NYC release 9-11 audio

[DrStrangelove]

You can here audio here:
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/20050812_WTC_GRAPHIC/met_WTC_histories_04.html

It's Manhattan fire dispatch from 9-11.

 

[blantonl]

Very chilling stuff...

 

[scannerfreak]

Wow, I'm speachless after hearing that. Thanks for the link.

 

[n4voxgill]

In tape 102 at 2:30 a fire department unit calls and says to activate the army. That is how bad it was. The monday morning quaterbacks can have a ball with these tapes, but no one ever planned for something like this. They did the best they could. I sure am glad I retired before being thrown into a situation like this.

A lot of things need to be changed. I never reallized before how even an MDT system would be overloaded. Each command needed their own MDT frequency and system. That's just for starters. But like I said, they tried their best with what they had. That Manhattan dispatcher was one cool dude.

Gill

 

[Joseph11]

Did anyone notice that the units have loud audio but the dispatcher can barely be heard? Does anyone know why?

 

[Buckskinner33]

Hi guys:
What radio system was or is being used during 9/11?

 

[DrStrangelove]

Did anyone notice that the units have loud audio but the dispatcher can barely be heard? Does anyone know why?

I don't know what that is about. Normally the dispatcher is the same volume as the units. Must be the way it was recorded.

These are interviews with Fire/Ems responders made in the days and weeks after 9-11:

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/20050812_WTC_GRAPHIC/met_WTC_histories_01.html

 

[vsny]

Rumor circulated at the time was that when the first tower was hit,the FD lost the transmitter that was in that tower.Again, forgive me, I'm going by a memory from 4 years ago and I am not totally familiar with FD communications, but I can swear, that was one of the stories heard on the local NYC TV stations.

 

[SCANdal]

Sadly, almost nothing has changed operationally

What radio system was or is being used during 9/11?

33,

I presume you are asking specifically about the FDNY, based on the thread topic. There were a number of systems in use.

(1) The VHF-high band system (primary operations on 154.250R, F4, Manhattan; secondary on 154.430R, F1, Citywide). The other three borough channels were also active with assignments and relocations. Primary fireground was on 153.830, F1. The high band system remains in place for operations. Fireground has since moved to the UHF T-band.

(2) The Emergency Medical Service's UHF T-band system for operations (namely 478.0125R for Citywide) and the borough channels for assignments (mainly Manhattan South on 484.2375R) and it's administrative 800 MHz trunked system (not sure which talkgroups were used during the response that day). Both systems basically remain in place today (the trunked system has migrated to a Type II / mixed system from Type 1; the UHF system had 11 tac and one Citywide channel added).

(3) The Port Authority of NY & NJ's UHF system (namely 453.375R. Channel W, World Trade Center) that the local FDNY units had routine access to for responses to boxes at the Center.
* vsny, this is the channel I recall being lost early in the event.

(4) Speaking of shared channels, select FDNY units (i.e. the borough COs) at time had access to some of the NYCPD's, namely Citywide 3. The intended purpose of that channel strayed far from what it was supposed to be well before 9/11, rendering that channel useless for interagency coordination. In addition, there were (and still are) the six (one for each borough and a citywide) so-called "Inter-op" channels that were available since 1997, that, to this day, aren't utilized. Since a) the change over to UHF for fireground purposes and b) an upgrade to the EMS's UHF system that came later, the InterOp channels are more widely available (Bank C on the fire portables, and in the "Police" bank on EMS officer's radios), yet the channels are merely used for unauthorized unit-to-unit chatter today. Also, the Citywide channel used as a link between EMS and PD is now Citywide 1 (as bad a choice as Citywide 3).

(5) The FDNY also had (and still does) access to talkgroups on the city's DoITT trunked system (i.e. A.L.E.R.T. and some of their own). I am not sure how much FDNY activity passed on those talkgroups that day (I do know that OEM's use of the system was extensive).

SCANdal

 

[jpm]

Rumor circulated at the time was that when the first tower was hit,the FD lost the transmitter that was in that tower.Again, forgive me, I'm going by a memory from 4 years ago and I am not totally familiar with FD communications, but I can swear, that was one of the stories heard on the local NYC TV stations.

you are absolutely right the transmitter was lost as stated.

 

[DaveNF2G]

9/11 redux

The New York Times website has all the FDNY Manhattan recordings and some excellent interactive features about events on 9/11/01.

Personally, I think that all of the news networks should stop all routine programming on Saturday, 9/11/05, and run exactly what they aired between 8AM and Noon on 9/11/01 in real time, then air all of the latest analyses that have been done from Noon until at least 6PM, along with clips from more recent attacks on England, Spain, and other places. It has to be every network, so there is no channel-surfing away from the horror, just like on the day.

Americans seem to have forgotten how terrible that day was. We need an in-your-face reminder of what we are dealing with.

 

[Buckskinner33]

33,

I presume you are asking specifically about the FDNY, based on the thread topic. There were a number of systems in use.

(1) The VHF-high band system (primary operations on 154.250R, F4, Manhattan; secondary on 154.430R, F1, Citywide). The other three borough channels were also active with assignments and relocations. Primary fireground was on 153.830, F1. The high band system remains in place for operations. Fireground has since moved to the UHF T-band.

(2) The Emergency Medical Service's UHF T-band system for operations (namely 478.0125R for Citywide) and the borough channels for assignments (mainly Manhattan South on 484.2375R) and it's administrative 800 MHz trunked system (not sure which talkgroups were used during the response that day). Both systems basically remain in place today (the trunked system has migrated to a Type II / mixed system from Type 1; the UHF system had 11 tac and one Citywide channel added).

