Maryland FIRST 700mhz TRS

[dcr_inc]

Kent County Aviation 700MHz

Heard Syscom request Trooper 1 switch to Kent county aviation.. trooper 1 was confused nevertheless stated he did not have any Kent Aviation frequency... Syscom advised it was on the 700 system.. Trooper 1 advised that they do not have 700 in the aircraft yet.. Trooper 1 came up on the Kent Low band freq instead..

If Kent has the 700 aviation Talkgroup operational, who else does?

 

[troymail]

Hmmmm.... if it's an aviation talkgroup/channel/frequency, and the aviation units don't have it yet, is it really "operational"?

 

[troymail]

Latest state update: Governor's Office of Homeland Security

 

[riveter]

See what I mean on there? It's totally fuzzy. One second they're like 'region 1 is done by end of 2012 including MdTA, BCo, Cecil, Harford, and Kent', and the next they seamlessly say 'we have MdTA, Kent, and MSP M on here and that's region 1'

 

[troymail]

See what I mean on there? It's totally fuzzy. One second they're like 'region 1 is done by end of 2012 including MdTA, BCo, Cecil, Harford, and Kent', and the next they seamlessly say 'we have MdTA, Kent, and MSP M on here and that's region 1'

They've always referred to the MdTA and Kent as "Region 1A" --The report seems a like confusing because it says they finished "1" in 2012 but there is the word "partial" in the statement.

My guess is that if Kent hadn't needed to come on line due to narrowbanding, Region 1 would have been completed in 2012.

There must be a reason why the Region 2 is next vs. finishing Region 1 -- I'm guessing one of these:

(1) another shore County has decided to come online with Maryland FiRST, or
(2) to get coverage for the "Ocean Gateway", or
(3) existing newer systems, plenty of money, and/or little interest from Region 1 counties to come onto the state system

As always - just my opinions.... I'm leaning toward #1

 

[dcr_inc]

Kent has the aviation function operational, so yes it's operational as far as ground stations are concerned.

 

[doctordave]

First, a gentle reminder to "Idontknowradio" that discourteous, childlike and petulant conduct is simply not tolerated in these forums. I'm sure you'll present yourself in an appropriately mature and dignified manner on here, going forward.

 

[doctordave]

Regarding the Kent aviation function, I'm curious to see if this will entail the newly designated 700 MHZ medevac/air-ground conventional channels or an actual talkgroup on the 700 system. Of note, the Kent FD radio channel plan includes "MD 6" as one of the first channels encountered - strategically placed right after the FD TAC TGs and Fire Police TG. Within a different radio channel zone for Kent fire units, channel "MD CALL" and channels "MD TAC" 1 through 6 are programmed in. I'm guessing that these "MD" channels are systemwide talkgroups - but time will tell. They are programmed in as distinctly different channels than the various 700 nationwide/standardized conventional channels and the 800 mhz counterparts.

 

[doctordave]

Troy, I noted the same dropoff in system reception during the timeframe you cited, In fact, for a number of hours, I could not get any CC lock - compared to a baseline of great reception. Seems to be coming in OK tonight.

 

[baybum]

GRE files

Does anyone have a P-96 and/or a PSR-500 file for the FIRST system they'd be willing to share here?

It would be much appreciated.

Thanks, and Merry Christmas to all.

Mike

 

[troymail]

Mike - I PMd you

 

[boatbod]

Does anyone have a P-96 and/or a PSR-500 file for the FIRST system they'd be willing to share here?

It would be much appreciated.

Thanks, and Merry Christmas to all.

Mike

Sorry, can't help with your specific request. I would wonder whether a PSR-500 is going to do anything useful on FIRST given that it uses TDMA voice which currently only supported by the PSR-800?

 

[riveter]

http://doit.maryland.gov/interoperability/Documents/MD_SCIP_Report2012.pdf

Copied from Spleen's post in the CMARC thread (for those on this thread not monitoring that one), this gives a basic graphic update on REAL priorities in regards finishing Region 1 [pg 12].

Thanks Spleen.

 

[Spleen]

You could decode CC information, but you need the PSR-800 to follow the conversations.

Sorry, can't help with your specific request. I would wonder whether a PSR-500 is going to do anything useful on FIRST given that it uses TDMA voice which currently only supported by the PSR-800?

 

[screenersam]

sounds like we in the Shore will be next. any specific timetable for Wico/Some/Worc?
this may force me to upgrade my scanner. (hee hee hee)

 

[riveter]

Well they're apparently in the process of installing infrastructure right now, so hopefully we'll start to see their 700mhz freqs starting to pop online here and there and then the radio techs will start doing their thing. Supposed to be fully in service there by end of 2013.

 

[boatbod]

Well they're apparently in the process of installing infrastructure right now, so hopefully we'll start to see their 700mhz freqs starting to pop online here and there and then the radio techs will start doing their thing. Supposed to be fully in service there by end of 2013.

Anyone know if there is a plan is to migrate existing users of UMESC over to FIRST? I've been wondering when UMESC will reband, but I guess it may not if they simply switch to 700 instead.

 

[riveter]

Note for anybody living on the eastern shore- had a sharp RSSI spike on an existing FiRST frequency around Salisbury (50 @ ESCJA) and again in Ocean City at 90 inbound and coastal highway. Did not pick up the 90 spike outbound an hour later, but did pick up the same one in Salisbury. I have a PSR800 and didn't have the freqs in-hand (I was mobile) or I would have tried to figure out which one it was- it wasn't a control channel, but was near full RSSI both times. So, it appears unless my scanner was talking to itself, they've installed something using a non-control channel that has a coexisting frequency with another site (though I don't know which).

If anybody lives around these areas, heads up, you might hear or see some stuff happening around now with a good antenna and a good nose.

NOTE: I don't know if the 800 won't show RSSI belonging to things not identifying as sys 4A2 or with NAC 4A1, but I can confirm that it's not a freq from DELWIN- none of the Sussex freqs from that system overlap with FiRST freqs.

 

[troymail]

Listened to a couple of hours of coverage testing for nearly all of Cecil County this morning on TG 8561 (Baltimore site). At various points, the tech was reporting in from just across the line into Delaware.....

Perhaps MSP Northeast is about to come online.....

 

[troymail]

It's funny how the talkgroups on the Baltimore site (tunnel, key, MSP Highway) got really, really quiet as the Ravens game started.... but then got pretty active pretty quickly after it was over.

I guess they could have been laying low waiting for movement following the game....