cfd446
Pack Qualified
Posts: 26 
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Post by cfd446 on Dec 31, 2008 18:01:51 GMT -5
Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy Plans Back Up Fire, Rescue Emergency Communications Facility
New Response Center to be Up and Running at Former Sixth Precinct Basement by 2009 Hurricane Season
Hauppauge , NY – Recognizing there is no such thing as over preparedness, Suffolk Executive Steve Levy announced today plans to construct a back up emergency communications response station for the county at the former Sixth Precinct building in Coram.
Levy’s initiative will transform the vacant basement area of the building which was previously home to the Suffolk County Police Department’s Sixth Precinct into a permanent back up command center that can be used to reach all of the 62 fire-rescue command centers in Suffolk County.
The communications facility will include 12 dispatch stations and 14 radio areas, along with computer stations with complete access the county’s system. The top floor of this facility, located on Middle Country Road in Coram, is currently being used by Suffolk’s Department of Probation.
“This measure is vital for the safety and security of our county in the event of an emergency or natural disaster,” Levy said. “If our primary command center were to suffer failure for any reason we could divert our emergency dispatchers to the facility in Coram.”
Levy also noted the county could also split dispatch forces and have both stations manned if dictated by certain conditions.
Suffolk County currently directs emergency responders through its primary fire-rescue communications facility located in the basement of the county’s Fire, Rescue and Emergency Service building in Yaphank. Also stationed in Yaphank are two mobile command units that can serve as bases of operations for the county’s emergency services should the need arise. The new back up command center will remain dormant until a need arises for its occupation.
The total cost of the project will be $2.175 million, which includes $1.225 million for new equipment. Renovation of the facility will likely begin in the spring of 2009 and it will be opened prior to the 2009 peak hurricane season for Long Island.
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Post by chunkylover53 on Jan 1, 2009 3:09:13 GMT -5
sounds interesting. So, if the radio room fails or the Al Queda attacks yaphank, all the dispatchers will pile into the command van (assuming it's there) and drive to coram?
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Post by wqce207a on Jan 1, 2009 15:14:47 GMT -5
how about staffing the communication center that we have now properly before we go building "backup" centers?
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Post by warthog on Jan 1, 2009 23:50:49 GMT -5
Our current radio room is a dump, most of the back up positions don't work in the room. How and who is going to up-keep a room that is rarely going to be used?
We have a 3.2 million dollar cad and and still have to use the rolodex cards to pick out tones.
I would like to see a new room built and leave the basement of fres as the back up. That's my .02 cents.
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Post by LIFireEMS on Jan 2, 2009 11:06:25 GMT -5
What I love about this article, is there is now no such thing as infrastructure protection anymore. Everyone now knows where all the Command and Control Componants are in Suffolk. Nice job Steve.
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Post by warthog on Feb 19, 2009 12:28:31 GMT -5
Just heard more news, this might happen unless the economy in Suffolk County takes a bigger dump.
There were a few meeetings during the last week and this is the gossip that I was told. The back-up center is to be built, when that's finished we are moving over there so the county can remodel the existing radio room.
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Post by scannerman5555 on Feb 19, 2009 13:17:22 GMT -5
how about a new uhf Fire - Ems system for the county too ..... with extra disp in haupp area too !
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Post by suddenlyseemore on Feb 21, 2009 18:29:18 GMT -5
how about the suffolk fire depts stop all building expensive individual uhf systems and getting 9 different frequencies for each dept so all depts could easily communicate with each other on common, shared frequencies?
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Post by Gargamel37 on Feb 21, 2009 21:27:14 GMT -5
If the county had any forsight years ago, they would have bought more 800mhz freqs, that way all PD, FD and Ems could be on the county system.
Tone out could have remained on low band or Vhf. Each division could have had an ID for reponse (2's, 21's) and a bunch of tac freqs for on scene fireground comms.
Everyone would have been on 800. Ex. Islip is going to Bayshore for work, everyone is operating on "Islip Tac 2"
::)I guess it was more important to get the county busses on the system before public safety.
Instead, every dept in the entire county is on a seperate page with communications. Some are on low, vhf, UHF. East Hamp has their own 800 system (atleast that division has their act together)
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Post by warthog on Feb 21, 2009 23:55:46 GMT -5
It's still 1985 isn't it?
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Post by Luke on Feb 22, 2009 19:10:30 GMT -5
At least Suffolk uses the same codes. Unlike Nassau, who uses all different frequencies and some depts have their own codes, some don't use the county codes at all. So much for uniformity after 9/11.
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Post by Ex-Capt371 on Feb 23, 2009 8:38:40 GMT -5
800MHz SUCKS for f/g ops. It Sucks for response (2, 21) also. It is unreliable and would not make economic sense. The radios are very expensive and when a reprogram needs to be done, there are only two companies (that I am aware of) that are authorized to program them.
UHF is much more user friendly and much more flexible for F/G Ops and Dispatch. Low band is no longer a viable option because of the massive amount of interference (UHF, 800, Microwaves, Satellite Comms, and private companies who use lowband for internal operations.) UHF with PL's is the best way to go. Better penetration than 800+, better distance than lowband or VHF.
That's my argument.
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axe1
Pack Qualified
Posts: 10
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Post by axe1 on Feb 23, 2009 12:01:24 GMT -5
800MHz SUCKS for f/g ops. It Sucks for response (2, 21) also. It is unreliable and would not make economic sense. The radios are very expensive and when a reprogram needs to be done, there are only two companies (that I am aware of) that are authorized to program them.
