usage but here is the system info.
I'm getting a strong signal on my G4 from Spotsylvania. I think the nearest site is in Sealston. I can surely monitor for any TGs that populate.
I'm seeing 769.60625 as the control channel also. I was at a stoplight and didn't have a chance to jot down the NAC.
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Encrypted group calls seen on Talkgroup 107 with Radio IDs 25 (8 seconds) and 27 (3 seconds) probably from the technicians.
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Control channel also had a "CHANGEME" message for 774.49375 making a 5th frequency. This and the above 4 frequencies are licensed as WRWE359. Control channel (and all frequencies) went silent just before 2 p.m. but returned later.
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The BSI=CHANGEME message likely indicates they have not loaded the FCC callsign into the control channel software.
(I did not see Linuxcave's message until later.)
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Also, I did hear clear voice "Test test test" at 3:11 p.m. from radio ID 27 on talkgroup 106.
Linuxcave
Member
Is it too early to submit this system to the database?
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I thought you or fredva would do it.
By the way, in case you were not watching, Radio ID 84 has also appeared. Heard more "test test" in the clear and talkgroups 101 and 107 have also appeared/
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Three groups have been heard. Encryption and several in the clear tests. But purpose for the group not known yet as these are the technicians.
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As expected from previous post, I hear a cw ID as "CHANGEME" at 28 and 58 minutes past the hour (every 30 minutes) on 774.49375 as a previous post indicated the control channel instructed. It will be interesting to see when they change that.
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