Chris52
Member
Any update on MSP - I ?
All of MSP out here in Western Maryland are still in the clear …..
All of MSP out here in Western Maryland are still in the clear …..
My question would be how long has this been going on, and is it possibly related to an ongoing investigation / intel that certain criminals are leveraging information obtained by listening to a clear channel. Note that MSP are heavy users of MDTs. Hard to determine a specific reason for this behavior without more info or an official announcement. As of today, the Berlin, Salisbury, and Princess Anne barracks are in the clear.
MSP I Easton is still using their encrypted tac. An out of the area trooper communicated on the Barrack channel and the dispatcher advised that they "are no longer operating on this channel" and to switch to Barrack I Tac-1.
The OpenMhz feed (QA Site), it looks like the last time Barrack I units were using their talkgroup full-time was May 19th.
Speculation: Perhaps it's a new policy for barracks that are the primary law enforcement entity for the county have the option to use their encrypted tg for daily operations. Many barracks on the ES are primary, so that does not bode well for the future. Still, no official announcement.
NRP doesn't, they have been on FiRST for many years (encrypted). Some of the State Parks may potentially use conventional (i think New Germany due to coverage issues but there is a planned radio site to assist in future) but most of State Parks have been on FiRST for many years too (and are seasonally very radio active). I would says at least 99% of state parks use FIRST full-time. Forestry also uses FiRST full-time.
While there maybe is an off chance a state park may use it or maybe forestry, it is a strong likelihood you won't find any activity.
Broadcastify Calls showing new ENC talkgroups: 15901, 15902, 15904 on the Montgomery site with RID of 12410xx (likely Federal). First time seeing that talkgroup range. I have also seen that RID range on 8441 (also ENC).
I believe 12410xx is CISA ECD.
Great, thanks!
Notes from the June 17 RCB Meeting
New Interop partner: Franklin County PA
Roughly 100 TDMA subs
To be used during mutual aid responses into Frederick Co, and to provide better coverage than the Frederick Co system in some areas. Approved.
New Limited Primary Partner: Joint Base Myer Henderson Hall Ft McNair
Req 4 tgs: 2 Fire 2 Police
400 TDMA subs
To be used for ops on the Potomac River / MWCOG partners
Also for backup for their primary DOD system. Approved.
Project Statuses:
Geo-redundant prime sites:
Baltimore: Live 4/8/26
Anne Arundel: Live 3/11/26
Coverage Improvement RF sites:
Patapsco (GF): Community is pushing back on planned site in the park. An alternative site at UMBC was considered, but would require a 1,000' tower. Current plan is to shorten the original site tower to 250'.
Cumberland (GF): Site equipment in warehouse.
Queenstown (GF): Site equipment in warehouse.
Barton (Existing commercial): Working on lease details.
Bretton Woods (Existing county): Work begins 6/16/26
New Germany SP #1 (GF): Community meeting 7/9/26 at Grantsville VFC.
St. Michaels (GF): Planning.
Cambridge (GF): Maces Lane.
Accident (Existing): Planning.
Burtonsville (Existing county): Planning.
New Market (existing county/state): Planning
New Germany SP #2 (GF): Planning.
Jerico (existing county): Planning.
System managers are likely to seek community buy-in earlier in the process to avoid costly redesigns.
BDAs
MD Ports
MDEM
Frederick LEC
Dorchester Schools
D-Series 2 channel Expansions
Anne Arundel (busiest site in system)
Howard (also a busy site)
Harford
System Performance
There are currently 144 RF sites, 22 simulcast cells, and 47 dispatch center hosted on the system.
A SAREX in Harford County revealed that some partners are still running FDMA radios, and those caused busies when DDM channels were saturated. Working with partners to upgrade / replace their FDMA radios. There was talk about eventually eliminating DDM channels as the license fees are $13K per channel. This change would require TDMA subs to use the system.
The Marlu Ridge site was discovered to be misconfigured. This was corrected and performance in the area should improve.
The is an ongoing coverage investigation taking place in Frederick and Washington counties. State and Motorola reps have been drive testing with state police in their vehicles testing performance. The vehicles were ruled out as a source of interference. The coverage problems are intermittent and the same area will sometimes test ok, and other times fail.
There is an informal plan / study to convert the Frederick County sites into a simulcast cell, but probably would not happen until after the New Market site comes online.
Motorola will be replacing Motorola G-series routers with Juniper routers, including at 50 stand alone consoles.
