Monroe County, PA P25 Phase 1 system coming

[smorris]

I reached out to Gary Hoffman, Director of Communications at the Monroe Co. Control Center. He tells me that they have requested financial assistance from the Monroe Co Commissioners. He hopes to obtain funds from the American Rescue Plan It seems, they have run out of money for the project on the Control Center side.

He also said that all police channels will be encrypted, which is a departure from their original decision. Fire/EMS will be in the clear. Additionally, the system was originally slated to be a Phase 2 capable system, but only Phase 1 would be used, how the system will be Phase 2 from the start. He said, if he can obtain this new county funding, the system will initially roll out with 6 talk groups with 11 sites. The Analog Fire/EMS dispatch channel will remain in place with no changes.

If I learn anymore details, I will pass them along.

 

[smorris]

Gary has also informed me that the soonest the system could be online would be 18-24 months from the date of purchase of the remaining components, but that’s only if they receive the funding he has requested. So, Monroe Co will be probably remain analog for at least another 2 years.

 

[GTR8000]

Yeah, more like 3+ years, optimistically.

 

[N2MLP99]

Gary is so behind the times

 

[smorris]

All this trouble for a system we don’t even need, in my opinion. To be honest, I would have just doubled the number of sites and moved EMS over to UHF. The only border county implementing P25 is Luzerne, everyone else including Warren and Sussex in NJ are staying analog.

 

[W7FDX]

All this trouble for a system we don’t even need, in my opinion. To be honest, I would have just doubled the number of sites and moved EMS over to UHF. The only border county implementing P25 is Luzerne, everyone else including Warren and Sussex in NJ are staying analog.

If everyone else is on UHF why didn't they just move EMS over to the existing UHF channels instead of spending millions on a new system or just go in with PA-STARNET like ECEN, Mifflin and Warren counties?

 

[smorris]

If everyone else is on UHF why didn't they just move EMS over to the existing UHF channels instead of spending millions on a new system or just go in with PA-STARNET like ECEN, Mifflin and Warren counties?

You pose a good question. I do know that none of the first VHF EMS channels in county were repeated. The old dispatch channel(A1) first was used in 93 and was replaced by A6 fairly recently. A6 is a two site simulcast system. Gary wanted EMS units to communicate with one another without having to go through a dispatcher. All of this was before the P25 planning. Also, both Pocono Hospital and St. Luke’s Monroe use a simplex base station for patching, so perhaps, the control center wanted a cheap system.VHF travels much farther, which means few repeaters or none at all.

It’s also worth noting that PSP used to use A1 for inter-op with EMS and the control center. Only conjecture here, but perhaps interoperability with PSP and surrounding counties that only used VHF was a reason they never moved over.

 

[W7FDX]

You pose a good question. I do know that none of the first VHF EMS channels in county were repeated. The old dispatch channel(A1) first was used in 93 and was replaced by A6 fairly recently. A6 is a two site simulcast system. Gary wanted EMS units to communicate with one another without having to go through a dispatcher. All of this was before the P25 planning. Also, both Pocono Hospital and St. Luke’s Monroe use a simplex base station for patching, so perhaps, the control center wanted a cheap system.VHF travels much farther, which means few repeaters or none at all.

It’s also worth noting that PSP used to use A1 for inter-op with EMS and the control center. Only conjecture here, but perhaps interoperability with PSP and surrounding counties that only used VHF was a reason they never moved over.

I know what they did in Snyder County was they added a second simulcast channel on VHF (Their old Fire 2 since it didn't see much use) and then took EMS off of UHF since they were the only ones on it. Union and Snyder are the same dispatch center now but Union has yet to take EMS units off of their UHF channel so if an ambulance is responding to an incident with FD (MVA, Fire, ect) then they either have to come up on the Fire channels or the dispatchers have to relay everything which is very inefficient.

 

[smorris]

I know what they did in Snyder County was they added a second simulcast channel on VHF (Their old Fire 2 since it didn't see much use) and then took EMS off of UHF since they were the only ones on it. Union and Snyder are the same dispatch center now but Union has yet to take EMS units off of their UHF channel so if an ambulance is responding to an incident with FD (MVA, Fire, ect) then they either have to come up on the Fire channels or the dispatchers have to relay everything which is very inefficient.

Exactly, it probably comes down to mutual aid. Monroe gives and receives a lot of mutual aid with surrounding counties and they are all VHF analog. As a matter of fact, Blairstown and Knowlton EMS(both NJ)responded to our drowning incident on the Delaware last Tuesday and utilized A6. Conversely, our station 18 responded to a traffic accident on 80 in NJ and they utilized Warren Co.

Gary is requiring all county EMS agencies to purchase dual band radios because he has said that EMS won’t be on the new P25 Phase 2 system at first, eventually they will be he said.

 

[smorris]

Gary told me that the P25 system will be Phase 2 from onset, however I checked all the licenses for the new P25 system and none of them include emissions for Phase 2, only Phase 1. He said all the licenses are in place. Below are the emissions on the P25 licenses. Many of the licenses also include analog.

8K10F1D, 8K10F1E, 8K10F7W, 8K70D1W, 8K70D7W

 

[SlipNutz15]

If everyone else is on UHF why didn't they just move EMS over to the existing UHF channels instead of spending millions on a new system or just go in with PA-STARNET like ECEN, Mifflin and Warren counties?

Mifflin is not on the state system.

 

[W7FDX]

Mifflin is not on the state system.

Not yet but I was told they were going to move to it eventually.

 

[SlipNutz15]

Not yet but I was told they were going to move to it eventually.

Unless you know something I don’t, I personally know the director and he told me there’s too much control required by the state for that to happen.

 

[W7FDX]

Unless you know something I don’t, I personally know the director and he told me there’s too much control required by the state for that to happen.

Ok I stand corrected then, my bad.

 

[smorris]

The Monroe Co P25 EMS channel(159.1350), now has an analog side with a DPL of 125 and frequent CWID. Sounds like public works. I haven’t heard any traffic on the P25 side in almost 2 years. There is also a DPL of 116 being used, but it’s only in 2 sec bursts with no audio.

 

[GTR8000]

The Monroe Co P25 EMS channel(159.1350), now has an analog side with a DPL of 125 and frequent CWID. Sounds like public works. I haven’t heard any traffic on the P25 side in almost 2 years. There is also a DPL of 116 being used, but it’s only in 2 sec bursts with no audio.

125 DPL is Pocono Township Highway, and has been in the RRDB for over 10 years.

 

[smorris]

125 DPL is Pocono Township Highway, and has been in the RRDB for over 10 years.

Pocono Twp is probably leasing that frequency from the control center. I don’t monitor public works, so I didn’t take notice.

 

[GTR8000]

Well in any event, it certainly has nothing do with the topic of this thread (which is the planned UHF P25 trunked system), seeing as how it's an analog conventional VHF channel.

 

[smorris]

Well in any event, it certainly has nothing do with the topic of this thread (which is the planned UHF P25 trunked system), seeing as how it's an analog conventional VHF channel.

You’re correct, but at the time I wasn’t aware that Pocono Twp was using that frequency, which is also used as the P25 EMS channel, which is related to the UHF P25 transition.

 

[SyntorX]

Gary told me that the P25 system will be Phase 2 from onset, however I checked all the licenses for the new P25 system and none of them include emissions for Phase 2, only Phase 1. He said all the licenses are in place. Below are the emissions on the P25 licenses. Many of the licenses also include analog.

8K10F1D, 8K10F1E, 8K10F7W, 8K70D1W, 8K70D7W

The 8K10F7W is used for Phase II