Westchester County Department of Emergency Services

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Westchester County Department ofEmergency
Services

• Trunk Radio System
• Law Enforcement User Training

Andrew J. Spano County Executive
Anthony W. Sutton DES Commissioner
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Training ObjectivesUpon completion of this
training, attendees should have

• A basic understanding of the radio system
• How it works
• Who can you talk to
• When to use the radio
• (Motorola XTL2500 Mobile Radio)
• As well as
• An understanding of system failures how to
  communicate during a failure.

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Westchester Interoperable Trunked UHF System
Police Department Fire EMS Talk Group

• Police HQ - 60 Control
• Police HQ - Fire EMS Officers - Responding
• Police HQ - Responding Fire Apparatus or
  Ambulance
• Police HQ - Hospital
• Hospital - 60 Control
• Hospital - Fire EMS Officers
• Hospital - Ambulance or EMS Unit

NOTE Not a Dispatch System
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Westchester Interoperable Trunked UHF
SystemSystem Features

• All Trunk Channels are Recorded
• Radio Identification (ID)
• Ability to identify what radio and when
  transmissions were made.

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Westchester Interoperable Trunked UHF System

• Trunk A bank of frequencies designed to provide
  efficient communications with minimal radio
  congestion.
• Talk Group A Selected Channel (60 - Fire 16)
• Operates in a manner similar to popular point to
  point wireless devices. (EG iDen/Nextel)
• Requires more user attention and controls than
  comparable push to talk devices or radios.

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Westchester Interoperable Trunked UHF System
Channel Banks
Bank A Trunk Fire - All Fire Talk Groups Bank
B Trunk EMS - All EMS Talk Groups Bank
C Conventional (Ground Ops)
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Westchester Interoperable Trunked UHF System
Contacting 60 Control Via Radio System for
Emergency Communications

• Police Departments while using the trunk radio
  system should use bank A or B 60-Control
  channel when contacting 60 Control.
• NOTE Trunk System Channels without activity may
  not be constantly monitored by ECC Operators.

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• Westchester Interoperable Trunked UHF System
• Bank A - Trunk Fire Talk Groups
• 1- 60 Control Calling Channel (Hailing)
• 10- Fire Battalion Channels
• 10- Ops Channels - Assigned by 60 Control for
  specific on-going operations
• 10- TAC Channels - Assigned by 60 Control for
  specific on-going operations (Not Monitored)

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Westchester Interoperable Trunked UHF System Bank
A Channel Names/Titles
Bank A 60 - Control 60 Fire 10 to 19 60
Ops 1 to 10 Tac 1 to 10
The channels that have 60 in front of them, have
the ability of communicating with 60 Control.
60 Control does not have the capability to
transmit or receive on Tac channels.
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• Westchester Interoperable Trunked UHF System Bank
  B - Trunk EMS Talk Groups
• 1- 60 Control Calling Channel
• 10- EMS Battalion channels
• 10- Ops Channels - Assigned by 60 Control for
  specific on-going operations
• 10- TAC Channels - Assigned by 60 Control for
  specific on-going operations (Not Monitored)
• 12- Hospitals

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Westchester Interoperable Trunked UHF System Bank
B Channel Names/Titles
Bank B 60 - Control 60 - EMS 10 to 19 60 - Ops
1 to 10 Tac 1 to 10 All Westchester 911
receiving Hospitals will have Control Stations
(installations underway-not complete)
The channels that have 60 in front of them, have
the ability of communicating with 60 Control.
60 Control does not have the capability to
transmit or receive on Tac channels.
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A 60 FIRE 17
Power Button

• To Turn Radio On
• Press the Power button on the control unit.
• The radio performs a self check.
• To Turn Radio Off
• Press the power button on the control unit.

Notes If FAIL / appears in the display, the
radio will not function until the condition has
been corrected. If any problem occurs, the
display shows an error code ERROR /.
NOTE Contact radio vendor if radio fails
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A 60 FIRE 13
Volume Knob

• To set the volume

• Rotate the Volume knob clockwise to increase the
  volume and counterclockwise to decrease the
  volume.

