Central Ohio Interoperable Radio System (COIRS)

T1 Connection Maintenance

2012-02-11T17:30:00.002-05:00

XO Communications has notified us they will be doing upgrades on our T1 circuits that support the radio system starting on Monday 02/13 starting at 23:00 and lasting until Tuesday 02/14 at 06:00. There will be temporary outages during these times that will cause the consoles to lose connection and the system to go into site trunking. The outages should last no more than 5 minutes at a time. The number of outages needed to complete the upgrade are unknown and may not affect all circuits.

Governing Board Meeting

2012-01-18T08:35:00.001-05:00

The next meeting of the COIRS Governing Board is scheduled for Friday January 20, 2012 at 9:30am at the Worthington Police headquarters. A copy of the agenda is posted below. Also posted is the financial reports for Q3 and Q4 2011.

For more information, please contact Board Secretary Jay Somerville.

Site Trunking Event - Dub/Wor

2011-09-23T10:28:00.002-04:00

The Dublin/Worthington side of the COIRS system went into site trunking just after midnight this morning for approximately 8 minutes. We discovered that OarNET, our connectivity provider to the master site in Delaware, was conducting another round of switch upgrades like they conducted back on September 16th. However, in this instance, they failed to notify us of the work so we could be prepared.

We have talked with OarNET and reinforced the importance of advanced notice for any work being performed on our circuit. They apologized and assured me they are taking steps to improve notifications.

Sorry for the inconvenience last night and we want to assure your staff and users that we are working with OarNET to ensure it doesn't not happen again.

OARNet Maintenance

2011-09-15T14:24:00.006-04:00

OARNet will be conducting maintenance on the network during the overnight of September 15th. Work will begin just before midnight and last until approximately 03:00 on September 16th. OARNet will be doing upgrades to network switches. This WILL result in multiple service interruptions of approximately 5 minutes in length. When the outages occur, the system will go into SITE TRUNKING and consoles will lose connectivity. Agencies can continue using the system when it is in site trunking mode. Dispatchers will need to use walkies or back up control stations during site trunking.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Jay Somerville.

Governing Board Meeting - Friday July 22nd

2011-07-21T18:50:00.000-04:00

The next meeting of the COIRS Governing Board is scheduled for Friday July 22nd at the Worthington Police Headquarters, 6555 Worthington-Galena Road, at 9:30am. The meeting is open to the public. CLICK HERE for a copy of the agenda.

For more information, contact COIRS Secretary Jay Somerville

Critical System Outage

2011-07-21T15:39:00.006-04:00

On Friday 07/22 at approximately 10am, both the Delaware and the Dub/Wor sides of the COIRS radio system will be placed into SITE TRUNKING to allow B&C to reboot the embassy switch that serves all of the dispatch consoles. This will cause the dispatch consoles to lose connectivity and require dispatchers use walkies or control stations to communicate during the outage. Walkies and mobiles will receive a site trunking message on their radios but will be able to communicate normally during this time. Emergency banners will have limited abilities.

Agencies are strongly encouraged to stay on their home talk-groups during this outage unless other problems arise.
The outage is expected to last approximately 30 minutes and is being done to address an ongoing audio problem with one of the channel cards.

If you have any questions, or have an urgent issue that should delay this outage, please contact Patrick Brandt ASAP.

Huntley Site Restored

2011-05-27T20:24:00.000-04:00

The Huntley site is now back on line after AT&T made temporary repairs to the T1 line that was taken down earlier today. AT&T reports they will need to return on Tuesday May 31st to completely replace the line. They will notify us before the work begins as it will take the site down for approximately 45 minutes.

Huntley Rd Site Down

2011-05-27T13:15:00.003-04:00

At 11:22am today a truck struck the telephone company facilities (overhead lines) in front of the Huntley Rd tower site taking down the T1 connection between the site and Worthington PD. XO Communications, our T1 provider at this site, has been notified and is dispatching crews for the repair (ticket #2315471).

Although the site is off line, coverage in Worthington is back up by the Hard Road and Lazelle Road tower sites. Other than reduced fringe area and minor in building coverage issues, the users will see no interruptions in service.

A message will be posted when the site is returned to full service.

OARNet Maintenance

2011-04-18T16:24:00.000-04:00

OARNet will be conducting maintenance on the network during the overnight of April 25th and the overnight of April 26th to "cut in" some new fiber optic connections. This may result periodic service interruptions of no more than 1 minute in length per outage. If there is an outage, the system will go into SITE TRUNKING and consoles will lose connectivity. Agencies can continue using the system when it is in site trunking mode. Dispatchers will need to use walkies or back up control stations during site trunking.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Jay Somerville.

Governing Board Meeting

2011-04-18T15:58:00.005-04:00

The next meeting of the COIRS Governing Board is scheduled for Friday April 22, 2011 at 9:30am at the Worthington Police Headquarters building, 6665 Worthington-Galena Road. CLICK HERE for a copy of the meeting agenda.

For more information about the meeting, or to submit an item for the agenda, please contact Jay Somerville

Are your accessories the right fit?

2011-03-09T09:50:00.002-05:00

Much thought, research and consideration is put into selecting the right radio for the job. Will it be rugged enough? Is it intrinsically safe? Do the controls, buttons and knobs work well with gloves on? But do you give the same amount of consideration to the accessories you use with your radios?

One area of concern, especially to fire agencies, is the remote speaker microphone. Many agencies have not given much thought to speaker mics, treating them as "disposable" items. But is that speaker mic up to the harsh environment of firefighting or law enforcement?

The Shaker Heights Fire Department recently experienced problems on the fireground with a radio that would continually key up and block other traffic, only to discover the problem was with a speaker mic that had gotten wet. Although they had purchased "water resistant" mics, they in fact needed "water proof" mics.

Shaker Heights did internal testing of their current speaker mics and confirmed their theory: water proof mics are preferred on the fireground. CLICK HERE to read a copy of their report.

Lightning Strike at Huntley Road

2011-03-03T12:45:00.001-05:00

During the storms in the early morning hours of Monday February 28th, it appears that the Huntley Road site took a lightning hit and was knocked off the air. The site was brought back on line on Wednesday March 2nd at approximately 5pm after replacing the channel bank cage, the #2 WAN card and a poly-phaser. Also damaged in the storm was the interface board for the stand by generator and the mid-tower lighting. Repairs are in progress on those two systems.

During the outage, there was a minor loss of coverage in some areas. Users did not report any issues as the overlapping coverage of the Lazelle Road tower was used by allowing the Worthington talk-groups to roam onto the Delaware side of the system during the outage.

The cost of this outage is still be calculated.

Governing Board Meeting

2011-01-18T12:46:00.000-05:00

The next meeting of the COIRS Governing Board is set for Friday January 21st at 9:30am at Worthington PD. CLICK HERE for a copy of the meeting agenda.

For more information about the meeting, or to submit an item for the agenda, please contact Jay Somerville.

