Starting today, we will begin programming the newest version of the LE template into police radios.
For questions, please contact Paul Richmond at prichmond@dublin.oh.us
Author Archives: Webmaster
Board Schedules Special Meeting
The COIRS Governing Board has scheduled a special meeting for Monday April 6th at 9:30am. This will be a teleconference meeting. CLICK HERE to view the meeting agenda.
Anyone wishing to attend this meeting should contact Board Secretary Jay Somerville who can provide the conference bridge instructions.
**SYSTEM MAINTENANCE ANNOUNCEMENT**
ALL CENTRAL OHIO INTEROPERABLE RADIO SYSTEM USERS:
XO Communications notified us that they will be performing upgrades to the network switches that support our radio system on Friday March 13th between 00:01 and 06:00. There will be at least one connectivity interruption of up to 10 minutes during this time frame that will cause the dispatch consoles to lose connection and the system to go into site trunking. Dispatchers will need to be ready to use back up radios/walkies during this outage. Field units may receive the “SITE TRUNKING” notice on their radios, but can continue to operate on their normal talk-groups.
Delaware County will be conducting a software upgrade to the system on Tuesday March 17th at 05:00. The system will have connectivity interruptions that will last through 06:00. These interruption will cause the dispatch consoles to lose connection and the system to go into site trunking. Dispatchers will need to be ready to use back up radios/walkies during this outage. Field units may receive the “SITE TRUNKING” notice on their radios, but can continue to operate on their normal talk-groups.
If you have any questions/concerns about the outages, please contact Patrick Brandt, Paul Richmond or Jay Somerville
Radio Programming – Feb 27th
On Friday February 27th, NRECC’s Paul Richmond will complete programming radios at Washington Twp Fire. COIRS is updating the radio templates to accommodate the move by Madison County Fire, Pleasant Valley Joint Fire District and Union County Fire agencies to the MARCS 7x platform. In addition, the new Columbus Fire new talk group plan, new NRECC back up talk groups and other minor changes will be added.
CLICK HERE to view the new unified Northwest Fire template.
**SYSTEM MAINTENANCE ANNOUNCEMENT**
ALL CENTRAL OHIO INTEROPERABLE RADIO SYSTEM USERS:
XO Communications notified us that they will be performing upgrades to the network switches that support our radio system on Friday February 13th between 00:01 and 06:00. There will be at least one connectivity interruption of up to 10 minutes during this time frame that will cause the dispatch consoles to lose connection and the system to go into site trunking. Dispatchers will need to be ready to use back up radios/walkies during this outage. Field units may receive the “SITE TRUNKING” notice on their radios, but can continue to operate on their normal talk-groups.
COIRS will be conducting a fiber network upgrade on Monday February 16th at 05:00. The system will have one connectivity interruption that will last up to fifteen minutes. This interruption will cause the dispatch consoles to lose connection and the system to go into site trunking. Dispatchers will need to be ready to use back up radios/walkies during this outage. Field units may receive the “SITE TRUNKING” notice on their radios, but can continue to operate on their normal talk-groups.
If you have any questions/concerns about the outages, please contact Paul Richmond or Jay Somerville
System Upgrade Complete
The upgrade of the COIRS radio network and dispatch center consoles was completed today. Motorola experienced problems bringing the south simulcast up, but we were able to operate Dublin, Hilliard and Worthington off of the Delaware simulcast while the problems were resolved.
All subscribers, talk-groups and consoles are up and fully functional. There are some minor punch list items that remain relating to console configurations that will be resolved tomorrow.
Thank you to Shannon McMellon, Kim Link and the entire team at Motorola and B&C for their excellent work today. Also, thank you to the dispatch staff who worked seamlessly through the interruptions to ensure public safety was never compromised.
System Upgrade Ready to Go!
Starting on today at 9am, Motorola will complete the upgrade to the COIRS radio system. This upgrade involves a “hard cut” over to the new system and will affect all agencies in Delaware & Franklin County that use the COIRS system. Below are the details of the cut over plan and what to be prepared for when it occurs:
- At 9am, Motorola will move four of the seven frequencies off of the old system to prepare for the cut over. This means there will be only three frequencies available for radio traffic. Please limit non-essential radio traffic between 9am and the actual cut over. There will be “busy signals”, so be prepared for them. Emergency banners will fully work and should be employed if you have emergency radio traffic and get a busy signal.
