800 MHz Radio Training Pu Objectives Palmetto 800
800 MHz Radio Training
Pu Objectives • Palmetto 800 and Trunked Radio Systems • Equipment Functionality • Day-to-Day Operations • Critical Operations • Radio System Operation during System/Equipment Malfunctions • Radio Usage Protocol
Pu Palmetto 800 Radio System • Motorola Palmetto 800 is a statewide 800 MHz trunked repeater radio system. • The ability exists to talk across the state on a handheld and mobile radios. Greenville County is now using the system in this method. • Greenville County will have access to 9 towers; 7 of which “simulcast”. The other 2 are at Caesars Head and Hogback Mtn which are called “ASR”. • Simulcasting means that all towers are transmitting and receiving at the same time. • The towers are located at, Paris Mountain, Windstream building, W Georgia Rd, E Georgia Rd, 83 Old Hwy 25, Twin Chimney’s, Ware Place.
PALMETTO 800 TRUNKED SYSTEM, HOW IT WORKS? Zone Controller Located in Columbia SC Wide Area Trunking “Perfect World” Ethernet Circuit 4 4 19 19 4 Paris Mtn Site 100 Hogback Mtn Repeaters 4 – 19 per Site 101 Caesars Head 19
Pu Palmetto 800 Radio System • Sites connected to the Zone Controller or the “brains” in Columbia. • Each Users’ radio connects to a site that is connected to the “Zone Controller. ” • This allows users to talk city wide or county wide. • Trunking maximizes the efficiency of the 800 MHz frequencies • If there is a disconnect from the Zone Controller, sites will enter into a Site-Trunking mode. Site-Trunking will be discussed later in this presentation.
Pu Palmetto 800 Radio System • Your 800 radios are programmed to the current state template. This means that your radios are programmed in the same way as other radios across the state within the statewide interoperability zones. E. g. SCMA, SCREG, LECOM. • This assists in interoperability between agencies locally and regionally. • The programming template is also designed for ease of interoperability within our county so that, several agencies can talk to one another. This includes law enforcement, fire, and EMS. • Operation on the PAL 8 system allows a user access to all radio towers across the state only when accessing a RM talkgroup (there are roaming charges during non-emergency situations).
Pu Palmetto 800 Radio System • Your radio programming, consists of channels and zones. Portables and mobiles are programmed the same. • Zones are banks of 16 channels. Your radios are programmed with 36 zones. • Radios are programmed that you can press the “Home” key, and it will return you to your primary zone.
Pu Palmetto 800 Radio System How the System Works: • Each tower site on the system has between 4 and 19 channels • When a user keys a radio, a channel is requested from the site, you will hear this tone when you have a channel grant: • If the user is not able to talk to the system, the user hears this sound:
Pu Analog to Digital Voice Conversion • There will be an individual acclimation to digital radios. The most noticeable change will be voice fidelity during transmissions. Since we speak in a analog voice, the radio must capture your voice through the mic of the radio and then convert that to digital data for transmission. Receiving radios then receive that information and convert it back to analog for playback on the radio speaker.
Pu County-wide Radio Policies • G. 100 - Plain Language • Any communications between organizational elements during an incident should be in plain language in order to ensure that information dissemination is timely, clear, acknowledged, and understood by all intended recipients. • Codes should not be used, and all communications should be confined to essential messages. • The use of acronyms should be avoided during incidents requiring the participation of multiple agencies or organizations.
Pu County-wide Radio Policies • G. 101 - EMS Landing Zone • If the aircraft and personnel on scene coordinating the landing should use the SCAIR 1 talkgroup. • If SCAIR 1 is busy, responders may use the AIR-GND channel in the same fashion. • The talkgroups for PREPLANNED NON-EMERGENCY interoperability events involving LZ coordination should be AIR-GND or TAC channels if no other option exists. • The talkgroups for UNPLANNED EMERGENCY incidents involving LZ coordination should be SCAIR 1, AIR-GND or North, Central, or South channels.
Pu County-wide Radio Policies • G. 102 - Event and Exercise Planning • A full-scale exercise (FSE) is a multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional, multidiscipline exercise involving a functional and/or field unit response. • Since full-scale/functional exercises and pre-planned events have the potential to affect system capacity, a COML should ensure that the event does not inadvertently affect normal, daily operational needs by overutilization and/or overloading of state-wide system resources. • When the exercise or event is planned farther out than seven days, the requested resources should be reserved at least one week in advance. • Exercise or event planners shall include the impacted local entities’ (city or county) System Administrators in the exercise development process from the beginning so local system resources are properly informed and utilized. • Mark Sutton is the current COML in Greenville County. There are others available statewide.
