Department of Public Safety 800 MHz Radio Blog

December PTT Report

2012-01-06T13:30:00.000-05:00

Statistics on Push-to-talk (PTT): The number of times a radio was used to make a voice transmission. The following stats are discipline specific county wide.

Law Enforcement – 105,918
Fire – 55,200
EMS – 97,912
Agencies – 69,794
DPS – 681
County Agencies – 66,255
Municipal – 6,749
Total County Wide – 402,509

DEC 2011 PTT’s from the main dispatch (9-1-1 Center) talk groups:
Fire – 11,591
EMS – 46,001
Police West – 19,510
Police East – 64,140
Police Data – 14,960

Daily Average Total of PTT’s 12,984

Site Utilization (Percentage of site use)...
Forward = Calls to the sites from the radios
Reverse = Calls from the sites to the radios
Lambs Gap- 8.66% Forward 3.3%Reverse
Reesers Summit- 9.89% Forward 3.14% Reverse
Prison- 7.6% Forward 1.8% Reverse
Courthouse- 9.61% Forward .65% Reverse
Commonwealth Technology Center- 8.27% Forward .38% Reverse
3 Square Hollow- 6.37% Forward .46% Reverse
Ship Cell- 9.33% Forward .37% Reverse
South Mountain- 6.49% Forward .25% Reverse
Waggoners Gap- 6.19% Forward .3% Reverse
Rose Garden- 6.81% Forward .45% Reverse
Boiling Springs- 4.82% Forward .09% Reverse
Shippensburg- 3.68% Forward .12% Reverse
Dickinson Twp- 5.78% Forward .11% Reverse
Holy Spirit- 5.25% Forward .13% Reverse
Kings Gap- 4.66% Forward .06% Reverse
Pine Grove- 3.08% Forward .01% Reverse

There was no reported queuing for the month of December.
As of this report we have 2,508 radios on the system in Cumberland County.
Control Stations: 29
Mobiles: 687
Portables: 1792
Talk Groups: 520

FD Emergency Button Refresher

2012-01-05T08:31:00.005-05:00

P7200 Radio Procedures

1. Turn radio on by turning power on off button clockwise.

2. Ensure voice group selection knob is on number 1

3. To change Profile to Training

a. Press up arrow on face until Profile Menu appears on screen
b. Press Option Button 2 until XX_Train (will be preceded with dept #) appears on screen
c. Press M button on face to select XX_Train profile
d. You will see the following Talk Groups….

i. Primary Dispatch TG
ii. Agency TG
iii. Municipal TG
iv. Test 1
v. Test 2
vi. Test 3
vii. Test 4
viii. Testemg in position 16 used as your default emergency

e. Test 1-4 are emergency capable. If on anything else it will default you to position 16.

4. To Reset an Emergency…

a. From portable that last declared, press the Option 2 button and HOLD
b. While holding the Option 2 button press the emergency button and hold until you hear tone come back….making sure the volume is up out of mute.

Practice, Practice, Practice

2012-01-05T08:28:00.002-05:00

February 1st is coming fast! Remember to practice and read up on the procedures listed below!

11.14 FIREFIGHTER DOWN / DISTRESS COMMUNICATIONS PROCEDURES

A. General Information

Emergency Button Functionality

Depressing the emergency button on an emergency capable talk group will cause the following to occur within the radio system.

There is no “Hot Mic” (dedicated open mic after activation) for Fire Service radios. Upon activating the Emergency Button, fire fighters must depress the mic and transmit the appropriate information. There will be a 10 second “Hot Mic” for the EMS and Fire Police services.

Dispatchers will receive audible and visible notification of the emergency, including assigned radio ID.

A second or subsequent emergency button activation on a talk group already in emergency status will only audibly alert on the radio declaring the emergency. Other radios on the incident and the communications center will not receive an audible alert. It is imperative a firefighter who is in a situation that deems emergency button activation on a talk group already in an emergency active state to verbally hail “Mayday-Mayday-Mayday” to capture attention of command and the communications center.

Mobile Radio Functionality:

Audible alert and visible indicator display will occur on the radio declaring the emergency, and all radios that contain the affected talk group in the profile loaded at the time. The talk group that the emergency is declared will display an asterisk at the end of the alpha/numeric name. If a mobile radio has the talk group in emergency in the loaded profile, but not selected, the audible and visual indicators will activate. To find and participate in the emergency, the user wishing to join must scroll through the talk groups to find the one displaying the asterisk.

Portable Radio:

Audible alert and visible indicator display will occur on the radio declaring the emergency, and all radios that contain the affected talk group in the profile loaded at the time. The LED indicator blinking in orange will denote the talk group that the emergency is declared. If a portable radio has the talk group in emergency in the loaded profile, but not selected, the audible and visual indicators will activate. To find and participate in the emergency, the user wishing to join must scroll through the talk groups to find the one displaying the blinking orange indicator.

Emergency Activation Talk Group Defaulting- Non Defaulting

Any activation of the Emergency Button for the Fire Services will cause the radio to immediately default to the Fire-EMS Emergency default talk group which is talk group 16 in the radios. The exception to this are the Ops talk groups two through seven (2-7) where the emergency will remain on that talk group.

Any activation of the Emergency Button for EMS Services and the Fire Police will cause the radio to immediately default to their Emergency default talk group which is talk group 16 in the radios.
EMS will default to the Fire-EMS Emergency talk group and Fire Police to the Fire Police talk group.

B. Incident Guidelines

Fire Incident Mayday Declaration

If a fire fighter is in distress or in need of assistance due to a life-threatening situation, the firefighter will activate the emergency button and transmit “Mayday-Mayday-Mayday” and provide a brief situational status report if possible using the following guidelines using the acronym LUNAR -

L – Location
U – Unit
N – Name
A – Assignment at time of Mayday
R – Resources/Help needed

The Emergency Responder shall then activate their Personal Alert Safety System device.

Headquarters will confirm with Command that they acknowledge the emergency and copied the information unless it is obvious Command has acknowledged the event and understands the message provided.

Incident Command will communicate with the firefighter and initiate necessary actions.

Units operating on the scene will immediately cease transmitting unless they have urgent traffic related to the distress call. Units will await instructions from Command.

If needed, Headquarters will intervene and announce

“Attention units operating on Box _____, clear the air for mayday transmissions”.
Specific rescue operations will remain on the assigned operational talk group. Additional talk groups may be requested if needed for
suppression activities to assure clear communications for any rescue operations. Caution needs taken due to potential VTAC actions which may jeopardize the victims and rescue operations with regard to obtaining additional talk groups for non-Mayday operations. Portables which may be attached to a VTAC may lose connectivity if an associated VTAC is moved to another talk group.

Upon conclusion of the situation, Command will notify Headquarters and advise of updated talk group requirements. At that time, Headquarters will clear the emergency from the system.

Fire Incident Activations that occur without a verbal transmission for help

Activations during an incident that are not followed with a plea for help will be immediately checked by Headquarters.

“Unit Designation or Alias from Headquarters, verifying your emergency?”

If contact is made, verify if an emergency is occurring and
respond appropriately as the conditions require by either clearing the emergency or verifying Command has copied if an actual emergency is occurring. If no contact is made, Incident Command will be contacted.
EMS Only Incidents

If a unit or portable activates the emergency button during an
EMS event, the Com Center will do the following if an emergency message is not provided:

Make radio contact with the unit to confirm the emergency.

“Unit Designation or Alias from Cumberland Med, verifying your emergency?”

If contact is made, verify if an emergency is occurring and
respond appropriately as the conditions require.

If no contact is made, the Com Center will page the unit.

If the unit fails to respond, the Chief of the unit will be paged and apprised of the activation. The local police will also be made aware of the situation and requested to respond to verify the safety of the unit.

Accidental Incident Activations

Should a responder accidentally activate the emergency button, the user must verbally advise that it was an accidental activation. Headquarters will clear the emergency from the system. The field user is capable of clearing the emergency after verification with Headquarters of their status. This is accomplished by pressing and holding the side lower button (button has bump sticking out) in and then pressing the emergency button at the same time until the emergency is reset.

C. Non Incident Related Fire and EMS Activations

If a unit or portable activates the emergency button during a non
dispatched event, the Com Center will do the following:

Make radio contact with the unit to confirm the emergency.

“Unit Designation or Alias from Headquarters/Cumberland Med, verifying your emergency?”

If contact is made, verify if an emergency is occurring and
respond appropriately as the conditions require.
If no contact is made, the Com Center will page the unit and
Notify the Chief of the unit if no contact is made.
. Fire Police

Fire Police Activations

All Fire Police radios will default to their Fire Police Emergency Talk Group for any activations of the emergency button. This Talk Group will only be monitored by the Communications Center during emergency activations.

Fire Police Incident Activations

The same procedures will be followed for fire police operations as is followed for other users. Incident Command will be contacted if the emergency activation is legitimate or no acknowledgement is received when the unit is called for verification.

.Fire Police Non Incident Actions

If a unit or portable activates the emergency button during a non
dispatched event, the Com Center will do the following on the appropriate Emergency Fire Police Talk Group:

Make radio contact with the unit to confirm the emergency.

“Unit Designation or Alias from Headquarters, verifying your emergency?”

If contact is made, verify if an emergency is occurring and
respond appropriately as the conditions require.
If no contact is made, the Com Center will contact the Fire Police Captain or other officer of the unit. The Com Center will accept further instructions at that time from the contact person.

REMINDER- Instructions on Clearing an Emergency on a Radio

2011-12-22T11:14:00.001-05:00

The last portable to declare an emergency is the one that needs to clear it. If they don’t know who the last one was then they will need to identify one portable or mobile, declare an emergency, then proceed with these steps…

1. They must be on the talk group that has the emergency raised. This will be indicated by an asterisk beside the talk group
a. Ex. TEST 1 * is what an active emergency on TEST 1 talk group would look like.
2. Press and hold side lower button (button that has a bump sticking out).
3. While keeping that button pressed in, press the emergency button until the emergency goes away.

Newly Amended Communications Manual Addressing Emergencies

2011-12-22T11:07:00.002-05:00

11.14 FIREFIGHTER DOWN / DISTRESS COMMUNICATIONS PROCEDURES

A. General Information

Emergency Button Functionality

Depressing the emergency button on an emergency capable talk group will cause the following to occur within the radio system.

There is no “Hot Mic” (dedicated open mic after activation) for Fire Service radios. Upon activating the Emergency Button, fire fighters must depress the mic and transmit the appropriate information. There will be a 10 second “Hot Mic” for the EMS and Fire Police services.

Dispatchers will receive audible and visible notification of the emergency, including assigned radio ID.

A second or subsequent emergency button activation on a talk group already in emergency status will only audibly alert on the radio declaring the emergency. Other radios on the incident and the communications center will not receive an audible alert. It is imperative a firefighter who is in a situation that deems emergency button activation on a talk group already in an emergency active state to verbally hail “Mayday-Mayday-Mayday” to capture attention of command and the communications center.

Mobile Radio Functionality:

Audible alert and visible indicator display will occur on the radio declaring the emergency, and all radios that contain the affected talk group in the profile loaded at the time. The talk group that the emergency is declared will display an asterisk at the end of the alpha/numeric name. If a mobile radio has the talk group in emergency in the loaded profile, but not selected, the audible and visual indicators will activate. To find and participate in the emergency, the user wishing to join must scroll through the talk groups to find the one displaying the asterisk.

Portable Radio:

Audible alert and visible indicator display will occur on the radio declaring the emergency, and all radios that contain the affected talk group in the profile loaded at the time. The LED indicator blinking in orange will denote the talk group that the emergency is declared. If a portable radio has the talk group in emergency in the loaded profile, but not selected, the audible and visual indicators will activate. To find and participate in the emergency, the user wishing to join must scroll through the talk groups to find the one displaying the blinking orange indicator.

Emergency Activation Talk Group Defaulting- Non Defaulting

Any activation of the Emergency Button for the Fire Services will cause the radio to immediately default to the Fire-EMS Emergency default talk group which is talk group 16 in the radios. The exception to this are the Ops talk groups two through seven (2-7) where the emergency will remain on that talk group.

Any activation of the Emergency Button for EMS Services and the Fire Police will cause the radio to immediately default to their Emergency default talk group which is talk group 16 in the radios.
EMS will default to the Fire-EMS Emergency talk group and Fire Police to the Fire Police talk group.

