MABAS Special Communications Committee
Meeting Minutes
January 15, 2003
The meeting was called to order at 9:00 a.m. at Lisle-Woodridge Fire Station 1. Present were committee members Paul Maplethorpe, Round Lake; Steve Rauter, Lisle-Woodridge; Larry Matkaitis, Chicago; John Lozar, Ducomm; Bob Mierop, Bolingbrook; Bill Carter, Chicago and Jerry Tonne, MABAS Exec. Board.
The committee discussed proposed Amendment #1 to Advocacy Statement #1. There were no further comments or corrections. The need for securing additional fireground channels statewide, even in rural areas, was stressed. D/C Tonne will take this amendment to the MABAS Executive Board for introduction.
Discussion ensued concerning Division 15, WESCOM dispatch, and their use of 154.295 for routine dispatch. Chief Riddle was contacted by telephone concerning the status of equipment surveys. Chief Riddle will attempt to complete the survey prior to the January 22nd MABAS Executive Board meeting.
Advocacy Statement #6 concerning CTCSS tones was discussed. Bill Carter suggested we expand the statement to include unique CTCSS tones for each of the fireground channels. Discussion ensued concerning adjacent channel interference and rf splatter in command vehicle settings. The consensus of the committee was to modify Statement #6 to include unique CTCSS tones for each of the fireground channels in addition to the IFERN frequencies. Common CTCSS tones were explored. Chief Maplethorpe agreed to survey common CTCSS codes in use on fire frequencies and select unique tones for the frequencies. The revised statement will be e-mailed to all committee members for input prior to the January 22nd MABAS Executive Board Meeting.
D/C Tonne discussed frequency use for fire service/IMERT response teams. Various communications scenarios were discussed and the advantages and disadvantages to various modes of communication. Existing VHF frequencies were discussed including MERCI and IREACH frequencies. Discussion then centered toward developing a hospital mutual aid frequency that IMERT teams could utilize. MERCI 280 (155.280 mHz) was considered a good choice for this use. D/C Tone will talk with IDPH representatives and perhaps invite them to a future committee meeting.
The status of the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association communications committee was discussed. The concept of merging our committee with the IFCA committee was considered. This will allow Illinois’ fire service to speak with one voice on communications issues. A/C Rauter will speak to Gregg Riddle and invite him to our meetings.
MABAS Communications Committee
January 15, 2003 Page 2 of 2
A/C Rauter reported that PSWIN is now included in GSA purchasing.
A/C Rauter discussed statewide mobile data. A plan to allow sharing of mobile data systems was presented to the legislature on December 31st. Under consideration is the sharing of resources statewide across all public safety.
The meeting adjourned at 10:45 a.m. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, February 17, 2003 at 1000 hours at Lisle-Woodridge Station 1.