Recent Outages Diagnosed

2011-01-07T19:17:00.000-05:00

The system outages that occurred on 12/15, 12/30 and 01/06 were caused by connectivity interruptions on the OarNET network. OarNET is the connectivity provider between the Dub/Wor side of the system and the master site located in Delaware. On each of the three nights, OarNET engineers conducted upgrades to the network that required the switches to be rebooted, causing the 8 to 9 minute outages.

OarNET routinely notified users in advance of this work, but these notices were not specifically going to the COIRS representative, but instead to agency IT employees. OarNET apologized repeatedly for the interruption and has taken steps to ensure COIRS is notified before any future outages.

Site Trunking Dub/Wor System

2011-01-06T08:14:00.000-05:00

At approximately 12:25 this morning, the Dub/Wor simulcast zone went into site trunking causing a loss of console connection at both the Dublin and Worthington communications centers. The outage lasted approximately 8 minutes.

System managers are again following up on the outage, which appears to be T1 interruption between the Avery Road site and the Dublin Justice Center. Motorola has been engaged to help track the outages and determine if there is some

The system is back in full operation.

Site Trunking Dub/Wor System

2010-12-30T13:34:00.000-05:00

At approximately 12:16 this morning, the Dub/Wor simulcast zone went into site trunking causing a loss of console connection at both the Dublin and Worthington communications centers. The outage lasted approximately 7 minutes.

System managers are following up on the outage, which appears to be T1 interruption between the Avery Road site and the Dublin Justice Center.

The system is back in full operation.

Rebanding Phase I Complete

2010-12-28T15:54:00.001-05:00

Motorola has finished the work of retuning frequency 1 on the system. This completes the rebanding process for the City of Dublin license. Users should see no change in system performance as the change is transparent to subscribers.

Thanks to Motorola for their quick and efficient work!

Rebanding Phase I

2010-12-27T09:23:00.002-05:00

Starting today, Motorola will begin the process to retune the one Dublin frequency that is subject to rebanding. COIRS channel #1 (852.0125) is being retuned to the new assigned frequency (856.6125).

Today, Motorola will be taking the three Dub/Wor sites off line for approximately 2 hours each to prepare the sites for the move. Users may see some diminished coverage, especially in buildings, as each site is taken off line.

Tomorrow, Motorola will take channel #1 off the air for most of the day to complete the actual retuning. Users should not notice any change in service during this work.

Since this frequency is not used as a control channel, there are no changes needed to subscriber equipment.

The three NPSPAC channels licensed to Worthington will be rebanded sometime in 2011 after mutual aid subcribers are upgraded to accomodate the new, lower frequencies.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Jay Somerville

Site Trunking - Dub/Wor System

2010-12-15T02:17:00.003-05:00

At approximately 01:30 this morning, the Dub/Wor simulcast zone went into site trunking causing a loss of console connection at both the Dublin and Worthington communications centers. The outage lasted approximately 10 minutes.

System managers are following up on the outage, which appears to be a network connectivity problem between the master site and the Dub/Wor side of the system. The cause of the outage will be investigated.

The system is back in full operation.

Training Video - Clear Communication

2010-12-01T08:47:00.007-05:00

Motorola has provided an update training video entitled "Say no to background noise. Say yes to clear communication" Clear, coherent communications are mission-critical to all first-responding agencies. Motorola has been working with the International Association of Fire Chiefs (the IAFC) to test, track and pinpoint the best practices for firefighters to maximize communication intelligibility and overcome background noise, whenever they use a portable or mobile radio. No matter where they are. No matter if it’s analog or digital.

Watch the video below to learn how to incorporate best practices and discover the difference intelligible communications can make when lives are on the line.

If you ever have any questions or concerns about your walkies, mobiles or the system, please don't hesitate to contact any technical committee representative. We are here to help!

Annual Preventive Maintenance

2010-11-22T14:28:00.003-05:00

On Tuesday 11/23 and Wednesday 11/24 B&C Communications will perform the annual preventive maintenance on the Dub/Wor simulcast sites. Each site will be taken off line for approximately 2 hours during the testing & optimizing. Users may experience some diminished in-building coverage during these outages. Below is the schedule of work:

Tues 11/23 0900 to 1200 - Hard Road
Tues 11/23 1300 to 1600 - Huntley Road
Wed 11/24 0900 to 1200 - Avery Road

If you have any questions or concerns about this work, or if you need to have the work delayed for a large scale incident, please contact Jay Somerville immediately.

Avery Tower Work Today

2010-10-22T08:32:00.000-04:00

Crews will be placing the antenna pod back onto the top of the Avery Road water tower now that painting work has been completed. The Avery site will be taken off line starting at 8am. It is expected that the pod will be lifted into place by 1pm and the site back on line by 6pm tonight. During this outage, users may experience diminished in building coverage in the west and southwest areas of Dublin.

Scheduled System Outage - Dub/Wor Simulcast

2010-10-20T14:30:00.001-04:00

The Dub/Wor simulcast side of the system will go down on Thursday 10/21 @ 05:00hrs for system maintenance. Motorola will be replacing the TenSr power supply cages to address false alarms being sent by MOSCAD. The outage is expected to last no more than 90 minutes.

User agencies will be notified prior to the outage and will need to implement their back up plans accordingly. A full service message will be transmitted once the work is complete.

If you have any questions, please contact Jay Somerville.

MARCS Agreements

2010-10-06T15:44:00.002-04:00

Member Agencies:

You more than likely received an e-mail from Andrea Payne from Ohio MARCS asking that you execute a users agreement to cover the radios you received from Columbus via one of the three grant programs administered by Franklin County. The agreement you were sent was not the correct one. None of you are full time users of the MARCS system. Please DO NOT not execute the agreement.

Each of you are currently Local Emergency Use Only (LEUO) users on the MARCS system. The MARCS ID you have in each of your radios has already been paid for and you would only be billed by MARCS if you use their system for more than just emergency use.

We have talked with MARCS about this issue on behalf of the COIRS members. In the next few days, we will send each of you a completed MARCS LEUO agreement to sign. This will ensure all of our member agencies are current with their MARCS agreements. Once we receive all of the signed agreements back, we will submit them and a complete radio inventory to MARCS on behalf of the COIRS member agencies.

Your COIRS Technical Committee is on top of the issue and will see to it that interoperability will not be adversely affected.

If you have any questions, please contact Jay Somerville.

Technical Committee Meeting Agenda

2010-09-27T09:15:00.004-04:00

The COIRS Technical Committee will meet today at 1:00pm at the Worthington Police headquarters building at 6665 Worthington-Galena Road.

Please CLICK HERE to review the agenda for today's meeting.

Temporary Roaming Plan In Effect

2010-09-18T21:48:00.000-04:00

Effective Saturday 09/18, talk-group roaming between systems will be limited to EMS talk-groups only. This change is to help reduce the loading on the Delaware side of the system during the Delaware County Fair. These restrictions will be in effect until Monday 09/27.

