SteveOFD

The issue is that the Federal Gov't is taking away all the T-Band spectrum (470MHz - 512MHz), if I recall correctly in eight years. All of the frequencies for the County's UHF Trunked Sytem are in this band. The Fed's are taking this back to auction this specturm off to the highest bidder. In return Public Safety got exclusive use of the "D Block" of frequencies in the 700MHz band. Will post more later when I get back.

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 .

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.

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.

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.

You beat me to this pic. I took almost the same one two weeks ago, just haven't had time to post them.

I found the "Dutchess County Department of Emergency Response - Standard Radio Procedures and Guidelines for Fire and EMS Operations" http://www.co.dutche...lanappendix.pdf at RadioReference.com http://forums.radior...y-fire-ems.html. Some interesting and informative info inside.

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".

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.

Rest in Peace

Rest in Peace

You should hear at least Rye, Larchmont, Harrison, Fairview, Town of Mamaroneck on the Trunked System, as they utilize it as their primary response communications system. I hear them all the time.

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.

Today I received notification that our application to narrowband our UHF frequencies has been approved. The whole process took just less than a month for the FCC to approve. The application was accepted 6/14/12 and approved today 7/11/12. As I stated above it was relatively easy to do and there was NO CHARGE to modify the license for this narrowbanding.

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.

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

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

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.

The only one I know of is Pound Ridge FD 453.9750MHz DPL 413

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.

585 Sorry for the edit I meant to post a new reply as follows: I had to edit my post above when I had listed Croton PD along with BPD & SHPD, then I remembered DPW uses it now.

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).

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.

According to the FCC database http://fjallfoss.fcc...&limit_select=4, no one in Westchester County is licensed for that frequency.

It used to be a cross band repeater of 46.26, PFD turned it off several years ago.