[Dispatch] FW: FW: **URGENT NOTICE** RESCHEDULED GATRRS Radio System Critical Maintenance, Sunday night into Monday morning

[Brooks, William]

The maintenance on the Decker radio tower has been rescheduled from midnight to 4 AM on July 22nd . Fire dispatch will be the same crew that was working the first time around so they should have a good understanding of how to proceed with this outage.

One of the big changes is they are taking several IR sites off-line so that nobody should become isolated due to site trunking. FCOM E will be available on the Bastrop system during this outage which should help any crews working on the eastern edge of the county.

ESD02 will have PC alerting available during this outage. ESD11 & 12 as well as Station 401 will need to be contacted by radio or phone for dispatching. We will plan to use FTAC310 for alerting of these crews. Dispatch should conduct a test with each of the effected stations after the tower is taken off line to assure they can still reach units by portable radio on FTAC310. I am most concerned about Station 401 and Station 1201 having reception.

If each affected station would contact fire dispatch on Sunday prior to 2100 hours and confirm with dispatch a landline number and a cell phone number that we may be able to reach the unit by in the event it is necessary.

MDCs should be available throughout this period. You may send a "HIGH" priority message to "FIRE DISPATCH" should you need something and can't contact us by radio. Making the message a high priority increases the likelihood that it want be overlooked in our CAD mail box.

Fire dispatch doesn't always answer our admin line when busy so consider dialing 911 and connecting to us that way if you have emergency communication and radios aren't working. You are assured to have someone answer your call in an emergency.

Janet Kallus will be on-call during this event. I am also available should any questions or concerns arise.

Captain William B. Brooks
Austin Fire Department - 911/Communications

From: Dispatch [mailto:dispatch-bounces at cafcatx.org] On Behalf Of Jeffrey J Wittig
Sent: Friday, July 19, 2013 11:30 AM
To: CAFCA Comm Dist List (dispatch at cafcatx.org)
Subject: [Dispatch] FW: **URGENT NOTICE** RESCHEDULED GATRRS Radio System Critical Maintenance, Sunday night into Monday morning
Importance: High

URGENT NOTICE OF RESCHEDULED MAINTENANCE, GREATER AUSTIN-TRAVIS COUNTY REGIONAL RADIO SYSTEM (GATRRS).

MONDAY, JULY 22ND, 2013, 12:01 A.M. TO 4:00 A.M. (This coming Sunday night into Monday morning).

MUX TROUBLESHOOTING, DECKER PRIME SITE (AUSTIN-TRAVIS COUNTY).

THIS MAINTENANCE WILL TAKE THE DECKER, COLLIER, LOST PINES, AND HOLMAN TOWERS OFF-LINE. AUSTIN FIRE EAST ALERT REPEATER WILL BE OFF-LINE FOR THE DURATION.

WHAT'S HAPPENING SUNDAY NIGHT INTO MONDAY MORNING:

1.       Critical maintenance must be performed as soon as possible at the Decker prime site in Austin-Travis County. A MUX timing-and-control problem was discovered earlier this week. While it has not risen to the level of "emergency," the criticality of the problem requires we take the first, least-disruptive opportunity to perform this work.

2.       Troubleshooting at the Decker prime site will take that tower off-line (site will go dark). We will also turn off the Collier, Lost Pines, and Holman "filler" sites to avoid site-trunking conditions on those towers, which might cause radios to affiliate to them and lose contact with dispatch. Mobile radios in eastern Travis County should stay affiliated to the wide-area simulcast network during this outage; some portable radios may experience coverage problems.

3.       Austin Energy talk groups (which rely on the Lost Pines and Holman towers for coverage at their Fayette County power plant) will be given access to the Bastrop system for the duration.

4.       Austin Fire's East Alert repeater will be off-line during this maintenance. AFD/ESD station alerting through that repeater will be down. The FireCom East talk group will be added to the Bastrop system for the duration to supplement coverage for east-side fire communications.

5.       The backup link to Bastrop will be down during this maintenance. Bastrop's primary link will remain up.

6.       Austin Energy's Backup Center will remain active on redundant links.

HOW WILL YOUR RADIO / CONSOLE / CONSOLETTE / CONTROL STATION BE AFFECTED?

