Trumbull County MARCS

[jrl44430]

Interesting article in todays newspaper about dead zones in the Eastern part of the county.

 

[rcid1971]

Sadly, we read it all too often.
Portage County, western Cuyahoga County, there's pockets all throughout the state, and nothing gets fixed until there's a critical incident.


MARCS marred by dead zones

A failure with an emergency dispatch system is putting the lives of many first responders on the east side of Trumbull County in danger. A fix is in sight but has been held up for months.

A digital communication Multi-Agency Radio Communication System, known as MARCS, enables safety service departments to communicate clearly over long distances and in all types of weather. In 2019, the Trumbull County Fire Chiefs Association was awarded a state grant to upgrade from an analog system to MARCS.

“We got this grant, but we only got half our money’s worth because only roughly half of Trumbull County gets the full benefit of it,” Brookfield fire Chief David Masirovits said.

The departments have mobile units that are mounted permanently on the fire trucks and portable units that are carried by the firefighters. These units allow 911 dispatchers to communicate with the fire departments and for the members of a department to communicate with each other through two-way radios. Some police departments also utilize MARCS for their dispatch and communications, and that also allows the police and fire departments to communicate.

Masirovits said this grant has not helped all departments in the county equally. Most communities on the east side of state Route 193 have had problems getting a consistent, good connection with the system. Some areas have no connection at all.

“Imagine sitting behind a desk, in charge of those people’s safety, and not being able to get in contact with them,” Fowler fire Capt. Doug Johnson said about 911 dispatch’s inability to communicate with first responders. “It would be like being on a call with your mom and she yells, ‘Oh my God!’ then hangs up and you have no idea what is going on.”

He said the tower that is in place to serve the eastern part of the county is too short to be fully effective because it is blocked by a hill. To alleviate this problem, Johnson has been working with other fire departments and the state of Ohio to get a new tower installed. He said Trumbull County Commissioner Frank Fuda and state Sen. Sandra O’Brien, R-Lenox, have been instrumental in helping with issues related to the MARCS system.

Johnson and Masirovits said a solution is in sight, but it is being held up. The state has agreed to pay more than half the cost to put a new tower in an empty gravel parking lot at 7088 McMullen Drive in Brookfield. The 100-foot-by-100-foot plot of land is owned by the county.

Johnson spoke to county commissioners two months ago requesting this property, and the request got turned over to another county department to turn it into language for the commissioners to vote. He was at the meeting on Thursday.

“We need to move forward on this,” Johnson told the commissioners at their meeting. “We have safety forces out there that have no communications. We have solutions to correct this, but we’re stuck. We need this property.”

Commissioner Niki Frenchko made a motion on the floor to transfer this property to the state of Ohio in order to get the project moving forward. It died for lack of a second.

Commissioners Fuda and Mauro Cantalamessa said they wanted this to go to the prosecutor’s office first to see how they should move forward with giving the land to the state. Frenchko argued the prosecutor’s office would be responsible for preparing the deed, so the office did not need to review it first.

“I agree that this property needed to be transferred two months ago,”Frenchko said. “It’s going to the state. It’s going to save the county money on maintenance.”

Johnson said the state has agreed to pay the maintenance costs of the tower, which would amount to about $35,000 per year. However, before the state contributes any money and the rest of the funding can be secured, an address must be established.

Patty Goldner, interim director of Trumbull County 911, said the scope of this problem affects much more than just local police and fire. It also affects communications between local Ohio State Highway Patrol, the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office, emergency dispatchers and even schools. As schools around the country look to improve their security measures, one popular safety improvement is obtaining two-way radios that work between schools and first responders.

In Ohio, which has 360 MARCS towers throughout the state, these two-way radios also run on the system. So, having connectivity gaps also has the potential to hurt schools’ ability to get in touch quickly with first responders in the case of an emergency.

Because the commissioners did not transfer the Brookfield property to the state this week, the county prosecutor’s office now will look at the issue. Johnson, Masirovits and Goldner said they hope this issue can still be resolved quickly, as it puts their people in jeopardy each day.

 

[N8WCP]

The EMA director in Portage is working closely with MARCS to correct the gaps. I expect it will be significantly better by this time next year.

 

[wa8pyr]

Sadly, we read it all too often.
Portage County, western Cuyahoga County, there's pockets all throughout the state, and nothing gets fixed until there's a critical incident.

