Are your accessories the right fit?

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.

MARCS Agreements

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.

System Optimization Report

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.

Audio Testing Complete

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.

Digital Systems and the Fire Ground

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:

User Templates Added

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.

Subscriber Programming

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

Subsciber Specs Posted

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