Radio Functions. Kenwood and Motorola
Pu Motorola Radio Functions Backlight Button Momentary press to display RSSI and Site number Transmit Button Battery Gauge Zone Display Channel Display Zone Access Button Menu Buttons Home Button Directional Pad
Radio Programming
Radio Programming KENWOOD DISPLAY AND KEY LAYOUT (PORTABLE)
Radio Programming KEY ASSIGNMENT (PORTABLE TOP)
Radio Programming KEY ASSIGNMENT (PORTABLE SIDE)
RADIO PROGAMMING DISPLAY (MOBILE) MOBILE DISPLAY ICONS ARE SAME AS PORTABLE
Kenwood Radio Usage (Scan) To edit channels in the Scan List press the Scan. Prg button. • After pressing the Scan. Prg button a list of all channels in the radio will be displayed by zone. • Utilize the directional pad to navigate Up/down the channel list. • To scroll between zone utilize the left/right arrows. • Channels that have a chevron symbol to the left of it are currently in the scan list. • To add or delete channels press the button directly below the D/A label in the display. To exit the scan list or menu mode press the home key.
Kenwood Radio Usage (Menu) The radio utilizes the menu functionality to access features seldom used. The features are broken in to 5 categories: 1. Utility – Used for turning on/off the clock in the display and adjusting the time. 2. GPS – Turns the GPS feature on/off in effort to save battery life. 3. Playback – If enabled this access the playback and SD card option features for audio recording. 4. Site Trunking – When the system enters the site trunking mode this will allow the user to site lock the radio to a specific site. 5. Bluetooth – Access the Bluetooth settings for connecting Bluetooth devices to the radio. Use the directional pad and the Soft key bar’s associated keys below the display to navigate.
Kenwood Radio Usage (Menu) Site Trunking menu feature is utilized when the system loses network connectivity between a site(s). • When this occurs conversations will only be transmitted to other radios on the same site. • Radios that are registered on a different site will only hear conversations occurring on their site. • This is very problematic when a dispatch center is registered to a different site from field units as they will not be able to communicate with each other. • By utilizing the Site trunking menu option, a field unit can manually lock the radio on a site in order to facilitate communications to dispatch.
Kenwood Radio Usage (Menu) • By utilizing the Maintenance mode and pressing the up/down directional keypad the radio will manually scroll between site control channels. After locating the desired site, press the select button. • Enter the Site lock button to now lock the radio on the desired site. The screen will now have a white flag located next the status bar on top of the radio. • The radio will no longer roam between sites and stay on that site. • Once the trunking system has returned to normal operation it is vital to exit the site lock mode through the menu or the radio will not properly roam between sites in the system.