New Interop partner: Franklin County PA
Roughly 100 TDMA subs
To be used during mutual aid responses into Frederick Co, and to provide better coverage than the Frederick Co system in some areas. Approved.
New Limited Primary Partner: Joint Base Myer Henderson Hall Ft McNair
Req 4 tgs: 2 Fire 2 Police
400 TDMA subs
To be used for ops on the Potomac River / MWCOG partners
Also for backup for their primary DOD system. Approved.
Project Statuses:
Geo-redundant prime sites:
Baltimore: Live 4/8/26
Anne Arundel: Live 3/11/26
Coverage Improvement RF sites:
Patapsco (GF): Community is pushing back on planned site in the park. An alternative site at UMBC was considered, but would require a 1,000' tower. Current plan is to shorten the original site tower to 250'.
Cumberland (GF): Site equipment in warehouse.
Queenstown (GF): Site equipment in warehouse.
Barton (Existing commercial): Working on lease details.
Bretton Woods (Existing county): Work begins 6/16/26
New Germany SP #1 (GF): Community meeting 7/9/26 at Grantsville VFC.
St. Michaels (GF): Planning.
Cambridge (GF): Maces Lane.
Accident (Existing): Planning.
Burtonsville (Existing county): Planning.
New Market (existing county/state): Planning
New Germany SP #2 (GF): Planning.
Jerico (existing county): Planning.
System managers are likely to seek community buy-in earlier in the process to avoid costly redesigns.
BDAs
MD Ports
MDEM
Frederick LEC
Dorchester Schools
D-Series 2 channel Expansions
Anne Arundel (busiest site in system)
Howard (also a busy site)
Harford
System Performance
There are currently 144 RF sites, 22 simulcast cells, and 47 dispatch center hosted on the system.
A SAREX in Harford County revealed that some partners are still running FDMA radios, and those caused busies when DDM channels were saturated. Working with partners to upgrade / replace their FDMA radios. There was talk about eventually eliminating DDM channels as the license fees are $13K per channel. This change would require TDMA subs to use the system.
The Marlu Ridge site was discovered to be misconfigured. This was corrected and performance in the area should improve.
The is an ongoing coverage investigation taking place in Frederick and Washington counties. State and Motorola reps have been drive testing with state police in their vehicles testing performance. The vehicles were ruled out as a source of interference. The coverage problems are intermittent and the same area will sometimes test ok, and other times fail.
There is an informal plan / study to convert the Frederick County sites into a simulcast cell, but probably would not happen until after the New Market site comes online.
Motorola will be replacing Motorola G-series routers with Juniper routers, including at 50 stand alone consoles.
Notes from March System Managers Committee meeting
The System Manager's Committee is where the technical people meet prior to the board meeting the following week. Their purpose is to review proposals and evaluate impacts to the system, and make recommendations to the board.
The Maryland interoperability tgs MDTACs/MDCALL, MDEVENTs and MDLAWs are managed by MJOC; MDMARINE are managed by DNR/NRP. The chair reiterated the need to label these tgs consistently throughout all agency partners.
Howard County requests to establish a Limited Primary Partner relationship, upgrading from an Interoperability Partner. The purpose is to create backup tgs in case their primary system fails. Howard has 4000 TDMA subs. Recommended.
The United States Secret Service requests to become a Limited Primary Partner to enhance general interoperability with area partners. They may enter tg sharing agreements with various state agencies and create 3 encrypted tgs to support special operations and counter-UAS programs. The USSS has a cache of 150 TDMA portable and 25 mobile subs capable of operating on the system. Recommended.
US Army CID (DACID) requests to establish a Limited Primary Partnership arrangement to utilize FIRST to extend their coverage in areas not covered by their LMR system, and to have access to interoperability tgs. They are requesting 2 tgs, and anticipate to enroll 120 TDMA subs. Recommended.
Virtualized site controller conversions: Wicomico and Worcester counties were completed in February and March.
Some state buildings will allow radio-over-wifi connectivity. Crownsville is the first.
The System Manager's Committee is where the technical people meet prior to the board meeting the following week. Their purpose is to review proposals and evaluate impacts to the system, and make recommendations to the board.
The Maryland interoperability tgs MDTACs/MDCALL, MDEVENTs and MDLAWs are managed by MJOC; MDMARINE are managed by DNR/NRP. The chair reiterated the need to label these tgs consistently throughout all agency partners.
Howard County requests to establish a Limited Primary Partner relationship, upgrading from an Interoperability Partner. The purpose is to create backup tgs in case their primary system fails. Howard has 4000 TDMA subs. Recommended.
