Monroe County Harris System

[KD2NJO]

The "simulcast digital distortion" wiki article is a joke. (The problem is known to be caused by the way that all current digital scanners FM-demodulate the signal. FM demodulation is incompatible with "CQPSK" due to the presence of "AM" components, which cause the FM demodulator to output random values during the portion of the time when the transmitter is running at (almost) zero amplitude).

The issue was solved long ago in OP25. It's possible to achieve good reception on these CQPSK systems using nothing more than a PC and a $20 RTL USB stick... You can find many success reports from users in this thread: http://forums.radioreference.com/so...-virtualbox-project-run-op25-windows-7-a.html

73

Max

thank you for the info. i may be interested in this as well for my home. but like motoman said, it's nice to be portable!

Thanks for all the help and links!

 

[Theo]

EMS to start using officially by end of year.

Going up to Rochester area for New Years for couple days. I have a BCD436HP in the car. Put in the corrected ID's today will see if any thing pops up![/For Immediate Release

Monday, November 30, 2015

BROOKS: EMS AGENCIES WILL TRANSITION TO COUNTY’S NEW TRUNKED RADIO SYSTEM

Partnership Between County and EMS Agencies Will Provide
First Responders with Access to Better & More Reliable Technology

Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks today announced that the 17 Emergency Medical Service (EMS) Agencies will transition to the County’s state-of-the-art Trunked Radio System by the end of the year under a new agreement reached between the County and the Agencies. Brooks was joined by Jim Bucci, Executive Deputy Chief of Henrietta Ambulance and Acting Chairman of the EMS Advisory Board; County Legislator Sean Delehanty; representatives from EMS Agencies from across the County; and representatives from Harris Corporation for this important announcement.

“Monroe County invested in a new public safety communications system to provide a reliable, efficient, secure, and fully integrated system for those entrusted with keeping the citizens of Monroe County safe,” said Brooks. “While these EMS Agencies have historically purchased all of their own equipment, and will continue to do so in the future, we recognize that the up-front costs of a major technological investment can be daunting. I am proud that we were able to reach an agreement that is respectful to the fiscal challenges of the County and the EMS Agencies while also upholding our longstanding spirit of collaboration.”

As a result of this partnership, the County will help the Agencies overcome the up-front cost of the significant technological investment by providing each Agency with one Harris-brand mobile radio and two Harris-brand portable radios per Ambulance; providing one Harris-brand mobile radio and one Harris-brand portable radio for all other New York State Department of Health certified Emergency Response Vehicles; and providing access to the system free of subscriber fees. In exchange, the Agencies will pay for the installation of the County provided radios; pay for all additional radios necessary for their daily operations; and pay for all future replacement equipment.

“Transitioning to the County’s trunked radio system will provide many benefits to the EMS Agencies including better communications countywide, more effective management of resources, and additional operational efficiencies including our crews personal safety as being number one,” said Bucci. “We are very excited that this agreement came together and I want to thank the County Executive for her partnership, along with her staff to make this radio project possible. I also want to thank Henrietta Ambulance Chief Reg Allen and Gates Ambulance Deputy Chief Dan DiSalvo as well as Chief Matt Jarrett and Jay Coates from Scottsville Ambulance for their role in this agreement.”

Conversations about this transition began in late 2014 when the County provided the EMS Agencies with trial equipment programmed on the trunked radio system so they could test the radios in the field. After having the opportunity to compare them to their existing equipment on the current system, the EMS Agencies collectively made this proposal to the County and negotiated it with members of the Department of Public Safety, County Executive’s Office, and the Law Department.

“As the Legislative Representative to the EMS Advisory Board, I have seen first-hand the strong desire of these EMS Agencies to transition to the County’s new Public Safety Communications System and I am excited to see this partnership become a reality,” said Delehanty, who serves as the Legislature’s liaison to the EMS Advisory Board. “Today’s announcement is a win-win-win for the County, the EMS Agencies, and the taxpayers.”

Background:
The 17 Agencies involved in this agreement are as follows: Brighton Volunteer Ambulance, Brockport Ambulance, Chili Volunteer Ambulance, Gates Volunteer Ambulance, Greece Volunteer Ambulance, Hamlin Volunteer Ambulance, Henrietta Volunteer Ambulance, Honeoye Falls-Mendon Volunteer Ambulance, Irondequoit Ambulance, Northeast Quadrant ALS Inc., Penfield Volunteer Ambulance, Perinton Volunteer Ambulance, Pittsford Volunteer Ambulance, South East Quadrant, Union Hill Volunteer Ambulance, Village of Scottsville Rescue Squad, and the Rochester Institute of Technology (which has one ambulance and provides mutual aid to surrounding EMS Agencies).