OK, I understand you corrctly: On the recordings. Manhattan South, at that time was on a UHF freq and the recordings we are hearing are from the dispatcher. So, we are hearing what he recorded? Is this the reason why we can't hear the dispatcher very well? Maybe RFI effecting the cassette tapes or some other type of problem with the setup of the recorder?

(3) The Port Authority of NY & NJ's UHF system (namely 453.375R. Channel W, World Trade Center) that the local FDNY units had routine access to for responses to boxes at the Center.
* vsny, this is the channel I recall being lost early in the event.

(4) Speaking of shared channels, select FDNY units (i.e. the borough COs) at time had access to some of the NYCPD's, namely Citywide 3. The intended purpose of that channel strayed far from what it was supposed to be well before 9/11, rendering that channel useless for interagency coordination. In addition, there were (and still are) the six (one for each borough and a citywide) so-called "Inter-op" channels that were available since 1997, that, to this day, aren't utilized. Since a) the change over to UHF for fireground purposes and b) an upgrade to the EMS's UHF system that came later, the InterOp channels are more widely available (Bank C on the fire portables, and in the "Police" bank on EMS officer's radios), yet the channels are merely used for unauthorized unit-to-unit chatter today. Also, the Citywide channel used as a link between EMS and PD is now Citywide 1 (as bad a choice as Citywide 3).

Now, MS NBC had posted 22 files on Citywide. Both dispatcher and field units can be heard clearly. Since I'm from the midwest, The female dispatcher accent is a little tough for me to understand, But by the third disk I was starting to talk like a New Yorker! Anyway, CityWide Disk we are hearing, I take it, is trunked, Am I correct?

Also, I asume you are talking about call Boxes? You guys still use those? In Wichita we got rid of ours over 30 years ago.

(5) The FDNY also had (and still does) access to talkgroups on the city's DoITT trunked system (i.e. A.L.E.R.T. and some of their own). I am not sure how much FDNY activity passed on those talkgroups that day (I do know that OEM's use of the system was extensive).

New York, NY, Posting on RR.Com data shows that they have, and or are, on a Motorola Type 2 system ( I take it, it is a SmartZone system) Was that active on 9/11 or was they just making changes to there radio system?
In other words, is all of New York NY, now trunked or pushing towards that?

 

[Buckskinner33]

Americans seem to have forgotten how terrible that day was. We need an in-your-face reminder of what we are dealing with.

I don't know about America as a whole but your right, I did! By the time I got too the second disk I couldnt help but to shed a tear. I was a couple of thousand miles away on 9/11. To me, my world is a far as the eye can see. Yes, I do remeber where I was when it happen. But in todays enviroment I get numb with age. I see so much crap on the TV anymore I tend to do what most people do by turning off the tube and talk my neighbors or work on somthing productive.

 

[K2KOH]

I couldn't listen for very long...NY1's website also had the video timeline. Made it feel like it was just the other day...God almighty!

 

[jdc50]

I would like to put the files on CD for listening later. Been having trouble trying to do it. Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[Joseph11]

What CD burning software do you have?

 

[SCANdal]

Buck...33,

"Is this the reason why we can't hear the dispatcher very well? Maybe RFI effecting the cassette tapes or some other type of problem with the setup of the recorder?"

I have not heard the tapes, and probably never will, so I can not say what is causing the unreadability of them.

"Anyway, CityWide Disk we are hearing, I take it, is trunked, Am I correct?"

No. I should have made that clear in my original post. All NYCPD UHF frequencies are conventional, not trunked. A very small number of highly specialized NYCPD units have access to some of the trunked systems other agencies (i.e. DoITT, State Police, MTA) have set up in the City, but the NYCPD's own channels are conventional.

"Also, I asume you are talking about call Boxes? You guys still use those? In Wichita we got rid of ours over 30 years ago."

Yep, still do.

"New York, NY, Posting on RR.Com data shows that they have, and or are, on a Motorola Type 2 system ( I take it, it is a SmartZone system) Was that active on 9/11 or was they just making changes to there radio system?
In other words, is all of New York NY, now trunked or pushing towards that?"

The DOITT 800 MHz TRS has been up long before 9/11 and is all Type II today. My recollection is that on 9/11 it was still a Type IIi system (someone correct me if I am wrong).

No, New York City's agencies are not all trunked and there is not a push toward a "citywide" trunked system. There are those that feel (myself included), that, despite all of the advances made in technology, that trunking is still unacceptable for public safety use. Please folks, I do not want to start a debate in this thread about the merits of conventional vs. trunking. I am simply answering a question. What there is a push toward is what's sometimes refered to as the "one radio" concept. As you explore http://www.n2nov.net/nypd_ems.html (part of an excellent parent site) you'll note that the NYCPD has parts of it still operating on VHF-high band...the FDNY still operates on VHF-high band...etc. The overall plan is to bring all public safety to UHF (with a related plan to have all other public services on 800 MHz, so really it's a "two radio" plan to be able to talk to everybody, but anyway). The anticipated opening of the 700 MHz band to public service may change all of that. Time will tell.

SCANdal

 

[jdc50]

joseph I have Easy CD creator. I have played one in Windows Media and then tried buring it but it did not work.

 

[Joseph11]

Ah, I use Nero. I don't know a single thing about Easy CD Creator, sorry.

 

[nyscan00]

Newsday online also has a audio archive from 9/11 for anyone who is intereasted

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/l...allery,0,5812596.audiogallery?coll=ny-li-mezz