Heard Niagara county testing vtac and UTAC frequencies any info on them
Niagara County Testing
- Thread starter Phoenix-23
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Also wondering has anyone heard anything on the new frequencies posted on here
National Interoperability (United States)
Most counties (who knows, maybe all to some degree by now) have NIO frequencies set up. Some have them set just as conventional, some have them paired to a TG on that county/region TRS (Monroe Co, for example). Previously, I've seen NYS awarding state interoperability grants, which have been used to expand NIO frequency coverage and capabilities.
I'm sure someone will likely know more than me about this, but I BELIEVE some (or most, or all, idk) have those repeaters set to off (or whatever it would be), and the county COML's will turn them on as needed, hopefully at the site that best suits the incident. Years ago, during the riots/protests/lawlessness in Buffalo, Erie County turned on one of the UTAC repeaters to enable interoperability among LE agencies operating in the city. At some point (I don't remember the duration), it was patched to Countywide Law/Police, or BPD Ch 1, or something like that.
The idea is to have band-specific interop frequencies that everyone should have (assuming they are licensed or have an agreement with a license holder, or whatever is recommended for your use) in place, so everyone who needs to talk can, regardless of where they're from. In theory, a firefighter from Central NY could deploy to Niagara Co for a disaster. That CNY agency wouldn't have access to the Niagara Co TRS on their radio, but they may have NIO frequencies, which they could use. So, whoever could hop on UTAC, VTAC, 8TAC (or whatever is being used), and voila, they can talk to local resources, or whoever they need to at that incident.
Erie County, last I knew, has/had V/U/8 CALL/TAC equipment setup at various sites in the county, for just such a purpose. Seldom used, but helpful when you need it.
Did you hear them on the conventional VTAC and UTAC, or through their TRS?
They were using the countywide 1 one talkgroup and then testing the UTAC and vtac analog what was weird tome was they were using vatc and 8tac and 7tac I thought the county had apx900 uhf radios
Does anyone have a list of what is actually used in Erie and Niagara county
Niagara Co has a slew of various radios. The only APX900's I've seen have been associated with schools. I've seen Niagara Co fire agenices with APX4k's and NCSO with APX6k's (maybe 8k's?). NYSP obviously has 8k's, among various other radios. I'd imagine their OEM/ES peeps would have 8k's.
Makes sense, testing the V/U capabilities and patching onto a local TG, similar to what Erie Co has done in real-world situations for Erie Co conventional channels.
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Great overview.
This was part of the solution to the failed SWN project. Instead of building their own statewide system, they would use the local systems and fund the expansion of the national interop frequencies at the infrastructure level to enable operations from other outside agencies, as you noted. They would also fund county interconnects, both connectivity (microwave) and operationally (ISSI).
If the national interop channels are repeaters (not all are), they should be turned off until needed and can be controlled at the PSAP. You can use them as such, but a note should be sent to the state (OEIC) that you are using them.
Many systems (Monroe, Orleans, etc.) have the channels configured as voted simulcast, with no site selection at the dispatcher level. Some systems are site-specific. Erie County used them during the 2017 snowstorm. I'm sure there were others.
Also, as you noted, SELDOM used. I'm sure there are some counties where they have never been used.
Has anyone heard anything on the new conventional frequencies operation 1-5 or county talk around or know what they will used for
Here is the info that was submitted about those channels:
"Regarding the conventional ops channels: the analog versions of Ops 1-5 are retained for worst-case scenario interop, but county radios are programmed for mixed mode, and are used in P25 mode primarily. These ops channels (in P25 Mode) have traditionally been used during multi-alarm operations that require tanker filling ops, RIT/FAST activations, or separate overhaul operations with multi-exposure fires."
They are not really new, just previosly unreported due to seldom used.
National Interop channels are not listed in RRDB for each county since they are a nationwide standard and only used in emergencies requiring Interop with outside agencies. If there are trunked system TGs associated with specific conventional Interop channels they will be in the trunked system TG list if the information is available.