B. Incident Guidelines

Fire Incident Mayday Declaration

If a fire fighter is in distress or in need of assistance due to a life-threatening situation, the firefighter will activate the emergency button and transmit “Mayday-Mayday-Mayday” and provide a brief situational status report if possible using the following guidelines using the acronym LUNAR -

L – Location
U – Unit
N – Name
A – Assignment at time of Mayday
R – Resources/Help needed

The Emergency Responder shall then activate their Personal Alert Safety System device.

Headquarters will confirm with Command that they acknowledge the emergency and copied the information unless it is obvious Command has acknowledged the event and understands the message provided.

Incident Command will communicate with the firefighter and initiate necessary actions.

Units operating on the scene will immediately cease transmitting unless they have urgent traffic related to the distress call. Units will await instructions from Command.

If needed, Headquarters will intervene and announce

“Attention units operating on Box _____, clear the air for mayday transmissions”.
Specific rescue operations will remain on the assigned operational talk group. Additional talk groups may be requested if needed for
suppression activities to assure clear communications for any rescue operations. Caution needs taken due to potential VTAC actions which may jeopardize the victims and rescue operations with regard to obtaining additional talk groups for non-Mayday operations. Portables which may be attached to a VTAC may lose connectivity if an associated VTAC is moved to another talk group.

Upon conclusion of the situation, Command will notify Headquarters and advise of updated talk group requirements. At that time, Headquarters will clear the emergency from the system.

Fire Incident Activations that occur without a verbal transmission for help

Activations during an incident that are not followed with a plea for help will be immediately checked by Headquarters.

“Unit Designation or Alias from Headquarters, verifying your emergency?”

If contact is made, verify if an emergency is occurring and
respond appropriately as the conditions require by either clearing the emergency or verifying Command has copied if an actual emergency is occurring. If no contact is made, Incident Command will be contacted.
EMS Only Incidents

If a unit or portable activates the emergency button during an
EMS event, the Com Center will do the following if an emergency message is not provided:

Make radio contact with the unit to confirm the emergency.

“Unit Designation or Alias from Cumberland Med, verifying your emergency?”

If contact is made, verify if an emergency is occurring and
respond appropriately as the conditions require.

If no contact is made, the Com Center will page the unit.

If the unit fails to respond, the Chief of the unit will be paged and apprised of the activation. The local police will also be made aware of the situation and requested to respond to verify the safety of the unit.

Accidental Incident Activations

Should a responder accidentally activate the emergency button, the user must verbally advise that it was an accidental activation. Headquarters will clear the emergency from the system. The field user is capable of clearing the emergency after verification with Headquarters of their status. This is accomplished by pressing and holding the side lower button (button has bump sticking out) in and then pressing the emergency button at the same time until the emergency is reset.

C. Non Incident Related Fire and EMS Activations

If a unit or portable activates the emergency button during a non
dispatched event, the Com Center will do the following:

Make radio contact with the unit to confirm the emergency.

“Unit Designation or Alias from Headquarters/Cumberland Med, verifying your emergency?”

If contact is made, verify if an emergency is occurring and
respond appropriately as the conditions require.
If no contact is made, the Com Center will page the unit and
Notify the Chief of the unit if no contact is made.
. Fire Police

Fire Police Activations

All Fire Police radios will default to their Fire Police Emergency Talk Group for any activations of the emergency button. This Talk Group will only be monitored by the Communications Center during emergency activations.

Fire Police Incident Activations

The same procedures will be followed for fire police operations as is followed for other users. Incident Command will be contacted if the emergency activation is legitimate or no acknowledgement is received when the unit is called for verification.

Fire Police Non Incident Actions

If a unit or portable activates the emergency button during a non
dispatched event, the Com Center will do the following on the appropriate Emergency Fire Police Talk Group:

Make radio contact with the unit to confirm the emergency.

“Unit Designation or Alias from Headquarters, verifying your emergency?”

If contact is made, verify if an emergency is occurring and
respond appropriately as the conditions require.
If no contact is made, the Com Center will contact the Fire Police Captain or other officer of the unit. The Com Center will accept further instructions at that time from the contact person.

November PTT Report

2011-12-22T10:55:00.001-05:00

Statistics on Push-to-talk (PTT): The number of times a radio was used to make a voice transmission. The following stats are discipline specific county wide.

Law Enforcement – 110,925
Fire – 82.694
EMS – 100,435
Agencies – 70,783
DPS – 1,883
County Agencies – 67,059
Municipal – 6,820
Total County Wide – 440,599

JUNE 2011 PTT’s from the main dispatch (9-1-1 Center) talk groups:
Fire – 12,849
EMS – 46,066
Police West – 21,031
Police East – 65,226
Police Data – 16,298

Daily Average Total of PTT’s 14,687

Site Utilization (Percentage of site use)...
Forward = Calls to the sites from the radios
Reverse = Calls from the sites to the radios
Lambs Gap- 8.85% Forward 3.43%Reverse
Reesers Summit- 10.1% Forward 1.91% Reverse
Prison- 7.81% Forward 1.91% Reverse
Courthouse- 9.73% Forward .7% Reverse
Commonwealth Technology Center- 8.64% Forward .37% Reverse
3 Square Hollow- 6.58% Forward .63% Reverse
Ship Cell- 9.9% Forward .41% Reverse
South Mountain- 6.51% Forward .41% Reverse
Waggoners Gap- 6.65% Forward .63% Reverse
Rose Garden- 7.21% Forward .26% Reverse
Boiling Springs- 4.99% Forward .10% Reverse
Shippensburg- 5% Forward .28% Reverse
Dickinson Twp- 7.08% Forward .11% Reverse
Holy Spirit- 5.42% Forward .14% Reverse
Kings Gap- 4.45% Forward .06% Reverse
Pine Grove- 3.12% Forward .02% Reverse

There was no reported queuing for the month of November.
As of this report we have 2,502 radios on the system in Cumberland County.
Control Stations: 29
Mobiles: 679
Portables: 1794
Talk Groups: 495

Transitions...

2011-12-20T08:34:00.000-05:00

While moving day went off without any major hitches, we certainly have encountered some hurdles as we settle into our new home. This is the third move for our 9-1-1 communications center, so we knew to expect a few obstacles and challenges.

The months following our move have involved what we like to refer to as fine tuning of the numerous systems that make our 9-1-1 center function. Until we were fully moved into our new site we could not truly, effectively test all aspects of our 9-1-1 center. Many of our system vendors have been camped out at 1 Public Safety Drive, helping us to test and modify things so that we can reach our optimal operating standard. Audio settings are being dialed in so that the volume and quality of our phones and radio transmission from the 9-1-1 center are ideal. The testing and adjusting process is ongoing until we get it right.

We have navigated through several issues with paging. Multiple issues have already been corrected and we are actively working towards resolving the remaining issues. Our ability to page involves not only the Harris Corporation (radio system) but also Archonix (Computer Aided Dispatch-CAD). The software that links these two operations together allowing for automatic paging from the CAD screen is being adjusted currently as well. We have experienced instances of pager activation with no voice transmission and the software modification will help us to address this issue. It is important to note that any issues we are experiencing with paging involve only the conventional part of our Harris System. The OpenSky 800 MHz system is separate from this and we are pleased to say has not been adversely affected by the move.
As we continue to work through some of these issues we would like to encourage our field users to report any issues they may experience. We need your help in this transition process. If you experience an issue with voice quality or volume or an issue with paging, please contact the shift supervisor and be prepared to provide a detailed report (date, time, location, conditions, etc).

Emergency Button Training

2011-12-09T10:11:00.001-05:00

As Fire begins training on the emergency button before full activation of the button in 2012, we be posting several training tips and reminders. Here is a reminder on clearing an emergency on your radio.

The last portable to declare an emergency is the one that needs to clear it. If they don’t know who the last one was then they will need to identify one portable or mobile, declare an emergency, then proceed with these steps…
1. They must be on the talk group that has the emergency raised. This will be indicated by an asterisk beside the talk group
a. Ex. TEST 1 * is what an active emergency on TEST 1 talk group would look like.
2. Press and hold side lower button (button that has a bump sticking out)
3. While keeping that button pressed in, press the emergency button until the emergency goes away.

Happy Training!

Knox Boxes

2011-10-17T14:59:00.000-04:00

Knox Box paging capabilities are again working at the 9-1-1 center. The functionality was lost as part of the move to the new building. Thank you for your patience while this problem existed.

We're Movin' On Up

2011-10-06T08:13:00.001-04:00

We're movin' on up....literally! With the move of our 9-1-1 center this morning, our department is above ground for the first time in our history and happily settling into our new home at 1 Public Safety Drive, Carlisle. At 3:30am this morning, additional staff manned what would become the old communications center and the new communications center to prepare for the switch. At 4:03am phones lines were switched, so that dispatchers in the new center would be answering calls. At 4:08, the 800 MHz radio system was switched over to the new center. Moments later staff answered the first 9-1-1 phone call in their new home and we were officially moved! At no time during the switch to our new center were 9-1-1 services interrupted.

This move has taken more than a year of intense planning and many extra hours for our staff in recent weeks. Our staff has been working persistently these past few weeks preparing for today's move by testing phone lines, radios and paging capabilities as well as training on the new technology and equipment being utilized in the new communications center.

A big thank you to our AMAZING staff for their hard work and diligence during this move. Thank you to Mission Critical Partners, Century Link, The Harris Corporation, Cassidian, B. Moyer Communications, Verizon, Kova, Alcatel, Versar, Sage Technology Solutions, Cumberland County IMTO staff and many others for helping to make this possible!

*For our emergency services history buffs, Upper Allen Fire Department (23) was the last company to be dispatched from the old communications center and the Carlisle Barracks Fire Department (38) was the first company to be dispatched from the new center.

Public Safety Building Grand Opening

2011-10-03T08:57:00.003-04:00

The Grand Opening for the new home of the Cumberland County Department of Public Safey will be held on October 13th at 2pm. The event will be held rain or shine.

New 9-1-1 Center Cutover – Radio System Outage

2011-09-27T15:08:00.002-04:00

On Wednesday October 5, 2011 at approximately 04:00 HRS, radio services will move from the current 9-1-1 center to the new center in the Public Safety Building. As part of move of the radio systems, an outage will occur on the 800 MHz OpenSky radio system. This is necessary to turn down the current voice switch and activate the new voice switch located in the new building. The outage is necessary since the old and new network systems cannot run concurrently and therefore the old switch must be disabled before the new switch is enabled. Duration of the network outage is estimated to be 15 minutes.

Conventional radio circuits used for paging and alerting will not be affected and will continue to function for Fire and EMS dispatch.

Announcements will be made before the outage and again once the new system is on line. If any active incidents are in progress, the outage will be delayed until the incident is stabilized or the 9-1-1 center move postponed to a later date.

Considerations for Police:
It is recommended that on duty police departments have an officer on station to receive by telephone any police incidents occurring during outage. If staffing the station, please notify the communications center prior to the planned outage. 800 MHz single site trunking from four high profile sites is available for emergency communications needs during the outage, but it is effective only for mobile operations. Portable radio communications on these sites should not be relied on. VTAC radios will continue to support portable operations. Conventional 800 MHz is also a consideration for local onsite incident communications.

Considerations for Fire Services:
As stated previously, conventional low band radio will be available for paging and dispatch. 800 MHz single site trunking from four high profile sites is available for emergency communications needs during the outage, but it is effective only for mobile operations. Portable radio communications on these sites should not be relied on. VTAC radios will continue to support portable operations. Conventional 800 MHz is also a consideration for local onsite incident communications.

For those companies that still have low band radios installed, they can be used for communications during the outage for incident response and on scene communications. Prior to the cutover, it is suggested that those agencies with low band radios verify the proper tone guard is in place on the transmit side of the radio. The receive side of the radio is to be non-tone guard or “carrier squelch”. The tone guard for Fire 1 (46.06 MHz) is 97.4; Mutual Aid 2 (46.00 MHz) is 88.5; and Mutual Aid 3 is 85.4.

Considerations for EMS:
As stated previously UHF radio will be available for paging and dispatch. BLS transport and ALS mobile units should still be equipped with UHF Med radios. Med 10 will be available for communications during the 800 MHz network outage and should be utilized for response. Communications with hospitals during the 800 MHz outage is not available and cellular phone should be used for any hospital notification needs.

