Mountain Pine PD

[wbswetnam]

So, I noticed a few weeks ago that the dispatch frequency for Mountain Pine Police had disappeared from the Garland County RRDB page. I thought that curious, but hey maybe they had very recently switched to AWIN, I thought. Apparently not, though, because I heard them just yesterday on their normal frequency of 155.445 MHz, PL tone 94.8 Hz (I hear them clearly up here in Russellville; they're way over-powered! This used to be the main dispatch frequency for Garland County Sheriff before that agency switched over to AWIN). Anyway, I submitted a ticket to RRDB saying that MPPD was still operating on that frequency.
I got a response from the administrator this morning, quoting an email from a Robert King, the Emergency Management Deputy Director for Garland County, telling RR that the information in the database is incorrect, and that the frequency 155.445 is for use by Hot Springs PD.
Buuut... from monitoring that channel, it is indeed Mountain Pine Police! Their comms refer to addresses in the community of Mountain Pine, and the dispatcher calls the units "MP(unit #)". So, I dunno what gives with this, but for those scanner listeners within 40 miles of Garland County who are 'in the know', Mountain Pine PD dispatch is STILL blasting on 155.445 MHz, PL 94.8 Hz.

 

[Magnetsteve]

That frequency is the old "Garland County S.O. South" but was used as the main dispatch channel before the switch to AWIN. It is used as backup for Garland SO in the event of an AWIN outage, and is used full time by Mountain Pine PD. Mountain Pine PD does not have AWIN capability.

 

[INDY72]

I fixed this a long time ago, even after getting that e-mail from Mr. King, who has no clue wtf he is doing apparently. Funny though, that MPPD, and HSVPD are the only public safety in GC without AWIN other than LifeNET EMS. How does MPVFD have AWIN but NOT MPPD? Just food for thought. (

155.44500

WNUN898

RM

94.8 PL

GCSO-SOUTH/MPPD

Sheriff - Backup Dispatch for AWIN & Mountain Pine Police

FMN

Law Dispatch

STILL Like I fixed it.... No changes made that I can see....)

 

[wbloss]

Could the SO be dispatching FOR Mountain Pine? The only nearby license on 155.445 does belong to Hot Springs: FCC Callsign WNUN898 (City of Hot Springs)
Also, things change, and it would help if there were knowledge of an agreement for MP to use Hot SPrings license.

 

[INDY72]

Could the SO be dispatching FOR Mountain Pine? The only nearby license on 155.445 does belong to Hot Springs: FCC Callsign WNUN898 (City of Hot Springs)
Also, things change, and it would help if there were knowledge of an agreement for MP to use Hot SPrings license.

See my PM about the convoluted "Good Ole Boy" ummm "agreement" about the VHF set up in Garland County and the fun of "FCC Ownership" vs ACTUAL USE there.... HS and GC have a long history of "interesting" sharing of VHF that includes Lake Hamilton on the fire side.

 

[wbswetnam]

Anyway, I think it's something that local Garland County scanner listeners should be aware of. It's also interesting how the PD repeater for such a small town has an enormous RF footprint!

 

[Magnetsteve]

I fixed this a long time ago, even after getting that e-mail from Mr. King, who has no clue wtf he is doing apparently. Funny though, that MPPD, and HSVPD are the only public safety in GC without AWIN other than LifeNET EMS. How does MPVFD have AWIN but NOT MPPD? Just food for thought.

155.44500

WNUN898

RM

94.8 PL

GCSO-SOUTH/MPPD

Sheriff - Backup Dispatch for AWIN & Mountain Pine Police

FMN

Law Dispatch

STILL Like I fixed it.... No changes made that I can see....)

I believe that had to do with how the grant was written. It was for county entities (ie, GCSO, VFD's, DEM, etc). The VFD would fall under the county and Mountain Pine is a paid police department for the City of Mountain Pine, not a county entity. HSVPD does have some limited AWIN capability. I have heard them communicate with the SO on their talkgroup (I believe Diamondhead PD has some limited AWIN capability as well where they can talk to Garland SO). Also my understanding is that LifeNet is on their way to being on AWIN also, but I do not know the time frame.

Could the SO be dispatching FOR Mountain Pine?

Yes, the Garland County Emergency Communications Center dispatches for Mountain Pine Police.

 

[W5LVB]

Magnetsteve, THANKS for trying to explain the situation, but I will comment myself, as I am the guy that DOES know W** I am doing......

For the record, I have been involved, at some level, with local Emergency Communications Systems since the 1970s. Through either working for my dad, who owned/ran the Motorola RSS for 35+ years or through Emergency Management, as the County Communications Officer. I am still heavily involved with EMCOMM locally and sit on the AWIN COMU Working Group.

I will address things as listed in the thread:

1. Yes, I wrote to the ADMIN to have the entry for MOUNTAIN PINE POLICE edited or removed as it was presented, because as it read, it gave the impression that it was MPPD's system/repeater, specifically. It did not list it as MPPD utilizing it for communications with GCSO/911 Dispatch. This, to me, was a 'false entry'.

