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MABAS Special Communications Committee Meeting Minutes November 20, 2002The meeting was called to order at 9:00 a.m. at Lisle-Woodridge Fire Station 1. Present were committee members Dave Dato, Wauconda; Paul Maplethorpe, Round Lake; Steve Rauter, Lisle-Woodridge; Larry Matkaitis, Chicago; and John Lozar, Ducomm. Also present from the City of Chicago were Jeff Rodrigues, Marcus King and Bill Carter. Jerry Tonne, MABAS VP entered the meeting at @ 10:20 a.m. The committee discussed the use of 154.295 and its implications with the City of Chicago as well as Division 15’s use as a primary dispatch channel. Bill Carter, who is also an APCO frequency coordinator, discussed the need for concurrence letters from co-channel users. The use of the fireground frequencies as mobile only with limited output power was emphasized. Steve Rauter lead a discussion on multi-discipline interoperability channels involving all disciplines, in all bands. Missouri’s proposed model was discussed. Jeff Rodrigues indicated that the Illinois Terrorism Task Force was also addressing the same issues. Bill Carter recommended the addition of four “splinter” 7.5 kHz vhf frequencies in our Interoperability Advocacy Statement. These channels can only be used with narrow band radio equipment. Mr. carter feels that securing the frequencies for fire interoperability would be in MABAS’ best interest. The committee concurred that Advocacy Statement #1 should be amended to include these frequencies. 153.8375 MHz 154.2725 MHz 154.2875 MHz 154.3025 MHz Discussion ensued concerning frequency coordination, statewide plans, and limitations on the use of frequencies. The concept of MABAS coordinating regional deployment of fireground frequencies was presented. The concept of MABAS obtaining concurrence authority by the frequency coordinators was supported. The concept of supporting the use of CTCSS decoding on base stations for both the IFERN and IREACH frequencies was discussed. Interference from out of state co-channel users as well as adjacent channel interference causes many dispatch centers to not monitor these frequencies. A tone of 210.7 Hz (M2) was proposed, as it is the same as the statewide MERCI tone. A three-year implementation was suggested. Jeff Rodrigues will contact the IREACH Board of Directors to discuss this proposal. The meeting adjourned at @ 11:00 a.m. The next meeting was scheduled for Monday, December 16, 2002, 0900 hours at Lisle-Woodridge Station 1. |