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MABAS Communications Committee Approved Meeting Minutes May 17, 2004
The meeting was called to order at 10:00 a.m. at Lisle-Woodridge Fire Station 1. Present were committee members Paul Maplethorpe, Round Lake; Steve Rauter, Lisle-Woodridge; Dave Riddle, Channahon; Bill Bouma, Mt. Pleasant and Greg Riddle, IFCA.
Advocacy Statements Final edits were suggested for Advocacy Statements 8 & 9. D/C Rauter will make the final edits and distribute them. He will also ensure that the final drafts are forwarded to President Reardon well in advance of the July Executive Board meeting. Prior to the April Executive Board meeting, several members from Westmont discussed the use of CTCSS tones on the narrow-band fireground frequencies. They have experienced adjacent channel interference in their mobile command center. It was agreed by the Communications Committee that the narrow-band frequencies be programmed with the appropriate CTCSS tones from the beginning. The issue of converting the wide-band frequencies to CTCSS was also discussed. It was agreed to table further discussion until the FCC rules on the combined Petition for Reconsideration dealing with narrow-band conversion is decided. However, the January 1, 2006 deadline for conversion to CTCSS operation on IFERN is rapidly approaching. It was suggested that a mass notification be distributed through the MABAS e-mail tree to all Divisions reminding them of the deadline.
Website Management D/C Rauter reported that President Reardon has been forwarding information for inclusion of the MABAS website. He also reported on the team member password system for the IL TF-1 website.
Tactical Frequency Use Guideline Chief Maplethorpe distributed a draft of a frequency use plan for small to large incidents. The plan is similar to Lake County’s that was developed in 2002, but has been expanded to include the narrow-band fireground frequencies. The Committee agreed to add IFERN 2 to the frequency plan and to forward this to all Divisions for comment. A discussion was held concerning a tactical frequency for communications between EMS transportation and medical control during mass casualty incidents. The Chicago area has used 155.280 for hospital-to-hospital disaster communications; however this frequency is cluttered with hospital paging, school buses and private ambulance services. It was suggested that our committee work with the IFCA EMS Committee and Beverly Mercer at IDPH to develop a new narrow-band frequency statewide for hospital-to-hospital and hospital-to-field disaster coordination. D/C Rauter agreed to present this idea to the IFCA EMS Committee.
Statewide Radio License Chief Maplethorpe reported that the statewide radio license has been held by the FCC as they are requesting additional documentation concerning MABAS’ governmental entity status. He is following up with IMSA and the FCC to resolve the issue.
Old Business Rock Island County Chief Maplethorpe reported that a fire district trustee from Rock Island County approached him at the Fire Service Legislative Day in Springfield in April to discuss their use of IFERN for routine dispatch. It was agreed that a meeting should be held with the affected departments to discuss a transition plan.
Division 15 Chief Riddle distributed a copy of a plan for WESCOM agencies to migrate from Blue Fireground to a new dispatch channel. He reported the goal is to complete the change-over by May 31st.
Aero Medical Communications Chief Riddle reported on his recent meeting with the Illinois Association of Critical Care Transportation Services (IACCTS). This group is reluctant to take stand on using a specific frequency for helicopter landing zones. They agreed that switching to a requested frequency should not be a problem for the pilots, although the message on preferred frequency use is not always disseminated to the flight crews. Chief Riddle asked that the helicopter services not recommend IFERN but offer IREACH if a department is unsure of what frequency to use.
Chief Riddle will be the MABAS Communications Committee representative to IACCTS.
Box Alarm Cards Chief Bouma discussed changing the name of the first level of a MABAS alarm to 1st Alarm instead of Box Alarm. He reported that this has caused confusion for newer divisions and their dispatchers. After a brief discussion, the committee concluded that tradition will prevail and not to recommend any change.
Mobile Command Post Standard The Committee briefly discussed the proposed mobile command post standard. It was agreed that improvements could be made and that this Committee needs to have additional dialogue with the Mobile Command Post Committee since our missions closely parallel each other.
New Business
New Lenox D/C Rauter reported that several individuals have complained about receiving packet message bursts on White Fireground in the south suburbs. Initial investigation indicates that New Lenox is using this frequency to control station alerting and door systems remotely from their dispatch. Chief Riddle agreed to investigate this issue further.
Champaign Area Chief Maplethorpe reported hearing a repeater with an output on Blue Fireground in the Champaign area. The traffic was heard all the way to Bloomington, and appears to be ambulance related. A review of the FCC database does not show any active authorizations in that area. Gregg Riddle will follow up on this issue.
June Meeting The need for a meeting in June was discussed. It was agreed by the members present to cancel the June meeting . Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 11:25 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 19, 2004 at 1000 hours. The location of the meeting will be at the Lisle Village Hall, behind Station 1 at 925 Burlington. Please mark your calendars.
PS: Please RSVP to DC Rauter (srauter@wescom-9-1-1.org) or 630-353-3051 to ensure parking.
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