UHF is much more user friendly and much more flexible for F/G Ops and Dispatch. Low band is no longer a viable option because of the massive amount of interference (UHF, 800, Microwaves, Satellite Comms, and private companies who use lowband for internal operations.) UHF with PL's is the best way to go. Better penetration than 800+, better distance than lowband or VHF.
That's my argument.
I agree with you and also your not at the mercy of the SCPD radio shop to get any other needed changes
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Post by Gargamel37 on Feb 23, 2009 17:41:31 GMT -5
I use the county 800 system every day, and I've never ran into a problem with it. Portable or mobile. I can talk to a portable in Huntington from a portable in the Hamptons if I have to, which is nice.
I like UHF also, but inter-op is nice to have.
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Post by Ex-Capt371 on Feb 24, 2009 15:29:57 GMT -5
the question is, why would you have to? Why would i need to talk to someone in montauk if i am in Halesite.
You dont need 50+ watts to have interop. all you need is 2.5
These dopes who want the big and expensive systems are wasting money. A simple duplex system on UHF will do the job. and, UHF gives you more flexibility, especially with the availablility of cheap Motorola radios.
I too use 800 everyday in NYC. So many drop spots and cut-outs because 20-25 frequencies only go so far when you have 3000+ talk groups and 10,000 radios. It just isnt worth the risk in a fire building.
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Post by chunkylover53 on Feb 24, 2009 16:52:55 GMT -5
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Post by suddenlyseemore on Feb 25, 2009 8:06:46 GMT -5
go for a UHF fire/ems trunked system... separate frequencies for each division and then numerous f/g channels.
i think also if you put a CAD terminal in each apparatus which you could give basic signals on (2/21/28/18) it would cut down on 90% of radio traffic... especially since ems is most of the runs anyway... you could also put hydrant locations and other info on there...
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Post by Ex-Capt371 on Feb 25, 2009 9:29:31 GMT -5
Yeah? Who do you work for and how much do you think it will cost? especially for departments who just spent thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars on repeater systems that wont accomodate an LTS.
You are thinking of a perfect world scenario. Fact of the matter is, there will not be a 'countywide' system because we dont report to the county, we report to ourselves. and when the day comes that chiefs dont have egos and dont think of themselves as 'Kings', we can use our natural telepathic abilities to give our 2's and 21's.
I know i will be holding my breath for that day.
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Post by CFD208 on Feb 26, 2009 0:15:24 GMT -5
You can't really argue which system is better, 400mhz or 800mhz because in Suffolk they aren't on equal playing fields. If there was a 400mhz voice trunked system that covered the same area that the current 800mhz system operates in then there would be equal comparison. Even then, I wouldn't rate either as particularly better because both frequency ranges provide superior building penetration with moderate propagation over distance. If you compare the two as they are now, the 800mhz trunked system will reign supreme just because its in place providing coverage from Farmingdale to Montauk. And sure theres gonna be a few dead zones, but that is merely due to the terrain in our case. I can talk to a portable in Huntington from a portable in the Hamptons if I have to, which is nice. If its distance you want, I'll take my HF radio on 2mhz (not a typo) and get 2000+ miles out of it without a repeater. Thats from the Hamptons to New Mexico! ah thank you |
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Post by XCAPT1 on Feb 26, 2009 0:53:51 GMT -5
sounds interesting. So, if the radio room fails or the Al Queda attacks yaphank, all the dispatchers will pile into the command van (assuming it's there) and drive to coram? It's better then no back up system, which is what the agencies going in there have now. If an attack like you said did happened PD would have to pack the car to go to the precinct also and the other one would be to close. Stay Safe |
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Post by Ex-Capt371 on Feb 26, 2009 7:52:58 GMT -5
You can't really argue which system is better, 400mhz or 800mhz because in Suffolk they aren't on equal playing fields. If there was a 400mhz voice trunked system that covered the same area that the current 800mhz system operates in then there would be equal comparison. Even then, I wouldn't rate either as particularly better because both frequency ranges provide superior building penetration with moderate propagation over distance. If you compare the two as they are now, the 800mhz trunked system will reign supreme just because its in place providing coverage from Farmingdale to Montauk. And sure theres gonna be a few dead zones, but that is merely due to the terrain in our case. I can talk to a portable in Huntington from a portable in the Hamptons if I have to, which is nice. If its distance you want, I'll take my HF radio on 2mhz (not a typo) and get 2000+ miles out of it without a repeater. Thats from the Hamptons to New Mexico! ah thank you The point is, there is no reason I should need to talk to Montauk's 30 if I am on the F/G in Amityville. Hence, no need for a countywide system. If you want to have channels available for M/A that are common (V-TAC/V-CALL) then fine. but good luck trying to get everyone to agree on it. |
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Post by CFD208 on Feb 26, 2009 22:06:47 GMT -5
The point is, there is no reason I should need to talk to Montauk's 30 if I am on the F/G in Amityville. Hence, no need for a countywide system. If you want to have channels available for M/A that are common (V-TAC/V-CALL) then fine. but good luck trying to get everyone to agree on it. I'm not disagreeing with you. A universal set of freqs should be implemented to all agencies. How can they not agree?! Just add the freq to the radios as a 'what if?' |
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Post by Luke on Feb 27, 2009 19:46:13 GMT -5
i think also if you put a CAD terminal in each apparatus which you could give basic signals on (2/21/28/18) it would cut down on 90% of radio traffic... especially since ems is most of the runs anyway... you could also put hydrant locations and other info on there... Not the MDT argument again.........  |
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Post by Ex-Capt371 on Feb 28, 2009 21:28:15 GMT -5
its almost as bad as the smooth bore V TFT argument. Just never goes away.
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