Narrowbanding FAQ

What is narrowbanding? Narrowbanding is a nationwide effort to shift private sector and public safety radios users from using 25 kHz technology to 12.5 kHz technology. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is requiring all systems that operate in the 150-174 MHz (VHF) and 421-512 MHz (UHF) bands to transition from the wideband 25 kHz to narrowband 12.5 kHz.


Why narrowband? The narrowbanding process has been in the works since 1992. The FCC recognized a need to create more channel capacity in the same spectrum, as demand for additional channels was growing. Spectrum is a limited resource so narrowbanding is necessary to fulfill the need for more channel capacity.

How does narrowbanding impact Cumberland County?
1. Cumberland County will transition from current EMS dispatch paging and alerting on UHF wideband frequency (Med 10) to a new UHF narrowband frequency.

2. Narrowband of the current Med 10 frequency will drawback the effective range of pager alerting. Cumberland County will need to add an additional radio site for narrowband paging and alerting.

3. Need to transition dispatch operations to another frequency licensed to the County which has a higher power output

What services will be impacted by narrowbanding? EMS agencies in Cumberland County will be the only services impacted by narrowbanding. This is due to the UHF frequency that is utilized for paging and alerting EMS agencies in the county.

How will narrowbanding impact EMS agencies?
1. Rebanding will impact the functionality of EMS agency paging and alerting devices. Current Motorola Minitor V pagers are capable of a retune to narrowband operations. Older pagers and most station alerting devices are not capable of this retune and will need to be replaced with new equipment. If not replaced, these devices may not activate, even if retuned for the new frequency.

2. EMS agencies should assess their current pager and station alerting device inventories and identify those devices that should be replaced and determine how best to accomplish this before the move to the new dispatch frequency. Motorola Minitor V’s are on PA-COSTARS and an option to consider. Once the new dispatch frequency is operational the county will arrange station visits to reprogram the pagers to the new frequency and tone combination if applicable. Once the station is visited, the agency dispatch will move to the new frequency. Agencies should insure pagers requiring re-programming be available on day of station visit.

What happens if Cumberland County does not meet narrowbanding requirments?
The FCC has made it very clear that no extensions will be given on narrowbanding and all agencies must comply by January 1, 2013. Failure to comply can result in penalties including admonishment, monetary fines and loss of license. Failure by EMS organizations to update paging and alerting devices may result in paging and alerting failures.

Radio Warranty Ends 2/29/12

Reminder to all radio users that the warranty on the P7200 series end on February 29, 2012! 

We Have Activation...

As of 1100 hrs February 1, 2012 The Department of Public Safety has successfully completed the activation of the Emergency Button feature for all Fire Service’s 800 MHz Radios.

Thank you for all the patience and cooperation in the process of making this a reality. Let’s hope no one has to use this feature but you now have an extra tool in your tool box to help in the event a firefighter is in a Mayday situation.

Be safe and if you have any questions please direct them to our office.

Here is the link for the Fire / EMS Communications Manual:
http://www.ccpa.net/index.aspx?nid=2183

Reminder on procedure for clearing an emergency:
1. Last radio that declared the emergency
2. Press and hold interlock button (side lower button with nub on it), at the same time press and hold the emergency button until you hear a tone emit and all indications disappear

Feb. 1- Emergency Button Turned On

In light of the "turning on" of the emergency button for the fire service and in an effort to continue to be open and honest with you regarding our operations here at DPS, we are taking to the blog today to discuss the activation of the emergency button. The emergency button was a highlighted feature when the purchase of our OpenSky system was announced. We realize it has been a long process to get us to today’s February 1st activation date for the fire service and we greatly appreciate your patience. Getting this feature activated has been extremely important to us and we are pleased to see it going forward. That said, we want to set the record straight and provide you with the story of the emergency button from start to finish!