If you have any questions or emergency roaming needs, please contact Patrick Brandt to arrange for changes.

System Update

2010-09-15T07:49:00.000-04:00

At 5:25 am today, the system was restored to full service using the alternate fiber route to bypass the damaged cable. Delaware County's fiber vendor will be working today to repair the primary cable. Once that work is complete, the system will be moved back over to the primary fiber. This move back may case a brief return to site trunking, lasting no more than 5 minutes. Users will be informed prior to the move.

More details about this system event will be gathered and an after action report completed. That report will be shared with all user agencies.

Dublin/Worthington in Site Trunking

2010-09-15T02:49:00.000-04:00

At approximately 23:55 on Tuesday 09/14, the Dublin/Worthington side of the system went into site trunking. A check of the system revealed a fiber optic cable cut in front of the Delaware 9-1-1 center that has disrupted the connectivity to the Dub/Wor side of the system.

At this time, the Delaware County side of the radio system is NOT effected, although Delaware County mobile data users have lost connectivity as that traffic is carried on this same fiber run.

Crews are responding to make repairs to the cable. No ETA is yet available. Radio users on the Dub/Wor side of the system have the option of using the system in site trunking mode or going to their back up plans using alternate trunked radio systems such as MARCS or the Columbus 800MHz system. Consoles at the Dublin & Worthington dispatch centers will remain disconnected from the COIRS system until the cable is repaired. Updates will be posted as they become available.

Technical Committee Meeting Announced

2010-09-13T21:17:00.001-04:00

The next COIRS Technical Committee meeting has been set for Monday September 27th at 1pm at Worthington PD Headquarters. Agenda items should be submitted to Jay Somerville by no later than Friday 09/17.

Avery Tower Work Complete

2010-08-24T11:44:00.003-04:00

The removal of the Verizon antenna pod and the temporary placement of the COIRS antenna is complete. The temporary configuration will remain in place for the next 6 weeks while blasting and painting of the water tank takes place. Once the work is complete, the COIRS antennas will be removed, the pod placed back on the tank and the COIRS equipment returned to its normal configuration.

Avery Road Antenna Work

2010-08-23T07:50:00.000-04:00

Starting at 08:00 today, the Avery Road tower site will go off line to allow removal of the antenna mounting pod owned by Verizon Wireless. This temporary removal is being done to accommodate the repainting of the water tower. Once the pod is removed, the COIRS antenna equipment will be mounted back on top of the tank on a
temporary lattice during the painting work. This temporary configuration will last approximately 6 weeks.

Users may notice diminished walkie coverage, especially in buildings, west of the Scioto River and south of Brand Road. Work updates will be posted here.

October 2010 Governing Board Meeting - Date Change

2010-07-10T20:25:00.001-04:00

The October meeting of the COIRS Governing Board has been changed to Friday 10/22. The meeting will be held at Worthington Police Headquarters and begin at 9:30am.

Governing Board Meeting - Friday July 7th

2010-07-07T21:46:00.001-04:00

The next meeting of the COIRS Governing Board is set for Friday July 7th at 9:30am. The meeting will beheld at the Worthington Police Headquarters at 6665 Worthington-Galena Rd. CLICK HERE to view a copy of the meeting agenda.

For more information, contact Jay Somerville at 614.410.4800 or jsomerville@dublin.oh.us

Governing Board Adopts New System Name

2010-05-17T18:30:00.000-04:00

At the May Governing Board meeting, the system members adopted a new official name for the council of governments: the Central Ohio Interoperable Radio System (COIRS).

The members wanted an official name that represented the regional collaboration along with the primary mission of the system - interoperability. All COG business will be conducted under the new COIRS name effective immediately.

System Event - Connectivity

2010-05-09T11:28:00.000-04:00

Today at approximately 10:56hrs, the Dub/Wor simulcast lost connectivity with the main controller in Delaware causing the system to go into SITE TRUNKING and the dispatch consoles to lose connection. In checking the system, technicians found there was a network interruption on the OARNet portion of the connection. OARNet network operations has been notified and is investigating the problem. The connection was restored at 11:09hrs.

During the interruption, back up plans were implemented successfully.

A full outage report will be provided as soon as it is available.

SYSTEM MAINTENANCE

2010-03-17T08:46:00.000-04:00

Tonight (03/17) between 23:00 and 05:00, XO Communications will be doing work on the T1 circuits that run between Dublin Justice and Avery Road. They report the circuits may go down for up to 5 mins at various times causing Wothington & Dublin consoles to lose connection and possibly putting the Dub/Wor side of the system into site trunking.

Please be sure your users are notified and back up plans are in place.

We did experience two short console outages last night when one of the T1 lines reset. XO will be checking that line as well as part of this maintenance.

System Optimization Report

2010-03-13T08:15:00.003-05:00

Motorola engineers have completed their system optimization work on the Dub/Wor simulcast zone. They specifically reviewed system coverage and performance off of the Huntley Bowl tower site. All systems were reported in excellent working condition and functioning without error.

Motorola did specifically test coverage inside Riverside Hospital ER after reports of radios going "out of range" while inside the building. It was discovered that the radios only go "out of range" on the Dub/Wor simulcast zone, but still have service on the Delaware simulcast zone. It is believed that a bi-directional amplifier inside the hospital is rebroadcasting 821 frequencies, but not 806 frequencies, or in some other way interfering with 806 frequencies. Futher investigation by radio staff will attempt to confirm this theory. To immediately resolve the issue, talk-groups WOR DISP, WOR FTAC1, WT ALERT, WT EMS1 and WTEMS2 have been set to roaming so that they will switch zones, if needed, to ensure coverage. This switch is transparent to users.

System Optimization Work

2010-03-06T11:35:00.000-05:00

On Monday March 8th, Motorola engineers will be conducting system testing and optimization on the Dub/Wor simulcast system. Users shouldn't notice this work unless a problem is discovered.

In addition to optimization, they will be checking the efficiency and coverage of the Huntley Road tower to ensure it is performing to is maximum, including the reported coverage issues when users go inside Riverside Hospital ER.

A post service report will be provided on the web site when work is complete.

Audio Testing Complete

2010-02-19T19:35:00.003-05:00

On Monday February 8th, the crew from Engine 95 assisted in testing the audio performance of walkies used in high noise environments. In particular, the 2008 Motorola recommended settings for high noise environments were tested against the factory default audio settings in two sets of XTS5000 walkies. The details of the test and recommended outcomes are contained in the report document posted below.

If you have any questions about the testing, or need more details on the methods used in the testing, please contact Jay Somerville.

DDW800MHz – Fire Service Radio Audio Testing

Monday 02/08/2010 @ 10am

Washington Township Fire Admin

Purpose: To compare the audio settings on the XTS5000 between the factory default AGC settings and the advanced settings for high noise environments recommended by Motorola in their 2008 bulletin.