Greenville County Wide Template Zone 1 Chan EVENT 1 1 EVENT 2 2 EVENT 3 3 EVENT 4 4 EVENT 5 5 EVENT 6 6 EVENT 7 7 GVL CMN 8 FUTURE 9 FUTURE 10 11 8 SCDIR 2 12 8 SCDIR 3 13 GVLSO 5 14 15 GVLEMSDIS DYN REG 16 Chan 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Zone 2 ZONE 3 Zone 4 LE ONLY Zone 5 UT ONLY SC CALL SCRG 01 LEC 01 UT CALL SCMA 01 SCRG 02 LEC 02 UTMA 01 SCMA 02 SCRG 03 LEC 03 UTMA 02 SCMA 03 SCRG 04 LEC 04 UTMA 03 SCMA 04 SCRG 05 LEC 05 COOPMA SCMA 05 SCRG 06 LEC 06 FUTURE SCMA 06 SCRG 07 LEC 07 FUTURE SCMA 07 SCRG 08 LEC 08 FUTURE SCMA 08 SCRG 09 LEC 09 FUTURE SCMA 09 SCRG 10 LEC 10 FUTURE SCMA 10 SC AIR GR LEC 11 FUTURE SCMA 11 SC AIR 1 LEC 12 FUTURE SCMA 12 SC AIR 2 LEC 13 FUTURE SCMA 13 SC AIR 3 LEC 14 SEC FUTURE FED CALL FUTURE LEC 15 SEC FUTURE LEC 16 SEC FUTURE Zone 15 -FR 1 GVCNTY FD GVCNTY RM GV OPS 10 NORTH 1 NORTH 2 CENTRAL 1 CENTRAL 2 SOUTH 1 SOUTH 2 8 SCDIR 1 8 SCDIR 2 RVFFLL RVRFLLRM 8 SCDIR 5 GVLSO 5 GVEMSDIS Zone 16 -FR 2 DONALDSON FD ADMIN 20 GV OPS 20 NORTH 1 NORTH 2 CENTRAL 1 CENTRAL 2 SOUTH 1 SOUTH 2 8 SCDIR 1 8 SCDIR 2 8 SCDIR 3 Zone 17 -FR 3 FT INN FD ADMIN 30 GV OPS 30 NORTH 1 NORTH 2 CENTRAL 1 CENTRAL 2 SOUTH 1 SOUTH 2 8 SCDIR 1 8 SCDIR 2 LAURENS EMS Zone 18 -FR 4 SSVL FD ADMIN 40 GV OPS 40 NORTH 1 NORTH 2 CENTRAL 1 CENTRAL 2 SOUTH 1 SOUTH 2 8 SCDIR 1 FT INN FD SSVL PD FUTURE GCNTY FD GVLSO 5 GVEMSDIS LC SO GCNTY FD GVLSO 5 GVEMSDIS MAULDIN FD GCNTY FD GVLSO 5 GVEMSDIS Zone 6 Zone 7 Zone 8 8 SCDIR 1 8 CALL 90 7 CALL 50 8 SCDIR 2 8 TAC 91 7 TAC 51 8 SCDIR 3 8 TAC 92 7 TAC 52 8 SCDIR 4 8 TAC 93 7 TAC 53 8 SCDIR 5 8 TAC 94 7 TAC 54 FUTURE 8 SCTAC 1 7 TAC 55 FUTURE 8 SCTAC 2 7 TAC 56 FUTURE 8 SCTAC 3 7 GTAC 57 FUTURE 8 SCTAC 4 7 MOB 59 FUTURE 8 SCTAC 5 7 LAW 61 FUTURE 8 SCDTAC 4 7 LAW 62 FUTURE 8 SCDTAC 5 7 FIRE 63 FUTURE 7 FIRE 64 FUTURE 7 MED 65 FUTURE 7 MED 66 FUTURE 7 DATA 69 Zone 19 -FR 5 GVIL FD 1 GVL OPS 50 GVL OPS 51 NORTH 2 CENTRAL 1 CENTRAL 2 SOUTH 1 SOUTH 2 GVL OPS 52 8 SCDIR 2 GVIL PD 3 GVIL CMD 2 GCNTY FD GVLSO 5 GVEMSDIS Zone 9 Zone 10 Zone 11 HP SPARTANBURG GVLSO 1 7 SCTAC 1 GVLSO 2 HP ANDERSON 7 SCTAC 2 GVLSO 3 HP LAURENS 7 SCTAC 3 GVLSO 4 SB SO 2 7 SCTAC 4 GVLSO 5 SB PAT TAC 7 SCTAC 5 GVL INFO SB SPC OPS 7 SCTAC 6 GVLSO RM PICKENS SO 7 SCTAC 7 GVL CORONER 7 SCTAC 8 GVL PD PRI HP GVL G WOOD SO 1 7 SCPRT 1 G WOOD SO 2 7 SCPRT 2 SB PAT TAC 1 AC SO 7 SCPRT 3 8 SCDIR 1 7 SCPRT 4 LAURENS SO 1 8 SCDIR 2 TR PD 7 SCPRT 5 8 SCDIR 3 GREER PD 7 SCPRT 6 GVLCMN SSVL PD 7 SCPRT 7 GVLCNTYFD 7 SCPRT 8 GVLEMSDIS Zone 20 -FR 6 PARKER FD GVL FD 1 GVL FD 2 NORTH 1 NORTH 2 CENTRAL 1 CENTRAL 2 SOUTH 1 SOUTH 2 8 SCDIR 1 GVIL PD 3 GVIL CMD 2 GVIL CMD 1 GCNTY FD GVLSO 5 GVEMSDIS Zone 21 -FR 7 MAULDIN FD ADMIN 70 GV OPS 70 NORTH 1 NORTH 2 CENTRAL 1 CENTRAL 2 SOUTH 1 SOUTH 2 8 SCDIR 1 8 SCDIR 2 GVIL FD 1 SSVL FD GCNTY FD GVLSO 5 GVEMSDIS Zone 12 GVLSO 1 GVLSO 2 GVLSO 3 GVLSO 4 GVLSO 5 GVL INFO GVLSO TAC 1 GVLSO TAC 2 GVLSO TAC 3 GVLSO TAC 4 GVLSO TAC 5 GVLSO TAC 6 GVLSO TAC 7 ADMIN/TEC GVLEMSDIS GVL SWAT Zone 13 -SLD S WIDE MDLAND PDMONT PEEDEE LWCNTRY OPS 1 OPS 6 OPS 7 Zone 14 -EMS GVLEMSDIS 7 MED 65 GVOPS 1 NORTH 2 CENTRAL 1 CENTRAL 2 SOUTH 1 SOUTH 2 8 SCDIR 1 8 SCDIR 2 LAURENS EMS PICKENS EMS SPTBG EMS GVLSO 5 GVL COMN Zone 22 -FR 8 GREER