Early emergency button testing of the P800 series portable radios prior to transition to the 800 MHz system in 2007 revealed the physical location of the emergency button on the portable radio and lapel microphone resulted in a large number of unintentional emergency button activations. The unique circumstances of fire suppression activities and in particular the use of heavy gloves as a part of personal protective gear and the design of the P800 series portable radio appeared to be the leading cause of unintentional activations. An emergency button activation places the radio at the highest priority in the radio system. A concern was raised that unintentional emergency button activation could congest operational voice groups during fire suppression activities causing a potential safety concern for fire fighters involved in incident mitigation. Concerns were also raised at a training exercise at the Old Carlisle Hospital shortly before the transition to the new system regarding the open mic that occurs with the emergency button activation. Originally we did not have the ability to control the 10 second open mic feature and in training scenarios, multiple activations, which can occur in a true mayday situation, created chaos and an inability to communicate with the system tied up in multiple emergencies and open mics. During the hospital training exercise six emergencies were declared simultaneously, consuming an entire minute of air time. These concerns were taken to the Fire Chief’s Association and while not pleased to delay the use of this life saving feature, the association agreed to delay the activation of the feature until these issues could be addressed. It was decided to keep the emergency button feature activated for police and EMS as they did not have the design issue to contend with and it is extremely rare for those fields to declare multiple emergencies simultaneously causing the confusion and system tie up addressed above.

Shortly after the transition to the system, we began the rebanding process and the emergency button topic while not off of the radar, was not the main focus of our department. As a part of an agreement with Spring/Nextel as part of the FCC mandated nationwide realignment of the 800 MHz spectrum, a new model of portable radio was provided to all County public safety services, the result of the P800 series not being capable of handling the software change required for realignment. The new radios were distributed to all services starting in February 2010 and the process concluded in the spring of 2011. The new P7200 series radios are designed with the push to talk switch on the side of the portable radio and the emergency button on top of the portable radio. The lapel mic layout is similar. This new design eliminated the concern over an abundance of accidentally declared emergencies.

Shortly after the completion of rebanding a committee was formed from representatives from the Fire Chief’s Association and DPS staff to further explore the emergency button feature and to seek a change in procedure that would best serve field users. In the fall of 2010 and lasting through the spring of 2011 the committee conducted several training exercises testing the new portables and the emergency button function. Once the new radios were found to be acceptable for emergency button use, the committee began developing procedures for its use and those procedures were eventually adopted by the Fire Chief’s Association in the fall of 2011.

The Fire Chiefs Association established a go live date for the emergency button for February 1, 2012. A training profile in the radios was updated with the emergency button function to allow the fire services time to train prior to the go live date. This would allow users to become familiar with procedures related to declaring and emergency should the situation arise during actual firefighting operations. The time between the adoption of the procedures and the activation date also allowed time for DPS to conduct internally training to make sure our dispatchers know how to appropriately respond when they receive an emergency alert in the communications center.

We are extremely excited about today and glad to add one more important tool to the toolbox for firefighters to look to when faced with a life threatening situation. We understand any frustration that may have resulted during this long process, but hope the synopsis provided accurately reflects our efforts and shows our intentions to make sure you are provided with quality service. This system is as much your system as it is ours and we will not lose sight of that!

December PTT Report

Statistics on Push-to-talk (PTT): The number of times a radio was used to make a voice transmission. The following stats are discipline specific county wide.

Law Enforcement – 105,918
Fire – 55,200
EMS – 97,912
Agencies – 69,794
DPS – 681
County Agencies – 66,255
Municipal – 6,749
Total County Wide – 402,509

DEC 2011 PTT’s from the main dispatch (9-1-1 Center) talk groups:
Fire – 11,591
EMS – 46,001
Police West – 19,510
Police East – 64,140
Police Data – 14,960

Daily Average Total of PTT’s 12,984

Site Utilization (Percentage of site use)...
Forward = Calls to the sites from the radios
Reverse = Calls from the sites to the radios
Lambs Gap- 8.66% Forward 3.3%Reverse
Reesers Summit- 9.89% Forward 3.14% Reverse
Prison- 7.6% Forward 1.8% Reverse
Courthouse- 9.61% Forward .65% Reverse
Commonwealth Technology Center- 8.27% Forward .38% Reverse
3 Square Hollow- 6.37% Forward .46% Reverse
Ship Cell- 9.33% Forward .37% Reverse
South Mountain- 6.49% Forward .25% Reverse
Waggoners Gap- 6.19% Forward .3% Reverse
Rose Garden- 6.81% Forward .45% Reverse
Boiling Springs- 4.82% Forward .09% Reverse
Shippensburg- 3.68% Forward .12% Reverse
Dickinson Twp- 5.78% Forward .11% Reverse
Holy Spirit- 5.25% Forward .13% Reverse
Kings Gap- 4.66% Forward .06% Reverse
Pine Grove- 3.08% Forward .01% Reverse


