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Miami RCC

Duty Officer Training

Presented by:

In co-operation with:

Topics:

Backup Radio – pg 2

Backup Portables – pg 6

Remote Console Login – pg 8 (Take over for other RCC)

Interagency – pg 9

Mutual Aid Systems – pg 10

Florida Interoperability Network - 14

NOTE: Since many of the tasks discussed herein are not every day functions, it

is strongly recommended that duty officers keep this handout as a reference guide for future needs. Rev 3b 1/11

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Backup Radio Page – MRCC Site Link Failure

Back up radios provide the duty officer with a work around in the event of microwave link failures or site switching failures.

RCC Equipment

TOWER Equipment

Backup Radio

at tower

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Back Up radios are installed at individual sites (round symbols), and one for each simulcast area (square and diamond symbols). As example: (names are truncated to fit character limit) BROWARD Simulcast site has towers Pompano, Markham Park, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, FMP Miami, Cape Florida. Each key is own system. When reviewing map, use the all CAPITALS name under the symbol.

These lines DO NOT indicate back up radio coverage – they are for Mutual Aid coverage

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Backup Radio Page – MRCC (FHP) Screen Layout

NOTE: The Harris NOC will usually advise if the backup radio at a site is functional for use. Back up radios will not work, as example, if a site has lost commercial power and the generator/ups has failed. If you are in doubt about which BU radio to select, ask the NOC.

Access Backup Radio Screen using Screen Toolbar on Right Each Tower Site (round symbol on map) has a module Simulcast Systems (square and diamond) have a single module for all towers Modules are normally muted, you must unmute to hear.

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Backup Radio Page – MRCC console screen how to use

First Open Conventional Control

Then click on channel selection and it will turn white Channel 1 is IA-MIA-1 (or IA-KEY-1 if in the keys) Channel 2 is IA-MIA-2 (or IA-KEY-2 if in the keys) Channel 3 and 4 repeat 1 and 2 Channel 5 is used for Maintenance / Testing No other Channels or Functions are supported ** DO NOT LEAVE ON CHANNEL 5 – IF FOUND, CHANGE TO 1 ** Mobiles and Portables are set to scan these groups, unless the

trooper/officer has scan turned off.

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BACK UP PORTABLE RADIOS

The RCC has a cache of hand held portable radios to use in the event of a console failure. These radios are different for FHP or FWC. (if provided at your center) You must select the correct radio for the function of your console, as only certain talk groups are in each radio. To start using a portable, turn the small volume knob on the top to ¾ ways up. Wait for the radio to find a tower (top line) and become ready for use. Turn large knob (next to antenna) to select the talkgroup you wish to transmit on. The middle line of the face display shows the talkgroup. Top line shows shows the tower when standing by. When receiving it shows the incoming LID, aliases do not appear. To transmit, hold the radio with the antenna straight up. When ready to talk, press in the large button on the left side of the radio, and wait for the go ahead tone (mid pitch), then talk. Speak across the front of the radio, about 4-6 inches from your mouth. Speak in a normal tone, do not raise voice. If when you press the transmit button you hear a very high pitch tone, wait for the go ahead (mid pitch) talk tone. That indicates that you did not have a channel to use, or someone else had begun to speak. You do not have priority on a radio, like you have on the console. Unless you need to be listening to other talkgroups, for clarity it is recommended you turn off scan. To turn off or on the scan function, press the “ 3 “ button. When scan is on, you will see an arrow rotating on the bottom line of the display. Turning off scan can make selecting the transmit group easier, especially when many people are talking. It is recommended that dispatchers who are not familiar with portable radios practice at non critical times. Dispatchers should be able to select correct talkgroups and communicate with the radio. Radios should be checked for operation monthly by making and receiving calls during non busy times.

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BATTERY MAINTENANCE

For centers that have TWO sets of backup radio batteries, it is recommended that batteries be cycled on a weekly basis; preferably on night shift. To do the task, follow these steps at beginning of shift:

1) Inspect bank charger, all battery lights should be in green (ready) state

(if not see below *)

2) Remove portables and take off the charged batteries; set them aside.

