trauma74

Rest In Peace!

Anyone ever use one of these as a mobile scanner antenna. I heard they work awesome. http://www.scannermaster.com/Austin_Spectr...p/04-540720.htm

We just 2 ambulances on International Chassis about 10 months ago. I love them and they were money well spent. Chester Ambulance Corps

Seth, THANK YOU!!!! for giving Rob something to do. Maybe this will keep him out of my hair!!!!

HOLY CRAP!!!!!! and crap is what an enemy will do when he finds himself on the receiving end of this gun!!!!!!!!

Awesome pics! What is the deal with the red and blue lenses on the lightbar of the "Heavy Recovery" Rescue Truck? Is this an emergency vehicle?

The system could be set up like IPN or First Responder Wireless News system. I do not see this service being offered for free. I do not know the cost, but I am sure it would cost a good amount of money to set it up.

Dan, WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT.........................!!!!! LOL! NY10570, There are some items that do have expiration dates. They will be replaced as they expire. I am happy that we have this trailer, but I really hope we never have to use it.

Once it is officially in service, it will be available top anyone at any time.

We also just added a large (cascade) size O2 bottle, some quartz halogen scene lights and two (2) Mass Casualty Oxygen Manifolds which gives us the capability of giving oxygen to up to 16 patients at the same time. http://www.lifesavingsystemsinc.com/docume...e%20(Major).pdf More items coming in the very near future!

I remember responding to calls in that dump when I worked EMS down there! We had PD with us for all calls and it was not uncommon to have things dropped out of windows at you!

This trailer was purchased with funds from a grant from NYS Senator William J. Larkin. Senator Larkin secured the funds for us last year after the need for this type of unit was discussed with him. A few years ago he also secured funding for EMS turnout gear for 22 of our members along with John Deere Gator set for patient transport and for a security system for our HQ to protect our assets. THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN SENATOR LARKIN!

I heard a rumor this morning and I confirmed it with a Motorola dealer. Motorola has bought out Vertex. Also heard that Vertex will be making a new PM1500 Low Band portable radio for Motorola.

The good thing is that Vertex makes good low band products so if they make them for Moto, they will finally have good low band radios.

REST IN PEACE SIR

If you are already a member of a VAC and if you are riding as an observer until you become an EMT, DO NOT pay attention to the way that many things get done in the field. Pay strict attention to how the instructor is teaching you to do things. There is a big difference between class and being out in the field. As someone mentioned ealier, DO NOT leave your VAC/FD pager on in class. Put your cell phone on vibrate or turn it off all together. Do not sit there texting your friends or other people in your class.

Ask the Commissioners of the Vails Gate Fire District which covers a large portion of the Town of New Windsor and a small area of the Town of Cornwall. They pay a fee to the Vails Gate Fire Company to house their apparatus there. The "fire company" (the members of the company) own the firehouse and therefore govern the use of the house. In my Fire Department in Chester, NY the The Chester Fire District owns the buildings and all of the firehouses and they govern the use of the houses.

What is that on the back of the truck?

I know I have asked some questions a month or so ago about which PDA device I should purchase for myself. I received a little feedback, but I am getting closer to getting something soon and I just want to make sure I am getting something that will suit my needs. I know that Blackberrys are great devices, but I cannot afford an additional $40/month for Blackberry on my cell phone bill. I like the new Moto Q, the Treo 700wx, 755p & the HTC Touch. I have to stay with Sprint so I know that it somewhat limits my options. I had a Treo 650 in the past and it wasnt bad. The Palm OS was decent, but I am leaning more toward Windows Mobile this time. I also want the option having WiFi. I know that the Q and the Treos dont come with Wifi, but I have seen SD & miniSD WiFi cards available for these devices. I am looking for more input about these devcies. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I think the price is about half.

My VAC has never done a remount of an existing box onto a new chassis, however we are considering a remount on our 2001 PL Custom. It is due for replacement in 2011 and the box is in decent shape. This unit has been the least used out of all 3 of our buses. Last year we used the h*ll out of our old buses because they were getting traded in and we wanted to maximum usage out of them and use the 2001 bus the least often. Then, once we got our new buses in, the 2001 wasnt being used because everyone was out using the new buses for 1st and 2nd jobs. , then we decided to have the red stripe on this bus repainted to match the new buses. While waiting for this bus to go in for the paint job, it was involved in an accident (nobody was hurt), so it went in for that and the paint work. That was six weeks it was not being used. So, overall it is not in bad shape. Putting the box on a nice new chassis and doing some interior and exterior renovations and maybe some lighting upgrades will give us a bus that will be good for at least another 10 years of service. I know that other companies aside from PL can do the remount on this bus, but I am inclined to say that PL will be doing the remount.

I have been a long time Sprint/Nextel customer. I use Direct Connect like it is going out of style. I would love to have a Blackberry that would work on the Nextel network, but they only have one model available and it is the bottom of the line one. I have been looking at the Blackberry Curve which I think is the best Blackberry for what I would need. I am aware that in addition to a voice plan, I also need a Blackberry plan. Which cell phone carrier has the best deals for voice and data? I am looking for feedback from acutal users. Info from each carriers websites has been a little helpful, but I want to hear from people who actually use different carriers. One thing I found that I like is that with T-Mobile you can get the hotspot plan and use a wireless router to make phone calls if you are in an area with spotty service or if you want better signal at home or where ever you are. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Mount Hope-Otisville VAC in Orange County and Hurleyville VAC in Sullivan County.