- Sometime around 12pm, the cut over will take place. The radio system will be completely down for approximately two minutes. When this happens, you will receive an “OUT OF RANGE” indication on your radio. We are recommending that you turn your radio off and back on. This will reset the radio and ensure your radio connects with the new system when it comes up. All radio functions, including emergency banners, will NOT work during this two minute period.
- Should there be a problem with the cut-over, units are to switch over to your designated back up talk-group and check in with the dispatcher. Announcements will be made prior to the cut over and after the cut is complete to make sure all units make the transition.
- Please be patient with dispatchers as they will be operating on walkies for much of the day tomorrow. This is because they are getting new dispatch consoles as part of this upgrade and it takes significant time to cut over each workstation.
- Radio system users do not need to perform any other tasks and walkie/mobiles do not need to be reprogrammed for this upgrade. Once the old system is turned off, your radios will automatically affiliate with the new system and all of the talk-groups, zones and IDs will remain the same.
- If there is an in-progress emergency or inclement weather tomorrow, the upgrade could be delayed.
If you have any questions, contact Jay Somerville or Patrick Brandt.
Hard Rd Tower Off-Line
The Hard Road tower site has been taken off line as of 9am today. This site will remain off line until the system upgrade cut over set for December 9th. Users will notice diminished in-building coverage along the Scioto River corridor and in areas of Historic Dublin.
Due to the size of the equipment shelter and the fiber optics used to connect this site to the network, it had to be taken off line while Dublin IT and B&C Technicians complete hardware upgrades.
Cut-Over Set for Dec 9th
On Tuesday 12/09 starting at 8am, the upgrade of the COIRS radio system will begin and is expected to last approximately 36 hours. We are upgrading the system to version 7.14 and moving it to the latest IP technology.
A detailed plan for the cut-over will be provided this coming Friday, but here is a preview.
For responders, most of the transition will be transparent. Radios DO NOT need to be touched or reprogrammed. All of the talk-groups will remain the same. There will be three primary impacts:
- Channels will be converted in two groups. During the conversion, only half of the normal talk-paths will be available so busy signals will be probable. Keeping unnecessary radio traffic to a minimum during this period will help greatly.
- The Hard Road tower site will be off line for several days before and during the conversion to accommodate hardware and connectivity upgrades specific to that site. Walkie coverage along the river corridor will be affected.
- Roaming between the Dub/Wor/Hill side of the system and the Delaware side of the system will be restricted. This may cause minor coverage problems in some of the border areas.
For dispatchers, console cutover impacts are:
- Consoles will be cut over in groups. There will be a period of time when dispatchers will be operating on back up radios/control stations. Motorola will make every attempt to bring half of the new MCC7500 consoles up on the new system as soon as the first group of channels is converted. During this conversion, walkies/control stations will need to be used. ‘
- For high risk incidents where radio traffic is critical, be prepared to use the EMERGENCY feature on the consoles to hold the frequency. This will keep users at the incident from getting busy signals and ensure resources are available.
- Be prepared to move to back up systems if needed (MARCS/COLS)
We will be meeting with Motorola on Wednesday to review the final cut-over plan. Once that plan is final, a detailed description will be sent. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Jay Somerville or Patrick Brandt.
7x Upgrade Status Report
The network connectivity for the new 7x upgrade was completed to the primary sites was completed and passed testing earlier this month. An upgrade cutover date has been set for Tuesday December 9th. A detailed schedule for the cut over will be provided by December 5th. Access to the system will remain available during the cutover with the exception of console connectivity.
The transition of the Hard Road site will take place starting December 3rd when that site will be taken off line to allow for fiber upgrades and the addition of the new hardware. The installation of the Hilliard Darby site is still pending final design and construction by our partners at Verizon.
If you have any questions about the upgrade, please contact Patrick Brandt or Jay Somerville.