CantonRep.com staff report
Posted Apr 09, 2010 @ 09:11 PM
The state Office of Information Technology is on the verge of constructing a communications tower in the Alliance area that will serve public safety agencies plus help bring Internet services to Columbiana County’s Knox Township.
The tower will be built on the Knox Township Hall property at 2895 Knox School Rd. The tower will be operated by Multi-Agency Radio Communication System, a state radio and data network providing wireless communication services to subscribers throughout Ohio.
Read the full article here: http://www.cantonrep.com/stark/nestark/x998215801/New-communications-tower-to-enhance-wireless-service
A new licensed was issued by the FCC for Ohio MARCS. This license covers the existing Middle Point,OH (Van Wert Co) site as well as the new site in Florida/Holgate, OH (Henry Co).
Callsign: WQLP294
Site: Middle Point, OH (Van Wert)
Zone/Site ID: 6F0F-028
Frequencies:
- 866.7625
- 867.2375
- 867.7500
- 868.6625
Site: Florida / Holgate, OH (Henry)
Zone/Site ID: 6F0F-036
Frequencies:
- 866.4375
- 867.5875
- 868.8250
If you happen to monitoring the Florida/Holgate site and discover it to be online, please obtain the zone, system ID, any control channels, site alias, etc. and submit this information to RadioReference.
CADIZ – Local law enforcement have another level of communication with upgraded systems for interoperability.
An estimated $43,000 grant from the Ohio Emergency Management Agency has helped equip cruisers with portable radios to stay in touch during emergencies. Sheriff Joe Myers said Ohio Multi-Agency Radio Communications Systems (MARCS) and Allied Information Solutions were on hand for the four-day project, which updated a total of 74 vehicles and portable units.
Read the full article here: http://www.harrisonnewsherald.com/?p=305
A new FCC license is pending for the Ohio MARCS trunked system. This license is for a 5-site simulcast with sites in Cuyahoga, Geauga and Lake Co.
A link to the FCC application is here
A Google Map of the sites can be found here
This application lists sites in Cleveland, Warrensville Heights and Mayfield in Cuyahoga County, Gates Mills in Geauga County, and Wickliffe in Lake County.
Frequencies for the proposed simulcast system are:
- 769.25625
- 769.40625
- 769.50625
- 769.75625
- 770.00625
- 770.15625
- 770.43125
- 770.50625
- 770.68125
- 770.78125
- 770.95625
- 771.23125
- 771.60625
- 771.95625
If you live near enough to the above sites, or if you travel in that area, you may want to be on the lookout for activity/progress with the buildout of this.
Please report any findings in the following RadioReference thread:
http://forums.radioreference.com/ohio-radio-discussion-forum/175238-ohio-marcs-cuyahoga-co-project.html
From the April 13th council minutes pulled from an article on the Carrollton Free Press Standard website:
-ENTERED into an agreement with Ohio Office of Information Technology, Multi-Agency Radio Communications System (MARCS) program to provide six radios for the police department and one radio for the village fire department. These radios would allow police and fire to communicate with the Sheriff’s office. The Sheriff’s department is changing over to the MARCS system. The contract lists fees of $240 per month for police radios and a one-time $50 fee for fire department. However, Fowler explained Darryl Anderson, MARCS program manager told him these fees would be covered through grant monies. Anderson later learned these fees did not qualify to be paid by grant monies. Fowler is going to continue to work on getting these fees alleviated.
Read the full article here: http://www.freepressstandard.com/News/03041609.htm
LISBON — Columbiana County Sheriff Ray Stone will use some of his funding to obtain a $40,000 state grant to purchase equipment that will help his deputies communicate when on a call.
Stone said he will use $13,333 as qualifying matching funds to obtain the $40,000 grant for small radio booster units that will increase the strength of walkie-talkies used by the deputies. The units will go into the trunk of each cruiser.
Last summer, the sheriff’s office purchased the MARCS radio system for $191,154, with county commissioners borrowing the money and making the payments. MARCS — short for Multi-Agency Radio Communication System — was supposed to eliminate the problem of communication blackouts occurring between sheriff’s dispatchers and deputies when in areas of the county where radio reception is poor. “Even with MARCS there are still some weak spots in the system,” Stone said, which is why they applied for the grant to acquire the booster units about the same time they purchased MARCS. The $13,333 in matching funds to qualify for the grant will come from the sheriff’s communication fund.
Read the full article here: http://www.salemnews.net/page/content.detail/id/511467.html
Trustees approved a fire department dispatching contract with the Columbiana County Sheriff’s department on Wednesday.
With a 2-0 vote and Trustee Larry Parker absent, trustees agreed to a five year, zero-percent increase deal that will cost $250 per month.
The township’s fire dispatching had been contracted with Med-Corp., a Toldeo-based firm that discontinued dispatching services to about a half-dozen townships and villages in southern and western Mahoning County recently.
Read the full article here: http://www.salemnews.net/page/content.detail/id/503820.html
LISBON – The Columbiana County Commissioners approved a $193,154 lease deal to purchase a new radio system for the Sheriff’s Office which could save costs and increase safety for deputies who rely on the radio as their lifeline in the field.
“Our radio system has been in dire need of replacement for some time,” Sheriff David Smith said Wednesday, adding it was last upgraded in 1973.
He said the system needed immediate attention. Dispatchers have been losing contact with deputies in the field due to dead spots and one of the towers used as a repeater site in the western part of the county where he has an antenna is being dismantled by the owner.
The commissioners approved a lease/purchase agreement with Dollar Leasing of Cleveland to purchase the equipment for the Multi-Agency Radio Communication System known as MARCS. As part of the five-year deal, the county will make an annual payment of $44,771 beginning July 2009 and then purchase the equipment at the end of the contract for $1.
Read the full article here: http://www.salemnews.net/page/content.detail/id/503288.html
