New Chicago OEMC Public Safety - 800 MHz P25

[werinshades]

Yes it's only been in use by CFD for about 10 years

It was field tested for many years before CFD was forced to use it because of the racial incident. We were asked on a couple occasions when our radios were programmed to check from inside hospitals etc. The P25 UHF conventional system is built out very well with numerous receiver sites, which due to their location, might be suspectable to the interference they're having that wasn't problematic, until recently. That's why I said it's been around longer than 10 years.

 

[Awesomeman92]

I did see a couple key-ups on TGID 1019, but couldn't determine who it was and whether or not it's encrypted.

Clear. Mix of fire and EMS units, voice mostly came 1830xxx series (ambulances, correct?).

I also see 1016 as a mixture of clear and encrypted, mostly fire units including a command van, not sure if that one has been mentioned before.

 

[werinshades]

Clear. Mix of fire and EMS units, voice mostly came 1830xxx series (ambulances, correct?).

I also see 1016 as a mixture of clear and encrypted, mostly fire units including a command van, not sure if that one has been mentioned before.

Correct...South ambulances (EMS Command/EMS Ops?)

1016 hasn't been mentioned?

 

[Elpato]

Very clear on the APX radios. NW burbs.

G5 picks it up out in Pingree Grove.

 

[ILjim]

Heard some Water Dept activity on TG 4021 recently. Don't remember if it's Phase I or II, but it's in the clear.

 

[werinshades]

Heard some Water Dept activity on TG 4021 recently. Don't remember if it's Phase I or II, but it's in the clear.

It seems as if the Water Department has been very active on the system recently. Water Quality, Pump Operations, Filtering Operations seem to be the dominant usage. 4021: Phase 2

 

[werinshades]

I did see a couple key-ups on TGID 1019, but couldn't determine who it was and whether or not it's encrypted.

Clear. Mix of fire and EMS units, voice mostly came 1830xxx series (ambulances, correct?).

EMS Field Chief 4-5-9 (1854591) was heard responding to 4-5-6 while at a fire this morning at 110th King Drive on TGID 1019, but was on the wrong channel. It was Phase 1 and in the clear. It's likely this is an EMS Command channel similar to the UHF Conventional analog frequency 462.975 which is also on a repeater, and based on the RID's seen by Awsomeman it would appear that EMS will be the primary users.

 

[ILjim]

Zone 9 flipped to encrypted conventional P25 today, and is showing a TG of 5909.

Starting to notice a pattern. Zone 8 went to ENC P25 Conventional sometime yesterday or early this morning, and noticed TG 5908 pop up. However, I haven't seen either TG on the new system yet.

 

[werinshades]

Starting to notice a pattern. Zone 8 went to ENC P25 Conventional sometime yesterday or early this morning, and noticed TG 5908 pop up. However, I haven't seen either TG on the new system yet.

They're not going to be using the 800 system. Repurposing the UHF frequencies.

 

[werinshades]

Many problems on the P25 Conventional this morning with portables not being able to transmit due to interference. Ambulance officer said she was calling for 5 minutes on her radio to ask for manpower, which I think that expedited the switch to EMS 800 a little. Currently all Fire is on FD 800, EMS-North just switched to EMS 800, and I suspect EMS-South soon to follow.

I'm seeing some Fire apparatus that have their radios programmed with the new 800 Zone, based on Radio ID's.

***EMS South just switched over now. Currently all CFD is operating on the 800 Trunking System****

 

[werinshades]

EMS Field Chief 4-5-9 just tested on TGID 1019, and self identified the channel as "EMS Command Trunk". He's attempting to reach the OEMC, but like the UHF EMS Command channel, I don't believe they monitor it or have access to it?

 

[Chicago2210]

So is the fire side on the trunked system or just EMS?

 

[werinshades]

Currently all Fire is on FD 800,

So is the fire side on the trunked system or just EMS?

Hope this clears it up..