3) Take previously charged batteries from plastic bin and install on radios.

4) Turn on the radio, with volume down. Do not return to charger at this time.

5) When all the radios are on and discharging batteries, take the set aside (step 2) and place in bin.

6) Now wait until near end of shift and inspect that all portables are still on.

(if not see below **)

7) Turn off radios and place in charger with discharge battery. Pocket light should turn red

(charging).

* If a battery lamp never turns to green ready state (after 24 hours), try it in another pocket. If still not charging, report to NOC you have a bad backup radio battery that may need replaced. If a pocket on the charger always fails to charge, then report to NOC you may have a charger problem. * * If a radio does not stay on for a shift; tag the battery with tape, and request that it be cycle tested. Do return it to the charger and cycle with rest of batteries until it can be tested. Batteries must be recharged weekly to last a shift.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Batteries, chargers, antenna and accessories shall remain in the RCC, and are not to be exchanged with field operations. Troopers/Officers should be referred to local policy for radio maintenance or needs. Do not make their problem, your problem, when you urgently need to use a back up portable.

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REMOTE CONSOLE LOGIN – 3 STEPS

1st - Use Exit Maestro on Main Menu. If asked to save, Click Yes. Click Yes to Confirm. 2nd - Use Start / Shutdown / Logoff

to log off Windows

3rd - Use Cntl-Alt-Delete to Log back into Windows with the new login. The password is the

same as the user name

FMRCC MRCC ftmy-patrol mia-patrol ftmy-investagative mia-investigative ftmy-supervisor mia-supervisor TBRCC LWRCC tpa-patrol l1-patrol tpa-investagative l2-patrol tpa-supervisor lkw-investigative lkw-supervisor JRCC jax-patrol ORCC lcty-patrol orl-patrol jax-investagative orl-investigative lcty-investagative orl-supervisor jax-supervisor lcty-supervisor TRCC tall-patrol pen-patrol tall-investagative pen-investagative tall-supervisor pen-supervisor

LOGINS FWC: lcty-fwcc (JRCC) pan-fwcc (TRCC) lkld-fwcc (TBRCC) mar-fwcc (MRCC) oca-fwcc (ORCC)

wpb-fwcc (LWRCC) (FMRCC - none)

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SLERS Inter-Agency Talkgroups

InterAgency Talkgroups are for use for operations with State Law Enforcement -

Mutual Aid Systems

The above illustration is from the Joint Task Force, Standard Operating Procedure 2A Rev. 8 10-26-2006 It is recommend that duty officer supervisors review this guideline and discuss with your command if you have questions regarding state interagency communications.

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Mutual Aid – Miami RCC Tower Locations and Clusters

MUTUAL AID Console layout is based around area. Broward and Dade counties are one simulcast system indicated as 8CALLMIA, and 8TAC1MIA. Some keys include more than one site. (tech note: MRCC does not have steered sites like other RCCs.)

8CALLUKY

8CALLMIA

8CALLPIN

8CALLFLA

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Mutual Aid Systems – MRCC

Console Screen Layout

Each Cluster (area) has Calling and Tac-1 arranged vertically Example: 8CALLMIA = 800MHz, Calling Miami and Dade County Unselected Mutual Aid Audio is heard on 3rd Speaker at console Calling is normally NOT muted, Tac-1 is normally muted, you must

unmute to hear

Access Mutual Aid page by clicking

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Mutual Aid Systems – MRCC Repeater Enable / Disable

Click to Enable – box is white when enabled Click again to Disable – box is grey when disabled No other functions are active Normal Operational State for all channels is Repeater Disabled When disabled, communications from Mobile is NOT heard by other Mobiles, only by dispatch. When Enabled, communications from Mobile is heard by both

other Mobiles in the area of the tower and Dispatch

Technical note: There are two types of Mutual Aid groups of towers, Simulcast and Voted/Steered. Operation of Simulcast is transparent to the duty officer, and no action is needed other than regular on console. Voted/Steered may need selection by the duty officer at the dedicated computer consoles for this purpose. These are the PCs with the blue screen.