Problem: All radios programmed on the DDW800MHz system used by the fire service are not programmed with the same audio settings. Since radios used by agencies in Delaware County were programmed and distributed prior to the 2008 Motorola bulletin, they utilize the factory default settings. Radios used by Washington Township Fire and Worthington Fire were placed in service in December 2009 and were programmed using the recommended settings. Users at Worthington Fire, especially those who operate radios at Delaware County agencies through secondary employment, report a distinct audio difference. Those users have indicated to the Technical Committee that they prefer the Delaware settings but would like to participate in the testing to be sure there is not some other issue causing the audio difference they are hearing.

Method: Four radios will be programmed specifically for this testing. Two radios will be programmed with the factory default audio settings and two will be programmed with the 2008 Motorola recommended settings. The settings will only be known to the programmer, CT Paul Richmond of Dublin, with each group of two radios having the same color faceplate. Also, one radio from each group will be outfit with a new, never before used coil cord lapel microphone. Utilizing the crew of Engine 95, we will perform a series of tests using each radio at least one time in each scenario. All scenarios will be recorded using the logging recorder at the Dublin Communications Center.

Results: Results will be logged as they occur by those present for the testing. Since the sound of the audio as it is presented to the person receiving has been the concern, users will help evaluate how the audio sounds in each test while on site (much like while at a scene). We will also have the ability to compare audio by playing back the logger recordings in a controlled environment at a later time.

Notes: The training was conducted between 10:00 and 12:20 at the WTFD Admin building in the storage garage using members of Engine 95.

The minimal background noise was generated using conversation of those in the testing area. The significant background noise was generated using a saw idling within 5 feet of the participants. The extreme background noise was generated by revving up the saw within 5 feet of the participants. All tests were done inside the garage area.

Chief Highley of Worthington Fire and Jay Somerville of Dublin Communications were present for all testing and listened to the audio using an XTS5000 while sitting in a conference room removed from the testing area. BC Chuck Aston of WTFD was present for the final 20 minutes of testing. CT Richmond coordinated the testing with the participants from Engine 95.

Conclusions: After testing was complete and discussion about the results, Chief Highley of WFD and Battalion Chief Aston of WTFD ultimately selected the ORANGE radio settings as the preferred settings. It was revealed by CT Richmond that the ORANGE radios were programmed with the 2008 Motorola recommended settings for high noise environments. The group came to a consensus that although there was not a significant difference, it was noticeable that background noise was more suppressed using the new settings; neither solution could minimize the extreme level. The group agreed that training users on the general radio use practices should be developed to ensure optimal communication capabilities on the fire ground. Specific training recommendations are made below.

Training: 1.The most critical recommendation relates to the rescue of a down firefighter. When the firefighter performing the rescue transmits while the victim firefighter’s radio is turned on, the feedback creates a “reverberation” noise and the voice is unintelligible. Unlike the squeal created on an analog system, the rescuer cannot “talk-though” or “out talk” the squeal to get the message out. The recommendation is that training for firefighters performing mayday rescues be revised to include a step directing the rescuer to either turn off the victim’s radio or turn it off channel once the victim is found.

2. When operating SCBA, users should be instructed to use their voice amplifiers whenever possible and to hold the lapel microphone approximately 6 inches from and directly pointed at the speaker. If operating SCBA without voice amplification, hold the lapel microphone against and directly pointed at the voice pass through area.

3. Turn away from noise sources when transmitting whenever possible.

4. Mount the pass device on the side of the coat opposite to the lapel microphone and the SCBA voice port.

5. Revise mayday training and procedures so that activation of the radio’s emergency button is completed before any radio transmissions are made by the victim. This will give the user declaring the mayday top priority on the system and will ensure the dispatch center receives the emergency banner allowing them to confirm receipt with the incident commander.

6. Check portable radio accessories regularly for optimal functionality and replace any damaged or questionable accessories immediately.

7. Incorporate training for all users on the feature differences between each of the radio systems utilized, in particular those features lost when going to a simplex conventional channel (car to car)

8. Include awareness training for all incident commanders and encourage them

to avoid noise sources while commanding the scene.

Test Scenarios

No background noise / No gear

Minimal background noise / No gear

Significant background noise / No gear

Extreme background noise / No gear

No background noise / SCBA

Minimal background noise / SCBA

Significant background noise / SCBA

Extreme background noise / SCBA

From the pump panel / Not running

From the pump panel / Running

Mayday / SCBA / Two Radios

Mayday / No SCBA / Two Radios

Pass Alarm Activated

SCBA Timer Alarm

Governing Board Meeting - Reminder & Agenda

2010-02-17T15:08:00.000-05:00

The next meeting of the DDW800MHz Governing Board will be held on Friday 02/19 at 9:30am at the Worthington Police Headquarters Building. The meeting is open to all system users and the public.

The agenda for this meeting can be found at http://tinyurl.com/ddwgba021910

System Maintenance Complete

2010-02-01T16:28:00.000-05:00

The OARNET system maintenance scheduled for today has been completed WITHOUT the need for a connectivity outage. Thanks to Delaware County and OARNET for completing this work!

System Maintenance - Time Delay

2010-02-01T11:57:00.000-05:00

The system maintenance to be performed today on the OARNET connection has been delayed until at least 13:00hrs. An announcement will be made prior to the outage and again when the system is back up and running.

Agencies can use their discretion on implementing their back up plans. The system will go into SITE TRUNKING and still function for subscribers. Consoles will lose connection.

System Maintenance Set for 02/01

2010-01-29T14:44:00.005-05:00

On Monday 02/01 at approximately 11am, technicians from OARNET will be doing maintenenace on the radio system network that will adversely effect Dublin/Worthington users. For approximately one hour, the Dublin/Worthington system will go into site trunking. Subscribers will notice the message SITE TRUNKING on their mobiles/walkies and the dispatch consoles will lose connection to the system.

Back up plans may be implemented during this outage at the descretion of each dispatch center.

An announcement will be made prior to the outage and again when the work is complete.

If you have any questions please contact Patrick Brandt or Jay Somerville.

Digital Systems and the Fire Ground

2010-01-28T11:18:00.043-05:00

Over the past two weeks, several articles about Hamilton County firefighters and the problems they've reported with fire scene communication have circulated throughout the media. We wanted to take this opportunity to address the concerns brought forward in these articles, discuss some best practices, clarify misconceptions in the media reports and let you know what we as your COG Technical Committee are doing to address concerns.

Two articles in the January 15^th edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer that were reposted by several Columbus area media outlets allege the system used by Cincinnati firefighters failed during recent fires. The articles speak in generalities about these failures when, in reality, they are speaking of very distinct and separate issues. These issues include:

the ability of digital radios to isolate and transmit a voice in high-noise environments
coverage in densely constructed downtown Cincinnati high-rises
multiple firefighters trying to transmit at the same time
“busy signals” experienced when all of the system frequencies are in use
mayday calls not being heard on the fire ground.

While these issues were presented together in the articles, each must be examined separately. Below is some information that we have compiled with the help of representatives from the Hamilton Co/Cincinnati P25 radio system and representatives from the Butler Regional Interoperable Communications System (BRICS).