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B 60 EMS 12

• Press the Dimmer Button to change the display
  brightness to one of four levels
• Off to high
• High to medium
• Medium to low
• Low to off
• If OFF is selected, both the display light and
  the backlight will be turned off (used for
  surveillance operations), but the display will
  remain active.

Dimmer Button
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PTT (PUSH TO TALK) BUTTON
To Transmit on a Trunked Mode
1. Lift the microphone off the hook. Press and
hold the microphone PTT button. - If you hear
three quick tones (callback tones) and the red
XMIT (transmit) indicator lights steadily,
proceed with your message. - If you hear a
busy tone and the yellow Busy indicator flashes,
all trunked channels are in use. 2. Release the
PTT button and wait for the three quick tones.
Within three seconds of hearing these tones,
press and hold the PTT button to transmit your
message.

• - If you hear a continuous low-pitched tone, you
  are out of the system's range. The red XMIT
  indicator may flash several times as the radio
  tries to access the system.
• Release the PTT button and try again when the
  vehicle is within range of the system.
• Release the PTT button to receive.
• Note Time out timer enabled
• (60 Seconds)

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Zone Select or Change
B 60 CONTROL
ZONE

• The display shows the current bank and channel.
• Press below ZONE.
• Press either or until the desired
  zone is displayed
• Press or the PTT button to save the
  displayed zone as the new home (default) zone.
• The zone name stops flashing once it is saved.
• Press the PTT button to begin transmitting on the
  displayed zone and mode.

Home Button

• A bank / zone is a grouping of channels.
• To Select a bank / zone
• Home will be local Fire Battalion

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Selecting a Channel
Channel Knob

• To select a Channel

Home Button
A 60 FIRE 10
PTT (Push To Talk)

• Turn the channel Knob until the display shows
  thedesired channel name.
• 2.Press the PTT button to begin transmitting on
  the displayed channel or talk group

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Emergency Button
Emergency Button
EMERGENCY

• Press the PTT button and announce your emergency.
• To exit from the emergency state altogether,
  press and hold the emergency button until a tone
  sounds.
• The alternating EMERGENCY display disappears,
  and the radio returns to normal operation.
• Note Turning the radio off also cancels the
  emergency state.

• Press the Emergency button to activate the
  emergency call/alarm feature.
• The display begins alternating EMERGENCY with
  the current zone/channel.
• This will send you back to your home
  channel
• For trunking modes a high-pitched tone sounds,
  indicating that the alarm has been received by 60
  Control.

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Westchester Interoperable Trunked UHF System
Effective Radio Communications

• To optimize radio system efficiency and minimize
  the possibility of busy signals
• Use Plain English-avoid 10 codes
• Transmit short concise messages
• Avoid lengthy / unnecessary communications
• Avoid slang, acronyms or codes
• Note Busy signals prevent you from transmitting
  your message on the system.

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Westchester Interoperable Trunked UHF System Fail
Soft - System Computer Failure

• If the trunk system control equipment fails, it
  is called a Fail Soft.
• Users will be able to communicate on the channel
  in a conventional mode with other agencies.
• System users will not be able to contact 60
  Control on the truck system during failure.
• During a Trunk System failure agencies will need
  to revert back to the current means of
  communicating with 60 Control.

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Westchester Interoperable Trunked UHF System Fail
Soft - Communicating with 60 Control

• Conventional methods of communicating with 60
  Control. Non-Trunk Radio
• Alternate Radio System
• Telephone

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Westchester Interoperable Trunked UHF System
Trunk Radio Site Failure - Single Site

• In a single site trunk radio system failure the
  trunk signal will attempt to reach an alternate
  site. ( Closest site to failure )
• If unable to hit an alternate site, the agency
  will have to use its existing 46.26 low band
  radio system.
• Report system failure if possible to 60 Control
  via telephone or low band radio.

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Questions?