DISP ADMIN 80 GV OPS 80 NORTH 1 NORTH 2 CENTRAL 1 CENTRAL 2 SOUTH 1 SOUTH 2 8 SCDIR 1 GREER PD SPTBG EMS Zone 23 -FR 9 GREER DISP ADMIN 90 GV OPS 90 NORTH 1 NORTH 2 CENTRAL 1 CENTRAL 2 SOUTH 1 SOUTH 2 8 SCDIR 1 GREER PD SPTBG EMS Zone 24 -FR 10 SGFD DISP ADMIN 100 GV OPS 100 NORTH 1 NORTH 2 CENTRAL 1 CENTRAL 2 SOUTH 1 SOUTH 2 8 SCDIR 1 8 SCDIR 2 ACTRT Zone 25 -FR 11 FUTURE ADMIN 110 GV OPS 110 NORTH 1 NORTH 2 CENTRAL 1 CENTRAL 2 SOUTH 1 SOUTH 2 8 SCDIR 1 8 SCDIR 2 8 SCDIR 3 SPTBG SO GCNTY FD GVLSO 5 GVEMSDIS SPTBG SO 1 GCNTY FD GVLSO 5 GVEMSDIS AC FD GCNTY FD GVLSO 5 GVEMSDIS 8 SCDIR 4 GCNTY FD GVLSO 5 GVEMSDIS
County Wide Template
Daily Radio Operations • While there are many features that are similar to the current radio system, there additional features that are new to the end user. Some of these features include conversation management by the system. This includes: • Notification to begin speaking after pressing the PTT button. This helps to avoid missed audio at the front of a transmission(Go-Ahead beep) • Channel busy indication in cases where another unit is already talking. The system will not allow two units to transmit at the same time(Busy tone). The system will “recall” the radio once a channel is available and provide the CTT (Clear to Talk) sound which is what is normally heard when a normal transmission is made. • Transmit refusal when all available frequencies within the system are busy with conversations(System Busy tone)
Pu Daily Radio Operations • Fire departments that are dispatched by Greenville County “firecom” will be toned out on GVCNTYFD. Firecom will then possibly move on scene communications to GV OP 10. • Situations requiring a significant amount of radio traffic should be moved, in coordination with MEDCOM/Dispatch, to: • Northern section of Greenville County- North 1 or North 2 • Central section of Greenville County- Central 1 or Central 2 • Southern section of Greenville County- South 1 or South 2
Pu Critical Radio Operations • Severe Weather: • All calls for service will be dispatched on GVCNTY FD, Med. Com will then make the decision to move radio traffic to OP 10, this includes “toning” to alert departments. • If the incident grows beyond what can be handled on OP 10, Med. Com will assess the situation and then possibly move the incident or additional traffic to one of the North, Central, South channels and notify all users. • Med. Com will coordinate this with the IC of the incident or their designee. • FD’s will restrict their radio traffic to accidents and medical calls for service. • Service calls can be entered by the agency in the Webbrowser for the CAD.
Pu Critical Radio Operations • Site-Trunking: • FD’s may experience reduced coverage. If radio service becomes disrupted, agencies will need to communicate their operational plans to MEDCOM or the appropriate dispatch agency. • Radios need to be site locked on the “Greenville Co” site. This is the site that dispatch will primarily be locked on but, dispatch will also have access to the Caesars Head and Hogback towers in case the units in the field cannot access the Greenville Co site.
