OC/Worcester and Unification G4/5

[ocguard]

Hello! I'm wondering if, if I combine the Worcester County and Ocean City P25 systems into ONE system with three sites in my G4, it will handle it like a multi-site system. The systems have different SysIDs but share a common WACN, and the site numbers aren't duplicated. I've been able to do it with my scanner in the past, but it never cared about the SysID.

Also, in regards to the OC system, does anyone know if all traffic is carried on both sites ? Or is it registration-dependent? I don't think I was hearing beach patrol from the Ocean Pines site, which makes perfect sense from an operational standpoint, but seeing as though each site has the same number of channels, I guess I assumed both sites would carry everything.

I haven't been big into monitoring since the EDACS days (which, boy do I miss!). But I'm down that way more frequently now and trying to pick up on the nuances. Do users of the systems (when operating on wide-area talk groups) have to manually switch on their radios as they move from OC to WC coverage? Or do the radios handle this as if it was one system? I know with EDACS, OC ambulances had to manually switch to WC when they went to Salisbury in order to stay connected. Seems like Ocean Pines units, despite being WC users, would be best served being on the OC system. And as always, wondering why politics again got in the way of having a single system.

 

[ocguard]

Please pardon the Unication typo... I was posting from an Apple product.

 

[maus92]

As far as programming a Unication G4/G5 with the two systems combined, I could not tell you if it would work. You could try it, but I'd also have a zone / knobs programmed as separate systems.

Both Ocean City system sites overlay the Worcester County system's simulcast site. The Ocean City simulcast site is designed to provide indoor coverage in commercial buildings on the barrier island. The Ocean Pines multicast site provides backup on-street coverage for Ocean City, and primary coverage for the Rt 90 entrance to the town, and inland waterways. The Worcester County system simulcast site theoretically provides adequate on-street and some in-building coverage throughout the county including Ocean City, and extending west to Salisbury along Rt 50.


All traffic is not carried on all sites. The Ocean City simulcast site carries all the town's services, plus their i-calls. The Ocean Pines site generally only straps public safety users, with occasional channel grants for Public Works and Beach Patrol when they travel outside of the simulcast site's footprint. If a Worcester public safety user loses connectivity with the Worcester system, they can roam onto the Ocean City system; likewise an Ocean City public safety user will roam onto the Worcester system when it loses connectivity with an Ocean City site. An EMS user transporting to Salisbury does not have to physically switch systems to remain in contact with Ocean City; it remains on its ops tg (almost always Fire 5). If a police unit is transporting a prisoner to Snow Hill, they remain on their ops tg, either Police 1 or Police 2.

Since Ocean City's fire service tgs are functionally strapped to the Worcester site, that is how I use my Unication. I keep it on the Worcester system so I hear both Ocean City and the county's fire departments on one knob position (I scan several tgs as it's usually not all that busy). My Ocean City work portable would affiliate with the Ocean Pines site when it was on when I was at home in the county.

 

[jtwalker]

What is your ultimate goal? I can’t picture how this would be useful or even workable. You won’t be able to control which site the pager decides to connect with.

Many of the main public safety WorCo TGs are carried on OC system and vice versa, so if the goal is to hear dispatch for either without having to adjust zone/knob then you can do that without combining two systems.

 

[ocguard]

What is your ultimate goal? I can’t picture how this would be useful or even workable. You won’t be able to control which site the pager decides to connect with.

Many of the main public safety WorCo TGs are carried on OC system and vice versa, so if the goal is to hear dispatch for either without having to adjust zone/knob then you can do that without combining two systems.

The goal is to have the pager roam between the two systems (as if they were separate sites on a single system) as I move between their coverage areas without physically changing the settings. I do have both systems set up separately and with the other systems' shared talk groups included, but while I'm driving or not able to manipulate the pager safely, I thought it might be interesting to see if it will roam as it would on any other multi-site system.

 

[ocguard]

As far as programming a Unication G4/G5 with the two systems combined, I could not tell you if it would work. You could try it, but I'd also have a zone / knobs programmed as separate systems.

Both Ocean City system sites overlay the Worcester County system's simulcast site. The Ocean City simulcast site is designed to provide indoor coverage in commercial buildings on the barrier island. The Ocean Pines multicast site provides backup on-street coverage for Ocean City, and primary coverage for the Rt 90 entrance to the town, and inland waterways. The Worcester County system simulcast site theoretically provides adequate on-street and some in-building coverage throughout the county including Ocean City, and extending west to Salisbury along Rt 50.


All traffic is not carried on all sites. The Ocean City simulcast site carries all the town's services, plus their i-calls. The Ocean Pines site generally only straps public safety users, with occasional channel grants for Public Works and Beach Patrol when they travel outside of the simulcast site's footprint. If a Worcester public safety user loses connectivity with the Worcester system, they can roam onto the Ocean City system; likewise an Ocean City public safety user will roam onto the Worcester system when it loses connectivity with an Ocean City site. An EMS user transporting to Salisbury does not have to physically switch systems to remain in contact with Ocean City; it remains on its ops tg (almost always Fire 5). If a police unit is transporting a prisoner to Snow Hill, they remain on their ops tg, either Police 1 or Police 2.

Since Ocean City's fire service tgs are functionally strapped to the Worcester site, that is how I use my Unication. I keep it on the Worcester system so I hear both Ocean City and the county's fire departments on one knob position (I scan several tgs as it's usually not all that busy). My Ocean City work portable would affiliate with the Ocean Pines site when it was on when I was at home in the county.

Great reply. Thanks. I have set up my pager with several iterations of both systems (and one of them combined) for my next trip. During my most recent trip, I was having trouble listening to beach patrol because my pager was choosing the OP site which was mostly not carrying their TGs. So I created a separate system profile that only includes the in-town simulcast to alleviate that issue.

Im guessing that since they have a common WACN, the pager will handle this function. I'll report back.

I've had some bad luck following the Worcester system from in town, indoors, inside a concrete-and-steel condo building.

 

[SShuster221]

Since the systems were installed, I developed a three-site roaming network to provide coverage for both Worcester County and Ocean City. However, when you’re in the northern part of the city and a working fire occurs in the southern end of Worcester, you’ll need to switch to a Worcester-only knob or return to the county system. This is because the Ocean City sites do not affiliate with the South End talkgroups. To ensure seamless coverage, be sure to program each site ID along with all frequencies for each site.

 

[maus92]

Since the systems were installed, I developed a three-site roaming network to provide coverage for both Worcester County and Ocean City. However, when you’re in the northern part of the city and a working fire occurs in the southern end of Worcester, you’ll need to switch to a Worcester-only knob or return to the county system. This is because the Ocean City sites do not affiliate with the South End talkgroups. To ensure seamless coverage, be sure to program each site ID along with all frequencies for each site.

I believe it's only Worcester Fire 1, Fire 2, and Fire 3 (north area tgs and dispatch) that are allowed on the Ocean City sites, whereas all the Ocean City fire tgs are allowed on the Worcester simulcast. I think, lol - there isn't much activity on the Worcester and Ocean City alternates to verify.