Something everyone keeps overlooking is that MARCS was designed for 98% outdoor mobile coverage, not indoor portable coverage (although they fortunately ended up with somewhere around 97% outdoor portable coverage as well).

However, agencies that want to move to MARCS (or any radio system) still need to do their due diligence and thoroughly check the coverage in their area before they make the switch. MARCS has loaned radios for this purpose in the past, and I have no reason to doubt that they wouldn't still do it. If the fire departments in eastern Trumbull County have poor coverage, obviously that needs to be addressed, but it's a problem they should have recognized and resolved before they moved to MARCS, not afterwards when someone's life could be endangered.

They could also resolve the issue with vehicle repeaters, which is a lot cheaper and faster to implement than a tower site.

 

[jrl44430]

I don't think they had a choice. Politics played a role. My police department had no say as to E.

 

[wa8pyr]

I don't think they had a choice. Politics played a role. My police department had no say as to E.

I don't buy that. They still have a responsibility to do their due diligence, and the fire chief typically has enough clout to say "we're not making this switch until we know for sure that it will be safe for our personnel and the citizens of our jurisdiction."

And encryption is a completely different kettle of fish from having adequate radio coverage.

 

[jrl44430]

If they did not switch not sure how the 911 center would keep the VHF repeaters along with MARCS. We had a county wide VHF network.

 

[jrl44430]

Forgot to add the departments are small rural volunteer departments. They had to relay on grants. Use or loose.

 

[Nasby]

Without a doubt many small agencies are being pressured to join the almighty MARCS system. Often times smaller agencies are told by big dispatch centers, “We won’t dispatch for you unless you go to MARCS.” Can’t afford it? Well there’s plenty of grants available whether the system works for you or not. After all, it’s digital! Everyone needs digital. Right????

And let’s not forget the fast talking MARCS reps who dazzle uninformed chiefs and sheriffs about the space age statewide system they have. That’s exactly what happened in Portage County. The poor deputies are paying for this by being forced to use a radio system that is unsafe and currently unsuited for them. But don’t worry boys, we’re on it! It will be all fixed in a year or so!! Best of luck til then y’all when you’re getting your butt whooped in a trailer and can’t call for help.

 

[W8KIC]

Without a doubt many small agencies are being pressured to join the almighty MARCS system. Often times smaller agencies are told by big dispatch centers, “We won’t dispatch for you unless you go to MARCS.” Can’t afford it? Well there’s plenty of grants available whether the system works for you or not. After all, it’s digital! Everyone needs digital. Right????

And let’s not forget the fast talking MARCS reps who dazzle uninformed chiefs and sheriffs about the space age statewide system they have. That’s exactly what happened in Portage County. The poor deputies are paying for this by being forced to use a radio system that is unsafe and currently unsuited for them. But don’t worry boys, we’re on it! It will be all fixed in a year or so!! Best of luck til then y’all when you’re getting your butt whooped in a trailer and can’t call for help.

Portage County has certainly had it’s financial challenges over the years, although here in Cuyahoga County, we’ve had to deal with both a dwindling tax base along with decades long corruption, yet somehow, practically every city or municipality within the county seems to have found their way over to the GCRCN system. Why Uncle Sam’s inability to comprehend the importance of establishing (i.e. sufficiently funding) modern communication systems or networks that primarily serve first responders in this day and age defies any and all logic!

 

[N8WCP]

Without a doubt many small agencies are being pressured to join the almighty MARCS system. Often times smaller agencies are told by big dispatch centers, “We won’t dispatch for you unless you go to MARCS.” Can’t afford it? Well there’s plenty of grants available whether the system works for you or not. After all, it’s digital! Everyone needs digital. Right????

And let’s not forget the fast talking MARCS reps who dazzle uninformed chiefs and sheriffs about the space age statewide system they have. That’s exactly what happened in Portage County. The poor deputies are paying for this by being forced to use a radio system that is unsafe and currently unsuited for them. But don’t worry boys, we’re on it! It will be all fixed in a year or so!! Best of luck til then y’all when you’re getting your butt whooped in a trailer and can’t call for help.

Portage has three ASR sites and relies on Summit and Stark to fill in the gaps. It's not perfect but's it's much better than what they had with their old VHF system which had holes in most of the county. I give the EMA director a lot of credit, he's convinced the commissioners to invest in additional sites to fill the gaps. Good coverage is in the works for Portage.

