Palmetto 800 - clarifications

[qball]

I just thought that I could shed some light on the use of Palmetto 800 by government agencies...

No local government agency is required to come on the Palmetto 800 system by any sort of mandate. Simply, there is no requirement! However, the state has purchased radios and given each OEM and PSAP in the state a radio for communication with their respective COG region m/a talk groups and the SC EMD region talk groups. But still there is no mandate to use this equipment.

There is a catch to this. The state quit maintaining the old VHF and UHF "regional" inter-agency repeaters. This means that if you want to talk to SCHP or others, you will need to have access to Pal800.

Otherwise, there is no requirement to move anyone to digital. Considering that this is a Motorola system and that the standard is APCO 25, everyone is moving to the digital platform because the 4.1 SZ system will support it. Furthermore, the subscriber units no longer support analog only. The obvious answer is to move to digital talk groups because they are available in the system and the subscriber units will support it.

Lastly, the major reason for migration of local agencies to the Pal800 system.........MONEY! The state offered each county sheriff's office and muni police department radios, based on population of the county, to migrate to the state-wide system. When given these radios, each agency had the obilgation to stay on the Pal800 system for one year. After that, it is up to the locals to pay the subscriber fees to stay on the state-wide system.

I hope that this helps!

 

[INDY72]

And the big enticement--- Interop with everyone else on the system statewide

 

[jeffmulter]

>> The state quit maintaining the old VHF and UHF "regional" inter-agency repeaters. This means that if you want to talk to SCHP or others, you will need to have access to Pal800.

York County Emergency Management appears to have taken over maintenance and control of the District 4 repeater at Chester. It is still in operation, although there is no where near the volume of traffic there used to be.

Mecklenberg County / Charlotte also uses the repeater for radio communications with agencies on the S.C. side of the border.


Jeff Multer

 

[INDY72]

Yep Char/Meck still is building out the linked system, and untill that is set up completely, the old stuff will still be used. Besides isn't York Co., SC still mostly on its conventional stuff?

 

[qball]

RMA 04

No one is on the VHF regional anymore because all the PSAP's were given Pal800 radio to use in its stead. They are now on RMA 04.

 

[jeffmulter]

>> No one is on the VHF regional anymore because all the PSAP's were given Pal800 radio to use in its stead. They are now on RMA 04.


Then you need to tell Rock Hill and York County that.

Several weeks ago, Rock Hill and CMPD dispatchers maintained active communications on VHF when Rock Hill PD got into a pursuit of a stolen car into N.C. The driver was finally stopped inside N.C., nearI-77 and Arrowood Road.

York County needs to know, since they just acquired a license to operate a repeater on the VHF channel in September ... at the same location on the bypass in Chester that the State of S.C. had their repeater.

I'm not saying the regional mutual aid talkgroup is not being used. But 155.535 for mutual aid is not dead in this district, either.


Jeff Multer

 

[qball]

Okay! I guess that I should have stated this a little differently since you have taken issue with my comment...... almost no one uses the vhf regional channel anymore. The state's plan is to use the RMA talk groups for inter-agency communications instead of the vhf regional system. Other than York, no other counties are using the vhf regional on a frequent basis because RMA 04 is in operation The state no longer monitors this vhf channel at all.

Furthermore, I am sure that the county has held a license of this channel for years. I believe what you are seeing in the FCC database is the license renewal.

 

[INDY72]

All the counties in SC that have liscenses for the Mutual Aid freq, and are not fully on the Pal 800 yet are indeed keeping the freq for interop. The state may not be maintaining it anymore, but they really should keep it in some radios untill every single county has switched fully to the Pal 800.

 

[jbstahr]

All the counties in SC that have liscenses for the Mutual Aid freq, and are not fully on the Pal 800 yet are indeed keeping the freq for interop. The state may not be maintaining it anymore, but they really should keep it in some radios untill every single county has switched fully to the Pal 800.

Not all counties will join the Pal 800. Here in York County, we are in the closing stages of design for our own 800 TRS with buildout expected by late 06 from last reports. I think they are just waiting to finalize which municipalities will be able to foot the cost and join in.

 

[INDY72]

Interesting... Will York link thiers to the linked Pal 800 and NC systems?

 

[jbstahr]

Interesting... Will York link thiers to the linked Pal 800 and NC systems?

I think they'll have to. SCHP is on Pal 800 and they are already lisensed for the Charlotte TRS. The conventional VHF system here is such a POS, the upgrade is long over due. It's becoming more and more evident how bad the current system is degrading. Just last night the Sheriff's Dept. went through a period of about 10 minutes or so where the the patrol units couldn't hear the dispatch center on Primary. The county fire service still uses low-band. I myself can't wait.

 

[jeffmulter]

>> Furthermore, I am sure that the county has held a license of this channel for years. I believe what you are seeing in the FCC database is the license renewal.

The renewal occurred in March of 2004.

I assumed - incorrectly - that the license modification last September was the addition of the repeater to the county's license for the mutual aid channel.

You are correct, Qball, and I apologize for jumping to the wrong conclusion. York County has been licensed for the repeater in Chester since atleast 1997.

I guess York County doesn't "need to know." If you won't tell them, I won't, either.


Jeff Multer

 

[qball]

Unfortunately, when the SCHP dispatch was moved to Blythewood they moved outside the coverage area of the regional Dist 4 regional repeater.....because of money they chose not to support any VHF base stations either.

The state's idea is that "if you want to talk to the state, then you'll be on the Palmetto 800 system." To talk to other counties or municipalites will require the use of the RMA talkgroups or other means that would have to be supported by the respective agencies......such as someone taking over VHF regional and maintaining it themselves.

As far as linking the systems together is concerned, the technologies won't allow direct system linking in terms of being a zone of Pal800 or Charlotte system to allow "seamless" roaming. Users will be able to communicate through sharing of talk groups, ID's and use of ITAC or SCTAC conventional channels.