1.       Outage at Decker and Collier will reduce GATRRS coverage in eastern Travis County for ALL GATRRS customers in Austin/Travis.

2.       Outage at Lost Pines (in Bastrop County) and Holman (in Fayette County) will reduce coverage for Austin Energy radios. This will be mitigated by providing AE talk groups temporary access to the Bastrop simulcast layer for continued wide-area coverage.

3.       AFD East Alert repeater will be down; AFD/ESD station alerting from the East Alert repeater will not function. The FireCom East talk group will be added to the Bastrop layer for the duration of this maintenance to supplement coverage for east-side fire communications.

4.       The backup link for the Bastrop County radio system into the GATRRS master site will be down. The primary link will remain up. The Bastrop system should continue operating normally.

ALL GATRRS DISPATCH CENTERS IN THE CAPCOG REGION SHOULD BE PREPARED TO USE BACKUP RADIOS DURING THIS MAINTENANCE PERIOD.

WHO IS AFFECTED?

1.       All GATRRS customers in the CAPCOG region, particularly those in eastern Travis County, may be affected by the site-off conditions during this maintenance.

2.       GATRRS aircraft, especially STAR Flight, may be affected by the site-off conditions during this maintenance.

3.       Austin Fire's East Alert repeater will be off-line during this maintenance. AFD/ESD station alerting from the East Alert repeater will be down.

WHAT IS REQUIRED OF YOU?

1.       AFD must use alternate means to contact East Alert stations during this maintenance. Though the FireCom East talk group will be added to the Bastrop layer for the duration, radio alerting for all east-side ESD stations is not assured.

2.       All customers should be prepared to use mobile date computers, cell phones, and pagers to stay in touch with dispatch and units in the field.

3.       Reduced coverage due to site-off conditions at Decker, Collier, Lost Pines, and Holman will be most noticeable on portable radios. Mobile radios should maintain connection with the wide-area simulcast GATRRS network. All users should be aware that this maintenance is occurring and take necessary steps to stay in touch with dispatch.

4.       Radios that become isolated (stuck) on a tower in the case of unforeseen "site-trunking" events may be power-cycled to force them to seek the wide-area radio network.

PRIOR TO THE START OF THIS MAINTENANCE:
Austin/Travis, Bastrop, Caldwell-Lockhart, and Williamson County dispatch operators (if available) will be contacted to determine if there is a reason to postpone or suspend the scheduled maintenance. EXAMPLES of justification for calling off scheduled maintenance include: Major serious weather moving into the affected area; a multi-alarm fire in progress; a law enforcement agency vehicle pursuit in progress. If the scheduled maintenance procedure is called off, all affected dispatch centers (if available) will be notified of the cancellation.

CONTACTS:

*         City of Austin Wireless Communication Services Division Master Site Engineer: Mike Pena, cell (512) 698-6575, desk (512) 974-0976, e-mail mike.pena at austintexas.gov<mailto:mike.pena at austintexas.gov>.

*         City of Austin Wireless Main # (512) 927-3200, answered 24/7/365.

If you have questions about the planned maintenance or problems during the maintenance, please use either of the contacts listed above. If you need further assistance, please contact Gary Wilks or Chuck Brotherton at the telephone numbers below, or by email.


*         Gary Wilks, desk (512) 927-3229, cell (512) 848-4421, pager (512) 802-9330, email gary.wilks at austintexas.gov<mailto:gary.wilks at austintexas.gov>.

*         Chuck Brotherton, desk (512) 927-3209, cell (512) 636-6825, pager (512) 802-9328, email charles.brotherton at austintexas.gov<mailto:charles.brotherton at austintexas.gov>.

Thank you.

Chuck Brotherton
Manager, Wireless Communication Services Division
Communications and Technology Management
City of Austin
1006 Smith Road
Austin, TX 78721
phone: (512) 927-3209
cell: (512) 636-6825
pager: (512) 802-9328
charles.brotherton at austintexas.gov<mailto:charles.brotherton at austintexas.gov>

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