New Police Radio System in New York State Draws Scrutiny By JOHN SULLIVAN and AL BAKER Published: December 18, 2007 A $2 billion emergency radio network intended to connect all emergency agencies and local police and fire departments in New York State has failed its first major test, prompting concerns from some state officials and causing the state’s second largest city, Buffalo, to opt out of the system. The contract to build a network of wireless transmission towers that would allow tens of thousands of police officers, firefighters and other emergency personnel statewide to communicate was awarded in 2005 to M/A-Com, a division of Tyco International. The system was supposed to be in operation in Buffalo and surrounding Erie County and neighboring Chatauqua County by last June. After the network’s rollout in Buffalo, however, the city’s top fire official said its problems were so severe that the radios did not work in roughly half the city. “West of the center of the city we had zero reception,” Fire Commissioner Michael Lombardo said last week. In the areas that did receive transmissions, he said, “it sounded like a guy was talking in a tin can.” He says Buffalo now intends to upgrade its own radio system, which will then be able to connect with the statewide system. Under the current state emergency radio system, large areas of the state are unreachable, and many police and fire departments cannot talk to each other. After receiving complaints from federal and state lawmakers, the State Office of Homeland Security is considering hiring an independent company to conduct its own tests on the M/A-Com network. “We are strongly considering the advantages to hiring an outside company with technical expertise,” said Michael A. L. Balboni, the deputy secretary for public safety, who is Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s top homeland security aide. “If those glitches are still present when the system is presented to the state for acceptance and then payment, that will be a very large concern.” He added that if the problems persisted, they could derail the project. Officials from M/A-Com expressed confidence the issues could be addressed, and said problems in Buffalo had been caused by interference from other radio transmissions. The system has been tested in neighboring Chatauqua County, which is mainly rural, and officials there had no complaints, said Victoria Dillon, an M/A-Com spokeswoman. The gaps were “localized in a few sites, like cell carriers, a TV station in Canada,” Ms. Dillon said. Michael R. Mittleman, the state official overseeing the project for the Office of Technology, agreed. “We believe that when we get back to the testing out there in February that the problem will be resolved,” he said. Mr. Mittleman said that he hoped the system would be operating in the two counties by April, and that the state would decide at that point whether to accept the network. That makes the tests in Erie and Chatauqua counties especially critical. An upgrade for the state’s antiquated emergency radio network had been in the planning stage since the 1990s, but the project took on new urgency after the Sept. 11 attacks. The project, known as the Statewide Wireless Network, will be designed so that even cities that do not directly participate in the project, like New York City, will be able to connect with the system. The contract drew criticism when it was awarded by the Pataki administration, with some lawmakers questioning whether M/A-Com had the track record to handle the job. The company hired former Senator Alfonse D’Amato, a close ally of former Gov. George E. Pataki, as its lobbyist, and telecommunications companies lobbied aggressively for the contract. The project has encountered challenges. Recently, the senior state police official assigned to oversee the construction of the network said in an e-mail message obtained by The New York Times that the state’s Office of Technology had not been demanding enough of M/A-Com, and called the Erie County effort a “debacle.” The official, Thomas J. Cowpers, a staff inspector, left the project after friction with M/A-Com and the Office for Technology officials. Mr. Cowpers wrote in the e-mail message that his role had been curtailed “due to my incessant criticism of M/A-Com management and my constant frustration with O.F.T.’s unwillingness to hold them accountable. ‘’ Mr. Cowpers declined to comment, and Lt. Glenn Miner, a state police spokesman, said the state police would not comment on the e-mail message. “From everything I am told, we remain very positive about it,” Lieutenant Miner said. Officials in Erie County, however, said the problems were serious. Michael R. Summers, president of the union representing sheriff’s deputies in Erie County, said he thought the system might have been pushed into service too soon. He said the radios worked in some areas but received no reception in others. “There were spots where we could not communicate with each other,” he said. “We would move 10 feet up the road, and it would work.” According to a report from the state comptroller’s office last December, the state was scheduled to have the new radio system running in Erie and Chautauqua counties by last June. Ms. Dillon said the company now expected the system to be operating in the two counties by the end of the first quarter of 2008. After that, the state will have 45 days to accept or reject M/A-Com’s work. If the state rejects the system, Ms. Dillon said, it will not have to pay anything. The entire network is scheduled to be finished in 2010. When M/A-Com won the contract, critics raised questions about the company’s handling of a wireless contract for Pennsylvania. That system, expected to be finished in 2001, was more than three years late and cost more than double the original projection. But in a statement last week, New York officials said the delays in the Pennsylvania contract were caused by problems unrelated to M/A-Com. The total cost of New York’s system were slow to emerge. When it was first proposed, state lawmakers were told it would cost more than $1 billion, but far lower than the $3 billion bid by M/A-Com’s competitor, Motorola. By the time the contract was signed in 2005, the final cost was $2.1 billion.