New Encoder Tone- Communications Center Status

2011-09-13T14:29:00.000-04:00

At the August 2011 Fire Chiefs meeting, a request was made for an encoder tone for County wide dissemination of pertinent information. Since none existed previous, a new encoder tone is now assigned. The encoder tone for Fire 1 (46.06 MHz) and Med 10 (462.975 MHz) is 910 – 871. It will be activated as part of weather announcements (advisory, watches, and warnings); Communications Center status change; and other pertinent county wide emergency information.

The encoder tone will be effective starting Monday October 10, 2011.

Solution to Battery Life Indicator Issues Released

2011-08-30T09:47:00.001-04:00

DPS has been notified by the Harris Corporation that a solution has been created for the P7200 series portable radio battery life indicator issues some of you may have been experiencing. For those of you who are unaware of these issues we will provide a little background.

Several months ago, DPS began receiving complaints regarding the battery life on portables. Within our own office a number of portables also exhibited premature battery life based on the battery indicator icon on the display screen. DPS immediately began working with Harris to address the issue and it was discovered that it was not in fact a battery issue, but rather the battery display icon. This means that while the portable was displaying a low battery symbol on the screen, the battery was in fact well charged and had several hours of performance available.

DPS office radios with the faulty display exhibited at least two different conditions. The one radio displayed a partially filled battery indicator when a fully charged battery was first used, and quickly emptied. Another radio displayed a full battery indicator with a charged battery, but within two hours the battery display indicator was empty. In both cases the portables continued to function for another eight or more hours until the battery empty indicator started to flash and the audible low battery indicator activated.

Harris has worked diligently to find a resolution to this problem and is ready to deploy a solution at this point in time. The solution does require the portable to be touched, but only portables presenting the problem will need worked on. Harris technicians will recalibrate the portables, a process that takes less than two minutes.

If you have radios that have been experiencing the issues described in this notice, please contact Brian Hamilton (bhamilton@ccpa.net) so that we may compile a list of portables requiring recalibration.

Understanding Can Reduce Portable Radio Malfunctions

2011-08-17T10:32:00.000-04:00

Understanding Can Reduce Portable Radio Malfunctions

June PTT Report

2011-07-28T13:57:00.001-04:00

Statistics on Push-to-talk (PTT): The number of times a radio was used to make a voice transmission. The following stats are discipline specific county wide.

Law Enforcement – 112,486
Fire – 59,215
EMS – 47,429
Agencies –106,119
DPS – 2,020
County Agencies – 61,454
Municipal – 11,569
Total County Wide – 400,292

JUNE 2011 PTT’s from the main dispatch (9-1-1 Center) talk groups:
Fire – 29,014
EMS – 39,969
Police West – 22,984
Police East – 66,624
Police Data – 17,734

Daily Average Total of PTT’s 13,343

Site Utilization (Percentage of site use)...
Forward = Calls to the sites from the radios
Reverse = Calls from the sites to the radios
Lambs Gap- 10.37% Forward 7.91%Reverse
Reesers Summit- 11.31% Forward 3.43% Reverse
EOC- 9.05% Forward 2.13% Reverse
Courthouse- 9.65% Forward .79% Reverse
Commonwealth Technology Center- 9.83% Forward .49% Reverse
3 Square Hollow- 7.26% Forward .54% Reverse
Ship Cell- 8.61% Forward .44% Reverse
South Mountain- 7.37% Forward .40% Reverse
Waggoners Gap- 8.05% Forward .56% Reverse
Rose Garden- 7.42% Forward .30% Reverse
Boiling Springs- 6.39% Forward .14% Reverse
Shippensburg- 7.46% Forward .25% Reverse
Dickinson Twp- 7.08% Forward .20% Reverse
Holy Spirit- 7.12% Forward .15% Reverse
Kings Gap- 5.12% Forward .11% Reverse
Pine Grove- 3.86% Forward .08% Reverse

There was no reported queuing for the month of June.
As of this report we have 2,496 radios on the system in Cumberland County.
Control Stations: 27
Mobiles: 677
Portables: 1792

Updates

2011-07-26T08:06:00.002-04:00

There are still a few portables left in the county that have not been updated...please follow the procedure below to ensure your portables are updated.

REMINDER - All of your radios are loaded into the automatic update program. We will let this program run for as long as it takes but we’d like for you to try and take the opportunity to get your portables turned on for about 5 minutes. Once we have the majority of the radios updated we will reconcile the master list and make individual contacts to catch the remaining radios. The update is transparent to the users but the radio must be in good radio coverage. After that time frame you can turn the radio off, no need to contact anyone. If a radio is missed we will be following up as mentioned.

Just for clarity this procedure is in addition to the touch the County and Harris just completed with you. This is a needed process to correct an issue that surfaced immediately but was caught just as quick for remediation.

Reminder...

2011-07-12T09:29:00.001-04:00

A large number of radios still need to log onto the system to be updated...

REMINDER - All of your radios are loaded into the automatic update program. We will let this program run for as long as it takes but we’d like for you to try and take the opportunity to get your portables turned on for about 5 minutes. Once we have the majority of the radios updated we will reconcile the master list and make individual contacts to catch the remaining radios. The update is transparent to the users but the radio must be in good radio coverage. After that time frame you can turn the radio off, no need to contact anyone. If a radio is missed we will be following up as mentioned.

Just for clarity this procedure is in addition to the touch the County and Harris just completed with you. This is a needed process to correct an issue that surfaced immediately but was caught just as quick for remediation.

P-7200 Series Portable Battery Indicator

2011-07-05T14:09:00.004-04:00

We have received some field reports of possible poor battery performance or incorrect display of remaining battery life on P7200 series portables. Some portable radios in our office incorrectly display remaining battery life, often displaying and empty battery icon long before the radio starts to display a flashing empty battery icon and emitting an audible low battery indicator. Harris is currently investigating these reports to determine numbers of radio affected and action to correct the display settings. Until a solution is determined, we recommend that you ignore a premature empty battery icon display, and only take action to charge or replace a battery when the empty battery icon display starts to flash and/or the audible battery indicator sounds.

Will release more information regarding this issue as we get it.

Radio Update Reminder

2011-06-30T12:31:00.001-04:00

REMINDER - All of your radios are loaded into the automatic update program. We will let this program run for as long as it takes but we’d like for you to try and take the opportunity to get your portables turned on for about 5 minutes. Once we have the majority of the radios updated we will reconcile the master list and make individual contacts to catch the remaining radios. The update is transparent to the users but the radio must be in good radio coverage. After that time frame you can turn the radio off, no need to contact anyone. If a radio is missed we will be following up as mentioned.

Just for clarity this procedure is in addition to the touch the County and Harris just completed with you. This is a needed process to correct an issue that surfaced immediately but was caught just as quick for remediation.

Cumberland/Franklin County Interoperability Update

2011-06-20T15:08:00.002-04:00

Harris will be supplying two loaner control stations to Franklin County for console to console patch capability. The PA Office of Public Safety Radio Services (OPRS) will be paying for the installation under an existing interoperability grant. This project should be completed and operational in the near future.

FCC Narrowbanding

2011-06-20T12:36:00.004-04:00

The FCC has set the deadline date for FCC Narrowbanding for January 1, 2013!

What is Narrowbanding?

Most public safety radio systems use 25 kHz wide channels. In an effort to create more channels on the same spectrum, the FCC is requiring those operating below 512 MHz to move to 12.5 kHz wide channels. Again this is done in an effort to allow for more channels to exist in the same spectrum. Those who do not meet narrowbanding requirements face the loss of their communication capabilities. Some users will need to upgrade equipment so that it is 12.5 kHz capable.

Cumberland County is in line to meet the FCC deadline of narrowbanding. Narrowbanding will effect EMS paging and Cumberland County is currently seeking a solution.

P7200 Performance Issue Update

2011-06-20T08:44:00.010-04:00

P7200 Series Portables; M7200 and M7300 Series Mobile Radios – Performance Issues Update

Following reports from various field services of performance issues with P7200 series portable radios (also applicable to M7200 and M7300 series mobile radios) occurring after “Touch Two” agency visits, Harris conducted extensive field investigations and identified incorrect configuration settings used as part of the R17 subscriber software update. Configuration settings are extremely complex that control all aspects of radio performance, features, and functionality. Harris after adjusting the two settings in radios used for testing, were able to correct the “thrashing” problem reported that resulted with out of range tones, garbled and dropped transmissions. Harris is adjusting these settings using over-the-air programming that is part of registration with the system when the radio is first turned on. Additional radios were updated over the weekend and testing with those supported the Harris findings.

The Update Process:

Harris will and has began the process of imbedding the configuration change in the registration process that occurs when a radio is first turned on. The update will download during the data registration part of the affiliation with the voice switch. The update should not cause any added time for the radio to register with the system. Harris will track the radios registering with the system receiving the update. After a couple of days following the availability of the update on the radio system, the re-banding team will make agency contact informing the agency having radios not updated to ask they perform the update process. It is very important to note this does not affect M803 series mobile radios and VTAC’s. A couple of agencies that did not receive the software update during “Touch Two” agency visit once the performance issues were reported, will be re-contacted for a field visit to receive the complete software update.

Starting this past Monday, Police radios were added to the update process and EMS will follow. Fire radios will be updated after EMS, and then all remaining radios in the County will be updated.

Recommended Procedure for the Update Download:

1. Make sure the radio is in good coverage. For portables if poor or marginal radio coverage is suspected, take the portable radio outdoors.

2. Turn the radio on and allow the radio to register to the system. When the radio is fully registered, a “martini glass” symbol will appear in the lower left portion of the display (for M7200 and M7300 series mobiles – this symbol is in the upper left hand corner of the display).

3. The update only takes a few seconds to complete but to be sure please allow a few minutes to pass before powering the radio back off.

Following the Update:

If you continue to experience performance issues not previously noticed prior to the “Touch Two” agency visit, please report those to Brian Hamilton at bhamilton@ccpa.net. If reporting, please be very specific to the performance issue being experienced; the specific location it occurred; the date and approximate time of occurrence; talk group selected; and the readings noted in the display if you have the opportunity to view it. Harris field teams may be in contact for further information.

Future Updates:

At least one additional over-the-air configuration update is anticipated for the P7200; M7200; and M7300 series radios that are not related to the performance issue concern. At least one configuration item needs changed, and possibly one other. These are not being done at this time since the changes related to the performance changes are a critically needed update.

Additional Information:

System information and updates can be found at www.dps800.blogspot.com. Please check this site regularly or when directed to with notice from our office.

DPS Newsletter

2011-06-20T07:49:00.001-04:00

Check out the latest edition of the DPS Newsletter...

http://www.ccpa.net/DocumentView.aspx?DID=7864

Fire Paging Update

2011-06-17T13:20:00.001-04:00

DPS is planning the replacement of the current Fire 1 base stations. This would also include spares for quick repairs as low band equipment can take time to procure. The new transmitters would replace the four current stations that range in age from 20-40 years old. This will allow us to continue to page on Fire 1 for years to come as long as low band tone and voice pagers remain available. Maintaining the current system would come with no financial impact to the fire service community beyond the normal maintenance and purchase of their own equipment. Cumberland County will continue to explore this and other possible changes and updates to the Fire paging system in the future.

Cumberland/Franklin Interoperability Update

2011-06-10T09:41:00.003-04:00

Cumberland and Franklin County are actively working together towards a common goal of interoperability. One small step towards this goal has been made as Cumberland and Franklin have provided each others respectful mobile units with a mobile radio for interoperability.

June 8, 2011- IMPORTANT Radio Information

2011-06-08T14:51:00.003-04:00

During the recent Touch II project, rebanding teams worked to remove old channel lists from your portables and mobiles and Cumberland County took advantage of this opportunity to also upload the most recent software upgrade. As this software has rolled out across the County, a few performance issues have been reported. As is customary, Harris was immediately notified of these issues and is actively investigating and testing in the area to seek a resolution. As soon as the issue is properly identified and an acceptable resolution is determined, we will inform you. As always, we remain committed to being transparent and keeping the communication flow open with you, the user, and hope to have an update for you soon.

