Westchester County Field Communications Unit

[Guest WCDES636]

Comming soon to an Incident near you.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

LOL. At least now when you can't understand the person screaming across the airwaves...you can stick your head out and say "what the hell was that?" lol.

[BFD1054 1,552]

Hey Tommy, nice post, i definately hear ya there! At the Bannon Ave. Apartments fire (2/18/04), i needed a 2nd hand-line to the top floor like ASAP, but myself, nor another Lt. that was with me could raise anyone on the radio. Well, that same Lt. told me to wait a second & i watched him walk away and go toward a window overlooking the A exposure, where the Command post was. Well, next thing i knew, he was yelling down "hey,we need another f***ing hand-line up here now!" Within a minute or so, we had another hand-line brought up! So, we can all laugh, but as far as communications go, whatever works best at the time may be your best option. Not that it has all that much to do with the topic, but just thought i'd give ya a laugh! But i am definately glad to hear that the County's Comm Unit is up and running! May be a sign that the County is heading in the right direction....foward!

[Guest WCDES636]

Not up and running just yet. But funding has been approved and Specs and plans are being done.

We'll keep you updated as the project continues.

[Truck4 48]

Is this the ice cream truck looking rig that's been sitting at the fire academy for the last few years or something new?

[BFD1054 1,552]

Truck4, i am not positive, but i had heard this was going to be a totally new rig all together. I've heard from several sources that they are looking at a large RV-style unit, such as Greenburg, Mount Vernon and the County PD's have. Maybe they'll use that old rig as a food/ice cream truck to pay for the new rig! All kidding aside, i am definately glad to hear the County has this plan off the ground and are moving foward with it. Its good to see that we are going with the times & getting a decent field comm unit. Maybe some of the network members that work for DES & have posted on this already can confirm what i had heard?

[1075thebox 1]

Sources tell me that a more "Truck" type chassis is in the works.

The unit, if and when it appears, will be a great asset to those who call for it, and those who don't will miss out on a great resource.

WCDES / 60 Control - Always on the air! (Not like some other dispatch agencies....)

[WAS967 97]

It's nice that they are getting a mobile communications unit, but perhaps they should work on getting the stationary stuff working right first. How long have they had the 10 UHF channels set aside for a so called new county wide system? I still think the powers that be should go up and visit Dutchess County and see how their system works. It's the best I've ever had the privledge to use. Right now the only thing making the current 46.26 system usable (IMHO) is the recent deployment of UHF to VHF repeaters (Yorktown being the most popular it seems, with Peekskill, Mohegan, Pound Ridge and soon I think Katonah? as well) by local departments. I know it's not WCDES's fault but the worst system by far is the one in place on the East side of the county used by LVAC/NSVAC/WEMS Medics for communication. If someone ever got into trouble and needed to rely soley on that radio system for help, they'd be in deep with no lifeline.

[Guest WCDES636]

Well, I can tell you for sure that the new Field Comm will not be an RV type. In fact it will be a custom built Rescue type vehicle.

This vehicle is being designed by the people that will actually staff the unit when it goes into service. Unlike the NEW county radio system.