The United States Secret Service requests to become a Limited Primary Partner to enhance general interoperability with area partners. They may enter tg sharing agreements with various state agencies and create 3 encrypted tgs to support special operations and counter-UAS programs. The USSS has a cache of 150 TDMA portable and 25 mobile subs capable of operating on the system. Recommended.
US Army CID (DACID) requests to establish a Limited Primary Partnership arrangement to utilize FIRST to extend their coverage in areas not covered by their LMR system, and to have access to interoperability tgs. They are requesting 2 tgs, and anticipate to enroll 120 TDMA subs. Recommended.
Virtualized site controller conversions: Wicomico and Worcester counties were completed in February and March.
Some state buildings will allow radio-over-wifi connectivity. Crownsville is the first.
Guessing the ID 1206300 used during Sail Baltimore 250 is a Federal agency's ID.
That’s FBI. What channel?
The are Maryland Tac 1 for Sail Baltimore 250. Seams to be lead on that talkgroup.
FBI has also been active on Md Call coordinating for Sail250.
Twice this week FiRST Montgomery Backup talkgroups were patched to the Montgomery 800mhz system Fire talkgroups.
6096 - Patched to 7A1 OPS 1 (Montgomery Talkgroup 4000)
6097 - Patched to 7A2 Dispatch (Montgomery Talkgroup 4005)
Chris52
Member
I’m very impressed with how far the Southern Maryland sites reach out. From my trip from Ruthers Glen Va to Boyton Va especially along I-95 going south. I was able to stay locked on and hear traffic for the most part of the trip.
The Maryland Department of Information Technology, alongside state and local partners, will soon host a town hall meeting to discuss the upcoming construction of a radio tower project in Cambridge, MD. This project will extend public safety radio communications for first responders in the Eastern Shore.
The meeting will allow residents to learn more about the project, its objectives, and the rationale for selecting 1013 Maces Lane, Cambridge, MD, as the site of the upcoming tower. Officials will be available to answer questions and address concerns from the community. Officials at the town hall will discuss how extended public safety radio coverage in Dorchester County will support emergency response efforts, particularly during unplanned incidents that could harm life and property.
The construction of the new tower is anticipated to begin as early as Spring 2027, depending on the completion of planned activities.
Public Meeting Details:
Date: Thursday, July 30, 2026
Time: 5:00 PM ET
Location: Eastern Shore Innovation Center 104 Tech Park Dr, Cambridge, MD 21613
First responders in Dorchester County use MD FIRST as the primary means of public safety radio communications. The radio tower is part of the Maryland FiRST network, a state-owned public safety radio system that provides critical interoperable voice communications to over 135,000 Maryland first responders, with approximately 35,000 primary users and 100,000 interoperable users. By uniting more than 130 state organizations, including Maryland state agencies, counties, local governments, federal partners, and neighboring jurisdictions, the system enables seamless communication during daily operations, emergencies, and mutual aid events. With MD FiRST, public safety personnel — from Deep Creek Lake to Ocean City — can communicate reliably when it matters most.
The meeting will allow residents to learn more about the project, its objectives, and the rationale for selecting 1013 Maces Lane, Cambridge, MD, as the site of the upcoming tower. Officials will be available to answer questions and address concerns from the community. Officials at the town hall will discuss how extended public safety radio coverage in Dorchester County will support emergency response efforts, particularly during unplanned incidents that could harm life and property.
The construction of the new tower is anticipated to begin as early as Spring 2027, depending on the completion of planned activities.
Public Meeting Details:
Date: Thursday, July 30, 2026
Time: 5:00 PM ET
Location: Eastern Shore Innovation Center 104 Tech Park Dr, Cambridge, MD 21613
First responders in Dorchester County use MD FIRST as the primary means of public safety radio communications. The radio tower is part of the Maryland FiRST network, a state-owned public safety radio system that provides critical interoperable voice communications to over 135,000 Maryland first responders, with approximately 35,000 primary users and 100,000 interoperable users. By uniting more than 130 state organizations, including Maryland state agencies, counties, local governments, federal partners, and neighboring jurisdictions, the system enables seamless communication during daily operations, emergencies, and mutual aid events. With MD FiRST, public safety personnel — from Deep Creek Lake to Ocean City — can communicate reliably when it matters most.
This parcel is on BOE property- an old school grounds. The site will replace another nearby tower that is being decommissioned. The FIRST team has learned to seek community buy-in prior to investing in detailed engineering work.