It is important to note that when dealing with any digital radio system, periodic software upgrades are necessary and will occur. This is a stark change from the way we did business with our analog system. Your radios are essentially computers, and just like your computer at home or work, they will require updates that improve performance. While our system comes with the benefit of being able to conduct some upgrades and programming over the air, software upgrades may require your radio to be “touched." While it may be tedious at times to participate in these upgrades, they are necessary and important to the performance and integrity of our system as a whole.

April 2011 PTT Report

2011-06-07T10:22:00.000-04:00

Statistics on Push-to-talk (PTT): The number of times a radio was used to make a voice transmission. The following stats are discipline specific county wide.

Law Enforcement – 112,486
Fire – 59,215
EMS – 47,429
Agencies –106,119
DPS – 2,020
County Agencies – 61,454
Municipal – 11,569
Total County Wide – 400,292

April 2011 PTT’s from the main dispatch (9-1-1 Center) talk groups:
Fire – 29,014
EMS – 39,969
Police West – 22,984
Police East – 66,624
Police Data – 17,734

Daily Average Total of PTT’s 13,343

Site Utilization (Percentage of site use)...
Forward = Calls to the sites from the radios
Reverse = Calls from the sites to the radios
Lambs Gap- 10.55% Forward 4.33%Reverse
Reesers Summit- 11.88% Forward 4.11% Reverse
EOC- 8.87% Forward 3.41% Reverse
Courthouse- 11.22% Forward .71% Reverse
Commonwealth Technology Center- 9.8% Forward .55% Reverse
3 Square Hollow- 7.2% Forward .58% Reverse
Ship Cell- 9.22% Forward .49% Reverse
South Mountain- 7.7% Forward .39% Reverse
Waggoners Gap- 8.47% Forward .47% Reverse
Rose Garden- 7.12% Forward .47% Reverse
Boiling Springs- 7.39% Forward .15% Reverse
Shippensburg- 7.19% Forward .55% Reverse
Dickinson Twp- 7.08% Forward .17% Reverse
Holy Spirit- 7.21% Forward .14% Reverse
Kings Gap- 5.14% Forward .1% Reverse
Pine Grove- 3.71% Forward .03% Reverse

Reeser’s, CTC, ShipCel and Courthouse had some queuing; the time duration was not long enough to have any impact on the system.

As of this report we have 2,490 radios on the system in Cumberland County. There are 458 Talk Groups being utilized on the Cumberland County system.
Control Stations: 25
Mobiles: 673
Portables: 1792

Touch II

2011-06-07T10:18:00.001-04:00

Touch II is almost complete! If you have any equipment that was unable to be upgraded on your scheduled day, please contact DPS ASAP so that we can schedule an upgrade!

Thanks!!!

Survey Result #4

2011-01-18T10:24:00.001-05:00

Sample Size = 59

Have you noticed an improvement in V‐Tac
performance with the new portables?
1 = Yes
2= No

Survey Results #3

2011-01-14T08:31:00.002-05:00

Sample Size = 59

Please rate the audio quality on
the new portables.
1 = Not Satisfied
2 = Satisfied
3 = Very Satisfied

Check it out!

2011-01-14T07:54:00.000-05:00

We've added some helpful materials to the DPS website!
Check the 800MHz radio section on our website
www.ccpa.net/publicsafety

- Training Presentation for P7200 Portable Radios (Law Enforcement)
- Training Presentation for P7200 Portable Radios (Fire/EMS)
- Training Presentation for M7200 Mobile Radios
- Portable Battery Analysis Worksheet
- Harris Battery Maintenance Presentation

Survey Results

2011-01-13T13:02:00.003-05:00

Sample Size = 59

Please rate your overall satisfaction with portable
battery performance since rebanding occurred.

1 = Not Satisfied
2 = Satisfied
3 = Very Satisfied

2010 PTT Report

2011-01-13T10:34:00.000-05:00

Statistics on Push-to-talk (PTT): The number of times a radio was used to make a voice transmission. The following stats are discipline specific county wide.

Law Enforcement – 1,297,509
Fire – 511,707
EMS – 534,825
Agencies –896,188
DPS – 34,351
County Agencies – 721,244
Municipal – 101,004
Total County Wide – 4,096,828 PTT's for 2010

2010 PTT’s from the main dispatch (9-1-1 Center) talk groups:
Fire – 272,124
EMS – 452,184,
Police West – 241,125
Police East – 786,677
Police Data – 221,970

Daily Average Total of PTT’s 11,224

Site Utilization (Percentage of site use)...
Forward = Calls to the sites from the radios
Reverse = Calls from the sites to the radios
Lambs Gap- 10.10% Forward .88%Reverse
Reesers Summit- 11% Forward 4.41% Reverse
EOC- 8.84% Forward .50% Reverse
Courthouse- 9.77% Forward 3.91% Reverse
Commonwealth Technology Center- 8.64% Forward 2.28% Reverse
3 Square Hollow- 7.21% Forward .44% Reverse
Ship Cell- 8.86% Forward .38% Reverse
South Mountain- 7.65% Forward .39% Reverse
Waggoners Gap- 7.46% Forward .39% Reverse
Rose Garden- 6.84% Forward .23% Reverse
Boiling Springs- 6.93% Forward .15% Reverse
Shippensburg- 5.27% Forward .22% Reverse
Dickinson Twp- 6.6% Forward .14% Reverse
Holy Spirit- 6.94% Forward .12% Reverse
Kings Gap- 4.90% Forward .09% Reverse
Pine Grove- 3.61% Forward .04% Reverse

The busiest site was Reesers Summit utilizing only 11.00% of its capacity at one spike with a 4.41% reverse path (calls from users to site).

This represents all 12 months averaged. Our busiest high profile site with two (2) channels was Reeser’s Summit and our busies cell site with a single (1) channel was Shippensburg Cell site (S. Fayette St)

One (1) channel equals four (4) simultaneous talk paths at one time.

As of this report we have 2,397 radios on the system in Cumberland County.
Control Stations: 23
Mobiles: 656
Portables: 1718

Dec 2010 PTT Report

2011-01-13T10:23:00.001-05:00

Statistics on Push-to-talk (PTT): The number of times a radio was used to make a voice transmission. The following stats are discipline specific county wide.

Law Enforcement – 103,591
Fire – 53,546
EMS – 46,445
Agencies –69,487
DPS – 751
County Agencies – 63,071
Municipal – 8,050
Total County Wide – 344,941 PTT's for the Month of December

Monthly PTT’s from the main dispatch (9-1-1 Center) talk groups:
Fire – 24,561
EMS – 39,177
Police West – 16,583
Police East – 66,018
Police Data – 16,972

Site Utilization (Percentage of site use)...
Forward = Calls to the sites from the radios
Reverse = Calls from the sites to the radios
Lambs Gap- 9.5% Forward 3.39%Reverse
Reesers Summit- 10.82% Forward 3.15% Reverse
EOC- 8.25% Forward 1.99% Reverse
Courthouse- 10.39% Forward 1.04% Reverse
Commonwealth Technology Center- 8.99% Forward .36% Reverse
3 Square Hollow- 6.86% Forward .41% Reverse
Ship Cell- 9.47% Forward .5% Reverse
South Mountain- 7.62% Forward .39% Reverse
Waggoners Gap- 7.54% Forward .37% Reverse
Rose Garden- 6.83% Forward .19% Reverse
Boiling Springs- 6.83% Forward .1% Reverse
Shippensburg- 5.27% Forward .21% Reverse
Dickinson Twp- 6.6% Forward .1% Reverse
Holy Spirit- 6.91% Forward .1% Reverse
Kings Gap- 4.68% Forward .07% Reverse
Pine Grove- 3.88% Forward .01% Reverse

The busiest site was Reesers Summit utilizing only 10.82% of its capacity at one spike with a 3.15% reverse path (calls from users to site).

As of this report we have 2,397 radios on the system in Cumberland County.
Control Stations: 23
Mobiles: 656
Portables: 1718

Check it out!

2011-01-13T09:21:00.003-05:00

Radio Survey Results-Question 1

2010-12-20T08:47:00.003-05:00

Sample Size = 59

Please rate your overall satisfaction with the radios system since rebanding occurred.
1 = Not Satisfied
2= Satisfied
3= Very Satisfied

November PTT Report

2010-12-16T13:56:00.002-05:00

Statistics on Push-to-talk (PTT): The number of times a radio was used to make a voice transmission. The following stats are discipline specific county wide.

Law Enforcement – 102,248
Fire – 43,306
EMS – 44,611
Agencies –66,513
DPS – 826
County Agencies – 61,231
Municipal – 6,551
Total County Wide – 325,286 PTT's for the Month of November

Monthly PTT’s from the main dispatch (9-1-1 Center) talk groups:
Fire – 21,383
EMS – 37,635
Police West – 17,602
Police East – 62,900
Police Data – 17,572

Site Utilization (Percentage of site use)...
Forward = Calls to the sites from the radios
Reverse = Calls from the sites to the radios
Lambs Gap- 9.36% Forward 4.42%Reverse
Reesers Summit- 10.52% Forward 3.1% Reverse
EOC- 8.36% Forward 2.01% Reverse
Courthouse- 10.04% Forward 1.04% Reverse
Commonwealth Technology Center- 8.78% Forward .39% Reverse
3 Square Hollow- 6.8% Forward .37% Reverse
Ship Cell- 9.83% Forward .45% Reverse
South Mountain- 7.47% Forward .34% Reverse
Waggoners Gap- 7.14% Forward .37% Reverse
Rose Garden- 6.53% Forward .21% Reverse
Boiling Springs- 6.76% Forward ..11% Reverse
Shippensburg- 5.16% Forward ..22% Reverse
Dickinson Twp- 6.44% Forward .12% Reverse
Holy Spirit- 6.94% Forward .11% Reverse
Kings Gap- 4.88% Forward .06% Reverse
Pine Grove- 3.41% Forward .02% Reverse

The busiest site was Reesers Summit utilizing only 10.52% of its capacity at one spike with a 3.1% reverse path (calls from users to site).

As of this report we have 2,397 radios on the system in Cumberland County.
Control Stations: 23
Mobiles: 656
Portables: 1718

Touch II Coming Soon...

2010-11-24T09:45:00.002-05:00

DPS is happy to announce "Touch II" in the rebanding process will begin in Janurary 2011! This phase will see the delivery of discrepancy items, the removal of old frequencies from the portables and software upgrades for portables and mobiles. A "Touch II" schedule will be release soon!

Site Outages- South Mountain & Pine Grove

2010-11-12T13:05:00.000-05:00

On Monday November 15, 2010 at 0500 hrs there is an equipment upgrade and replacement that needs to occur at the South Mountain radio site. In order to perform this work the site must be taken “off line” which in turn will also take down the Pine Grove State Park site.

The outage is to last approximately 30 minutes. During this time we will be monitoring incidents in the 911 center and if something major comes up we will get the sites back up as soon as possible.

The areas affected will be the South Central part of the County. In and around Mt. Holly Springs and areas in and around Pine Grove State Park.

It will be especially important to use the VTAC if available for ALL in building communications. Some areas may experience difficulties while on the street as well so please use them on every call during this outage.

We appreciate your cooperation. This project is related to an equipment upgrade to better ensure the link of communications from one site to another and back to the 911 center. It is also in conjunction with adding three (3) new sites in the County and enhancing two others for more capacity.

Any questions or concerns please direct them to our office.

Battery Care and Maintenance Session

2010-10-27T10:18:00.002-04:00

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! Thursday, December 2, 2010 from 1800 to 2000 hrs. Harris will be hosting the promised battery care and maintenance session. This program will include a free dinner for those who attend.

More details will follow with location and any other specifics. We would like 2 members from each agency to attend.

LEATHER CASE RIVET ISSUE

2010-10-15T10:18:00.000-04:00

The Leather Case Manufacturer found a defective process for rollover inspection on a specific batch of leather case rivets that were manufactured between 9/2008 and 6/2009. The items in question can be identified by a stamp on the back of the leather cases with a date range of 0908 - 0609. Cases within this date range may show signs of loose rivets and need replacement. It is important to note that the rivet issue does not affect all leather cases within this date range. However, upon visual inspection and with minimal use, the end user should be able to inspect the case rivets to see if they appear loose. Once you have identified cases needing replacement, you should contact Lori Miller from Harris Corporation (contact info below) to obtain an RMA (Return Material Authorization). Leather cases found to have loose rivets will be replaced by Harris Corporation at no charge and should be returned to:

Harris Corporation
Customer Resource Center
221 Jefferson Ridge Pkwy
Lynchburg, VA 24501

A note should be placed in the package referencing TR# PROD00030874 and include the RMA#, agency name, mailing address and contact person with phone number. Harris will continue to replace cases within this date range that are exhibiting this rivet issue until February 1, 2011. The rivets in question loosen with minimal use and can be easily identified by visual inspection, therefore it is anticipated that all cases needing replaced will be returned well in advance of the February 2011 end date. It is imperative that end users take the time to inspect their cases immediately to ensure that they return them in a timely manner for replacement.