There are two for-profit Ambulance providers in Monroe County. Monroe Ambulance joined the County’s Trunked Radio System earlier this year without subsidy from the taxpayer because they are a for-profit company. Rural Metro currently operates their own Communications System and any future transition to the County's Trunked Radio System would also happen without taxpayer subsidy.
###

Media Inquiries, contact:
Department of Communications at 753-1080

 

[jrj13]

The Radio Reference database indicates that the system is running P25 Phase II. I think someone indicated in a previous thread that it was running P1. Does anyone have the latest info on what it's running? What ever it's running I'm still having a difficult time picking it up. I have a HP2 and I'm located in Fairport. The audio is very choppy. I'm not having issues with the non trunked P1 system.

 

[RF-Burns]

The Radio Reference database indicates that the system is running P25 Phase II. I think someone indicated in a previous thread that it was running P1. Does anyone have the latest info on what it's running? What ever it's running I'm still having a difficult time picking it up. I have a HP2 and I'm located in Fairport. The audio is very choppy. I'm not having issues with the non trunked P1 system.

The System is capable of Phase II but it is only running in Phase I. If your in Fairport only put in the Eastside Simulcast, take out the South and West Sites. What you are experiencing is LMS, it's distortion from receiving multiple sites at once. It's very hard to get rid of and takes a lot of experimenting with antenna positions and so on.

 

[Theo]

The System is capable of Phase II but it is only running in Phase I. If your in Fairport only put in the Eastside Simulcast, take out the South and West Sites. What you are experiencing is LMS, it's distortion from receiving multiple sites at once. It's very hard to get rid of and takes a lot of experimenting with antenna positions and so on.

The big question is will it go to Phase 2 at the end of the month?

 

[RF-Burns]

The big question is will it go to Phase 2 at the end of the month?

Oh gosh no! With all the problems Genesee County has had with Phase II I doubt you will ever see Monroe/Orleans/Ontario go Phase II. I'm sure they will in the future but not now. Going to Phase II opens a whole host of new problems.

 

[Theo]

Oh gosh no! With all the problems Genesee County has had with Phase II I doubt you will ever see Monroe/Orleans/Ontario go Phase II. I'm sure they will in the future but not now. Going to Phase II opens a whole host of new problems.

What's the problem the same system from Harris works just fine here in Bucks County, PA I guess I'll have to back up there and help them out! Lol

 

[RF-Burns]

The guy building the Bucks County System who I personally know, knows what he is doing. That's the difference. Genesee County has resorted to Cellular Phones and going off the Trunked System while on scene due to the extreme amount of problems.

 

[Theo]

The guy building the Bucks County System who I personally know, knows what he is doing. That's the difference. Genesee County has resorted to Cellular Phones and going off the Trunked System while on scene due to the extreme amount of problems.

Oh no, that's to bad. Very happy with the switch over in Bucks Co. maybe he should head up WNY and fix it! Not enough sites? They didn't have enough with the old system but it worked most of the time when I was up there been gone 10 years now.

 

[AZ645]

Any chance of hearing Orleans or Genesee County and Niagara from Erie County? I have a 536 any advice on how to program this scanner to hear the mentioned systems?

 

[Thunderknight]

The guy building the Bucks County System who I personally know, knows what he is doing. That's the difference. Genesee County has resorted to Cellular Phones and going off the Trunked System while on scene due to the extreme amount of problems.

So are you saying that the phase 2 problems only occur on scene?

Are you sure it's a phase 2 issue and not a coverage issue?

 

[APX_Radio]

What's the problem the same system from Harris works just fine here in Bucks County, PA I guess I'll have to back up there and help them out! Lol

I'm confused by this here Theo (not to get off topic) Are you saying the Bucks System is a Harris System?

It is 100% a Motorola system and to compare it to the Harris system in Monroe County NY is like comparing apples and thumb-tacks.

The politicians drove the Harris system design. There was little to no interfacing by Harris with the public safety community (outside of Maggie's Kronys)

 

[Theo]

I'm confused by this here Theo (not to get off topic) Are you saying the Bucks System is a Harris System?

