Eastern Shore of Virginia 9-1-1 Communications

Communications Projects

Recent Projects Completed

§ Upgraded 9-1-1 Telephone System (Plant VESTA®)

§ Installed Monitoring System for Northampton Fire/EMS Repeater System (Zetron)

§ Installed New HVAC System for Dispatch Center and Equipment Room

§ Installed New Communications Console Furniture (Xybix Dispatch Furniture)

§ Created Systems Equipment Room; Relocated Various 9-1-1 Systems Equipment

§ Installed and Implemented New Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) System (Sungard HTE/OSSI)

§ Developed and Installed ESVA911 InfoBoard for Dispatch Bulletins

§ Installed New Radio Communications Consoles (Motorola MCC5500)

§ Installed Synchronized Time Management (SpectraCom NetClock)

§ Placed 3 New Repeaters in Service (Accomack Tactical Operations)

2007 Fire & EMS Communications System Upgrade and Frequency Plan

Accomack County Repeaters

• Three (3) Repeaters Acquired and Licensed; Capable of Adding Voting Receivers

• Designed to Replace Existing Fire Tactical Channels F4, F5, F6; Some Frequencies Will Change

• Repeaters Receive on One Freq (Input) and Transmit on Another Freq (Output); thus Mobile and Portable Traffic is Rebroadcast by the Repeater (High Power & Antenna Height); Duplex

• “Talk-around” Mode Bypasses the Repeater But Uses the Output Frequency; Simplex

Frequency Uses

• Abandons Use of Current F3 as the Fire Response (Primary Fire Ops) Channel

• Uses New Repeater Channels as Fire Response and Primary Fire/EMS Tactical Channel By Zone (Pre-assigned)

• If Second Incident Requiring Tactical Channel Occurs in Same Zone, Use Alternate Simplex or Repeater Tact Channel

• Tactical Channels Used for MVA’s (Repeater Channels)

Channel Assignment Plan

• F1 - RESCUE DISPATCH – ACCOMACK

• Also Serves as Northampton Rescue Talkaround

• F2 - RESCUE DISPATCH - NORTHAMPTON RPTR

• F3 - NORTH ACCOMACK FIRE OPS - REPEATER

• F4 - NORTH ACCOMACK FIRE OPS - TALKAROUND

• F5 - CENTRAL ACCOMACK FIRE OPS - REPEATER

• F6 - CENTRAL ACCOMACK FIRE OPS - TALKAROUND

• F7 - SOUTH ACCOMACK FIRE OPS - REPEATER

• F8 - SOUTH ACCOMACK FIRE OPS – TALKAROUND

• F9 - NORTHAMPTON FIRE OPERATIONS - RPTR

• F10- NORTHAMPTON FIRE OPS – TALKAROUND

• F11 - TACTICAL OPERATIONS 1- All Zones

• Serves as Secondary Fire/EMS Ops (Current F3)

• F12 - TACTICAL OPERATIONS 2 - All Zones

• Serves as Secondary Fire/EMS Ops (Current F2(A) F11(N) )

• F13 - MOBILE/PORTABLE FIELD OPERATIONS

• Mobile to Mobile Tactical Ops, i.e., Water Shuttles

• Station Special Event Communications (Portables)

• F13 - TIDEWATER H.E.A.R. (AMBULANCES ONLY)

• F14 - STATEWIDE EMS MUTUAL

• F15 - CHINCOTEAGUE FIRE/EMS RPTR

• F16 - CHINCOTEAGUE FIRE/EMS TALKAROUND

• Channel May Alternatively Be Used for Private FD Frequencies

Monitoring

If you wish to monitor the repeater output frequencies, the frequencies are as follows:

F3 - NORTH ACCOMACK FIRE OPS - REPEATER 154.340 MHz

F5 - CENTRAL ACCOMACK FIRE OPS - REPEATER 154.055 MHz

F7 - SOUTH ACCOMACK FIRE OPS – REPEATER 153.875 MHz

Recommended and Supported Mobiles and Portables

• Mobiles 45W, 16 Frequency Minimum

– GM300, CDM1250 (MDC1200 Signaling)

• Portables 5W, 16 Frequency Minimum

– HT1000, HT750, HT1250, CP200, Some Kenwood Models (MDC1200 or Equivalent Signaling required; Quik-Call II for Paging optional)

– Be Sure Batteries Are In Good Condition

• 3-Digit Date Code on Motorola Batteries – “YWW” where Y equals year and WW equals week… i.e., 425 equals 25th week of 2004… batteries 3-5 years old are candidates for replacement if not functioning well

– 9-1-1 Commission Can Order HT1000 Batteries at Discounted Price

• All New Radios Need to Be Narrowband Capable

Other Projects In Progress

• Acquired 800 MHz control station to support interoperability with Worcester and Somerset Counties, and to allow link with Maryland’s MESIN network

• Acquired and installed 800MHz NPSPAC Repeaters to support interoperability with Worcester County and other 800 MHz system users… to become operational Fall 2007

• Supporting Virginia State Police construction of 400’ self supporting tower behind 9-1-1 Center for Virginia’s STARS network… under construction

• Engineering relocation of various radios and antennas from current tower at Sheriff’s Office to the new STARS tower; upgrading existing sites as necessary

Planning for the Future

• Currently studying the potential to establish and operate one or more dedicated EMS Response channel(s) to allow EMS units to communicate on a channel other than the channel used for paging and alerting

• By January 2013, all operational public safety frequencies will be converted to Narrowband

• Over the next 5 years, plan to replace aging mobile and portable radios to meet standards and achieve latest technology

– Opportunities for grants and other funding

– Perhaps best implemented in conjunction with system spectrum frequency reprogramming

Questions or Comments:

Contact the Communications Manager

This Page Last Updated February 28, 2008