Maryland FIRST 700mhz TRS

maus92

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Before the Board of Public Works Tomorrow....

Using Agency: Department of Transportation, State Highway Administration
Description: Supply and install conduit and fiber optic cable to support phone and
internet communications systems for emergency preparedness services.
Location of Work: Prince George’s County, Upper Marlboro City, Off ramp at Water
Street (MD717) and Pennsylvania Ave (MD-4)
Pennsylvania Ave (MD-4) east to Crain HWY (US-301) exit ramp
Crain HWY (US-301) north towards WSSC Treatment Plant Road.
WSSC Treatment Plant Road to SHA Radio Tower.

This is a Cable and Wire DoIT Master Contract project to connect Maryland First Radio
System, Network Maryland, and SHA shops to the MDOT Network. This will connect all
the state agency first responder radio’s to MDOT and some counties to MDOT as well.
This project will enhance a section of the fiber backbone network for the MDOT Enterprise
Network as well as enhance Maryland’s First 700 MHz. The fiber will enable connection
of SHA and MDOT network equipment on WSSC Treatment Plant Road SHA Tower to
the MDOT Enterprise Network. This project will include installing conduit and fiber which
will be terminated at specified end points or/and spliced in the fusion splice tray in the
manholes.
Not a very long segment, maybe 2.5 - 3 miles. Seems a shame this might be holding up the SoMD counties coming online.
 

maus92

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The new target go-live date for all Phase 5 counties is November 15, 2021. This date accelerates Montgomery and Prince Georges counties, and delays the SoMD counties by a few months, respectively. The Westminster ASR conversion to a prime site with new subsites in Taylorsville and Sykesville will happen sometime in early-ish 2022, with the simulcast cell initially consisting of Westminster and Sykesville, and the Taylorsville subsite coming online later. The Swallow Falls site in Garrett County will likely be located at a commercial tower site, and the LaVale site has a purchase order for equipment in the approval process at DGS.
 

maus92

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The Safety Drive tower site is moving forward with raising the transmit antenna height to improve coverage of the Queen Anne Simulcast in the Grasonville area. There are other tower sites in the system that also have large differences in TX vs RX antenna heights, and some of those are being re-evaluated to improve coverage. I had previously thought that the QAC simulcast cell had sites at Suddlersville, the MSP Centreville Barrack, and at Route 18 Park, but it turns out that the "Safety Drive" site is located at the MSP Barrack, and the site at the park is one of the old UMESC sites. That means that the QAC Simulcast cell consists of only two tower sites.
 

LordDonkey

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I've been hearing weird traffic on Garrett Fire EMS Main, sounds like police radio traffic. I looked up some of the locations they've said and it appears that is from Allentown PA. It sounds like its coming from analog, it has that MDC sounding squawk and the most of the time it's really hard to understand. That's really strange though!
 

maus92

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I've been hearing weird traffic on Garrett Fire EMS Main, sounds like police radio traffic. I looked up some of the locations they've said and it appears that is from Allentown PA. It sounds like its coming from analog, it has that MDC sounding squawk and the most of the time it's really hard to understand. That's really strange though!
Is the Garrett County VHF system crosslinked into their tgs on the FIRST system? Could be ducting. What frequencies do the Allentown PA agencies use? I see that 158.775 is a LE freq in Allentown, as well as a Fire freq in Garrett.
 
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ThePhotoGuy

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MD-Call Talkgroup Earlier today:

"Park 3xx on MD-Call, requesting radio update." Not sure if their was a reply...
 

maus92

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It appears that 8 channels are being coordinated for a future FIRST ASR site in Washington, DC - likely on the Hughes tower in NW. This possibility has been discussed in the past, and will likely be funded by DC / the Feds.

No new freqs are currently being coordinated for the coverage improvement sites in LaVale or Swallow Falls, so they will likely be site expansion sites. What current sites they will host is the question.
 

Chris52

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It appears the tower by the Harry Nice Bridge in Charles County is online and booming. It goes well into Virginia covering King George and Westmorland County extremely well during my travels. (Northern Neck). Next time I’ll see how far it holds towards I-95. I haven’t heard a peep but I’ll keep monitoring. Progress !
 

maus92

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It appears the tower by the Harry Nice Bridge in Charles County is online and booming. It goes well into Virginia covering King George and Westmorland County extremely well during my travels. (Northern Neck). Next time I’ll see how far it holds towards I-95. I haven’t heard a peep but I’ll keep monitoring. Progress !
November 15 (until it's not, lol.)
 

maus92

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A user on tg 7292 SHA District 7 was given a channel grant on the Montgomery Simulcast cell today. All other users attempting to affiliate were denied.

Also noticed that the Prince Georges Simulcast is back on the air.
 

maus92

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The RIDs look like Feds. Very close, like directly adjacent to FBI Baltimore Field Office tgs.
 
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maus92

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The number of RIDs suggests a largish number of users - maybe C&O / Antietam Parks? Fish and Wildlife? RIDs 1268120, 1268127, 1268122, 1268133 have a history of operating on tg 8416 off the Anne Arundel cell. I have not logged any of the other users.
 

ThePhotoGuy

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8415 & 8416 are definitely NPS LEO Rangers. Multiple of those RID's above are Assateague NPS LEO Rangers. NPS is supposed to have a few talkgroups & about 100 radios.

Not sure of the talkgroups name.

FWS Leo's could also be active on those talkgroups too as the talkgroup approval included them too I believe.
 

maus92

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The Calvert Simulcast is back on; interestingly, it is not peering with Zone 1 sites like Tracys Landing or Anne Arundel.
 

maus92

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A significant amount of radio checks / test counts are occurring on tg 8561 and being heard on the AACo simulcast cell - not sure what site is originating the traffic. Could be Montgomery.
 
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