Digital Radios in High Noise Environments
The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) formed a digital working group in 2007 to address potential problems found in digital radios in the presence of loud background noise. In the early years of digital public safety radios, the audio processing hardware and software in the radio did a poor job picking the voice out of background noise like chain saws and PASS alarms.

The IAFC working group comprised of fire-service personnel and manufacturers studied the issue to develop reliable data to address the extent and nature of the problem. As a result, Motorola has made several improvements to the hardware and software that, while not perfect, do greatly improve voice quality during those situations.

In 2008, Motorola issued a bulletin with recommendations for best practices in programming radios with settings for high noise environments. These settings were incorporated in all radios programmed as part of the Dublin/Worthington system cut-over. Since Delaware County radios were programmed prior to 2008 these changes have not been incorporated in those radios.

In Butler County, the Hamilton Fire Department, in conjunction with BRICS system administrators, conducted extensive testing of these recommendations. The tests demonstrated that these settings made a significant improvement in high noise environments. Radios with the recommended settings were tested against those without in situations with SCBA and PASS alarms.

On February 8^th, the Washington Township Fire Department will conduct a similar set of tests to validate the Hamilton FD findings. Those results will be reported back to the Technical Committee and posted on the web site.

The IAFC released an interim report on their findings which recommends many best practices for fire department leadership and radio field users.

The leaders were charged with training “all personnel to properly use the assigned radio equipment in conjunction with all components of the protective ensemble.” They pointed out the need for “scenario-based user training utilizing their communication equipment,” and “integration of communication policies and procedures into agency operations.”

Field users were advised to, when practical:

use the radio for the initial distress call before manually activating the PASS alarm in a mayday situation.
ensure the microphone is placed one to two inches from the mouth or SCBA voice port with the microphone positioned directly in front of the audio source
speak in a loud, clear and controlled voice to maximize audio intelligibility
shield the microphone from noise sources to improve the intelligibility of the audio in high-noise environments

To read the full list of recommendations, you can download the report and presentation from Motorola on their Best Practices in High Noise Environments page.

Coverage in Dense Buildings

No radio system can cover every part of every building. The Dublin/Worthington side of the system was designed off of the standard set for the Dublin analog system, which was to provide 95% coverage for portable radios in 15db buildings. Preliminary testing indicates 98% plus coverage in all areas. The original Delaware side of the system was also designed with the same coverage standard. However, because of the density and size of buildings in the Polaris area north into Delaware City, the standard was increased to 95% in a 20db building.

We recommend making radio coverage testing a part of your fire preplanning efforts. Knowing gaps in coverage ahead of time will allow the incident commander to plan accordingly which includes using alternate talk-groups on the Columbus system, Ohio MARCS or the car to car simplex frequency.

We also encourage users to share with us those locations where they experience coverage problems. We will investigate those areas for future coverage expansion and the possibility of adding bi-directional amplifiers in specific buildings to enhance coverage.

Busy Signals vs. Multiple Users Trying to Talk

Cited as a failure of the radio system, media reports point out that users of Hamilton County’s system get “busy signals” when others are talking. There are actually two different situations that sound the same: either the system can be busy (every channel across the system is in use) or someone else can be talking on your selected talkgroup when you attempt to transmit. In either case, you can’t transmit and your radio tells you so – with two different tones. This is not a failure; it’s by design.

Radios are typically “half duplex”, meaning you can either receive or transmit, but you can’t do both. This works the same way on our new system as it does on the Hamilton County system. Having to wait your turn to talk is nothing new.

Analog systems would often allow a second user the ability to transmit over top of another user. Because these systems employ multiple receivers, when two users talk, the system essentially renders the audio from both users unintelligible. In addition, the second person who transmits will not have their push-to-talk ID transmitted. The most serious problem was both thought they were heard. The difference with the digital system is the user will actually know whether or not their message will be transmitted, because the user will get immediate confirmation by receiving the permit-to-talk tones or the tone that tells you to wait. It’s an improvement over analog.

Maydays/Declared Emergencies
The Cincinnati Enquirer article titled “Mayday Call Met with Silence on Radio” describes a situation where two firefighters became trapped by a burning stairwell. One of the firefighters declared “Mayday, mayday, mayday,” according to the article, and received no response from the incident commander. The article goes on to indicate “All three blame the county's digital radio system for what they believe was a missed mayday”. However, responding apparatus heard the mayday call and all of the mayday transmissions were heard by the agency logging recorder. Three minutes elapsed before a rescue operation was initiated.

The fact that the mayday was heard by other users and the system’s logging recorder demonstrates that the call went through. Why the calls were missed by the incident commander is unknown.

Unlike the Cincinnati scenario, the dispatch centers that serve our users assign a dispatcher to actively monitor the fire ground talk-group. The dispatcher serves as another set of ears to ensure the incident commander is notified of the mayday. Also, the dispatcher will receive any emergency banners activated during an incident.

Our recommendation is for each agency to review their mayday procedures to ensure firefighters both vocally declare their mayday on the fire ground and activate their emergency banner on their radios to alert incident command and the dispatcher to their situation.

Summary
We thought it was important to respond to this because we knew many of our users would see the articles and have questions concerning the applicability to our system. Hamilton County and Butler County were very open with us and helped a great deal during the planning stages of our system. Both of those systems, as well as ours, are Motorola Astro 25 and for the field users essentially operate the same. The main difference in Dublin/Worthington is, with the benefit of having programmed our radios in 2009, we were able to take advantage of the best practices for noise reduction issued by Motorola in 2008. With the input of Motorola, our partner systems and user community, we believe our radios are programmed with the best available settings and capabilities for fire ground safety.

LINKS
"Dropped Calls Put Firefighters in Danger" - Cincinnati Enquirer - January 15, 2010

"Mayday Call Met with Silence on Radio" - Cincinnati Enquirer - January 15, 2010

"Background Noise & Radio Performance" - Motorola Position Paper - 2008

"IAFC Digital Project Resouce Page"

"LODD Fact Finding Committee - Preliminary Report" - Colrain Twp - July 11, 2008

Acknowledgements
A special thank you to those listed below for the assistance in putting this information together:

Greg Wenz, Operations Manager - Hamilton County Communications Center
Matt Franke, Systems Administrator - BRICS
William Vedra Jr, Comm Tech - BRICS

Governing Board Meeting Rescheduled

2010-01-27T20:33:00.001-05:00

Due to a late schedule conflict, the Governing Board meeting set for Monday 02/01 needs to be rescheduled. New proposed dates/times have been sent out via TimeBridge. Please indicate your availability ASAP so the meeting can be confirmed.

Technical Committee Meeting

2010-01-27T20:31:00.001-05:00

The agenda for the Technical Committee meeting on 01/28 @ 1pm has been posted.

http://www.dublin.oh.us/ddw800mhz/pdf/2010/Agenda01-28-10.pdf

All Users on Line

2009-12-21T18:59:00.002-05:00

With the transition of Worthington, all system users are on the new DDW800MHz system. All seven frequencies have been converted and all users transitioned.