There was no reported queuing for the month of December.
As of this report we have 2,508 radios on the system in Cumberland County.
Control Stations: 29
Mobiles: 687
Portables: 1792
Talk Groups: 520

FD Emergency Button Refresher

P7200 Radio Procedures

1. Turn radio on by turning power on off button clockwise.

2. Ensure voice group selection knob is on number 1

3. To change Profile to Training

a. Press up arrow on face until Profile Menu appears on screen
b. Press Option Button 2 until XX_Train (will be preceded with dept #) appears on screen
c. Press M button on face to select XX_Train profile
d. You will see the following Talk Groups….

i. Primary Dispatch TG
ii. Agency TG
iii. Municipal TG
iv. Test 1
v. Test 2
vi. Test 3
vii. Test 4
viii. Testemg in position 16 used as your default emergency

e. Test 1-4 are emergency capable. If on anything else it will default you to position 16.

4. To Reset an Emergency…

a. From portable that last declared, press the Option 2 button and HOLD
b. While holding the Option 2 button press the emergency button and hold until you hear tone come back….making sure the volume is up out of mute.

Practice, Practice, Practice

February 1st is coming fast! Remember to practice and read up on the procedures listed below!

11.14 FIREFIGHTER DOWN / DISTRESS COMMUNICATIONS PROCEDURES

A. General Information

Emergency Button Functionality

Depressing the emergency button on an emergency capable talk group will cause the following to occur within the radio system.

There is no “Hot Mic” (dedicated open mic after activation) for Fire Service radios. Upon activating the Emergency Button, fire fighters must depress the mic and transmit the appropriate information. There will be a 10 second “Hot Mic” for the EMS and Fire Police services.

Dispatchers will receive audible and visible notification of the emergency, including assigned radio ID.

A second or subsequent emergency button activation on a talk group already in emergency status will only audibly alert on the radio declaring the emergency. Other radios on the incident and the communications center will not receive an audible alert. It is imperative a firefighter who is in a situation that deems emergency button activation on a talk group already in an emergency active state to verbally hail “Mayday-Mayday-Mayday” to capture attention of command and the communications center.

Mobile Radio Functionality:

Audible alert and visible indicator display will occur on the radio declaring the emergency, and all radios that contain the affected talk group in the profile loaded at the time. The talk group that the emergency is declared will display an asterisk at the end of the alpha/numeric name. If a mobile radio has the talk group in emergency in the loaded profile, but not selected, the audible and visual indicators will activate. To find and participate in the emergency, the user wishing to join must scroll through the talk groups to find the one displaying the asterisk.


Portable Radio:

Audible alert and visible indicator display will occur on the radio declaring the emergency, and all radios that contain the affected talk group in the profile loaded at the time. The LED indicator blinking in orange will denote the talk group that the emergency is declared. If a portable radio has the talk group in emergency in the loaded profile, but not selected, the audible and visual indicators will activate. To find and participate in the emergency, the user wishing to join must scroll through the talk groups to find the one displaying the blinking orange indicator.


Emergency Activation Talk Group Defaulting- Non Defaulting

Any activation of the Emergency Button for the Fire Services will cause the radio to immediately default to the Fire-EMS Emergency default talk group which is talk group 16 in the radios. The exception to this are the Ops talk groups two through seven (2-7) where the emergency will remain on that talk group.

Any activation of the Emergency Button for EMS Services and the Fire Police will cause the radio to immediately default to their Emergency default talk group which is talk group 16 in the radios.
EMS will default to the Fire-EMS Emergency talk group and Fire Police to the Fire Police talk group.


