Info heard on RSO just now...

[convE36]

Just heard deputys complaining about MDC problems...then heard dispatch (Perris-3) talking about what site they are logged on to...

He said, "Are you logged onto South Site or Southwest? We are having problems with the South Site, switch to the Southwest Site..."

Dispatch was talking about Southwest Site and South Site. (As in being two different systems)

Did anyone else hear this just now??????

[zz0468]

Don't make the assumption that the dispatchers have the foggiest idea of what their system looks like, or even how to use it. They usually don't, which is a major factor in the perceptions that the current system is completely inadequate.

[convE36]

Don't make the assumption that the dispatchers have the foggiest idea of what their system looks like, or even how to use it. They usually don't, which is a major factor in the perceptions that the current system is completely inadequate.

hahahahaha

true

[rolncode2892]

The system is totally inadequate and always fails when needed most... such as last Sat night.

Besides that, they were probably referring to South + West system. The deputies can manually select what repeaters their radio uses (as long as they are within range). By swithching to SO + West, they can actually use both systems, instead of just the South system. Makes transmitting and receiving more capable with the crappy system.

[zz0468]

Crickety... duplicate post.

[zz0468]

Actually, "South + West" doesn't mean they're able to use both systems. It means that they can access the West system talk groups in the South system. Sometimes it's necessary, but what happens is, when they do that, the South system is now carrying it's own talk groups as well as some West talk groups. That's the reason the system gets so over loaded. That and all the patching that they do. The congestion, queuing, and missed calls are all due to user mismanagement of the system. The coverage holes are real, but even many of those can be managed with proper use of the system.

All of the system names labeled "SO + West" Or "West + SO" Or "DES + CEN" (or whatever) are hauling traffic out of the home cell, and putting it into a different cell, which will severely tax a systems resources.

[rolncode2892]

Mismanagement or not, the GE/Ericson system the county (originally) paid for is crap. They took the lowest bidder and got what they paid for. And it put a lot of deputies in danger. Motorola told them it could not be done, but they did it anyway.
It is beyond me why the heck they put MDC data on the same frequencies as voice. Radio traffic is often missed, and MDC traffic never gets through. Funny how Riverside County HT's will not work in the mountains, but SB County's does just fine.

Thank God the county pulled their heads out and are now paying for a system that should be able to support all the radio and MDC traffic, and hopefully have the capability to communicate with other agencies (properly)... That patching with other agencies hardly works and the radio traffic is often unintelligable. I guess we will see... hopefully Motorola can pull it off without too many glitches.

[zz0468]

Crap? Why do you say that? EDACS is actually a very good system. The problem with Riverside County's system is simple - not enough sites to provide the coverage necessary, and not enough channels. The hardware is excellent, and probably more versatile than what Motorola was offering at the time. Riverside County has a poor implementation of a good system.

BTW, Motorola said no such thing. They just bid a lot more sites back in 1992, which made them the high bidder.

Low bidder... Yeah. That's what every government agency does. Where Riverside County went wrong was not going low bid, it was providing a poor specification for the vendors to bid against. The MDC's share trunked channels (and indeed, they use the very same voice radio) because the County got a case of the cheaps and didn't want to buy a second radio for data. RSO resisted numerous later attempts to correct that situation, so they are quite culpable in regards to that particular problem. Because of the shared radio, deputies use their ht's inside the car, on a system that was never designed to provided portable coverage. That feeds the perception that the system is faulty.

SB county's system covers as well as it does because they have a 7 site simulcast system serving just the mountain areas. Riverside's system has one trunked site at Santa Rosa, and a new site at Marion Ridge that won't trunk until the new system comes on line. It's an apples and oranges comparison.

It could be argued just how far their head has been pulled out. Merely going to Motorola won't solve their problems, and the new system won't be compatible with the Type II systems surrounding it. There is a great deal of interoperability capability in place now, but it seldom, if ever, gets used. Blame RSO policy for that.

[rolncode2892]

I (and many other deputies) say the system is crap because it has caused numerous injuries and officer safety issues because it does not work. Until someone from IT/Communications is out in the field, fighting for their life, and trying to transmit on an HT to no avail, then they can tell me the system works.

I have been forced to have citizens call 911 to get me units rolling 11-11!!! BS... and I am not talking just about an area like the mountains, or Cabazon/Hemet where the system is ALWAYS having dead zones, I am talking about Riverside. Pedley, Mira Loma, Norco...... no excuse for the system not to work in those areas. That is why they put that stupid convential system at the Jurupa Station and one in Norco... only problem there, if you hit the code red button the system cannot tell you what HT the alert is coming from. Great idea.

You can blame whomever, but the fact remains, the system is broken. If they would have gone Motorola to begin with, we would have been better off. Guys who were around in the early 90's when the system went online said it was much worse than it is now. I cannot imagine!! The county has simply put a band-aid on the system by adding repeaters here and there, while the county has grown exponentially along with the radio/MDC traffic.

I loved working Sat nights, trying to pull up calls or running plates/people. I would get a hit on a stolen vehicle no less than thirty minutes after running it. And not to mention dispatch having to go 10-33 because the system is overloaded. How can anyone do their job effectively like that? Yeah, great system.... I worked SBSO and we NEVER had MDC/Radio issues like we do here.

...Of course, what do I know.... I am simply speaking from a user perspective... and we are never consulted about how we think the system is working.

[rolncode2892]

...and yes, Motorola told the county they could not, and would not, build a system with the amount of repeaters the county was willing to pay for. But GE said, sure, we can do it for X amount of money and they did not provide an adequate amount of repeaters...thus the system failed whenn it first went online... it has been patched and patched, over and over again.

I am just simply saying, when Motorola puts the new system online, I expect there will be glitches, but overall, the system will work much better for the end user (deputies) and Motorola will provide better customer service to fix the problems that do arise. But I guess we will see.....