Worthington cut set for Monday

2009-12-20T13:20:00.002-05:00

Cutover day for Worthington users is a go for Monday 12/21. The Worthington P&F frequency will be taken off line and brought up on the new system. Users will then be moved onto the new system. Once the move is complete, the WPD and WFD conventional frequencies will be moved over to complete the system. The process will start at approximately 10am.

Once Worthington is on the new system, the cut over will be complete!

Dublin Upgrade Complete

2009-12-16T12:16:00.003-05:00

Dublin and Washington Twp units have been up and running for 24 hours on the new system and all is running well. Roaming issues have been address and all consoles are up and running.

The next milestone is the transition for Worthington schedule to take place on Monday 12/21.

Transition Underway

2009-12-15T09:43:00.000-05:00

The old Dublin 710F analog system has been taken off the air for the final time. Conversion to the new system is underway. DPD units are operating on MARCS and WTFD units are operating on their Columbus 800MHz TGs during the transition.

User Templates Added

2009-12-15T09:07:00.003-05:00

A new page has been added to the web site: USER TEMPLATES

Users can pull up a graphic view of what is programmed in their radios and can print out a copy on demand. There is also information on how to recommend template changes to the Technical Committee.

Tower Work Complete - Cut Over is a GO!

2009-12-14T15:49:00.000-05:00

Today, technicians from Motorola, B&C and Rinehart Tower compelted the site work at Hard Road paving the way for an on time cut over tomorrow.

Dublin and Washington Township units will cut over to the new system at approximately 10am tomorrow using the Dublin frequencies at all three sites.

Hard Road Tower Upgrade Underway

2009-12-11T10:20:00.005-05:00

The change out of the Hard Road tower equipment started at 0900 today. Motorola will be removing all of the old equipment from the shelter and installing the new today and Monday. Antennas and the tower top amplifyer are also being replaced.

During this upgrade the site will be off line. The result means is the overlapping coverage this site normally provides along the river corridor and in buildings east of the Scioto River will be unavailable. Dublin users will notice diminished walkie coverage during this outage.

The site will remain off line until the new system is placed on line on Tueday 12/15.

System Cut Over

2009-12-08T21:04:00.002-05:00

Today, the Technical Committee announced tentative cut-over dates:

All Dublin/Washington Township users will cut over to the new system on Tuesday 12/15 at 10:00hrs. The four Dublin frequencies will be brought up at all sites and subscribers transitioned to the new system. Consoles will take approximately 4 hours to transition with dispatchers operating on back up control stations during this time.

All Worthington/Sharon/Perry users are tentatively scheduled to cut over on Tuesday 12/22 or Wednesday 12/23, time to be determined. The subscribers will be transitioned onto the new system. The consoles at Worthington Dispatch can be transitioned without delay. Once the transition is complete, the Worthington conventional system will be taken off line and the frequencies brought up on the new system.

Any changes to this schedule will be announced ASAP.

Hard Road Tower Site Work Starts Friday

2009-12-08T21:00:00.003-05:00

Motorola and Rinehart Tower service will begin work at the Hard Road tower site on Friday 12/11. Antennas and coax will be changed, the analog equipment will be removed and the new P25 equipment will be installed. Work will continue on Monday 12/14 and is expected to be completed by late afternoon in preparation for the Tuesday morning cut over.

FCC Approves System Frequencies

2009-12-08T20:49:00.004-05:00

On Tuesday 12/08 the FCC granted the Special Temporary Authority (STA) applications for all seven system frequencies at all three tower sites. This approval paves the way for an "on time" cut over for the system users. Licenses for the system are listed under the call signs of WQLC963, WQLC684 and WNPJ961. The system will operate on pre-rebanded frequencies until the rebanding process is completed and licenses for the new post-rebanded frequencies are issued. All licenses will then be combined into a single license issued to the newly formed council of governments.

Tech Meeting Canceled

2009-11-23T20:26:00.002-05:00

The Technical Committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday 11/24 has been canceled. New meeting dates for the week of 12/07 have been posted on TimeBridge.

Subscriber Programming

2009-11-21T18:19:00.015-05:00

Below are the first set programming dates/times:

> Mon 11/30 0800 to 1600 @ Station 101: Worthington Fire

> Tues 12/01 0700 to 1500 @ Station 101: Worthington/Sharon/Perry PDs

> Wed 12/02 TBD @ Station 101: Remaining Worthington/Sharon/Perry Units

> Thur 12/03 0700 to 1500 @ WTFD Admin: Washington Fire

More dates/time to be announced

Connectivity Complete - STA Requests Submitted

2009-11-11T14:33:00.004-05:00

All connectivity points are complete! The final connection to the prime site in Delaware was made late last night with the fiber runs and OARnet connection configurations are working as designed. The final bandwidth/latency testing is taking place and all sites will be actively passing data by Friday.

On the licensing front, the STA requests were filed today ask requested authorization to go on the air using the pre-rebanded frequencies. Approvals by the frequency advisor and the FCC are pending.

Connectivity Update

2009-11-03T17:24:00.004-05:00

The fiber links between the Dublin Justice Center to Hard Road and to Worthington PD are up and running. Testing units are connected. Preliminary tests look good and will be left running for 24 hours to verify.

In addition, the T1 line between Worthington PD and Huntley Road, and the T1 lines between the Dublin Justice Center and Avery Road have completed testing and are ready to go.

The fiber connection to the master site in Delaware is all that remains. Completion is expected by the end of the week.

Avery Antenna Change Outs Complete

2009-10-29T16:21:00.003-04:00

Today, Motorola and Rinehart Tower Service completed the antenna change out at the Avery Road Water Tower Site. The Dublin 800MHz radio system was taken off line for approximately 2 hours to allow for this upgrade, with Dublin safety forces operating on Ohio MARCS and the Columbus 800MHz system during the outage.

Huntley Road Tower Officially Complete

2009-10-29T16:00:00.017-04:00

On Friday 10/16/09, Motorola officially completed work on the Huntley Road tower. Equipment has been sent in place inside the shelter and the site will be ready to connect when the system is ready to go live. XO completed the T1 line installation on 10/19/09. Pictures of the finished product are posted below:

News Article - Dublin City Council

2009-10-14T20:11:00.005-04:00

Jennifer Noblit of This Week News reports on Dublin City Council's vote to join the DDW800MHz Council of Governments. CLICK HERE to read the story.

DDW800MHz COG Approved

2009-10-09T18:02:00.004-04:00

On Monday 10/05 Dublin City Council passed resolution 51-09 authorizing the City Manager to sign on to the DDW800MHz Council of Government agreement making the new public safety partnership a reality!

The organizational meeting of the COG Governing Board will take place on Tuesday 11/10 @ 1pm at the Worthington Police Headquarters building at 6665 Worthington-Galena Road. The agenda for the meeting will be posted on the web site prior to the meeting.