2. The frequency in question IS LICENSED to City of Hot Springs. It was originally HSPD Channel 2 (Detectives) as far back as the mid-late 1980s. When HSPD went to their 800 MHz Single Site/Analog Trunking System, the GCSO asked if they could utilize it for a secondary repeater for their operation, as the single site VHF repeater they were using didn't cover the county fully and needed better coverage for their deputies. HSPD agreed to this, but wanted to and agreed to keep the license current under their name 'just in case'. GCSO bought the additional repeater equipment and placed their (2) repeaters in advantageous locations to maximize the coverage of both. One was located in the north part of the county and one in the south part. This was the daily operation for MANY years to follow.

3. As far as being "way over-powered", the repeater is located on a nearly 1300' mountain, on top of a 230' tower, as it has been for YEARS! That it can be heard as far away as Russellville, is no surprise. Of course, that is going to be GROSSLY elevation/location dependent.

4. Yes, MPPD is 'utilizing' said repeater for communications with the Garland County 911 Center, as they have no system of their own, that works dependably. But, there are other entities/agencies that utilize it as well, including the GCSO, when there is an AWIN problem or failure in the area. Again, listing it in its own category as MOUNTAIN PINE PD's Channel, is (to me) an 'erroneous' entry.

5. MPPD and HSVPD were invited to join Garland County on AWIN, but being small/limited funds entities, they could not afford the radios to do it, so they chose to stay VHF for the time being. HSVPD had a few radios that they had been given by Saline County (HSV straddles the County Line of both Saline and Garland) when they went full time AWIN. Garland County granted HSVPD permissions to have select GC AWIN talk-groups programmed into those radios. Diamondhead PD bought their own HTs and made their own application to join AWIN as a Part-Time User. They have an MOU with Garland and Hot Spring Counties to have selected TGs programmed in those radios.

6. LifeNet EMS is NOT (at present) a full time user on AWIN. The reason you hear them on the GC VFDs TGs, is that they have AWIN radios, through the AR Trauma System, in each transport unit (a requirement of the AR Dept of Health). Like the radios from Saline Co. in HSV, they were granted permissions by the ADH and Garland Co, to program the local TGs in the existing radios, so they could have communications with the VFDs Medical First Responders while enroute to a call. LifeNet is working to progress to a Full-Time user for daily communications.

7. "Why does MPVFD have AWIN, but not MPPD?" The reason for MPPD has already been explained above. The reason MPVFD has it, is that they are a stand-alone (non-profit) VFD, associated with MP in name only. As with all (9) of our VFDs, they 'bought-in' to an AWARDED Federal Assistance to Firefighter's Grant with matching funds. This is how our VFDs were able to afford to join AWIN, with the rest of the Garland County Departments.

8. As far as the "Good Ole Boy Agreement" comment, if you have something to say, why not say it in the 'open'? Why 'PM' it?

I hope this clears things up on the questions raised in this thread.

Robert King
Deputy Director/COML
Garland County Department of Emergency Management
Hot Springs National Park, AR

 

[03msc]

1. Yes, I wrote to the ADMIN to have the entry for MOUNTAIN PINE POLICE edited or removed as it was presented, because as it read, it gave the impression that it was MPPD's system/repeater, specifically. It did not list it as MPPD utilizing it for communications with GCSO/911 Dispatch. This, to me, was a 'false entry'.

So basically your issue was that you felt MPPD should just have a single line/entry under the GC category and not its own section is what you're saying. I think?

I didn't see how it was before so this is what I'm surmising from what you said.

 

[03msc]

I hadn't looked until now but... looks like it has been added back again in the db and is now accurate, per what wbswetnam has said he's heard and what others have said here. That's what is great about RadioReference - crowd sourcing gets accurate info as far as what's heard, regardless of license or what someone says. Of course, the down side is sometimes db admins are removed from the situation so much that someone who doesn't know what they're talking about can put in a submission and they act on it without knowing the situation (this statement is not directed at anyone here). Thus the issue this thread was about - the disappearance of an in-use frequency. Kind of like the time a db admin changed an entire county to "deprecated" about a year or so ago...perhaps in error but still.

 

[INDY72]

But now its not per DBA H B rules regarding County/Muni level. It was listed at the County level with notation per actual usage. Now its listed twice with same data that we were not supposed to do. Kinda glad I am not a DBA anymore since it seems selective usage of rules is now the norm not the exceptions. Old adage stands true: If it ain't broke, why fix it? The DB was supposed to avoid this exact stuff with duplications etc. The listing had the correct information at the County level. It had the notation that it was GCSO backup and MPPD dispatch. The DB is NOT supposed to be favored to a single user, or scanner model, and now it duplicates the exact same data, using the exact same tones etc, which we got hammered into us by LB3, and the actual paid admin staff to never do. Duplicate was to be only listed if different tones and usage. Its just like the old battle a bout listing of same data in TRS... Like with the mess we used to have of "City X - (freq - PD) vs City X - (freq - City X PD)... Oh well. On with the show.