 

[redbeard]

Right smack in the middle of the old Nike radar site at Brookfield Air Force Station

41°13'05.3"N 80°33'45.1"W · 41.218139, -80.562528

goo.gl

 

[redbeard]

Base photos: https://www.radomes.org/museum/parsehtml.php?key=BrookfieldAFSOH.html&type=recent_html

History lesson from: Brookfield Air Force Station

One of the recent photos shows appears to be an ex-AT&T Long Lines building on base. Likely a current county comm site.

 

[jrl44430]

Base photos: https://www.radomes.org/museum/parsehtml.php?key=BrookfieldAFSOH.html&type=recent_html

History lesson from: Brookfield Air Force Station

One of the recent photos shows appears to be an ex-AT&T Long Lines building on base. Likely a current county comm site.

That site was abandoned many years ago.

 

[redbeard]

That site was abandoned many years ago.

Well the county still owns it. The tower and antennas look serviceable, and the fencing and concertina wire make it look like security is still intact. It must be doing something.

 

[maus92]

Without a doubt many small agencies are being pressured to join the almighty MARCS system. Often times smaller agencies are told by big dispatch centers, “We won’t dispatch for you unless you go to MARCS.” Can’t afford it? Well there’s plenty of grants available whether the system works for you or not. After all, it’s digital! Everyone needs digital. Right????

And let’s not forget the fast talking MARCS reps who dazzle uninformed chiefs and sheriffs about the space age statewide system they have. That’s exactly what happened in Portage County. The poor deputies are paying for this by being forced to use a radio system that is unsafe and currently unsuited for them. But don’t worry boys, we’re on it! It will be all fixed in a year or so!! Best of luck til then y’all when you’re getting your butt whooped in a trailer and can’t call for help.

MARCS wasn't designed for indoor coverage - but that's why there are VRS systems.

 

[JethrowJohnson]

Something everyone keeps overlooking is that MARCS was designed for 98% outdoor mobile coverage, not indoor portable coverage (although they fortunately ended up with somewhere around 97% outdoor portable coverage as well).

However, agencies that want to move to MARCS (or any radio system) still need to do their due diligence and thoroughly check the coverage in their area before they make the switch. MARCS has loaned radios for this purpose in the past, and I have no reason to doubt that they wouldn't still do it. If the fire departments in eastern Trumbull County have poor coverage, obviously that needs to be addressed, but it's a problem they should have recognized and resolved before they moved to MARCS, not afterwards when someone's life could be endangered.

They could also resolve the issue with vehicle repeaters, which is a lot cheaper and faster to implement than a tower site.

I thought they all had mobile repeaters? If they don't then it sounds like they need to get working on that.

 

[rcid1971]

Without a doubt many small agencies are being pressured to join the almighty MARCS system. Often times smaller agencies are told by big dispatch centers, “We won’t dispatch for you unless you go to MARCS.” Can’t afford it? Well there’s plenty of grants available whether the system works for you or not. After all, it’s digital! Everyone needs digital. Right????

And let’s not forget the fast talking MARCS reps who dazzle uninformed chiefs and sheriffs about the space age statewide system they have. That’s exactly what happened in Portage County. The poor deputies are paying for this by being forced to use a radio system that is unsafe and currently unsuited for them. But don’t worry boys, we’re on it! It will be all fixed in a year or so!! Best of luck til then y’all when you’re getting your butt whooped in a trailer and can’t call for help.

I think the newest MARCS fleecing of taxpayers near & far is misunderstanding of the Link Layer Authentication mandate, and officials using that as a back door excuse for completely new hardware, instead of an update.

 

[JethrowJohnson]

I think the newest MARCS fleecing of taxpayers near & far is misunderstanding of the Link Layer Authentication mandate, and officials using that as a back door excuse for completely new hardware, instead of an update.

I like the MARCS system and am all for it for public safety, but they really need to test it first before they replace their old system so they know exactly how it needs to be set up so it will function properly.

 

[rcid1971]

I like the MARCS system and am all for it for public safety, but they really need to test it first before they replace their old system so they know exactly how it needs to be set up so it will function properly.

Don't get me wrong, MARCS is truly incredible, just the cost is a lot to bear for small departments. Especially ones that don't travel and typically don't interop with their neighbors. In an effort to increase subscriber fee revenue the system is purported by DAS & MARCS as this singular solution for all, and it's not. Trumbull county agencies take a tremendous risk joining a shared system where they are no longer the top priority. Entry comes with a high initial equipment cost, high continuous operating costs, loose agency oversight, and nothing but finger pointing and excuses when it fails on the end user.