Q.1 Why is each agency responsible for radio maintenance if the county owns the radio system?
A. The 911 Telephone Surcharge will fund the radios, and they will become the property of their designated agency after the bonding is paid off. The original project was set up by the County with the agencies being responsible for their own maintenance after the initial three years of maintenance paid for in the project. That service will include full first year service at the local radio shop (United Radio) and depot (mail-out) service during years two and three.
As was done with the law enforcement agencies with the Mobile Radio District project, once the original equipment has been provided to the department, the agency will be responsible for ongoing maintenance and replacement.
The county will submit a proposal for countywide extended maintenance to get the best price for our users. The extended agreement will supplement depot service for years two and three by allowing United Radio to repair radio problems locally when possible.
The Regional Consortium is exploring an extended maintenance agreement for the 5-county region as well. (It should be noted that the maintenance contract will be for the purpose of obtaining the best per-unit cost for maintenance; each agency will have the option to utilize the contract or make other arrangements. (Both options will be at the agency’s expense.)
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Q.2 With a robust system and more channels to monitor will staffing increase at 911?
A. No, 911 will not add staff. The number of “monitored” channels has not increased significantly. Many of the new talk groups are designated as not monitored, monitored only when requested, or are off-network. However, in the event of multiple major incident(s) 911 can activate the backup center or use training room positions to call in extra staff to handle the work. All consoles are capable of recording all the major talk groups except the off network channels.
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Q.3 Will the fire ground channel still be available for chiefs to talk back?
A. Yes, Channel 5 will be command priority scan for fire and Channel 7 for EMS.
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Q.4 With countywide service, how many simultaneous transmissions can occur before the system becomes jammed?
A. The OCICS has 14 frequency pairs available for voice traffic, plus one pair for network control. The number of frequency pairs was carefully decided by engineers based on an analysis of radio traffic with the goal of having a very small chance that all 14 pairs would be busy at the same time. It is the same theory that telephone communications is based on when deciding the number of circuits needed. In the unlikely event that all channels were busy and exactly the same time, public safety users would receive access priority over other users. An activated emergency button would receive the highest priority.
This question does serve to remind us that radio discipline is as important as ever. As users, we should encourage prudent use of the system, avoiding long-winded and unnecessary transmissions.
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Q.5 Have the areas tested included schools and districts with older buildings?
A. We achieved acceptable test results in the West Genesee, Westhill & ESM schools, including basements & mechanical rooms. The Carousel Center underground garage results were acceptable as well.
The team will test any locations of concern in your districts. Please contact 911 with your requests.
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Q.6 What about insurance against loss and damage? Individual agency policies will not cover equipment the agency does not own.
A. The radios are covered under the 3-year maintenance agreement however; you would be responsible for abuse or outright loss of the radio. We have researched the loss question with several insurance carriers and found that most policies have insurance to cover equipment under your “care and control.” Agencies should check with their individual carriers to confirm that they have this coverage.
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Q.7 Will agencies that purchased additional radios before the enhanced features were added incur an additional charge to bring their equipment up to the standard?
A. No, the changes made to date are not hardware/equipment changes. All the enhanced features are contained in the software. The changes will be included within the radio programming by United Radio. All radios will be programmed on the same standard format. If an agency did not purchase all recommended features initially there would be costs to add those features.
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Q.8 Will agencies that communicate between 2-counties need to maintain 2-radios, i.e. Cayuga, Oswego?
A. Yes, until those counties transition to the same system as Onondaga County you will require a radio for each county system.
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Q.9 Can radios for agencies on county lines that provide mutual aid be programmed to communicate with each other?
A. The Regional Consortium has hired a consultant to draw up a MOU for the entire 5-county consortium’s shared system. Once counties transition to the shared system, radios will be programmed with mutual aid talk groups.
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Q.10 When and how will pre-purchased portables be programmed?
A. United Radio will program radios in conjunction with department training. Radios will be issued as training is completed.
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Q.11 The governor has proposed putting 911 systems under the Dept of Homeland Security and using the wireless surcharge funds to finance regional systems. Will Onondaga County apply monies it receives to extended maintenance or insurance costs incurred by the departments?
A. This was only recently announced. We have not yet decided what we would utilize grant funding for but maintenance is a possible option.
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Q.12 When will training take place?
A. Train-the trainer will be Feb-22 through 25. Sessions will be in 4-hour blocks and will take place mornings, afternoons and evenings.
If your agency is willing to host a training site, please let Chuck Combs know.
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Q.13 How do I get to the OCICS website?
A. The URL is http://esp.ongov.net/OCICS/
Alternatively, you can navigate from the Onondaga County website [http://ongov.net/] to Departments, Emergency Communications, 911, and click the ‘Interoperable Communication System’ icon on the home page.
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Q.14 Will the departments receive a portion of the money from the Sprint radio buyout?
A. No, The money will go toward bonding the program in 2010.
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Q.15 Will 911 tell dispatched departments what channel to use?
A. Yes, upon dispatch the 911 Center will assign a Tactical Talkgroup to responding units. If additional Tactical talkgroups are needed they can be requested by command and they will be assigned as resources permit.
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