Ottawa 417/Island Park overpass operation

[DaveH]

Due to a problem posting to Yahoo, I'm giving a rundown here on what
I know (which is not a lot of specifics) about the Ottawa overpass-replacement
operation at Hwy 417 and Island Park Drive which will happen between
8pm saturday to 11am sunday. It promises to be a spectacle, carried by
live webcams such as:

http://www.islandparkcamera.com/eng.htm

Check MTO road ops on Fleetnet, and City of Ottawa works TGs on the
Ottawa EDACS (both analog). Ottawa PD (can't normally monitor) and
OPP (Fleetnet digital) should be busy; check OPP analog VR's.

I stopped by the site today and noted which contractors were visible;
there may be others:

Dufferin Construction
Mammoet Canada
Lafarge
Beacon Lite Ltd.
Dave Wright Excavation
(AGI Traffic Mgt. -- may be unrelated?)

Dufferin was seen to use Telus MiKE (iDEN) which can't be monitored.
TAFL search of all shows little that appears to be useful in this area.

Beacon Lite is a traffic control contractor for MTO and has been
heard in past using their Fleetnet TGs; also check 143.805 MTO
simplex.

Yesterday I heard some testing on ITAC1 (866.5125) which sounds
like OPS (reference to LPE-200s, and a "digital" sound, suggesting it's
linked to digital TGs). I'd check ICALL (866.0125) and four ITACs
(every 0.500 MHz above that).

We'll see what pops up before and during the operation.

Dave

 

[DaveH]

The plot thickens. I have absolutely no inside info, but discovered that
ICALL (866.0125, 156.7Hz) is now linked to a commercial 850
LTR system, *and* the "iDEN system" (Telus) or possibly just some part of
it, although apparently not all three at once (so far). This is some sort of
grand inter-op scheme. Should be interesting who will be able to talk to
whoever else. Missing part is how OPP/MTO get in on this.

BTW two regular MTO traffic cams that will show the operation,
albeit not up close:

http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/traveller/compass/camera/ottawa/camhome.htm

417/Carling (N side, points W)
417/Merivale (S side, points E)

Mammoet is a Dutch firm with Canadian operations (eastern out of Cambridge)
that specializes in moving very large, heavy objects for a variety of industries.
TAFL shows VHF and UHF assignments but for Western Canada.

Dave

 

[ocscan]

Which commerical system? I will be in Ottawa this weekend.

 

[DaveH]

TimeMCI (CHT432); nothing heard since testing earlier in the day,
and nothing on ICALL/ITACs either; some Fleetnet MTO on 2KANATA
(38144) and OPP VR.

Dave