Lori J. Miller
Technical Order Specialist
Harris Corporation
RF Communications Division
1000 Kreider Drive, Suite 600
Middletown, PA 17057
Ph 717-930-1028
Fax 717-930-1020
lori.miller@harris.com

SEPT 10 PTT Report

2010-10-08T13:22:00.002-04:00

Due to a hard drive crash this report only has data for half of the month.

Statistics on Push-to-talk (PTT):
The number of times a radio was used to make a voice transmission. The following stats are discipline specific county wide.

Law Enforcement – 64,629
Fire – 26,658
EMS – 28,748
Agencies –48,868
DPS – 5,122
County Agencies – 41,489
Municipal – 6,310
Total County Wide – 221,824 PTT's for the Month of Sept.

Monthly PTT’s from the main dispatch (9-1-1 Center) talk groups:
Fire – 14,364
EMS – 24,288
Police West – 12,197
Police East – 39,197
Police Data – 10,286

Site Utilization (Percentage of site use)...
Forward = Calls to the sites from the radios
Reverse = Calls from the sites to the radios
Lambs Gap- 9.94% Forward 3.68%
ReverseReesers Summit- 10.92% Forward 6.72% Reverse
EOC- 9.07% Forward 2.28% Reverse
Courthouse- 10.28% Forward 1.24% Reverse
Commonwealth Technology Center- 8.92% Forward ..43% Reverse
3 Square Hollow- 7.32% Forward .44% Reverse
Ship Cell- 8.41% Forward ..46% Reverse
South Mountain- 7.79% Forward .46% Reverse
Waggoners Gap- 8.4% Forward .38% Reverse
Rose Garden- 7% Forward .25% Reverse
Boiling Springs- 7.03% Forward .13% Reverse
Shippensburg- 5.25% Forward .27% Reverse
Dickinson Twp- 6.94% Forward .19% Reverse
Holy Spirit- 7.13% Forward .13% Reverse
Kings Gap- 5.12% Forward .08% Reverse
Pine Grove- 3.61% Forward .02% Reverse

*There were no queued calls this month.

As of this report we have 2,397 radios on the system in Cumberland County.
Control Stations: 23
Mobiles: 656
Portables: 1718

OpenSky2

2010-08-11T13:32:00.002-04:00

Harris has announced the release of the next generation of the OpenSky system. OpenSky2 is an enhancement to the current OpenSky system which provides radio communications for public safety, utility, industrial and transit organizations. OpenSky2 will offer improved user services, enhanced coverage and a number of audio improvements and features!

DPS will share more on this release as we learn more about OpenSky2.

July 2010 PTT Report

2010-08-04T14:12:00.003-04:00

Statistics on Push-to-talk (PTT): The number of times a radio was used to make a voice transmission. The following stats are discipline specific county wide.
Law Enforcement – 121,964
Fire – 46,209
EMS – 45,735
Agencies –85,168
DPS – 4,097
County Agencies – 62,869
Municipal – 6,178
Total County Wide – 372,220

PTT's for the Month of MayMonthly PTT’s from the main dispatch (9-1-1 Center) talk groups:
Fire – 26,143
EMS – 38,516
Police West – 22,878
Police East – 72,925
Police Data – 20,515

Site Utilization (Percentage of site use)...
Forward = Calls to the sites from the radios
Reverse = Calls from the sites to the radios
Lambs Gap- 10.14% Forward 4.71% Reverse
Reesers Summit- 11.24% Forward 3.82% Reverse
EOC- 8.7% Forward 2.21% Reverse
Courthouse- 10.28% Forward .75% Reverse
Commonwealth Technology Center- 9.11% Forward .36% Reverse
3 Square Hollow- 7.69% Forward .47% Reverse
Ship Cell- 8.67% Forward .52% Reverse
South Mountain- 7.69% Forward .48% Reverse
Waggoners Gap- 7.75% Forward .43% Reverse
Rose Garden- 6.88% Forward .2% Reverse
Boiling Springs- 6.89% Forward .12% Reverse
Shippensburg- 5.32% Forward .22% Reverse
Dickinson Twp- 6.78% Forward .14% Reverse
Holy Spirit- 7% Forward .12% Reverse
Kings Gap- 4.9% Forward .06% Reverse
Pine Grove- 4.02% Forward .14% Reverse

*There were no queued calls this month. As of this report we have 2,383 radios on the system in Cumberland County and 399 Talk Groups.
Control Stations: 23
Mobiles: 658
Portables: 1702

Radio Project Timeline-22 Years

2010-07-20T09:37:00.003-04:00

Every wonder how the 800 MHz radio project got it's start? Well it was 22 years in the making to get where we are today and there are lots of plans for the future of this radio system.

800 MHz Radio Project Timeline
1988– Cumberland County contracts third party to conduct a study on the public safety legacy radio system in use at the time. Study recommends several upgrades to the sites (Lambs Gap and 3 Square) and the addition of the South Mountain site. Study also forecasts the need for a future study to look into the eventual replacement of the legacy system.

1995– Study conducted by SE Technologies explores options for a new radio system in the near future. Study recommends an 800MHz trunked digital system. At the time 18 800MHz frequencies were available and Cumberland County attains licenses for these frequencies from the FCC.

1998– Cumberland County requests proposals/bids for an radio system falling under the specifications of the 1995 study. Proposal submitted by Motorola, AMP Wireless/M/A Comm, and Ericcson. All three bids are rejected.

August 1999– Commonwealth of Pennsylvania awards contract for state radios system to M/A Com. M/A Com submits unsolicited proposal to Cumberland County and offers state contract pricing for the project.

May 2000– Cumberland County signs contract with M/A Com for a $6,000,000 800MHz trunked digital system. Contract is for 6 high profile radio sites and 5 cell sites.

2004– During testing phase, DPS begins noticing minor interference from cell phone carriers. The FCC releases a report in August requiring thousands of radios systems nationwide to relocate on the 800 MHz band to solve cell interference issues. FCC directs Sprint Nextel to cover full cost of nationwide rebanding. DPS files with the FCC for the first time to report interference from cell phone carriers. Previously Cumberland County had been dealing directly with Nextel Partners (before they were acquired by Sprint Nextel) Cumberland County hires SSI (later to become Kimball) to serve as a consultant during the potential rebanding process.
Tower sites are added at Pine Grove State Park as well as Waggoners Gap to improve coverage.

December 2005– Law enforcement agencies in Cumberland County officially transition to 800 MHz system.

2006– County fire police officially transition to the 800 MHz system. Also this year the Shippensburg Cell Site is added to increase radio coverage in the Shippensburg area. Cumberland County submits request for planning to 800 MHz Transition Administrator.
This request would begin the process for Cumberland County to seek an agreement with Sprint/Nextel, resulting in Sprint/Nextel as the party financially responsible for Cumberland County’s rebanding.

2007- County Fire and EMS departments officially transition to 800 MHz system. New sites added at Holy Spirit and Courthouse. Frequency Reconfiguration Agreement (FRA) process begins between Cumberland County and Sprint Nextel.

2008– Cumberland County continues to experience, investigate and file with the FCC reports of cell phone interference.

Aug 2009-Cumberland County begins to receive equipment for rebanding to warehouse, managed by Kimball.

Jan/Feb 2010– Cumberland County receives final FRA from Sprint/Nextel. This final FRA was three years in the making, as numerous hurdles were over come in the process. The Commonwealth of PA was also negotiating an FRA, which influenced Cumberland County’s RFA, Tyco was purchased and transitions to become part of the Harris Corporation, and several amendments had to be made to the original FRA. Cumberland County, along with Kimball, Harris, SSC and B. Moyer Communications, began the process to exchange 1,461 portables, and reprogramming of 468 mobile radios and 80 control stations.

June 2010– Radio exchanges and reprogramming completed. CTC, Lambs Gap, Shippensburg University, Pine Grove and the Shippensburg Cell site are all retuned. DPS receives approval to place a new tower site in Middlesex Township. Tower site upgrades and 4.9 Link Shot project begins. Project to be completed by end of 2010. This is a $1.7 million upgrade to the system.

Fall 2010—”Second touch” schedule to occur, in which old frequencies will be removed from portables. Mutual aide sites are also scheduled for retuning in the fall (3 Square and South Mountain).

Future Plans– Cumberland County has plans to add 3 additional sites, to improve system coverage. No dates are set.

Site Outage Updates

2010-07-08T10:07:00.002-04:00

All 5 sites that were scheduled for work last week were successfully rebanded and are back on line working properly. Two more site retunes and outages will occur in July. These sites will take care of the NPSPAC Mutal aid sites. The outage will be very similar to the outages that occured last week and will effect the Three Square Site and the South Mountain Site. When dates and times are finalized they will be posted on the blog.

Site Outages Week of June 28th

2010-06-25T09:14:00.003-04:00

Over the next week several sites will be out of service briefly due to rebanding or site modifications that need to occur. Below is the schedule for outages as they will occur. During these outages you should have adequate mobile coverage but portable coverage will be affected so please use the VTAC accordingly if you have one within your fleet. We are confident that the outage will more than likely go un-noticed.

Reeser's Summit
June 28 @ 0300 hrs site will be down 30 minutes to an hour at most. This site outage is a result of the microwave link from CTC to Reeser's being upgraded therefore causing the site to be down which coincidentally is unrelated to the rebanding project.

CTC (commonwealth technologies center - located in Harrisburg above Farm show complex)
June 29 @ 0830 hrs site will be down for approx 30 minutes or less.

Lambs Gap
June 30 @ 0500 hrs site will be down for approx 30 minutes or less.

Shippensburg University
July 1 @ 0930 hrs site will be down for approx 30 minutes or less.

Pine Grove State Park
July 2 @ 0930 hrs site will be down for approx 30 minutes or less.

We will notify you if any major changes to the schedule occur!

***As always if there is an incident at the time we need to take the site down we will postpone the outage until such time it is safe to do so***

Portable Case Problems

2010-06-21T14:34:00.003-04:00

A quality issue regarding some of the portable cases issued during the recent equipment has been brought to the attention of DPS. Users are experiencing issues with rivets coming off and the paint rubbing off.

DPS has brought this issue to the attention of the Harris Corporation and they are actively working to resolve the issue. At this time we are asking that you contact Megan with any issues you are experiencing with the cases so that we may continue to report the issues to Harris.

Megan Silverstrim

mmoriarty@ccpa.net

717-240-6400

Emergency Button Testing

2010-06-21T10:47:00.002-04:00

The Emergency Button Focus Group formed several months ago to explore the possibility of reactivating the emergency button for Fire, met last night at Company 30, Station 1. The focus group along with representatives from several fire companies from throughout the county, conducted testing and held open discussion regarding potential options for reactivating the emergency button. This group plans on meeting and conducting testing on future occasions, so that the best possible solution can be reached.

May PTT Report

2010-06-08T13:00:00.002-04:00

Statistics on Push-to-talk (PTT): The number of times a radio was used to make a voice transmission. The following stats are discipline specific county wide.
Law Enforcement – 121,542
Fire – 43,987
EMS – 47,284
Agencies – 85,105
DPS – 6,476
County Agencies – 63,258
Municipal – 8,843
Total County Wide – 376.495

PTT's for the Month of MayMonthly PTT’s from the main dispatch (9-1-1 Center) talk groups:
Fire – 23,378
EMS – 40,006
Police West – 23,098
Police East – 73,258
Police Data – 20,979

Site Utilization (Percentage of site use)...
Forward = Calls to the sites from the radios
Reverse = Calls from the sites to the radios
Lambs Gap- 10.03% Forward 3.62% Reverse
Reesers Summit- 11.47% Forward 4.09% Reverse
EOC- 8.86% Forward 2.34% Reverse
Courthouse- 10.24% Forward .83% Reverse
Commonwealth Technology Center- 8.87% Forward .39% Reverse
3 Square Hollow- 7.48% Forward .43% Reverse
Ship Cell- 8.82% Forward .50% Reverse
South Mountain- 7.37% Forward .43% Reverse
Waggoners Gap- 7.49% Forward .39% Reverse
Rose Garden- 7.11% Forward .25% Reverse
Boiling Springs- 7.18% Forward .23% Reverse
Shippensburg- 5.32% Forward .22% Reverse
Dickinson Twp- 6.91% Forward .15% Reverse
Holy Spirit- 7.14% Forward .13% Reverse
Kings Gap- 4.61% Forward .07% Reverse
Pine Grove- 3.68% Forward .03% Reverse

*There were no queued calls this month.

