SteveOFD

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Posts posted by SteveOFD

  1. Posted

    Been there, done that, and thirty years later, I'm still doing that. I am continually stressing training in my Company/FD. For over thirty years (with eleven years as an Officer in my current FD) I have seen the same thing you are talking about.

    The way I have done it, is to keep taking training courses. Go to seminars. Go to trade shows (http://newenglandfirechiefs.org/page.asp_Q_navigationid_E_1) is a good one I have gone to a couple of times. Keep learning. The more training you personally acquire, the more confidence you will have to pass this knowledge you learn to newer (and hopefully senior) members. The acquisition of knowledge will help you back up your position and hopefully get the respect of all members of your FD. With this respect comes the ability to hopefully change attitudes. It takes time, and I remember way back then (when I had five years in the FD) I was just like you. It just takes time.

    Even with thirty years in my FD, I still attend at least one or two courses at the County Training Center each year, and attend trade show/seminars.

    Expect to keep banging your head against the proverbial wall. That's what helmets are for :wacko:.

    grumpyff, helicopper, Remember585 and 4 others like this

  2. Posted

    You can make do with the scanner you have even though it isnt a "trunking scanner"

    You Will hear what you need to hear

    Its a great scanner used the same one for 5 years never had a problem

    The drawback is that you have to listen to the BeeLine buses, the Hospitals, in addition to what you want to listen to. Listening to the buses can get boring pretty quickly, without a way of turning them off. Just my opinion.

    firedude likes this

  3. Posted

    I hate to bring you bad news but your scanner, the RS Pro 99 will not track trunked radio systems, you can only listen to conventional analog communications.

    This, http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Radio_Shack_Scanners, is a link to Radio Shack scanners, this http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Uniden_Scanners, is a link to Uniden scanners, and this http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/GRE_Radios is a link to GRE scanners. All three brands will track the Westchester County Fire/EMS (analog) UHF Trunked Radio System.

    You need to purchase a scanner (with trunktracking capability) to track a Motorola (analog) type II SmartZone Trunked System.

    If you are looking to listen to Greenwich, my understanding is that they are now on an 800MHz digital trunked system. Scanners capable of tracking digital trunked systems are significantly more expensive than the analog trunked system Westchester County has. Hope this helps, and sorry for the bad news.

  4. Posted

    I also agree that the database at RadioReference is the place to look. Chauffeur6, the NYS database administrator, is also a member here (different screen name), and has recently finished "cleaning up" the NYS database @ RR.com. So, you should have no problem with the Westchester database.

    I am seeing some issues with your list.

    First, I do not see that you have the Trunked System assigned. If you do not set this System up, with it's frequencies AND custom settings, in two separate banks (one for the North Zone frequencies AND another bank with the South Zone frequencies) you will not be able to track (listen) to Fire 15 & 18, EMS 15 & 18.

    Second, it would be helpful if you listed what scanner you have so that we can know the capabilities of it. Newer scanners have different features than older scanners. Older scanners (like one of mine) do not have the capabilitiy of PL/DPL tones per frequency. Newer scanners also have the capability of custom labels per frequency/talkgroup.

    It would also be helpful to let us know what you would like to listen to (Fire, EMS, PD(local, County, State), DPW, Hospital). Do you only listen locally, or do you listen around the County (if you have a portable)? If portable, do you want to listen to CT, or other locations (Nassau & Suffolk)? With this input we can help you with your reprogamming.

    res6cue, firedude and sfrd18 like this

  7. Posted

    Yesterday morning (Friday) about 10AM, I came across what looked like a "Mutual Aid" staging assignment for ConEd. This was located at a hotel located off of I684. There were probably about 40 - 50 vehicles located here from pickup trucks to bucket trucks, with a couple of cars from ConEd. As you can see in the pictures this company, http://www.wearediversified.com/, brought along some interesting "toys".

    post-27-0-23938000-1343529681.jpg

    post-27-0-50875200-1343529704.jpg

    post-27-0-32573300-1343529719.jpg

    post-27-0-99663600-1343529738.jpg

    post-27-0-78228000-1343529759.jpg

    post-27-0-82262600-1343529775.jpg

    sfrd18 and firedude like this

  8. Posted

    61MackBR1, just an FYI, it does not appear that the rig in post #12 is the same one as in post #10. The first differnece is in post #12 you reference "855", in YFD terminology (if I recall correctly) indicates a rig purchased in 1985, whereas the one in post #10, and the one offered for auction is listed as a 1990. Other differences are the lightbars on the cab are different, and the 1990 rig has diamond plate over the tandem rear wheels, while "885" does not.

  12. Posted

    I know dispatch is another frequency. And on the trunked you hear signing on and responding. Now if i assume northern westchester units use north zone and southern units use the south zone is that correct.

    Normally that is correct, but not always the case.

