Upper MD Eastern Shore Consortium

[ericcarlson]

According to the August 2001 Capitol Hill Monitor newsletter, Kent County fire/EMS is:

154.1975 (R) Ch. 1 Dispatch
155.1675 (R) Ch. 2 Fireground
154.2425 (R) Ch. 3 Queen Anne's County Patch

-Eric

 

[TinEar]

Right. Those were what I had also but have never heard a peep on any of them. Either they operate on much lower power than the police department or they've taken flight to a newer/better frequency range. That 154.2425 freq gets whacked by Howard County's 154.25.

 

[ericcarlson]

And so the plot thickens...

For what it's worth here's a link to the license for the VHF-high splinters:
http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/licenseFreqSum.jsp?licKey=1295539
It shows 120 watts ERP from Chestertown and lower power from three other sites. The CTCSS tones are listed at this link, they should at least filter out Howard County fire:
http://www.henney.com/chm/mdfdmap.htm

-Eric

 

[mandlair]

upper md eastern shore

hi tin ear i know that on claw caroline law ref 52 xxx is federalsburg police well just let you know. mike

 

[TinEar]

Mike, explain that to me again. I don't quite understand the Federalsburg Police reference to Caroline County. What is the 52 xxx?

 

[emtLarmy15]

There are some facilities in Queen Anne's that may use Encryption. I believe there is some kind of Embassy or something like that up there, also don't forget the place...geez the name of it has slipped my mind, but its a federal place, where they kept the boy Elio Gonzalez a couple of years ago before he was returned to Cuba....they also have had some Presidential Summits there....this is not a definate they are on the system, but I know those places are there..

Chris

 

[wadeless28]

Aspen Institute's Wye River Campus (Wye Institute). It has hosted a number of high profile summits/events.

 

[mandlair]

federalsburg police

hi tinear when they say 52 and then number like 52 08 the 52 number means federalsburg police and number is officer or car but you probaly knew that mike

 

[TinEar]

Chris, Mike and Mike, thanks very much. I totally forgot about the Aspen Institute. Very heavy security around there when dignitaries visit. That's an excellent candidate for the encrypted net I'm hearing.

Mike, I think you've hit a home run also with the identity of the Federalsburg police. I was wondering if those different car numbers had a specific meaning to them.

The Easton MSP patch is also an interesting TG. It seems that they are patching in the 39 mHz traffic and also operating directly on the 800 mHz TG in response to contact from the three counties' sheriff departments. There is a big difference in audio quality on the direct contacts - much better than the patched stuff. Both of the patched MSP TGs (Easton and Centreville) are modulated slightly differently than the county traffic. My 785D needs an adjustment to the Audio Quality setting to get them clearly. I'm out on the fringe of the reception area and that might not be so noticeable closer in.

 

[mandlair]

hopefully can id some more in the near future mike

 

[mandlair]

upper md

hi all 27 on claw dispatch is denton police you all know like 27 1 etc also another blackout tonite in caroline county federalsburg police went to law 4 id 25616 i dont know if they call it tac 4 or what but thats what they went to until everything was secure. i will put in database mike

 

[tolley]

Hey Mike, you are right Dorchester decided to go with Motorola's bid for a digital radio system This will phase out the current Johnson Multinet system we currently have. I am not sure if Dorchester will be part of the Upper Eastern Shore Consortium or not. However, other neighboring jurisdictions such as The Upper Eastern Shore Consortium (Talbot, Queen Annes, and Caroline), Sussex County DE, Wicomico, and Calvert will be programmed into the new radios for interopability. In addition I believe the NSPAC frequencies will also be programmed into the new radios for statewide and nationwide linkage. I believe the five 800 mhz frequencies we have now will be transitioned into the new system but don't quote me on that. The good thing about the new Motorola digital radios is it's ability to store many different radio systems inside of different "zones". This is how interopability will be achieved. As far as coming online not sure but they are saying March. I don't think that is going to happen since the fire department pager issue was just settled recently. We are going to a vhf high band paging system as well. The system will consist of three towers (Bucktown, Vienna, and Trappe). A backup system will be installed at the Dorchester County Health Department in Cambridge. I will post more updates when I receive more information. As far as I know the City of Cambridge will be coming online as well. This will eliminate our own interopability issues within our own County. But as I have said before the system will only be as good as the people using and running it. Big egos have to go away and more cooperation needs to happen for this system to work. This is how our current radio system failed.

Eric and others - I'm pretty sure I saw this somewhere, that Dorchester has decided to abandon their LTR system and the county has decided to put out bids on a 800 system so they can join Caroline, Talbot and Queen Anne. So it
would appear that it is in the works.

73s Mike

P.S. Did a little digging on the LISR Maryland board and found that I had quoted a fellow by the name of Brian Tolley (hi Bri !) who had that info back
June 2003. M.

 

[TinEar]

Yeah, that's two nights in a row for Caroline County to lose electric power. I heard when they sent everyone over to 25616 but, didn't then, and still don't understand why they dumped everyone from the normal dispatch talkgroup. They were right in the middle of a surveillance activity on 25616 when it happened too so that was the end of that operation. I'm kind of surprised to learn that 27 is Denton police since they seem to be the bulk of the acitivity on Caroline's talkgroups. I thought they were sheriff deputies.

Yesterday was the first time I got to listen during a workday to this net and it sure was loaded with county government talkgroups. Several of them are transportation type groups - both school buses and transportation for the elderly and disabled. I'm trying to figure out what counties they all belong to. I've still got to go out and get a street map of the area to be able to put all the puzzle pieces together. Does anyone know for sure which county the Chapel School District is in? And there is a town that has a 4th, 5th, Lincoln St and Market St. Any ideas?

It's strange the way some talkgroups are grouped together for the three counties' Fire and Police talkgroups and even county government functions and others are widely separated. Like TG912 is Talbot Animal Control, TG944 is Queen Anne's Animal Control and TG 976 is Caroline Animal Control. But then other functions will be all over the place rather than grouped together like that. We'll get it figured out sooner or later. All help is appreciated.

Tolley, thanks very much for your information. It helps to put the whole picture into perspective.

[Edit] Eric, I know a couple of those talkgroups I mentioned above are not submitted to the database yet but will be as soon as I put together my weekend listening list.

 

[mandlair]

upper md

4ST , 5ST, AND LINCOLN AND MARKET ST WOULD BE DENTON MIKE

 

[TinEar]

Thanks Mike. And that makes sense now that you also gave us the info that the 27xx units are from Denton.

 

[FD11]

Pro 96 and Eastern Shore Consortium

I've got a Pro-96 and have programmed all of the frequencies for the ESC and all of the trunk ID's that I wanted but I still get nothing. All I get is what I call "white noise" on what I beleive is the control channel. I don't get any voice transmissions at all. I know that calls were dispatched because I watched an engine and ambulance leaving the firehouse responding on a call and I had been listening for at least 30 minutes at that point. What am I doing wrong? Can anyone help me? Please?

Thanks in advance.

 

[TinEar]

FD11, that's difficult to analyze in a written forum without actually being able to hear the "white noise" you describe. It almost sounds like a radio that is not digital capable but we know the PRO-96 is. Are you hearing other digital trunked systems with no problem? I get pretty good reception of the system over this side of the pond in Glen Burnie although now that the trees have bloomed, I'm getting some static on the county government analog signals portion of that net. There is also a very large and active encrypted, probably military, net operating on that system and all their transmissions sound like white noise. I'm wondering if that's what you're receiving.