Milwaukee Fire OpenSky Radio

[mkescan]

You won't believe this audio. MFD had OpenSky radios at a training exercise. Wait until you hear the end.
John Schneider - Milwaukee Fire OpenSky Radios - TwitVid

I wonder if the delay of them answering was because they couldn't transmit.

 

[shadcall]

Everyone considering OpenSky should have to listen to this clip prior to purchase. And you are right, the ending is something else.

 

[R8000]

WOW.....

Well there you have it. Motorola analog Smartnet audio VS opensky.

The ONLY slither of hope here, is how the two systems are patched. Even without the minor degradation of audio with the patch, you can still tell the Opensky audio is nasty.

I had the pleasure of meeting and working with the Milwaukee County Motorola radio technician. He and I worked on a project together two weeks ago, super nice fellow. He knows his stuff !

The Milwaukee County system sounds good....oh and it works

 

[ToDaMax]

I remember hearing the training excercise. The sound quality was horrible on my end when I was listening to it over IFERN. I thoguht it was another county that had bad audio from some interference or somthing. I didn't know that was a patch of MFD on Opensky. It does not sound good at all.

I do have two questions to ask. One arose as I looked at past documents on Opensky. It said that in 2008, MFD requested x number of thier old radios because of Opensky failures. Was MFD on opensky in the very beginning those many years ago and switched back to thier conventional frequencies after the countless failures, or have they yet to even start on opensky?

My other question is just clarification. MFD units and Dispatch/Command where all on Opensky and patched to IFERN during the test, and whoever was at staging was somone else with a Milwaukee 800 on IFERN, correct?

 

[ToDaMax]

So Sad it is...

 

[sjgostovich]

Wow?! No good!

 

[mkescan]

I do have two questions to ask. One arose as I looked at past documents on Opensky. It said that in 2008, MFD requested x number of thier old radios because of Opensky failures. Was MFD on opensky in the very beginning those many years ago and switched back to thier conventional frequencies after the countless failures, or have they yet to even start on opensky?

My other question is just clarification. MFD units and Dispatch/Command where all on Opensky and patched to IFERN during the test, and whoever was at staging was someone else with a Milwaukee 800 on IFERN, correct?

I heard they had the OpenSky radios back then and were training with them and found out they were not “intrinsically safe" so they sent them all back, and Harris loaned them some VHF radios.

Only MFD had OpenSky during the exercise at the airport, there were a lot of other Suburban depts there too who were using Milwaukee County 800 radios. I am guessing MFD was patched to Milwaukee County MABAS 800.

 

[shadcall]

Here is another example of OpenSky failure. However, this was not a training exercise, but during a pursuit of a stabbing suspect in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Audio: Problems with PBG police radio system

 

[mkescan]

If that was in Milwaukee the Chief would blame the users for the audio problem.

Here is another example of OpenSky failure. However, this was not a training exercise, but during a pursuit of a stabbing suspect in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Audio: Problems with PBG police radio system

 

[mkescan]

Here is a short version of Milwaukee OpenSky vs Milwaukee County Motorola 800 TRS Milwaukee Fire OpenSky really bad audio. - TwitVid

 

[ToDaMax]

I almost want to laugh at this mediorocricy of this system and the inmaturity and stupidity of those who are not doing anything about it, but instead try to blow it off.

Its hard to hear anyone most of the time on Opensky, and half the time I can't hear anyone at all. I knew that Opensky was bad, but now I know first hand why Milwaukee Police hates this system, Donavan hates this sysem, Milwaukee Fire hates the system, and anyone who is working with it hates the system.

I am beside myself trying to figure out why these idiots who can do somthing will not do anyting. I understand that they're already 18 million in the hole to this system (even though thats nothing to New York's 2 billion dollar contract cancellation) , but at least admit that you screwed up. If they at least admit that they completely screwed up and this whole system is a pile of junk, instead of blaming it on personel, then I will give them some respect. Even if they still keep the system and continue trying to fix it, at least admit you f***ed up, then I will be happier.

 

[70cutlass442]

What you guys also are forgetting, Command (opensky radio) is probably in a controlled environment, quiet, air conditioned, almost like an office. Now give an MPO the radio, or the first few officers in, or even the interior guys at a fire.... and see how ****ty that audio sounds in real life situations.

 

[mkescan]

What you guys also are forgetting, Command (opensky radio) is probably in a controlled environment, quiet, air conditioned, almost like an office. Now give an MPO the radio, or the first few officers in, or even the interior guys at a fire.... and see how ****ty that audio sounds in real life situations.

I keep telling people once Milwaukee Fire puts up a OpenSky / VHF patch the Sh*t will hit the fan since anyone with even a 20 year old scanner will be able to hear how OpenSky sounds compared to the old VHF analog they are using now.Also media at structure fires might catch some audio of Firefighters saying they can't transmit or copy another

 

[mcdoogle]

Not Talking on OpenSky

Sorry to burst everyone's bubble, but what you are listening to is not OpenSky radio. Staging was operating on the IFERN VHF frequency. The person that you are listening to from Command that has such poor audio quality was someone in the command post using a portable analog radio - not an OpenSky radio. There are OpenSky mobile radios in the Command Post, but they were set to work in 800MHz analog mode and could not talk on the IFERN VHF frequency. Thus you hear the person on the VHF handheld portable.