It is 100% a Motorola system and to compare it to the Harris system in Monroe County NY is like comparing apples and thumb-tacks.

The politicians drove the Harris system design. There was little to no interfacing by Harris with the public safety community (outside of Maggie's Kronys)

Yup, your correct I meant to say Phase 2 type system. Yes, I'm well aware how the Harris system came about. As they say You get what you pay for!

 

[N2QKK]

So, I'm confused.

What is so different with the Harris system compared to a Moto Phase2 system? Besides being different makers of radios.


Thanks
Dave.

 

[sallen07]

Oh gosh no! With all the problems Genesee County has had with Phase II I doubt you will ever see Monroe/Orleans/Ontario go Phase II. I'm sure they will in the future but not now. Going to Phase II opens a whole host of new problems.

Let's hope not. Of course that WOULD give me an excuse to buy another Phase II scanner ....

I've been listening to the Monroe County fire and EMS channels on the trunked system for months now (they are patched over from the VHF frequencies). At first I was skeptical but I ran a head-to-head comparison between the talk groups and the VHF frequencies and quickly discovered that not only could I hear everything on the trunked system that I could on the conventional frequencies, but that I could hear a lot more ... due to the fact that it's patched at the console, you hear all the mobile units too!

As the article above hints, Monroe Ambulance moved over this past May (or even earlier). They actually *moved* though, and abandoned their VHF frequency. Their dispatcher and rigs come in loud and clear so I'm hopeful that it will work that way when the rest of EMS and fire move to the new system.

I wonder if the county will offer the fire departments the same deal.

 

[sallen07]

Any chance of hearing Orleans or Genesee County and Niagara from Erie County? I have a 536 any advice on how to program this scanner to hear the mentioned systems?

They are in the database so you should be able to scan them just like any other system. There are no trunk groups for the Genesee County system though so you'll have to select "search" instead of "scan" (or the equivalent; I don't have a 536/436 ... yet!).

Let us know if you can pick them up. I have been unable to do so in western Monroe County (near Spencerport).

 

[sallen07]

The Radio Reference database indicates that the system is running P25 Phase II. I think someone indicated in a previous thread that it was running P1. Does anyone have the latest info on what it's running? What ever it's running I'm still having a difficult time picking it up. I have a HP2 and I'm located in Fairport. The audio is very choppy. I'm not having issues with the non trunked P1 system.

I've wondered about the "warning" in the database myself. Is that actually based on the licensing for the system, or is that an artifact from the days when Monroe/Ontario/Orleans/Genesee were all lumped together as if they were one system?

I'm pretty confident there is no Phase II traffic right now, at least on the Monroe West site; I've had a Phase I and a Phase II scanner sitting next to each other and the Phase II doesn't pick up anything the Phase I doesn't.

 

[RF-Burns]

So are you saying that the phase 2 problems only occur on scene?

Are you sure it's a phase 2 issue and not a coverage issue?

Connection Issues and maintaining coverage in a full coverage area is the issue. For example Village of LeRoy, the Pavilion tower provides full coverage into LeRoy and the radios show full strength on the displays but yet the radios will not connect to the system. So the police department is utilizing cellphones when out of the vehicles. Area fire departments are experiencing the same issues and now go to talk around simplex frequencies while operating at scenes due to unstable and unreliable connections into the Phase II Trunked System

 

[RF-Burns]

Update as of 12/15/2015 - Monroe County is testing some of the simulcast VHF Fire Channels in Phase 2. Maybe Monroe County is going to make the fatal mistake that Genesee County did and launch Phase 2. All they have to do is drive 20 miles west to Genesee County to realize Phase 2 opens the system up to a hole new host of issues.

 

[sallen07]

Phase 2 -- let's hope not!

Update as of 12/15/2015 - Monroe County is testing some of the simulcast VHF Fire Channels in Phase 2.

Oh geez let's hope they aren't planning to switch. And I was just thinking this afternoon that if Monroe County ever goes Phase 2 then I'll have one nice digital trunking scanner I can use to monitor the local highway department and one to use to listen to our school district's busses.

But you're right. After seeing your post, I fired up my Pro-668 and put it next to the BCD896XT that I've been using to listen to the simulcast channels, and sure enough, I am seeing Phase 2 traffic on the EMS dispatch, Fire Channel 2, and Fire Channel 1.

Sigh. Well, if they DO switch to Phase 2 I'll have an excuse to buy another scanner ....