As of this report we have 2,359 radios on the system in Cumberland County and 399 Talk Groups.
Control Stations: 20
Mobiles: 664
Portables: 1675

June 18th Deadline

2010-06-08T10:52:00.003-04:00

Cumberland County DPS has set JUNE 18th as the final date to report any items that were missing the day of your exchange that you would would like to exchange or have added to your discrepancy list. Any items reported after this date will not be covered under the FCC Rebanding project and replacement of those items will be your agencies financial obligation.

Cumberland County Has Gone Green...

2010-06-02T16:06:00.003-04:00

At this time all county fire companes, EMS companies and police departments have recieved the P7200 series portables!

April PTT Report

2010-06-02T13:48:00.002-04:00

Statistics on Push-to-talk (PTT): The number of times a radio was used to make a voice transmission. The following stats are discipline specific county wide.
Law Enforcement - 111,738
Fire - 41,916
EMS - 43,412
Agencies - 78,056
DPS - 4,300
County Agencies - 61,257
Municipal - 6,835
Total County Wide - 347,517 PTT's

Monthly PTT’s from the main dispatch (9-1-1 Center) talk groups:
Fire - 24,021
EMS - 36,741
Police West - 22,154
Police East - 65,873
Police Data - 19,935

Site Utilization (Percentage of site use)...
Forward = Calls to the sites from the radios
Reverse = Calls from the sites to the radios

Lambs Gap- 9.75% Forward 6.48% Reverse
Reesers Summit- 11.03% Forward 6.48% Reverse
EOC- 8.63% Forward 2.23% Reverse
Courthouse- 10.06% Forward .89% Reverse
Commonwealth Technology Center- 8.65% Forward .42% Reverse
3 Square Hollow- 7.38% Forward .47% Reverse
Ship Cell- 8.84% Forward .55% Reverse
South Mountain- 7.27% Forward .43% Reverse
Waggoners Gap- 7.06% Forward .38% Reverse
Rose Garden- 6.81% Forward .24% Reverse
Boiling Springs- 7.00% Forward .2% Reverse
Shippensburg- 5.93% Forward .27% Reverse
Dickinson Twp- 6.79% Forward .17% Reverse
Holy Spirit- 6.84% Forward .13% Reverse
Kings Gap- 5.93% Forward .14% Reverse
Pine Grove- 3.54% Forward .01% Reverse

As of this report we have 2,359 radios on the system in Cumberland County and 399 Talk Groups.

Control Stations: 20
Mobiles: 664
Portables: 1675

2010-05-18T07:30:00.001-04:00

Portable Radios Exchanged 1,127 of 1,506
Mobile/VTAC Radios Reprogrammed 353 of 883
Control Stations Reprogrammed 58 of 61

IMPORTANT NOTICE

2010-05-17T09:18:00.000-04:00

As we near the end of the portable exchange process there are a few important things to keep in mind. Several agencies were missing equipment the day of the exchange or had units out preventing the software upgrades on mobiles. As soon as missing equipment is located or units return it is imperative that you contact DPS as soon as possible to address these outstanding items. Once the dates for the final portable exchange are scheduled a project end date will be set and any equipment not turned in or upgraded before then will not be covered under the rebanding project. If you miss the deadline it will be your responsibility to contact DPS to arrange for mobile software upgrades. Your agency may be financially responsible for this upgrade as well. If you fail to complete this mobile upgrade your mobile may no longer work, as it cannot be guaranteed to have the correct tower site list. Any portables or related equipment that is located after the project end date, will not be replaced either. Again, your agency will be financially responsible for replacing this equipment if you should choose to do so. All unaccounted for portables (P800 series) will be bricked and will no longer work on our system.

If you have any questions regarding this issue please contact DPS as soon as possible!

2010-05-17T09:12:00.002-04:00

Fire/EMS/Other Map Key

-Completed (Portable exchange is complete and all installs and software upgrades have been completed. A municipality will be considered completed when all services (not including law enforcement) that primarily serve municipality have been completed.)
-In Process (Harris and DPS are actively engaged in the exchange process. A municipality can be changed to “In Process” if any service within that municipality is engaged in the exchange process.)
-Training Scheduled (Portable training dates have been scheduled and tentative dates for exchange are set.)
-Pending (Portable training exchange process has yet to begin. No department or agency is engaged in the exchange process.)*Not able to be reflected in the map: West Shore EMS portable exchange and mobile upgrades were completed.

Law Enforcement Map Key

-Completed (Portable exchange is complete and all installs and software upgrades have been completed.)
-In Process (Harris and DPS are actively engaged in the exchange process.)
-Training Scheduled (The training has been scheduled and tentative exchanged dates are set.)
-Pending (Portable training and exchange process has yet to begin. No department or agency is engaged in the exchange process.)*The exchange process does no effect municipalities without color, as they do not have municipal police departments.

York County Communications

2010-05-12T09:49:00.000-04:00

Effective May 17, 2010, at 0800 hours, Cumberland County and York County will have connectivity between their radio systems. Cumberland County will initiate a patch for any Fire/Rescue incident in either County once an Ops Talk Group is assigned.

Cumberland County will assign an Ops talk group once units are responding for any incident in either County. The County in which the incident is occurring will monitor the patched talk groups.

Reminder: If the incident is in York County, all requests should go through the established York Command and York County Communications. Please note that network coverage may become unavailable as you distance yourself from our coverage. VTAC functionality will also be lost once you leave the assigned coverage area for VTAC’s. Daily out of County EMS communications will continue on the UHF system or local out of county radio systems as before.

Scan Short Cut Issue- 3-#

2010-05-07T14:36:00.000-04:00

Some users may be experiencing issues with the Scan On/Off shortcut function on their key padded version of the P7200 series portables. On the P7270 series radio with scan off at power up as a default the 3# feature isn't working but can be changed through the menu. If the radio has FIXED scan at power up as a default there is not an issue. This issue was recently discovered and the Harris Corporation was made aware and has created a solution in the next round of software upgrades. Again the scan function can still be changed by going through the menus. All other shortcuts (1-# and 6-#) still function properly and are not affected by this software issue. If you are experiencing this issue, there is no need to contact DPS or Harris, as again, they are aware of the issue and will be fixing it at a later date.

The P7250 is not affected by this.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

2010-05-07T14:34:00.000-04:00

As we near the end of the portable exchange process there are a few important things to keep in mind. Several agencies were missing equipment the day of the exchange or had units out preventing the software upgrades on mobiles. As soon as missing equipment is located or units return it is imperative that you contact DPS as soon as possible to address these outstanding items.

Once the dates for the final portable exchange are scheduled a project end date will be set and any equipment not turned in or upgraded before then will not be covered under the rebanding project. If you miss the deadline it will be your responsibility to contact DPS to arrange for mobile software upgrades. Your agency may be financially responsible for this upgrade as well. If you fail to complete this mobile upgrade your mobile may no longer work, as it cannot be guaranteed to have the correct tower site list. Any portables or related equipment that is located after the project end date, will not be replaced either. Again, your agency will be financially responsible for replacing this equipment if you should choose to do so. All unaccounted for portables (P800 series) will be bricked and will no longer work on our system.

If you have any questions regarding this issue please contact DPS as soon as possible!

Update...

2010-05-07T11:28:00.004-04:00

998 Portables have been delivered so far...

Not reflected in the mapping, Cumberland County Prison and Transportation were also completed.

-Training Scheduled (Portable training dates have been scheduled and tentative dates for exchange are set.)

-Pending (Portable training exchange process has yet to begin. No department or agency is engaged in the exchange process.)*Not able to be reflected in the map: West Shore EMS portable exchange and mobile upgrades were completed.

Law Enforcement Map Key
-Completed (Portable exchange is complete and all installs and software upgrades have been completed.)

-In Process (Harris and DPS are actively engaged in the exchange process.)

-Training Scheduled (The training has been scheduled and tentative exchanged dates are set.)

-Pending (Portable training and exchange process has yet to begin. No department or agency is engaged in the exchange process.)*The exchange process does no effect municipalities without color, as they do not have municipal police departments.

2010-04-30T08:01:00.003-04:00

*Not able to be reflected on map, Cumberland County Adult and Juvenile Probation portables exchanges were completed this week!

Fire/EMS/Other Map Key

Law Enforcement Map Key

-Completed (Portable exchange is complete and all installs and software upgrades have been completed.)
-In Process (Harris and DPS are actively engaged in the exchange process.)
-Training Scheduled (The training has been scheduled and tentative exchanged dates are set.)
-Pending (Portable training and exchange process has yet to begin. No department or agency is engaged in the exchange process.)*The exchange process does no effect municipalities without color, as they do not have municipal police departments.

A look at the numbers...

2010-04-23T14:38:00.002-04:00

Portable Radios Exchanged- 885 of 1,506

Mobile/VTAC Radios Reprogrammed - 254 of 883

Control Stations Reprogrammed- 46 of 61

Mapping the Progress...

2010-04-23T08:59:00.003-04:00

* These maps do not reflect the status of County agencies or the Carlisle Barracks. All County agencies and the Carlisle Barracks have been scheduled for training and the Sheriff's Department has completed their portable exchange.

Fire/EMS/Other Map Key
-Completed (Portable exchange is complete and all installs and software upgrades have been completed. A municipality will be considered completed when all services (not including law enforcement) that primarily serve municipality have been completed.)

-Training Scheduled (Portable training dates have been scheduled and tentative dates for exchange are set.)

Law Enforcement Map Key
-Completed (Portable exchange is complete and all installs and software upgrades have been completed.)

-In Process (Harris and DPS are actively engaged in the exchange process.)

-Training Scheduled (The training has been scheduled and tentative exchanged dates are set.)

Maps...

2010-04-16T12:55:00.005-04:00

Fire/EMS/Other Map Key

Law Enforcement Map Key

Polls...

2010-04-16T10:07:00.002-04:00

DPS is looking for continued feed back on the P7200 portables and the system in general. We will be posting several polls every couple of weeks, to give you a quick, easy and anonymous way to let us know what you think and help us understand how the system is being utilized. The first two polls are posted until May 3rd, so PLEASE check them out and give us some feed back! We'll post results at the close of the poll and before a new poll is posted! And as usual you are encouraged to comment on the blog as well!

Thanks!

Don't leave just yet...

2010-04-12T15:47:00.002-04:00

Don't stop checking the blog just because you have received your training and new portables!!!! The blog is still an important source of information as we move through and beyond this project. Readers can expect to find information on the "Second Touch" phase of the rebanding project, system/tower site upgrades, software upgrades, interoperability, training, patches and so much more! See keep checking back and we'll keep posting!

A look at the numbers 4/9/2010

2010-04-09T14:42:00.001-04:00

Portable Radios Exchanged 590 of 1,506
Mobile/VTAC Radios Reprogrammed 169 of 883
Control Stations Reprogrammed 35 of 61

The weekend update...

2010-04-09T13:58:00.004-04:00

Fire/EMS/Other Map Key
-Completed (Portable exchange is complete and all installs and software upgrades have been completed. A municipality will be considered completed when all services (not including law enforcement) that primarily serve municipality have been completed.)
-In Process (Harris and DPS are actively engaged in the exchange process. A municipality can be changed to “In Process” if any service within that municipality is engaged in the exchange process.)

-Training Scheduled (Portable training dates have been scheduled and tentative dates for exchange are set.)
-Pending (Portable training exchange process has yet to begin. No department or agency is engaged in the exchange process.)*Not able to be reflected in the map: West Shore EMS portable exchange and mobile upgrades were completed.

Law Enforcement Map Key
-Completed (Portable exchange is complete and all installs and software upgrades have been completed.)

