Regional Radio Network
[Source: SoCalScan / Steve Hronek, Wireless Services Administrator for the City of Glendale]

Steve refers to Jim Walls informative article on SmartZone systems. You can find this article under Resources/Information & News Articles.

Thanks, Jim. I have been ruminating on how to answer the question without getting too technical. You did a great job!

I think you have probably forgotten more about SmartZone than most techs will ever know.

Now, to answer people asking about frequency information, the attraction of ICIS (Interagency Communications Interoperability System) is that each city retains control over their own system.

Each city uses its own frequencies and infrastructure, and if the link to the zone controller is lost, each city will keep on trunking like a SmartNet system. The main difference is they will need to dispatch over-the-air using control stations, when their link to the zone controller and AES (Jim uses AMB, both are correct) is lost.

Jim described a SmartZone system as analogous to a group of SmartNet systems connected together. That is a perfect description of what we are doing. Just think of each city as a SmartNet system.

As far as monitoring, if you want to hear a particular agency, you will just program the frequencies and talkgroups used in that city's cell. You can't hear a city on a distant cell unless a radio from that city has affiliated on the cell you are monitoring. If there's something sensitive it will be encrypted, otherwise you should be able to monitor the system without too many problems. At present, there are no plans to encrypt all traffic, as that is a decision left to each individual city.

The system will be installed mixed-mode, running at 16 KHz occupied bandwidth. Digital modulation will be used primarily for encryption until the FCC forces us to narrowband down to 11 KHz. At that point, digital modulation sounds better than analog, so we will go 100% digital. Darryl and I like things that work well, so we are
encouraging our users to remain analog at 16 KHz as long as possible.

We'll get into more specific information when the system is up and running. We anticipate the Glendale cell will be trunking in September or October.

In the mean time, enjoy monitoring Culver City. If you can monitor that system, you won't have any trouble with ICIS.

Steve Hronek
posted by Tracy Justus at 2/1/2002  

Freq Of Nature's State of the Web Site Address

Freq Of Nature started it's life on the Internet as a link from my personal web site to radio scanning information and resources. It was kind of an online notebook of radio scanning notes, frequencies and links. I soon got tired of writing down the full URL (www.westworld.com/~justus/scanning) when people asked for the address so the web site was moved to a web hosting service and the domain name was registered. After the one year contract was up it was moved to another web hosting service that could provide more reliable service with more features and much more space for the growing web site. This is where we have been for the past couple of years now and will continue to be (For at least another two years anyway).

Keeping in mind that Freq Of Nature is a personal radio scanning web site that focuses on a small geographical area and hasn't been registered with any of the Internet search engines, it's amazing how word of mouth has brought so many people to the site. Read the guestbook entries and many of them mention that someone told them about the site.

With that said .. here's the statistics for Freq Of Nature over the past year.


posted by Tracy Justus at 2/1/2002  

Police envision radio network
[Source: Daily News]

By Helen Gao

GLENDALE -- Looking to improve communications across the sprawling metropolitan area, officials from more than 30 public safety agencies will meet Thursday in Glendale to discuss creating a regional radio network to improve emergency response.
A regional radio system would allow various police departments to talk to their home bases even when they are outside of their jurisdiction. In addition, they would be able to achieve what is called interoperability -- communication among different agencies.

"We've always operated autonomously as islands," said Steve Hronek, Glendale's wireless services administrator, who is promoting the system. "When Glendale police get into pursuit or have to serve a high-risk warrant in another city, once they get a good distance from their home city, they don't talk to anybody anymore."

Among those expected to send representatives are the cities of Burbank, Pasadena, Whittier, Pomona and San Marino, along with California State University, Northridge, the Los Angeles Police Department, and the Los Angeles International Airport Police Department.

Jack Wildermuth, who oversees the maintenance of Burbank's radios, said he is attracted to the regional radio network idea because it would help expand the city's police radio coverage area.

"I think a lot of people are pushing for it because of that," he said. "I think it would be beneficial. We should have looked at that a long time ago. Because of cost and everything, it was kind of pushed aside."

When police officers travel outside of their jurisdiction and lose radio contact, they currently either have to get on another agency's channels to relay a message back to their home base or use their cell phones.

With a standardized radio system, police officers could communicate with each other and across agencies through a virtually seamless system.

"The ultimate goal is to have coverage from Magic Mountain to Disneyland, from Oxnard to Chino," Hronek said.

However, getting there might take cities years because some are struggling to get the money they need to buy new radio equipment that would meet uniform standards.

Among the 30-plus cities that have expressed interest in a radio network, Culver City is the only one that has an up-to-date radio system, officials said. Glendale is in the process of switching to new equipment.

While the idea of interoperability has been around for at least a decade, Hronek said lately it's finally gaining momentum.

"As soon as another city learns what we are doing, the excitement is palpable," he said. "This is something they've wanted to do for a long time.

"Word is getting out. We get more and more calls. It's an exciting project."

posted by Tracy Justus at 1/30/2002