I guess I took the long way to ask what conventional channels are worth adding to the radio
In the RRDB the note on the Niagara County Fire conventional subcategory listing says:
"Dispatch 425.4625 is a simulcast of the trunked system talkgroup 101. Primary operations now take place on the trunked system, however the UHF frequencies are retained for backup purposes in either analog or P25 mode.
| Niagara County Public Safety System Project 25 Phase I | Primary Fire communications are on this system. |
These RRDB conventional page notes and links to associated trunked systems are there to make users aware when primary operations are now trunked and link to the associated trunked system.
Now I see it they are the ops from when they first switched to UHF thank you
When did Niagara County change these analog channels to mixed mode and start using them as P25?
The NACs are all in the RRDB listing:
| Frequency | Input | License | Type | Tone | Alpha Tag | Description | Mode | Tag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 425.4625 | WQCC455 | BM | 179.9 PL | NC FD Dispatch | Dispatch | FMN | Fire Dispatch | |
| 425.3125 | WQCB737 | M | 123 NAC | NC FD Ops 1 D | Operations 1 Mutual Aid TA_D | P25 | Fire-Tac | |
| 425.3125 | WQCB737 | M | 152 DPL | NC FD Ops 1 A | Operations 1 Mutual Aid TA-A | FMN | Fire-Tac | |
| 425.3375 | WQCB737 | M | 124 NAC | NC FD Ops 2 D | Operations 2 Mutual Aid TA_D | P25 | Fire-Tac | |
| 425.3375 | WQCB737 | M | 174 DPL | NC FD Ops 2 A | Operations 2 Mutual Aid TA_A | FMN | Fire-Tac | |
| 425.3625 | WQCB737 | M | 125 NAC | NC FD Ops 3 D | Operations 3 Mutual Aid TA_D | P25 | Fire-Tac | |
| 425.3625 | WQCB737 | M | 223 DPL | NC FD Ops 3 A | Operations 3 Mutual Aid TA_A | FMN | Fire-Tac | |
| 425.3875 | WQCB737 | M | 126 NAC | NC FD Ops 4 D | Operations 4 Mutual Aid TA_D | P25 | Fire-Tac | |
| 425.3875 | WQCB737 | M | 343 DPL | NC FD Ops 4 A | Operations 4 Mutual Aid TA_A | FMN | Fire-Tac | |
| 425.2875 | WQCB737 | M | 051 DPL | NC FD Ops 5 A | Operations 5 Mutual Aid TA_A | FMN | Fire-Tac | |
| 425.2875 | WQCB737 | M | 127 NAC | NC FD Ops 5 D | Operations 5 Mutual Aid TA_D | P25 | Fire-Tac | |
| 425.2625 | WQCB737 | M | 051 DPL | NC FD EMS/AIR | EMS/AIR Operations | FMN | EMS-Tac | |
| 424.0875 | WQCC454 | M | 7F3 NAC | NC NT/LK FD TA | NT/LKPT Fire Dept Talkaround | P25 | Fire-Tac | |
| 429.0875 | WQCC454 | M | CSQ | NC Hazmat TA | Hazmat Talkaround | FMN | Fire-Tac |
Sorry don't see that in the first posting thank you
So someone read a fire radio and submitted a database change based on a personality that exists in their radios but are not tied to any zone channel assignments (except for LFD/NTFD)? The personalities are not mixed mode. The analog channels are tied to an analog only personality, the digital versions are tied to a digital only personality.
That is the impression I got from the submission is that there is a mix of legacy analog radios still out there but the current issue radios are digital. There was other info about the actual limited use of these channels vs the trunked system so I had to list all channels as could be either digital or analog based on the radios in use.
Fire is a majority APX4000 with some 6000, 8000 and XTS all of which are analog and p25 (and trunking of course) capable. A majority of mobiles are still XTL. The fire ops channels in the radios that are assigned to channel selector positions are analog only with the exception of the NTFD/LFD ops channel.
The digital channels that someone submitted are in the radios but not assigned to any channel selector slots. There are no plans in Niagara County to migrate fire ops channels to digital at this time.
I am just a nobody but IMO I think those ops channels should be listed as analog only.