Pu Critical Radio Operations • Department radio equipment difficulty: • The public-safety communications fee only pays for radio airtime. • Each agency will need to establish a protocol for maintenance of their radio equipment. • Discussion should be had to determine if agencies contributing to a countywide maintenance agreement would be more fiscally beneficial than each individual agency maintaining their own. • Agencies should also consider coverage for insurance/replacement of lost/damaged radios.
Pu Radio Operation-System Malfunctions Site Trunking • Site Trunking occurs when the tower site loses communication with the Zone Controller in Columbia. • Site Trunking is a redundant function of the system which allows the site to stay functional on its own when it loses the connectivity to the Zone Controller. Radios operate as they would in a normal trunking environment, EXCEPT • The radio user will only be able to communicate with their respective dispatch centers if they are on the Greenville CO site. If your are on any other site, you will need to site search to achieve the Greenville CO site. • The radio will flash “site trunking” and may also be programmed to emit a tone.
Pu Radio Operation-System Malfunctions Site Trunking • Site Trunking is inevitable, so a Site Trunking plan for your agency is a must! • What site will you be able to lock onto? • Is Dispatch able to site lock onto it as well? What is your protocol for communicating? • What is your backup protocol?
Pu Radio Operation-System Malfunctions Out of Range indicator - The radios can provide a visual and audible indication of when the radio has enough coverage to transmit and receive. The radio will now display “OUT OF RANGE” on the front screen to notify that it does not have enough coverage to receive or transmit. • The radio will also produce the out of range tone when you lose coverage and provide a different audible beep when you are back in service. • You will also get a PTT deny tone if you were to try and transmit during the out of range time. • It is important to remember that the Out of Range applies to both transmit and receive. Therefore, if a radio cannot transmit into the system, it will NOT receive traffic. This is different from the legacy radio system where a radio may receive and the end user believes there is enough coverage, however upon transmitting does not have coverage. • Users may need to access a RM (roaming) channel to communicate with dispatch. Notify Mark Sutton if RM is used to account for charges.
Pu Radio Operation-System Malfunctions Fail-Soft Mode • The Fail-Soft system ensures continuous radio communications during a trunked system failure. • If a trunking system fails completely, the radio goes into Fail-Soft operation and automatically switches to its Fail-Soft channel. • During Fail-Soft operation, your radio transmits and receives in conventional operation on a predetermined frequency. • A medium-pitched tone sounds every 10 seconds and the display shows Fail. Soft.
Pu Radio Usage Steps for an effective voice quality include: 1. Place the radio or shoulder mic 1 -2 inches from your mouth so that you are speaking directly into the microphone. DO NOT hold the mic to the side or talk across the face of the radio/mic. 2. Speak in a normal firm voice volume, as in a normal conversation. Speak clearly using correct annunciation of words, syllables and breaks between words or phonetic readings. Using mush mouth will result in poor audio fidelity.
P Radio Use • Knowing how to properly use a radio can make the difference on how well or if your transmission is heard. • It is important that when you use the radio that you know what you want to say before pressing the PTT. Speak very clear, concise and in a normal speaking voice. • Always hold the radio or microphone in an upright position approximately 1 -2 inches from your mouth. • When you depress the PTT to speak, you will hear a short set of beeps. Wait until these beeps complete and then speak
Pu Radio Use • We all know how to talk on the radio but, one important part we are all guilty of forgetting is; talking, before the radio is ready to pass your voice. • This allows the radios audio processor to hear your entire message and process it out over the air.
Pu Radio Use • A portable radio, if at all possible should not used when left on the users belt, specifically when sitting in a vehicle. • Hold the radio vertical. Tilting the radio while speaking into the mic creates a loss that is measured at an equivalency of cutting the radios power in half versus holding it vertically. • When the radio is attached to the user and they attempt to communicate, the antenna signal is blocked and, the transmission could be severely degraded and or the transmission could be unintelligible, when received by other users.
Pu Radio Use • No one should ever change the antenna on the radio without first having it approved by your radio technicians. • The antennas on the radio are designed for maximum performance and not all antennas will work on the 800 MHz system. • Any problems with the radio that are experienced should be brought to the attention of your radio servicer.
Pu Radio Use • If a problem in an area occurs and you are not able to transmit or receive or one or the other, the first thing that should be done is: 1. Ensure you are holding the radio properly, 2. Change your body position, your body can cause interference issues, 3. Achieve an RSSI reading while noting the site and RSSI level and exact location either by intersection, address or coordinates. This information should be reported to Mark Sutton via email for investigation.
Pu Questions?
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