-In Process (Harris and DPS are actively engaged in the exchange process.)

-Training Scheduled (The training has been scheduled and tentative exchanged dates are set.)

A message from Harris...

2010-04-08T08:01:00.003-04:00

Effective Monday, April 12, 2010, the Harris Office, RF communications Division in Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania will be relocated and open for business at our new address:
Harris Corporation
RF Communications Division
1000 Kreider Drive
Suite 600
Middletown, PA 17057
All Harrisburg Operations including the Equipment Repair Facility, Warehousing, Field Services and
Customer Service will be operating at this new location.
The new main telephone number: 1-717-930-1010
The new Fax telephone number: 1-717-930-1020
For customers requiring Harris Maintenance or Field Services, our Trouble Ticket numbers are:
1-800-806-0949 or 1-717-930-1010
After hour emergency calls will continue to be forwarded to our answering service.

For all Customer Service support or equipment quotes, you may contact Lori Miller directly at
1-717-930-1028 or by using the main telephone number.

For all calls regarding Sales, you may contact Roger Kohr directly at

1-717-930-1036 or by using the
main telephone number.

All Harrisburg Office employees’ direct dial telephone numbers have been changed.

By calling the
employee’s old telephone number, you will be provided a message

with their new direct dial telephone
number or they may be contacted at the main telephone number

1-717-930-1010.
All Harrisburg Harris employees’ email addresses will remain the same.

The Pennsylvania Harris Team

looks forward to serving you

from our new location.

2010-04-05T08:14:00.005-04:00

As of 4/2/2010
Portable Radios Exchanged 530 of 1,506
Mobile/VTAC Radios Reprogrammed 152 of 883
Control Stations Reprogrammed 31 of 61

Fire/EMS/Other Map Key

Law Enforcement Map Key

What do you think?

2010-03-26T10:49:00.001-04:00

Several agencies have received their new portables and we want to hear how things are going! Comment on this post and let us know about your experiences with the new portables! Also feel free to comment on the exchange process, so other agencies know what to expect!

Thanks!

Progress Maps...

2010-03-26T10:41:00.003-04:00

-Training Scheduled (Portable training dates have been scheduled and tentative dates for exchange are set.)

-Pending (Portable training exchange process has yet to begin. No department or agency is engaged in the exchange process.)
*Not able to be reflected in the map: West Shore EMS portable exchange and mobile upgrades were completed.

Law Enforcement Map Key
-Completed (Portable exchange is complete and all installs and software upgrades have been completed.)

-In Process (Harris and DPS are actively engaged in the exchange process.)

-Training Scheduled (The training has been scheduled and tentative exchanged dates are set.)

A look at the numbers as of 3/22/2010

2010-03-22T14:53:00.000-04:00

Portable Radios Exchanged: 331 of 1,506

Mobile/VTAC Radios Reprogrammed: 113 of 883

Control Stations Reprogrammed: 20 of 61

Progress Maps

2010-03-22T09:03:00.005-04:00

Fire/EMS/Other Map Key

-Training Scheduled (Portable training dates have been scheduled and tentative dates for exchange are set.)

-Pending (Portable training exchange process has yet to begin. No department or agency is engaged in the exchange process.)

*Not able to be reflected in the map: West Shore EMS portable exchange and mobile upgrades were completed.

Law Enforcement Map Key

Emergency Button Focus Group

2010-03-18T11:18:00.002-04:00

Cumberland County has created a focus group to look further into the use of the “Emergency Button” for Fire. This group is exploring the ramifications of the emergency button in an effort to develop SOG's for MAYDAY concerns. Check back to the blog for further updates on this issue as the focus group continues their work.

A look at the numbers...

2010-03-15T10:31:00.003-04:00

Portable Radios Exchanged to Date:
295 of 1,506

Mobile/VTAC Radios Reprogrammed to Date:
116 of 883

Control Stations Reprogrammed to Date:
18 of 61

Keeping Pace...

2010-03-15T10:28:00.001-04:00

DPS has been working diligently to get new portables into the hands of our responders in recent weeks. We hope to continue this rapid pace, as we are also working towards an FCC deadline for project completion. This pace can only be maintained through your help and cooperation. When your agency is contacted about scheduling training for your portables, it is important that you respond as soon as possible. It is our hope to have your training conducted within a two week time frame after contact is made, with the actual portable exchange occurring at your earliest convenience, following training.

If you do not respond to the HACC representatives in timely fashion to schedule your training, DPS may shift your agency to the end of the project schedule, as it is imperative that we stay on schedule with this project and do not want to delay the delivery of portables to other agencies. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you, and again encourage you to promptly respond when contacted for training.

Progress Report

2010-03-12T09:46:00.008-05:00

TO DATE 295 PORTABLES HAVE BEEN EXCHANGED IN CUMBERLAND COUNTY!

Fire/EMS/Other Map Key
-Completed (Portable exchange is complete and all installs and software upgrades have been completed. A municipality will be considered completed when all services (not including law enforcement) that primarily serve municipality have been completed.)

-In Process (Harris and DPS are actively engaged in the exchange process. A municipality can be changed to “In Process” if any service within that municipality is engaged in the exchange process.)

-Training Scheduled (Portable training dates have been scheduled and tentative dates for exchange are set.)

-Pending (Portable training exchange process has yet to begin. No department or agency is engaged in the exchange process.)
*Not able to be reflected in the map: West Shore EMS portable exchange was completed.

Law Enforcement Map Key
-Completed (Portable exchange is complete and all installs and software upgrades have been completed.)

-In Process (Harris and DPS are actively engaged in the exchange process.)

-Training Scheduled (The training has been scheduled and tentative exchanged dates are set.)

What do you think?

2010-03-08T08:23:00.002-05:00

Project Status

2010-03-04T07:10:00.004-05:00

Fire/EMS/Other Map Key

-In Process (Harris and DPS are actively engaged in the exchange process. A municipality can be changed to “In Process” if any service within that municipality is engaged in the exchange process.)
-Training Scheduled (Portable training dates have been scheduled and tentative dates for exchange are set.)
-Pending (Portable training exchange process has yet to begin. No department or agency is engaged in the exchange process.)

Law Enforcement Map Key

-Completed (Portable exchange is complete and all installs and software upgrades have been completed.)
-In Process (Harris and DPS are actively engaged in the exchange process.)
-Scheduled (The training has been scheduled and tentative exchanged dates are set.)
-Pending (Portable training and exchange process has yet to begin. No department or agency is engaged in the exchange process.)
*The exchange process does no effect municipalities without color, as they do not have municipal police departments.

Dauphin County

2010-03-01T15:35:00.001-05:00

As Dauphin County is transitioning to a new radio system, DPS has received several inquiries regarding the status of Cumberland unit’s ability to communicate with Dauphin County without buying another radio. Understanding this concern, DPS has been in contact with Dauphin County regarding this concern. Dauphin County has assured us that the current low band system in Dauphin will be used to patch into their new system for on scene operations.

DPS is working to address similar concerns in other counties as others are moving to new radio systems.

The Word of the Day is....Interoperability!!!!

2010-03-01T09:15:00.001-05:00

A 25+ car pile up on the PA Turnpike last Friday was further complicated by whiteout conditions, drifting snow, and traffic back logs. One thing that was not a complicating factor, radio communications! As the incident progressed on Friday, DPS saw the need for direct communications between Command 47 and the multiple state agencies involved. Within a matter of minutes DPS was able to load a state Talk Group (Tac2) into the TG16 slot on a portable, making communications between Command 47, DMVA (Department of Military and Veterans Affairs), PennDOT and PEMA possible! Instant and simple interoperability!

Soon all portables and mobiles in the County will have Global 1, Global 2 and Commonwealth InterOps profiles in their radios, making this interoperability for major events readily available to all responders, as state agencies also possess these profiles! DPS is in the process of working on policy and procedure with The Commonwealth of PA to implement the three profiles in all Cumberland radios. A simple change in profile and you will be able to easily communicate with the state agencies you may be working with!

Cumberland County is the only county in the state that has the ability to directly communicate with the state like this! Other counties require special equipment or patches to do so.

What do you think?

2010-03-01T09:13:00.005-05:00

Update...

2010-02-26T09:40:00.005-05:00

-Training Scheduled (Portable training dates have been scheduled and tentative dates for exchange are set.)

-Pending (Portable training exchange process has yet to begin. No department or agency is engaged in the exchange process.)

Law Enforcement Map Key
-Completed (Portable exchange is complete and all installs and software upgrades have been completed.)

-In Process (Harris and DPS are actively engaged in the exchange process.)

-Scheduled (The training has been scheduled and tentative exchanged dates are set.)

-Pending (Portable training and exchange process has yet to begin. No department or agency is engaged in the exchange process.)

*The exchange process does no effect municipalities without color, as they do not have municipal police departments.

West Shore EMS Staff Training Dates

2010-02-19T23:42:00.004-05:00

February 23, 2010
1930-2200 hrs
West End Fire and Rescue
49 Lurgan Ave
Shippensburg

February 25, 2010
1930-2200 hrs
West End Fire and Rescue
49 Lurgan Ave
Shippensburg

March 1, 2010
0730-1000 hrs
Holy Spirit Hospital
Classroom 1 (basement below auditorium)
503 N. 21st St
Camp Hill

March 2, 2010
0730-1000 hrs
Hampden Township Fire
Station #1
1200 Good Hope Road
Mechanicsburg

March 2, 2010
1930-2200 hrs
Citizens Fire Company
100 Chestnut Street
Mt. Holly Springs

March 3, 2010
0730-1000 hrs
Cumberland County EOC
1101 Claremont Road
Carlisle

March 4, 2010
0730-1000 hrs
Hampden Township Fire
Station #1
1200 Good Hope
Mechanicsburg

March 4, 2010
1930-2200
Holy Spirit
Auditorium C/D
503 N. 21st St
Camp Hill

Training Dates

2010-02-19T10:39:00.003-05:00

Middlesex Township
Middlesex Township Building
February 24, 2010
0900 hrs

New Cumberland Police Department
February 25, 2010
1900 hrs

West Shore Bureau of Fire
March 3, 2010
1900 hrs

York Springs
March 6, 2010
0900 hrs

New Cumberland Fire Department
March 9, 2010
1900 hrs

West Shore Police Department
March 15, 2010
0700 hrs
March 15, 2010
1400 hrs

Project Update

2010-02-18T08:17:00.007-05:00

Fire/EMS/Other Map Key

Law Enforcement Map Key

-Completed (Portable exchange is complete and all installs and software upgrades have been completed.)
-In Process (Harris and DPS are actively engaged in the exchange process.)
-Scheduled (The training has been scheduled and tentative exchanged dates are set.)
-Pending (Portable training and exchange process has yet to begin. No department or agency is engaged in the exchange process.)
*The exchange process does no effect municipalities without color, as they do not have municipal police departments.

Progress Maps

2010-02-09T15:08:00.011-05:00

-Training Scheduled (Portable training dates have been scheduled and tentative dates for exchange are set.)

-Pending (Portable training exchange process has yet to begin. No department or agency is engaged in the exchange process.)

Law Enforcement Map Key
-Completed (Portable exchange is complete and all installs and software upgrades have been completed.)

-In Process (Harris and DPS are actively engaged in the exchange process.)

-Scheduled (The training has been scheduled and tentative exchanged dates are set.)

-Pending (Portable training and exchange process has yet to begin. No department or agency is engaged in the exchange process.)

-The exchange process does no effect municipalities without color, as they do not have municipal police departments.

Training Date

2010-02-09T13:59:00.003-05:00

New Cumberland Police Department 800 Radio Training

Date:
February 25, 2010

Location:
New Cumberland PD

Time:
1900hrs

2009 YEAR END PTT TOTALS

2010-02-04T16:19:00.012-05:00

Push to Talk (PTT's) Report for 2009
*Other includes Agency Talk Groups, DPS, County Agencies, and Municipal

IMPORTANT MESSAGE REGARDING P800 CONDITION

2010-01-28T12:15:00.002-05:00

In preparation for the exchange process that is about to occur, it is important that agencies understand the expectations for the equipment they will be turning in. All returned equipment will become property of Sprint/Nextel. Sprint/Nextel will not accept broken or damaged equipment. All P800 series portables must be able to power up and connect to the network to be considered acceptable for return. Any broken accessories (belt clips, antennas, battery clasps, etc) will render the portable unacceptable for return as well. If an item cannot be returned, then you will not receive new equipment in exchange. If any of your equipment does not meet the standards described above you are STRONGLY encouraged to contact the Harris Corporation for service, so that problems can be corrected before the exchange. Harris will be able to advise you regarding who the financial obligation for repairs falls upon. Some repairs may be covered by warranty; others may be billed to your agency. If damage is the result of negligence by the agency repairs will not be covered under warranty.