    The North Zone has six tower sites with six frequencies, and the South Zone has three tower sites with six different frequencies. All radios assigned to the System work on the System as a whole, not XFD is dedicated to the North Zone and ZFD is dedicated to the South Zone. All radios are affiliated (recognized) by the tower with the strongest signal strength back to it. If a unit from a North County FD travels to a South County location it will become affiliated with a South Zone tower and transmit off of the South Zone frequencies to communicate on the TalkGroup it's radio has selected. The end user will not know which frequency or which Zone he is transmitting off of. An example would be if White Plains FD were to operate in the area of I287 & I684 it may be operating off of either the South Zone (Valhalla-Grasslands or Port Chester-Summit Ave) or it may have a clear signal up I684 to a North Zone tower (Bedford-Fox Lane). So, although it would appear that WPFD would be a South Zone FD, it could be operating on either Zone.

  14. Posted

    Anybody know Fire 11, 12, 14, 18, 19???

    As of this time there are no repeaters for the above TalkGroups. The previously listed repeaters are operated by the individual Departments above. If no FD's assigned to that particular TG wish to operate a repeater for this purpose, then there is none for that TG.

  15. Posted · Edited by SteveOFD

    Aren't there frequencies that repeat the trunked channels (10-19)?

    The following are the TalkGroup to LowBand Repeater's in Westchester:

    Fire 16 - 46.20MHz Armonk FD

    Fire 16 - 46.20MHz Katonah FD

    Fire 17 - 45.82MHz Millwood FD

    Fire 15 - 46.02MHz Rye FD

    Fire 13 - 45.72MHz South Salem FD

  16. Posted · Edited by SteveOFD

    Does anybody know the FREQ's for the high Westchester County Fireground Channels (Fireground's 10-20)????

    Maybe 585 would know??????

    In Westchester County there are only Firegrounds 1 - 8. There are "TalkGroups" Fire 10 - 19 on the UHF Trunked System.

  17. Posted

    You're welcome. I found this a while ago and use it as a rough reference when I am looking for something. I can't seem to find anything that has a date of the last time it was updated to be able to give me or anyone else a beter idea what is still active. If anyone out there has something newer or more accurate please share it!

    Besides the FCC website http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/General_Menu_Reports/index.cfm, another FCC site is the Frequency Mapping Tool http://publicsafetytools.info/start_fmt.php. With this tool you can generate reports by municipality, county, frequency, frequency range, call sign, among others.

  19. Posted

    Just a reminder the FCC Narrowbanding is less than SIX MONTHS away. Some of the agencies listed above are still not in the process of updating their licenses.

    I recently submitted an application to modify our license. The whole process, once I got our password changed for the FCC' s website took about ten minutes. The hardest part of the process was getting our password reset. To reset your password, you need your FCC FRN (FCC Registration Number, available on your license) and your agencies Federal Tax ID number. With this info the password can be reset.

    If you feel you want to do this yourself, and you need assistance, feel free to PM me and I will provide a contact number to reach me.

  21. Posted · Edited by SteveOFD

    http://www.ctsara.or...stchesterNy.htm

    I am not sure how up to date this is, but take a look through here, I believe a good portion are still active.

    Thanks for the link. Just doing a quick look, there are some that are "incorrect":

    453.8750MHz - Peekskill FD (still licensed for freq. but repeater has been off for several years)

    470.6000MHz, 476.4125MHz, 476.8625MHz, 477.0250MHz, 477.0500MHz, 477.0750MHz - Westchester County (freq's licensed during the buildup for the Trunked System, but never used for the System.)

    37.10MHz - Briarcliff Manor & Sleepy Hollow Police (both have been on VHF-Hi for at least 25 years).

    Sailr322 likes this

  22. Posted

    The current list of Westchester County Fire Departments with 46.26MHz cross band repeaters is as follows:

    Banksville 453.2625MHz DPL 261

    Briarcliff Manor 460.1125MHz DPL 243

    Croton on Hudson 453.0250MHz DPL 065

    Mohegan Lake 453.2750MHz DPL 226

    Montrose 453.4125MHz DPL 244

    Yorktown IBM 453.5625MHz DPL 306

    Yorktown French Hill 453.5625MHz DPL 606

    This has been posted previously, but due to the new software I am posting it again for ease of searching inthe future.

    firedude likes this

  25. Posted

    Individual FD Repeaters: Green indicates that 46.26 is repeated

    BANKSVILLE 453.2625

    PONDRIDGE FD 453.9750 *

    PONDRIDGE FD 453.3500 *

    EASTCHESTER FD 453.6750

    MONTROSE FD 453.4125

    YORKTOWN FD 453.3250

    YORKTOWN FD 453.5625 *

    PORT CHESTER 453.3375

    MONEGAN LAKE 453.2750

    MONEGAN LAKE 453.6500

    PEEKSKILL FD 453.2250

    PEEKSKILL FD 453.8750

    BRIARCLIFF FD 453.2000

    In addition to what Remember585 stated there is a lot wrong with this list:

    Briarcliff Manor FD 453.2000 does not repeat 46.26

    Eastchester FD 453.6750 does not repeat 46.26

    Mohegan Lake FD 453.6500 does not repeat 46.26

    Peekskill FD neither 453.2250 or 453.8750 repeat 46.26

    Port Chester FD 453.3375 not licensed for this frequency

    Pound Ridge FD neither 453.3500 or 453.9750 repeat 46.26

    For correct information see the database at http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?ctid=1884.

    RJB896 and firedude like this