Who's On FIRST?

[phillydjdan]

Poked around a little and didn't find any resource that answers the question: Are the counties/agencies listed actually using the FIRST system full-time? If so, does that mean their respective county system is no longer being used? My personal interest is in fire, but you can include police activity also. Thanks in advance!

 

[maus92]

The database entries for FIRST accurately reflects users on the system. Most counties that are listed with entries for fire, police and services have transitioned to FIRST entirely. The counties that have only a few TGs listed are generally operating on their own systems, but have a few TG on FIRST for interoperability. If you have a specific county in mind, ask a question. There is also a sticky just for FIRST questions.

 

[boatbod]

So lets take Talbot as an example:- they are primary users of FiRST for Fire/EMS, Sheriff Office, Easton PD, Oxford PD, St Michaels PD, School Bus, Detention Center, Parks & Recs, State Police Barracks I, etc. That said, the old 800 Mhz Mid Shore Consortium system is still alive and operational should the need for a backup system arise. There was talk of upgrading it to full P25 system for digital paging, but now that we can do paging on FiRST I don't see much of a driver to spend that capital...

 

[maus92]

So lets take Talbot as an example:- they are primary users of FiRST for Fire/EMS, Sheriff Office, Easton PD, Oxford PD, St Michaels PD, School Bus, Detention Center, Parks & Recs, State Police Barracks I, etc. That said, the old 800 Mhz Mid Shore Consortium system is still alive and operational should the need for a backup system arise. There was talk of upgrading it to full P25 system for digital paging, but now that we can do paging on FiRST I don't see much of a driver to spend that capital...

Maybe they decided that the $10M+ upgrade cost wasn't worth it for FTO.

 

[phillydjdan]

So if I am reading correctly, then Cecil, Kent, Qn Annes, Caroline, Talbot and Dorchester are all using FIRST full-time and some of those may use UMESC as a backup, correct? And then Wicomico, Worcester and Somerset use their own systems? My confusion lies in the fact that in my local area the database entries specifically denote which system a particular agency is using for primary communications and the database entries in MD do not. In fact, under the entries in the counties I listed above, there are no mention of them using trunking at all. You are left to assume they do when you scroll to the bottom of the page and see trunked systems listed. Note the differences in these 2 screenshots...

 

[R8000]

Allegany is on FiRST full time, Garret is in progress of doing so. Washington County and all of Central MD counties have their own systems.

 

[maus92]

So if I am reading correctly, then Cecil, Kent, Qn Annes, Caroline, Talbot and Dorchester are all using FIRST full-time and some of those may use UMESC as a backup, correct? And then Wicomico, Worcester and Somerset use their own systems? My confusion lies in the fact that in my local area the database entries specifically denote which system a particular agency is using for primary communications and the database entries in MD do not. In fact, under the entries in the counties I listed above, there are no mention of them using trunking at all. You are left to assume they do when you scroll to the bottom of the page and see trunked systems listed. Note the differences in these 2 screenshots...

I don't disagree with you - perhaps you can submit a ticket and point this out to the local RRDB editor.

 

[Dispatcher308]

"Who's on First" =

 

[maus92]

"An oldie, but a goodie."