Montgomery County, PA

 

Since only a limited number of new 800Mhz frequencies were available in our area, it was necessary to allow only certain talkgroups to scan both systems.  This allows increased capacity to the system. If the talkgroup is not allowed on the system you are affiliated to you will not hear anything if you scan it. If you travel into the other system coverage area and change affiliation (done automatically by the radio) you would then begin to hear traffic on that talkgroup.

In order to improve coverage and capacity it was necessary to add additional sites and frequencies to the existing system. Current technology doesn't allow more then 10 sites on one "system" so two 10 site systems were created to provide increased coverage. These two systems work together to create one County wide network. The limited availability of new 800Mhz frequencies has forced us to only allow some talkgroups to propagate across the entire network. By segregating east and west talkgroups it greatly increases the capacity of the network. County wide talkgroups are provided for all services for complete coverage. All radios are programmed so that an east only talkgroup will work in a west radio( and visa-versa), IF the unit is in the eastern (western) area of the county.

Motorola does not allow sending a trunked emergency alert while on a conventional channel. This is a hardware/software limitation of the radio design. This holds true of all current radios.

You have approximately 1-2 seconds to key your radio after receiving the "call back" signal.

If you receive a busy it is unnecessary to continue to rekey your radio. Once you have received a busy, you are in the queue and will be called back according to the priority level of the talk group you are on.

We are programming radios for "Priority Scan" when on the system ( Banks A & B ) which includes trunked channels exclusively. When the radio is on the conventional/local channels it is in "Talk Group Scan" which allows both conventional/local/Fire Grounds and trunked channels to be scanned without priority.

For the fire service we recommend not to scan the system from C bank, and for the OIC to have 2 radio's, one on the system and one on fire grounds as the ideal way to operate.  Except for the lack of priority the talk group scan does work rather well.

No. Cross-band repeaters represent risks to the integrity and security of the 800 Mhz network that outweigh any potential benefits they may provide. Please download

This restriction applies to all 800Mhz traffic, both trunked and local.

Click here to download the EDS Vehicular Repeater Policy   

 

No, just as we do not monitor or transmit on the current low/high band fire ground (Tac) channels. This would have required a lot of additional base stations at all sites and would have provided the same in-building coverage as the trunked system.

Also due to FCC restrictions we are not allowed to operate base stations on the fire grounds frequencies.

Tone and Voice dispatch will remain in operation, however some changes are in the near future. Our plan is to install a county wide simulcast VHF High band tone and voice system. This will provide increased coverage and  allow the aging 33 and 46 Mhz radio systems to be retired.

No. Radios and equipment may be purchased from any vendor or source. The contact on the web page is the area representative for Motorola, and purchases through him are at the County contracted price. If you purchase elsewhere check the pricing against the County's posted prices.

First make sure the radio is in scan mode, look for the scan symbol on the display.
Second the mic must be in the mic holder and the holder must be properly grounded.
If the radio is in scan mode and the mic is out of the holder the scan symbol will remain on the display but the radio will not be scanning.
Third, If the radio is a dual head unit, both mics must be placed in a grounded mic holder for the radio to scan. This is regardless of which head is in control.

If a major problem occurred with the 800 trunking system we could automatically go into Fail Soft.  Everyone would automatically go onto one of 16 channels assigned by talkgroup.. When this happens you may hear departments other than yours on your radio.  If we were to go into Fail Soft you need to make sure your radio is on your primary operations channel.  For County dispatched agencies that would be your zone. During Fail Soft operation County Wide communications are not possible. You will know that we are in Fail Soft because your radio will beep every 10 seconds and “Fail Soft” will show on your display, and it will sound like there is an open carrier on your radio.  The local channels will work the same as they always do. Depending on the problem the National Channels should also be operational.

There will be no PTAC, Emergency, Police Regional, Countywide, or Data (voice channel at County) channels.  MDT’s will be operational.

At the County we will lose our consoles and will be operating on portable radios.

The possibility exists that the entire 800 system could go into Fail Soft, or only the East or West could go into Fail Soft.  If the East system goes into Fail Soft the West system could still be in trunking.  During this scenario some users on the East system may not go into Fail Soft, their radios may work on the West system.

Site trunking is also another situation that may occur.  During this the radios would lose county wide trunking but still have local system (East or West) trunking.  When this happens your radio will beep, the delay between beeps will be longer then with “Fail Soft”, your radio will display “Site Trunking” and will sound normal (will not sound like there is an open carrier). At the county we would be unable to use our consoles and would switch to portables.  During this scenario the East and West system would be separated.  You would not be able to call countywide. 

If the system goes into either of these conditions, Fail Soft or Site Trunking you need to do the following.

 

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