MICCOM DMR Operations

[NotATechGuy]

you will only have a couple of months to get this info as they migrate away. Some St Clares units are now using 155.175 pl 100.0 units in the 500 numbers.

Al

How reliable is your source Al? Are they building out a VHF system for Morris and Sussex Counties?

155.175 is MICCOM ALS Dispatch for Bergen, Passaic and Eastern Morris. If I recall correctly Clares got a system in Passaic which would explain radio traffic over the 155.175 frequency. Seems odd they would abandon their DMR system.

 

[asnhnetwork]

How reliable is your source Al? Are they building out a VHF system for Morris and Sussex Counties?

155.175 is MICCOM ALS Dispatch for Bergen, Passaic and Eastern Morris. If I recall correctly Clares got a system in Passaic which would explain radio traffic over the 155.175 frequency. Seems odd they would abandon their DMR system.

heard it from an EMT who works for St Clares. Said that they might be changing dispatch to vhf. I will try to get more info from him. Maybe you know more than him though.

 

[NotATechGuy]

I wouldn't put it past him. Anything is possibly these days. I just like to look at facts.

 

[asnhnetwork]

I wouldn't put it past him. Anything is possibly these days. I just like to look at facts.

I spoke to him. He said the units operating in Passaic are using vhf. 155.175. he also said they hit a lot of dead spots on the Mototrbo and said they use 155.175 as a back up or cellphone. He said that Miccom may put up some bases on the hospitals out west and north in the near future.

 

[W2SJW]

More key-ups with audio on 12000300 this afternoon. I'm going to check the WAV file to see if I can make anything out of it...

Update - sounds like some kind of business (?) "We're gonna bring home dinner from 'Damn Good Chicken' in Blairstown. We just got done looking at Double-D Ranch, 66 acres."

Not sure what to make of that!

 

[NotATechGuy]

I spoke to him. He said the units operating in Passaic are using vhf. 155.175. he also said they hit a lot of dead spots on the Mototrbo and said they use 155.175 as a back up or cellphone. He said that Miccom may put up some bases on the hospitals out west and north in the near future.

Good stuff. I spoke to a friend who works at Clare's and found out the Passiac post is only during the daytime but might become 24/7 soon. They have not heard of any pending or possible changes to dispatch. Sounds like your contact has more knowledge of the situation. I do know when there is a deadspot they typically call the miccom dispatcher over the phone.

 

[res5cue]

The st clares units that are on 155.175 are rigs at St Mary's hospital since prime took over St Clare's I've heard nor seen anywhere that they are leaving the dmr system it wouldn't make any sense.

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[NotATechGuy]

Just heard an All Call with some tones. Then the miccom dispatcher said something but I didn't catch all of it because they talk so low. Something "all radios". My guess is its a test or asking them to reset them. Anyone ever heard miccom drop tones over their DMR system?

 

[W2SJW]

Yes, at least twice.

 

[NotATechGuy]

Yes, at least twice.

What were the tones for? They were definitely DTMF.

 

[902]

Just heard an All Call with some tones. Then the miccom dispatcher said something but I didn't catch all of it because they talk so low. Something "all radios". My guess is its a test or asking them to reset them. Anyone ever heard miccom drop tones over their DMR system?

It might be a simul-select on their console. If so, the tones might be intended for VHF but just sent over DMR. Curious, did the tones decode well, or did they sound all wobbly and garbled like the hard-patched EBAA tones coming out of Fort Lee's trunked system.

 

[W2SJW]

Might have been a simulcast, and DTMF is used to sometimes activate remote transmitters & receivers (kind of like how Morris does it on their paging channel).

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[NotATechGuy]

It might be a simul-select on their console. If so, the tones might be intended for VHF but just sent over DMR. Curious, did the tones decode well, or did they sound all wobbly and garbled like the hard-patched EBAA tones coming out of Fort Lee's trunked system.

The tones sounded good over the 5550. No warble or garbling. Not as clear as analog but pretty close. I wonder what hardware they have decoding the tones. Off topic: The DTMF tones on the Morris paging channel, do we know what equipment exactly is being activated? Do some towns have special hardware to set off horns and such? I know what tones are able to activate but I'm curious does anyone knows what exact hardware is receiving them across the county. Also heard today a radio test with tones on the channel.

 

[W2SJW]

Mostly lights & horns at the firehouse are done via tones. The DTMF is for switching on transmitters, etc.

I'm not 100% sure about this, but the way I think Morris works is that the paging transmitters are receiving the signal 100% of the time from the console, but the DTMF sequence tells the transmitter at the specific location to actually broadcast the audio.

If Schooley's Mountain FD has a call in their area, no need to blast the eastern-half of the county with their tones, etc...

 

[NotATechGuy]

Thanks for clarifying. I'm in central Morris and I can hear the whole county getting toned out. I hear all the way from long valley to chatham all the way up to east hanover and cedar knolls. Maybe theres some transmitters simulcasting on a different frequencies or something similar. The DTMF does come first in some transmissions. I've never actually paid attention to which towns it happens for. This is way off topic now but my questions was answered.

Going back to Clares my radio a couple weeks ago received an emergency activation. I wounder if it was accidental.

 

[res5cue]

It's not miccom. It's someone screwing around on the system.

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[NotATechGuy]

It's not miccom. It's someone screwing around on the system.

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Are you positive? There was voice after the tones.

 

[res5cue]

I'm positive the ID isn't one assigned to any unit and the Miccom dispatcher asked all units I'm the field to check their mics. Had it been a Clare's unit the dispatcher would have called them out by unit number.

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[res5cue]

Mostly lights & horns at the firehouse are done via tones. The DTMF is for switching on transmitters, etc.

I'm not 100% sure about this, but the way I think Morris works is that the paging transmitters are receiving the signal 100% of the time from the console, but the DTMF sequence tells the transmitter at the specific location to actually broadcast the audio.

If Schooley's Mountain FD has a call in their area, no need to blast the eastern-half of the county with their tones, etc...

The dtmf tones you hear most of the time are to open up other frequencies for paging. Like Long valley for instance the Morris alert channel doesn't cover entire area so they have what I belive was their old dispatch channel or another frequency that will simulcast then tones and message and will stay open for a couple minutes then the receiver will go back to standby mode.

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[NotATechGuy]

The dtmf tones you hear most of the time are to open up other frequencies for paging. Like Long valley for instance the Morris alert channel doesn't cover entire area so they have what I belive was their old dispatch channel or another frequency that will simulcast then tones and message and will stay open for a couple minutes then the receiver will go back to standby mode.

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That makes complete sense now. Great to know. Thanks for sharing the info!