COG Agreement featured in "This Week"

2009-09-23T20:30:00.004-04:00

"This Week News" reporter Candice Preston-Coy reports on the Delaware County Commissioner's approval of the Council of Governments. CLICK HERE to read the article.

In addition, Candice also reports on Worthington City Council's approval in an article posted today. CLICK HERE to read more!

The Huntley Bowl Tower is up!

2009-09-22T15:42:00.014-04:00

Today JG Contracting set the radio shelter and erected the new 247' Huntley Bowl tower. They were able to set the tower in under 6 hours with the top going on just after 1400 hours. Antennas and lines will be set tomorrow with other site improvements continuing over the next two weeks. A big thanks to the crew of JG Contracting for the excellent work on the site.

Here are some photos of today's activites:

Upcoming Meetings

2009-08-13T10:21:00.006-04:00

Mark your calenders for the following upcoming meetings:

>Technical Committee
08/25 @ 9:30 at Worthington PD

>Advisory Committee
09/02 @ 09:30 at Worthington PD

>Central Ohio Reginal Interop Committee
09/23 @ 10am - Columbus PD Academy

Technical Committee Agenda Posted

2009-07-07T15:13:00.002-04:00

The next Technical Committee meeting is set for Wednesday July 8th at 09:30am at Worthington PD. A copy of the agenda has been posted at http://www.dublin.oh.us/ddw800mhz/pdf/Agenda07-08-09.pdf

Upcoming Meetings

2009-05-28T09:07:00.002-04:00

A reminder to all of the upcoming meetings that are currently on the schedule. The Technical Committee will meet tomorrow (05/29) at 09:30 and the next Advisory Committee meeting has been set for Wednesday June 10th at 09:30. Both meetings are at Worthington Police Headquarters.

To have a topic added to the agenda, please contact Jay Somerville.

FAA Approves Huntley Bowl Tower

2009-04-23T21:41:00.003-04:00

The FAA has issued a favorable determination for the Huntley Bowl tower site. Originally requested as a 250' AGL tower, the FAA approved it not to exceed 247' AGL which is excellent news for the project team!

FAA Approval

Fiber Optics Work Group Meeting

2009-03-11T10:49:00.004-04:00

A working group of the Technical Committee will be meeting on Wednesday 03/18 @ 10am at the Dublin Justice Center to discuss connectivity options for the new system. Specifically, the group will be looking at ways to make the connection up to the master site in Delaware using fiber optics. For more information about this meeting, contact Jay Somerville.

Subsciber Specs Posted

2009-02-27T15:11:00.009-05:00

The specifications for subscriber units established at the February Technical Committee meeting have been posted! The link is along the right side of the web site and will be updated as needed. We will also be adding information brochures for each of the models shortly.

If you have any questions about subsciber units, please contact Patrick Brandt, Jerry Strait or Jay Somerville. You can also contact your Motorola representative to find more details on other options that may be available or to place an order. The information provided on the site is in accordance with the State Term Contract pricing that is currently available.

Subscriber Specifications

FAA Application Submitted

2009-02-27T12:31:00.006-05:00

Today, FAA Form 7460-1 was submitted to the Great Lakes office of the FAA requesting permission to construct the Huntley Road tower. A cover letter, 7.5 minute topo maps, the application and a letter certifying the location coordinates we all part of the submission. A response is expected in approximately 30 days.

FORM 7460-1 SUBMISSION

03/13/09: FAA Study number 2009-AGL-1125-OE has been assigned and the case is under review

Meeting Dates Announced

2009-01-30T16:36:00.008-05:00

The next meeting of the Technical Committee has been scheduled for Friday February 6th at 10am at Worthington PD. An agenda is forthcoming.

Also, Project Manager Kim Link has set the project kick off meeting for Thursday February 12th at 10am at the Motorla offices at Polaris. Patrick Brandt, Jerry Strait and Jay Somerville, who serve as the project team, will be working with Kim for most of the day to get the project underway.

Advisory Committee Notes Posted

2009-01-30T16:32:00.003-05:00

The meeting notes from the January 15th Advisory Committee meeting have been posted. CLICK HERE to view the file.

Resource Links Updated

2009-01-22T19:11:00.015-05:00

Two of the links on the web site have been updated. The roster for the Technical Committee has been updated with new resource members. Welcome to our Motorola Project Manager, Kim Link! We are excited to have him leading our team through the implementation. Kim brings a wealth of experience including the original Delaware County implementation as well as the Butler County implementation. We are proud to have the Motorola team of Kim, Don and Chris on our project.

We would also like to welcome Bill Umina and Mike Sabatino from B&C Communications to the committee. They replace Frank Johnson as technicians on the project and we are very happy to have them on board. We wish the best of luck to Frank in his long awaited, well deserved retirement. I am sure you can find him at a campground somewhere in sunny Florida!

Also added to the site is the System Frequency plan. The final plan is subject to FCC approval, but all looks good for both rebanding and system implementation.

You can access both links along the right side of the web page.

Infrastructure Purchase Formalized

2008-12-19T16:29:00.011-05:00

Today, the purchase of the new DDW800MHz system was made official. Dublin Interim City Manager Marsha Grigsby signed the contract with Motorola for the purchase of the new three site, 7 channel Motorola Astro P25 system. Motorola has placed the order and will be setting up project meetings beginning after the first of the year. Merry Christmas to all! We can think of no better gift for the public safety and public service forces that serve Delaware County, the City of Dublin, the City of Worthington, and Perry, Sharon and Washington Twps.

Dublin City Council Approves Purchase

2008-12-09T17:29:00.004-05:00

At their regular session on December 8th, Dublin City Council passed one ordinance and one resolution paving the way for the City Manager to entered into a contract with Motorola and funding the purchase of the new DDW800MHz radio system. The final touches are being placed on the formal agreement, with all indications pointing to a contract signing within the next two weeks.

Advisory Committee Meeting - CANCELED

2008-12-03T11:02:00.005-05:00

Today's DDW800MHz advisory committee meeting has been CANCELED due to a light agenda. The next meeting will be scheduled for early January. Proposed dates will be sent out via Time Bridge as soon as possible.

Project Makes "Dublin Villager"

2008-11-20T09:47:00.006-05:00

Today the Dublin Villager featured the DDW800MHz project in a lead story by reporter Brittiny Dunlap. CLICK HERE to view the article. Unfortunately, she was only able to use one quote from Lt "Hollywood" and had to settle for some basic information from another Technical Committee representative.

Advisory Committee Meeting Set

2008-11-19T15:13:00.002-05:00

The next meeting of the Advisory Committee will be Tuesday December 3rd at 1pm at Worthington PD. If you have items for the agenda, please forward them to Jay Somerville.

"This Week" Article Features Proposed System

2008-11-13T13:42:00.004-05:00

Reporter Candy Brooks of This Week News wrote a feature article about the prposed DDW800MHz system. CLICK HERE to read the entire story, including quotes from the incomperable Lt. "Hollywood".