B. Incident Guidelines

Fire Incident Mayday Declaration

If a fire fighter is in distress or in need of assistance due to a life-threatening situation, the firefighter will activate the emergency button and transmit “Mayday-Mayday-Mayday” and provide a brief situational status report if possible using the following guidelines using the acronym LUNAR -

L – Location
U – Unit
N – Name
A – Assignment at time of Mayday
R – Resources/Help needed

The Emergency Responder shall then activate their Personal Alert Safety System device.

Headquarters will confirm with Command that they acknowledge the emergency and copied the information unless it is obvious Command has acknowledged the event and understands the message provided.

Incident Command will communicate with the firefighter and initiate necessary actions.

Units operating on the scene will immediately cease transmitting unless they have urgent traffic related to the distress call. Units will await instructions from Command.

If needed, Headquarters will intervene and announce

“Attention units operating on Box _____, clear the air for mayday transmissions”.
Specific rescue operations will remain on the assigned operational talk group. Additional talk groups may be requested if needed for
suppression activities to assure clear communications for any rescue operations. Caution needs taken due to potential VTAC actions which may jeopardize the victims and rescue operations with regard to obtaining additional talk groups for non-Mayday operations. Portables which may be attached to a VTAC may lose connectivity if an associated VTAC is moved to another talk group.

Upon conclusion of the situation, Command will notify Headquarters and advise of updated talk group requirements. At that time, Headquarters will clear the emergency from the system.

Fire Incident Activations that occur without a verbal transmission for help

Activations during an incident that are not followed with a plea for help will be immediately checked by Headquarters.

“Unit Designation or Alias from Headquarters, verifying your emergency?”

If contact is made, verify if an emergency is occurring and
respond appropriately as the conditions require by either clearing the emergency or verifying Command has copied if an actual emergency is occurring. If no contact is made, Incident Command will be contacted.
EMS Only Incidents

If a unit or portable activates the emergency button during an
EMS event, the Com Center will do the following if an emergency message is not provided:

Make radio contact with the unit to confirm the emergency.

“Unit Designation or Alias from Cumberland Med, verifying your emergency?”

If contact is made, verify if an emergency is occurring and
respond appropriately as the conditions require.

If no contact is made, the Com Center will page the unit.

If the unit fails to respond, the Chief of the unit will be paged and apprised of the activation. The local police will also be made aware of the situation and requested to respond to verify the safety of the unit.

Accidental Incident Activations

Should a responder accidentally activate the emergency button, the user must verbally advise that it was an accidental activation. Headquarters will clear the emergency from the system. The field user is capable of clearing the emergency after verification with Headquarters of their status. This is accomplished by pressing and holding the side lower button (button has bump sticking out) in and then pressing the emergency button at the same time until the emergency is reset.

C. Non Incident Related Fire and EMS Activations

If a unit or portable activates the emergency button during a non
dispatched event, the Com Center will do the following:

Make radio contact with the unit to confirm the emergency.

“Unit Designation or Alias from Headquarters/Cumberland Med, verifying your emergency?”

If contact is made, verify if an emergency is occurring and
respond appropriately as the conditions require.
If no contact is made, the Com Center will page the unit and
Notify the Chief of the unit if no contact is made.
. Fire Police

Fire Police Activations

All Fire Police radios will default to their Fire Police Emergency Talk Group for any activations of the emergency button. This Talk Group will only be monitored by the Communications Center during emergency activations.

Fire Police Incident Activations

The same procedures will be followed for fire police operations as is followed for other users. Incident Command will be contacted if the emergency activation is legitimate or no acknowledgement is received when the unit is called for verification.

.Fire Police Non Incident Actions

If a unit or portable activates the emergency button during a non
dispatched event, the Com Center will do the following on the appropriate Emergency Fire Police Talk Group:

Make radio contact with the unit to confirm the emergency.

“Unit Designation or Alias from Headquarters, verifying your emergency?”

If contact is made, verify if an emergency is occurring and
respond appropriately as the conditions require.
If no contact is made, the Com Center will contact the Fire Police Captain or other officer of the unit. The Com Center will accept further instructions at that time from the contact person.