St. Clair County Rebanding

[firephotographer50]

This morning I've heard multiple departments sending units to get their radios reprogrammed. Seeing that all public safety departments in St. Clair County are on the MPSCS I can only assume this means we are going through the rebanding process.

From what I gather, the process should be done by tomorrow at the latest. I heard a Harsens Island firefighter say he couldn't get his prep in today for some reason. The reply was "Get it to us no later than tomorrow."

I'm a little confused as to when the use of the new control channels will start. Will St. Clair County start using them as soon as the last county radio has been reprogrammed, or will the whole MPSCS switch at once when the last radio in the state has been reprogrammed?

 

[laststop]

Rebanding

I am a retired member of Clyde F,D and they do have two trucks going to the mall to be none today. The others tomorrow, I would like to find out the new control channels if anyone knows. Have a pro-96 so it should work, but I don't use software just a manual load. (I hope).

 

[mikey60]

I'm a little confused as to when the use of the new control channels will start. Will St. Clair County start using them as soon as the last county radio has been reprogrammed, or will the whole MPSCS switch at once when the last radio in the state has been reprogrammed?

The basic process is this:

Stage 1:

Reprogram ALL radios that use the MPSCS so that they know to look for control channels in the new frequency range that will be used after rebanding of the transmitter sites occurs. This is the stage they are currently in.

Stage 2:

Reband the transmitter sites across the state. When this happens, the radios that have been reprogrammed should automatically pick up the new frequencies. This stage will probably not happen until all of the radios on the system have been reprogrammed for rebanding.

If a radio was missed, it will cease to function on the MPSCS until it is reprogrammed after the tower sites are rebanded.

Stage 3:

Go back through all radios that are on the MPSCS and remove the old control channels from the programming.

Mike

 

[firephotographer50]

Thanks Mike. That is the best explanation I've read so far concerning how this will take place.

 

[rdale]

Are you sure Stage 3 is in the mix? I've not heard that mentioned, and not sure why it would be needed?

 

[W2GLD]

Are you sure Stage 3 is in the mix? I've not heard that mentioned, and not sure why it would be needed?

Stage 3 won't be done for a long time to come as there is enough work across the board with all of the subscriber and site equipment; however, eventually it will need to be done and will likely coincide with a major firmware release.

During Stage 1 of rebanding, radios are receiving a firmware host/dsp upgrade; for XTS/XTL/ASTRO Spectra Plus radios, this is R17.01.01; Astro Saber/Spectra's are 11.10.xx, and so on... In addition, they are programmed with ALL current and rebounded control channel frequencies, as previously stated. At some point, once all is said and done, there will surely be corrects or additions of control channels because of possible interference issues and the like; thus requiring all radios be programmed a final time with a new, updated codeplug.

I would forecast this to be at least a year or more before it occurs; likely when Motorola pushes a major firmware release for Phase 2, and which point, many radios may become obsolete and require replacement. I also wouldn't be surprised if you began to see POP25 on the system soon; Programming Over-The-Air is all the rage these days and MPSCS is the network to introduce it too...

 

[rdale]

Thanks, I see what you're saying there...

 

[kc8vlv]

I heard that half were all ready done, the other day they took all from haz-mat 24/ and most of the e.m./ and half of the patrol hand helds. i also am a retired clyde fire fighter,

 

[Skud]

I am a retired member of Clyde F,D and they do have two trucks going to the mall to be none today. The others tomorrow, I would like to find out the new control channels if anyone knows. Have a pro-96 so it should work, but I don't use software just a manual load. (I hope).

For the states rebanding, drop your control channel down 15 steps so 866 would be 851
Read here about the Pro 96 after rebanding:

Rebanding - The RadioReference Wiki

 

[rdale]

Skud, that is a good overview but that is not how MPSCS is doing it so not a valid answer in this thread.