Technical Committee Meeting Set

2008-10-31T06:56:00.003-04:00

The next meeting of the Technical Committee has been set for Tuesday November 25th at 13:00hrs at Worthington PD. Please forward any items to be included on the meeting agenda to Jay Somerville.

November Advisory Committee Meeting Set

2008-10-14T14:16:00.003-04:00

The next meeting of the Advisory Committee has been set for Tuesday November 4th at 1pm. The meeting will be held at Worthington Police Headquarters. If you have items for the agenda, please forward them to Jay Somerville at jsomerville@dublin.oh.us.

Advisory Committee Mtg Notes Posted

2008-10-07T08:16:00.006-04:00

The minutes from the October 3rd Advisory Committee have been posted. CLICK HERE to view. If you have any revisions or updates, please notify Jay Somerville.

Also, proposed dates for the November meeting have been posted on Time Bridge. Please reply ASAP.

TC Meeting Date Set

2008-09-24T09:26:00.002-04:00

The next meeting of the Technical Committee has been set for Thursday October 16th at 1pm at Worthington Police Headquarters. Please forward any items you wish added to the agenda to Jay Somerville by no later than October 13th.

TC Meeting Minutes Posted

2008-09-17T16:49:00.005-04:00

The minutes from the September 17th Technical Committee have been posted. CLICK HERE to view. If you have any revisions or updates, please notify Jay Somerville.

Also, proposed dates for the October Technical Committee meeting have been posted on Time Bridge. Please reply ASAP.

TC MEETING LOCATION CHANGED

2008-09-16T20:22:00.009-04:00

Due to ongoing power problems in Worthington following this weekends wind storm, including WPD Headquarters running on generator power, the Technical Committee meeting set for tomorrow has been changed.

The meeting will now be held at the Dublin Justice Center @ 6565 Commerce Pky. The meeting time will still be 10am.

Technical Committee Meeting Agenda Posted

2008-09-16T11:49:00.009-04:00

The agenda for the Technical Committee meeting on 09/17 has been posted.

CLICK HERE to view or download.

Delaware Gazette Features New System

2008-09-10T13:08:00.009-04:00

On September 10th, the Delaware Gazette featured information about the DDW800MHz project in a front page article. Along with the article was a picture of our own Patrick Brandt inside the system prime site.

CLICK HERE to read the entire article.

Advisory Committee Meeting Set

2008-09-09T15:04:00.004-04:00

The next meeting of the Advisory Committee is set for Friday 10/03/08 at 12pm and will be held at Worthington Police Headquarters, 6555 Worthington-Galena Road. MAP IT

Delaware Co Commissioners Vote to Accept Grant

2008-09-08T10:29:00.005-04:00

At their regular Monday meeting, the Delaware County Commissioners voted 3-0 to officially accept the $1.9 million dollar PSIC grant ($1.5 million in cash) that will make up nearly half of the funds for the project.

Patrick Brandt addressed the commissioners and provided them not only with details of the grant, but also an update on the current status of the project.

Technical Committee Meeting

2008-09-07T20:59:00.004-04:00

The first meeting of the newly formed Technical Committee is set for Wednesday 09/17/08 at 1pm and will be held at Worthington Police Headquarters, 6555 Worthington-Galena Road. MAP IT

DDW800MHz Blog Site Now On Line

2008-09-07T11:27:00.015-04:00

Welcome to the blog site for the Delaware/Dublin/Worthington 800MHz radio system project. Over the next several months, this blog will document the progress of the team implementing this new $3 million dollar project that will combine the frequencies
of the existing Dublin and Worthington radio systems into a three site, seven frequency Motorola P25 digital trunked radio system. The Dublin/Worthington system will then be linked to the twelve site, seven channel Delaware County System using a common controller and linked consoles to give seamless interoperability along the Delaware/Franklin county line. This system is made possible through the colaboration of Delaware County, the City of Worthington and the City of Dublin and partially paid for by a federal Public Safety Interoperable Communications Grant received by Delaware County EMA. Check back often for information about the progress of the project.

For more information, contact:

Jay Somerville - City of Dublin - jsomerville@dublin.oh.us
Patrick Brandt - Delaware County - pbrandt@co.delaware.oh.us
Jerry Strait - City of Worthington - jstrait@ci.worthington.oh.us

Central Ohio Interoperable Radio System (COIRS)

T1 Connection Maintenance

Governing Board Meeting

Site Trunking Event - Dub/Wor

OARNet Maintenance

Governing Board Meeting - Friday July 22nd

Critical System Outage

Huntley Site Restored

Huntley Rd Site Down

OARNet Maintenance

Governing Board Meeting

Are your accessories the right fit?

Lightning Strike at Huntley Road

Governing Board Meeting

Recent Outages Diagnosed

Site Trunking Dub/Wor System

Site Trunking Dub/Wor System

Rebanding Phase I Complete

Rebanding Phase I

Site Trunking - Dub/Wor System

Training Video - Clear Communication

Annual Preventive Maintenance

Avery Tower Work Today

Scheduled System Outage - Dub/Wor Simulcast

MARCS Agreements

Technical Committee Meeting Agenda

Temporary Roaming Plan In Effect

System Update

Dublin/Worthington in Site Trunking

Technical Committee Meeting Announced

Avery Tower Work Complete

Avery Road Antenna Work

October 2010 Governing Board Meeting - Date Change

Governing Board Meeting - Friday July 7th

Governing Board Adopts New System Name

System Event - Connectivity

**SYSTEM MAINTENANCE**

System Optimization Report

System Optimization Work

Audio Testing Complete

Governing Board Meeting - Reminder & Agenda

System Maintenance Complete

System Maintenance - Time Delay

System Maintenance Set for 02/01

Digital Systems and the Fire Ground

Governing Board Meeting Rescheduled

Technical Committee Meeting

All Users on Line

Worthington cut set for Monday

Dublin Upgrade Complete

Transition Underway

User Templates Added

Tower Work Complete - Cut Over is a GO!

Hard Road Tower Upgrade Underway

System Cut Over

Hard Road Tower Site Work Starts Friday

FCC Approves System Frequencies

Tech Meeting Canceled

Subscriber Programming

Connectivity Complete - STA Requests Submitted

Connectivity Update

Avery Antenna Change Outs Complete

Huntley Road Tower Officially Complete

News Article - Dublin City Council

DDW800MHz COG Approved

COG Agreement featured in "This Week"

The Huntley Bowl Tower is up!

Upcoming Meetings

Technical Committee Agenda Posted

Upcoming Meetings

FAA Approves Huntley Bowl Tower

Fiber Optics Work Group Meeting

Subsciber Specs Posted

FAA Application Submitted

Meeting Dates Announced

Advisory Committee Notes Posted

Resource Links Updated

Infrastructure Purchase Formalized

Dublin City Council Approves Purchase

Advisory Committee Meeting - CANCELED

SYSTEM MAINTENANCE