 

[FFPM571]

Do they know what is causing the problems on the P25 UHF ? Intentional?

 

[werinshades]

Do they know what is causing the problems on the P25 UHF ? Intentional?

Atmospheric anomaly's. They're telling the troops, it's being caused by a radio station not in the area. Usual pattern is portables on the Englewood Fire frequency are first, then EMS South, then north.

As of right now, they've attempted to have companies test on the P25 UHF frequencies a few times, but they can't get through to the OEMC. Since the same weather is expected
, I'd suspect the same conditions are going to occur over the next couple of days. Maybe, they've had enough, or just waiting till later, so they can do it all over again tomorrow.

 

[FFPM571]

Odd maybe sunspots or Ionospheric ducting that would have taken this many years to start happening

 

[werinshades]

Odd maybe sunspots or Ionospheric ducting that would have taken this many years to start happening

Not sure on that, but if this occurs in the early morning hours, it would probably be the explanation. One of the "selling points" of the UHF P25 system was receiver sites scattered throughout the city, hospitals and other known problematic areas, which might explain this. I don't know, but it becomes a safety concern when portable radios are being "blocked" from transmitting. The frequent "back and forth" between these systems might have pushed them to try and figure out the issue(s) on the P25 UHF, or just stay with what's working. Yesterday we had a variety of incidents, and outside the occasional radio being on the wrong zone, things seemed to go smoothly.

As of 0800 Hrs. all CFD operations are still on the OEMC Trunked 800 system.

 

[werinshades]

Just a CFD update:

They're still utilizing FD800 & EMS800 for dispatching operations, and it "appears" that the UHF P25 system is no longer being used. Still have some folks forgetting to be on the proper zone, but that's typical growing pains. Battalion Chiefs and EMS Field Chiefs are conducting training at both hospitals and firehouses as a refresher on how to find the proper zones.

Exempt Rank Chiefs have been sporadically doing radio checks to confirm they're on the proper zone. A Stand-By at O'Hare this morning was a little confusing for the 13th Battalion on which zone to be on, but eventually found the right place to be. They ID'd on the FD800 zone with the same O'Hare Apparatus Radio ID.

I've confirmed via Radio ID's 15-20 fire companies with apparatus radios. The officers must have done some radio training on their own and figured out they have the FD800 zone. Engine 11 went out of service for MDT issues and reported on their portable radio, when they returned from the radio shop, they did a radio check on the "apparatus radio". I would lean towards this being permanent after hearing some of this radio traffic over the last few days, but I could wake up in the morning and could be all wrong.

 

[werinshades]

Just a CFD update:

They're still utilizing FD800 & EMS800 for dispatching operations, and it "appears" that the UHF P25 system is no longer being used. Still have some folks forgetting to be on the proper zone, but that's typical growing pains. Battalion Chiefs and EMS Field Chiefs are conducting training at both hospitals and firehouses as a refresher on how to find the proper zones.

Exempt Rank Chiefs have been sporadically doing radio checks to confirm they're on the proper zone. A Stand-By at O'Hare this morning was a little confusing for the 13th Battalion on which zone to be on, but eventually found the right place to be. They ID'd on the FD800 zone with the same O'Hare Apparatus Radio ID.

I've confirmed via Radio ID's 15-20 fire companies with apparatus radios. The officers must have done some radio training on their own and figured out they have the FD800 zone. Engine 11 went out of service for MDT issues and reported on their portable radio, when they returned from the radio shop, they did a radio check on the "apparatus radio". I would lean towards this being permanent after hearing some of this radio traffic over the last few days, but I could wake up in the morning and could be all wrong.

They just put the the OEMC Fire/EMS Consoles on the FD800/EMS800 zones. They have been using stand-by consoles previously on the 800 system and was noticeable with the over modulated audio, but this morning saw the radio shops testing, and the audio went back to the level of the P25 UHF Conventional system.

 

[Chicago2210]

CFD is back on UHF as of this evening