As of this time and with the exception of the few in the incident command post, the Milwaukee fire department has not deployed any OpenSky radios.

 

[mkescan]

I am pretty sure you are wrong. They were using OpenSky on this audio file.
They tried testing yesterday with OpenSky & IFERN and audio was the same crap

Sorry to burst everyone's bubble, but what you are listening to is not OpenSky radio. Staging was operating on the IFERN VHF frequency. The person that you are listening to from Command that has such poor audio quality was someone in the command post using a portable analog radio - not an OpenSky radio. There are OpenSky mobile radios in the Command Post, but they were set to work in 800MHz analog mode and could not talk on the IFERN VHF frequency. Thus you hear the person on the VHF handheld portable.

As of this time and with the exception of the few in the incident command post, the Milwaukee fire department has not deployed any OpenSky radios.

 

[R8000]

No.

The recording clearly spells out that the unit "Staging" is on the Milwaukee County 800 MHZ analog system. This is verified by the traditional "Spectra TAC" status tone squeak at the end of County transmissions.

The recording clearly spells out the unit "Command" is on a digital radio with vocoded audio. The "Command" radio IS running a digital mode. What the mode is, we can not tell. You can hear the vocoder struggle with high audio levels and background noise. Analog doesn't have this type of performance. Command is running a digital mode on this recording.

Your claim that the ran on IFERN can not be correct. As of this moment, digital operation on IFERN is not supported. This is verified here :

MABAS Wisconsin - Recommended Frequency Priorities

This webpage directly from the state does not show IFERN having a NAC assigned to it. If it were P25 ready, there would be a NAC. There is not.

Then if you go to MABAS Wisconsin - Home Page and click on "Communications" then go to "IFERN build out", you will also clearly see that all IFERN base stations purchased with the OJA grants must P25 compatible...for "future use". That would mean, right now...today..P25 is not officially supported on IFERN. There is not state issued NAC code, and therefore would not be interoperable.

I am not intending to be a troll, but you are not correct. I wanted to end this rumor now. Now if they were on IFERN with P25....then somebody is running a IFERN base that's not compliant to the current mutual aid frequency agreement.

The recording is very clear on this, and is hard to dispute.

Now....here's a twist.

*If* they were on IFERN analog and patched to the County via the City's IP based Harris console ? Hrm, this could change things. If this is the case, the Harris IP console audio is not very good to put it nicely.

I also don't see why the fire dept couldn't have tried the OpenSky radios since it was a training drill ? What better way to try out the "new radios" then in a controlled drill where if something went wrong, nobody was killed.

Sorry to burst everyone's bubble, but what you are listening to is not OpenSky radio. Staging was operating on the IFERN VHF frequency. The person that you are listening to from Command that has such poor audio quality was someone in the command post using a portable analog radio - not an OpenSky radio. There are OpenSky mobile radios in the Command Post, but they were set to work in 800MHz analog mode and could not talk on the IFERN VHF frequency. Thus you hear the person on the VHF handheld portable.

As of this time and with the exception of the few in the incident command post, the Milwaukee fire department has not deployed any OpenSky radios.

 

[mkescan]

You would think Milwaukee Fire would have a IFERN talkgroup in the OpenSky radios that is patched to Milwaukee County MABAS 800 or to VHF IFERN. Yesterday I heard Milwaukee PD dispatch on Sheriff F2, and I swear the audio & quality was worse then it was months ago.

 

[shadcall]

Putting aside the discussion whether or not the Milwaukee training clip is or is not OpenSky, if you haven't had a chance to listen to the audio clip I posted from Palm Beach Garden, Florida, do so. It is OpenSky and you can hear the problems the system has and the fact it cannot be understood at times by dispatch or other officers. The clip is from a search for a stabbing suspect and is not a training exercise.

Here is a newspaper article concerning the incident which fills in a lot of details.

OpenSky communication breakdown causes problem during police chase

 

[thomasfd13]

When seconds count.....

Dooonnnn....nnn''''tttttt go wwwiiiiittttttttthhhhhhh Ooooooooooopppeeeeeennnnnn Skkkkkkkkyyyyyyyyy... Digital is great and it's use in large ares are needed but sometimes you just have to get back to basics. Analog may give you a lot of static but at least you know someone is there.

I'm not looking forward to future stories about persons on scene getting hurt due to the performance of a radio system that was introduced to help make the working environment better.

I don't know a lot about how systems work but with PL and DPL tones it seems an analog system could handle some so called "trunking" by setting these tones. Sure it would all be done on 1 frequency but at least someone on the other end would know something isin't right or someone is in need of help.

I love Motorola but how and why have some of their systems fail to operate when it matters most?

 

[ToDaMax]

All I've seen on IFERN is the VHF with CTCSS 210.7. IFERN will eventually have digital capabilities, but as of now, it is not a priority.

And you would think that MFD would use a patched talkgroup to Opensky, but it can safely be said that nobody who is in charge of this system is thinking anymore

Sh*t will hit the fan once the first fatality happens