Category Archives: System Milestones

The connectivity interruption has been resolved and the UA tower is back in service.

At approximately 18:25 today, contractors working on the fiber segment in Upper Arlington interrupted connectivity to the UA tower site. UA Information Technology is working with the contractor to investigate the interruption and restore the connection. Responders operating in the Upper Arlington area will experience decreased in-building coverage. Updates will be posted as they are received. There is currently no ETA.

For any questions, please contact Jay Somerville or the NRECC supervisor.

At 23;15 on technicians from FiberTech/Lightower completed repairs to the damaged fiber bringing the Hilliard Darby tower is back on line.

Motorola engineers, along with staff from COIRS, completed the final checklist and officially brought the site up on the air this morning. This site is now bringing expanded area coverage and improved in building coverage in Hilliard, Norwich Twp and Brown Twp. The two channel expansion was also completed on all sites but will not be turned on until COIRS receives FCC approval.

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.

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.

Today, B&C Communications is completing the installation of emergency school radios at each of the Hilliard City Schools. These radios, often referred to as “MARCS in Schools” were installed in the office of each school to enhance security and provide a direct line of communication in the event of an active violence incident at the facility. These radios, which are among the first on the COIRS network, will be monitored by the Northwest Regional Emergency Communications Center. A protocol that includes an immediate and large scale response by both Police and Fire/EMS has been developed and implemented.

CLICK HERE to see previous news coverage from 10TV about the program.