If you have any questions regarding this policy please do not hesitate to call or email Megan.

Mapping the Progress

2010-01-25T09:04:00.014-05:00

As part of Cumberland County's renewed commitment to improving lines of communication with 800 MHz system users, we will be posting weekly progress maps, so that you can track the rebanding and portable exchange process. Two maps will be posted weekly showing progress of law enforcement agencies and one showing progress of Fire/EMS/Other.

Law Enforcement Map Key

-Completed (Portable exchange is complete and all installs and software upgrades have been completed.)
-In Process (Harris and DPS are actively engaged in the exchange process.)

-Scheduled (The training has been scheduled and tentative exchanged dates are set.)
-Pending (Portable training and exchange process has yet to begin. No department or agency is engaged in the exchange process.)

-The exchange process does no effect municipalities without color, as they do not have municipal police departments.

Fire/EMS/Other Map Key

-Completed (Portable exchange is complete and all installs and software upgrades have been completed. A municipality will be considered completed when all services (not including law enforcement) that primarily serve municipality have been completed.)
-In Process (Harris and DPS are actively engaged in the exchange process. A municipality can be changed to “In Process” if any service within that municipality is engaged in the exchange process.)
-Scheduled (Portable training dates have been scheduled and tentative dates for exchange are set.)
-Pending (Portable training exchange process has yet to begin. No department or agency is engaged in the exchange process.)

Shippensburg Training Dates Announced

2010-01-22T10:52:00.002-05:00

February 1, 2010
1400 hrs
Shippensburg Police Department

The dates below are open to all Shippensburg emergency services personnel.

February 4, 2010
1900 hrs
West End Fire and Rescue

February 6, 2010
1000 hrs
Vigilant Hose Company

February 8, 2010
1900 hrs
Shippensburg Firefighters Activities Center

February 10, 2010
1900 hrs
Shippensburg Firefighters Activities Center

What to Expect...

2010-01-21T13:13:00.002-05:00

As we are moving forward with the exchange process we want to keep you updated as to what you can expect as the process unfolds. So here is the information break down…

Agency Contact
- Your agency will be contacted as your time to engage in the exchange draws near.
- Your agency will be contacted with 2-3 weeks advanced notice to schedule training through HACC.

Training
- Training provided by HACC
- Lasts approximately 2-2.5 hours
- Training radios provided for the class
- Conducted locally
- Super User’s Seminar to be held towards the end of exchange
- Harris battery management training to be offered in the middle of this projectAgency Visits-

Agency Visits-The Numbers
- 69 Agencies (40 Fire, 17 Law Enforcement, 12 EMS)
- 1,506 Portables
- 819 Portable Charger Install/Replacements
- 675 Mobiles and 26 Control Stations Reprogramming

Agency Visits- Who to Expect
- Harris: Reprogramming of mobiles/control stations and removal and installation of portable chargers
- Kimball: Managing warehouse, preparation and portable exchange
- Cumberland County DPS: Assisting in the exchange and activation of new portables

Agency Visits- What to Expect
- Agency visits and the actual exchange should occur about two weeks after you recieve your training.
- Teams comprised of Harris, Kimball and DPS representatives will be on hand to work through this project.
- You should have 1-2 agency representatives on hand the day of the exchange.
- All equipment that is to be exchanged and reprogrammed should be present on your scheduled day. Any equipment that cannot be located by the end of the county wide exchange will be removed from the system and will not be replaced.
- A DPS representative will be visiting or calling your agency the day of your exchange to make sure everything is running smoothly. A representative will also call in the weeks following the exchange to make sure everything is functioning properly.

Site and Radio Re-tuning
- Site re-tuning will occur at the completion of the exchange process. Technicians will visit tower sites and remove the old frequencies from the site and enter the new frequencies issued to Cumberland County through the band reconfiguration. Radio users will not be impacted by this process.
- A “2nd Touch” will occur at a later date as well. The “2nd Touch” involves removing the old frequencies from the P7200 series portables. This step will not occur this year and will most likely been seen in 2011.

800 Radio Quality Assurance Program
- DPS is committed to renewing communications between our office and radio users. We want to work with you to address any issues that may occur during the exchange process and any problems that occur with the system after the radios are released.
- Megan Silverstrim is now serving as the point of contact for the 800 MHz radio program. Please contact Megan with any questions or problems.
Megan Silverstrim
245-8700
mmoriarty@ccpa.net

Portable Charger Installation

2010-01-15T07:49:00.004-05:00

When Harris installs chargers into apparatus for the P7200 series, there will be a notable difference from the last time chargers were installed into your apparatus. When the P800 chargers were installed some were connected to the vehicle starter and some agencies preferred they be connected to the vehicle battery. All P7200 series portables will be connected to the vehicle battery upon installation. What’s the reason for this you may ask? Well it has to do with portable battery preservation. The lifespan of a battery only allows for a set amount of charges. We found that when connected to the side of the ignition that would cut all unnecessary circuits when the apparatus is started, the power interruption would start the charging cycle whether it was needed or not, with the end result being a shortened battery life. To prevent this problem it has been determined that all charges will be connected to the battery that is not part of the apparatus starting circuit if possible. The fewer times a charge cycle is restarted the longer the battery will last. While most apparatus in the County is shore lined, we realize that some are not. We understand the risk of dead vehicle batteries that may be associated with this install and non-shore lined vehicles, it is imperative that the install be connected to the vehicle battery. The solution to this problem, do not keep portables in the chargers in non-shore lined apparatus. Only place portable in the charger periodically to charge.

If your agency is adamantly opposed to having chargers that connect to vehicle batteries, a waiver will need to be signed stating that you understand the warranty on your batteries is no longer valid, as you have chosen not to follow the recommendations of Harris and DPS.

If you have questions regarding this installation policy please feel free to comment on this post and give us your feedback.

Contact Information

2010-01-14T14:22:00.003-05:00

Megan Silverstrim has been appointed as the new spokesperson and contact person for the 800 MHz Radio Project. If you have any questions, comments or problems during and after the exchange process please contact Megan. Her contact information can be found below.

Megan Silverstrim
245-8700
mmoriarty@ccpa.net

The List...

2010-01-14T10:39:00.008-05:00

Below you will find the order in which the portable exchange process will take place. Keep in mind the list is subject to some minor changes. Dates are not listed at this time. This list follows our original plan to start with all agencies in areas with major Nextel interference, then do a West to East sweep of Police, and complete the project with a West to East sweep of Fire/EMS/Municipal/Other. We are currently scheduling training for the Shippensburg Area, which should occur around February 1, 2010. The exchange process should begin about two weeks, give or take a few days after your training session. We will be running a 3 week rolling schedule to maintain consistency of minimum 2 week period between training and site visit.

If you have questions regarding this list or the upcoming events please contact Megan Silverstrim with DPS.

Megan Silverstrim
717-245-8700
mmoriarty@ccpa.net

Master List
Franklin Fire Co. 4 (Franklin County)
Friendship Engine and Hose No.1-Co.14 (Franklin County)
Shippensburg Borough
Shippensburg PD
Shippensburg Borough Fire
Vigilant Hose Company 52
Cumberland Valley Hose 53
West End Fire and Rescue Co54
Shippensburg EMS 73
Shippensburg Township
New Cumberland Borough Police
New Cumberland Borough Fire Co10
New Cumberland River Rescue Co.100
New Cumberland EMS Co10
New Cumberland Borough Fire Police
Middlesex Township Municipal
Middlesex Township Police
Middlesex Township Fire
West Shore Regional Police
West Shore Bureau of Fire
West Shore EMS Co. 80
East Pennsboro Township Police
East Pennsboro Township Fire
West Fairview Fire Co. 16
Midway Fire Co.17
Citizens Fire Co18
West Enola Fire Co19
Summerdale Fire Co20
Creekside Fire Co21
East Pennsboro Township Fire Police
East Pennsboro Township EMS Co75
Marysville Fire Co6
Marysville Borough Co6
Camp Hill Borough Police
Camp Hill Borough Fire Co14
Camp Hill Borough EMS Co14
Upper Allen Township Municipal
Upper Allen Township Police
Upper Allen Township Fire Co23
Upper Allen Township Fire Police
Newville Borough Police
Carlisle Borough Police
Mt. Holly Springs Borough Police
North Middleton Township Police
Silver Spring Township Police
Mechanicsburg Borough Police
Shiremanstown Borough Police
Hampden Township Police
Lower Allen Township Police
Cumberland County Sheriffs Department
Newburg Fire Co51
Newburg Borough Municipal
Penn Township Fire Co50
South Newton Fire Co49
Upper Frankford Township Fire Co48
Newville Borough Municipal
Friendship Hose Co47
Newville EMS Co47
West Pennsboro Township Municipal
West Pennsboro Township Fire Co46
Carlisle Borough Fire
Carlisle Fire and Rescue Co45
Union Fire Company Co41
Carlisle Borough Fire Police
Carlisle EMS Co40
North Middleton Township Municipal
North Middleton Fire Co39
Naval Support Activity Fire Co37
Carlisle Barracks Fire Co38
Dickinson Township Fire
Citizens Fire Co36
Yellow Breeches EMS Co91
South Middleton Township Municipal
South Middleton Township Fire
South Middleton Township Fire Co35
Shermansdale Fire Co34
Silver Spring Township Municipal
Silver Spring Township Fire Co31
New Kingstown Fire Co33
Silver Spring EMS Co72
Metro Med Co72
Hampden Township Municipal
Hampden Township Fire Co30
Hampden EMS Co71
Mechanicsburg Borough Municipal
Mechanicsburg Borough Fire
Citizens Fire Co27
Washington Fire Co28
Monroe Township Fire Co25
Lower Allen Township Municipal
Lower Allen Township Fire Co12
Lisburn Fire Co24
Lower Allen Township EMS Co74
Shiremanstown Borough Fire Co22
Carlisle Area School District
WEMA
Cumberland County Transit
Cumberland County Building and Grounds
Cumberland County Coroner
Cumberland Count District Attorney
Cumberland County Domestic Relations
Cumberland County Prison
Cumberland County Adult Probation
Cumberland County Juvenile Probation
Cumberland County SHOT
Cumberland County Executive Offices
Sentinel News
WHP CBS 21 News
Patriot News
WHTM ABC 27 News
WPMT-FOX 43
Messiah College Security
York Co. 911
Shippensburg University Police
Bendersville Fire Co7
Biglerville Fire Co6
Bendersville EMS Co7
York Springs Co9
Monaghan Fire Dept.
Fairview Fire Dept.
Carlisle Barracks Police
DCNR
DCNR-Pine Grove
DCNR- Col. Denning
DCNR- Kings Gap
DCNR- Michaux Fire SupervisorDCNR- Michaux Forest Ranger

Project Kick-Off Meeting February 1, 2010

2010-01-13T08:26:00.002-05:00

DPS will be engaging in a 800 MHz Portable Exchange Project Kick-Off Meeting on February 1, 2010. This meeting, which will signal the official start to the long awaited portable exchange process, will involve players from DPS, Kimball and The Harris Corporation. The purpose of the meeting is to finalize the resources needed for the exchange as well as schedules for agency visits, so that the exchange process can begin as soon as possible.

Agencies are once again reminded to start inventorying their portables and equipment for the exchange. Missing equipment will not be replaced in the exchange.

DPS and HACC Conduct Intstructor Training

2010-01-12T21:19:00.002-05:00

On January 13, 2010 DPS along with HACC will begin the first in a series of steps that will lead up to the portable exchange process and rebanding. The 11 contracted HACC instructors will be attending refresher training on this date in the Cumberland County EOC and will receive the instructing materials they need to start training users in the field. These 11 instructors will deliver training to local agencies over the coming weeks and months as we begin the portable exchange process.

Users are encouraged to keep checking this site in the coming days and weeks. This site will become increasingly useful for users and a great source of information as we embark on the exchange process!