To enable/disable a mutual aid repeater, you must select the channel first (yellow select highlight) then click on the “Conv Control” button. This will bring up the conventional channel control box.

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Simulcast System – Mobile Transmitting, Dispatcher Receiving

Voter will select the strongest signal from multiple towers to be received by dispatch

Simulcast System – Dispatcher Transmitting, Mobile Receiving

System will transmit simultaneously from all towers, signals are synchronized by central and site equipment, mobile will receive from strongest tower, or multiple towers

VOTER

TX SYNCRONIZER

Selected path

End of Harris Training

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FIN QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

Radio Talkpath (Connect to Radio)

1. Click on this icon. The “SELECT RESOURCE” dialog box appears.

2. You may now refine your search by using the dropdown filters.

Examples Agency – Police, Fire, Mutual Aid,… Region – Pensacola, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa Bay… County – Hendry, Orange, Leon, Putnam, Collier… PSAP – Bradford-so, bro-dof-ftl, lak-lady-lk-pd

3. Select the resource you desire (mouse click) then click “OK” You should here a tone if resource is available for use Important note—some resources may be multi-county. If a resource does not appear in the window, set the filter to ALL. A transmitter control box will appear. Three squares appear inside this box as follows:

RED (SPEAK/RECEIVE) – Transmit (using PTT) Receive GREEN (LISTEN ONLY) – Workstation will RECEIVE only

GRAY (HOLD) – will not transmit or receive. *.To disconnect, right click in blank area then click „Delete‟. To transmit, select RED “S” and press button on microphone, Or place mouse arrow over PTT and left click.

Radio-To-Radio (patch) Talkpath

1. Click on this icon. The “SELECT TWO RADIOS FOR TALKPATH” dialog box appears.

2. You may now refine your search by using the dropdown filters.

3. Use the CTRL key held down to select the two choices. Click OK.

. Note: The patch will be listed in the PATCH LIST window, however no module will appear on the FIN desktop. To be included in the conversation, set up a radio talkpath (above) To disconnect, double-click on either radio name in the “PATCH LIST” window and click disconnect radio connection.

If patching to a console or control station, the owning agency may need to make a selection.

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FIN QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

Dispatch Talkpath

1. Click on this icon. The “SELECT RESOURCE” dialog box appears.

2. You may now refine your search by using the dropdown filters.

3. Select the dispatch center (mouse click) and then click OK

Important note—Some resources may be multi-county. If a resource does not appear in the window, set Filter to ALL

RED (SPEAK/RECEIVE) – Transmit & Receive. GREEN (LISTEN ONLY) – Workstation will RECEIVE only. GRAY (HOLD) –, you will not transmit OR receive.

To disconnect, click in blank area and select delete

Conference call of several dispatch centers

1. Click this icon. The “CREATE CONFERENCE” selection box appears. 2. Delete the default conference name. 3. Type new conference name. (Pertaining to incident)

Max. 19 characters - No caps- No spaces (dashes if necessary)

4. Press and hold the “CTRL” (Control) key while clicking on the PSAP‟s you wish to have in your conference. (The initiating agency will not appear in the list.) Max of 8 members per conference.

5. Click „OK‟.

6. To disconnect a conference, click the initial icon, which now has an “X” over it.

You can ADD or DELETE participants by clicking in the blank area of the box and selecting “Add Resource: or select “Delete Resources”

Change Conference Bridge can transfer ownership to another agency, thereby permitting you to leave the conference

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DISABLEDDDD

ENABLED

FIN QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

Double Click Here

Repeater Control

Mobile to dispatcher communications is available as soon as a Radio Talkpath is established on the FIN

console display. To have car to car communications on many resources, including mutual aid channels,

the tower repeater must be turn on.

To enable “repeat” first double click on the tower above the red S.

Then on the box that opens next to resource, click on the tower. It will change appearance to indicate if

repeat enable or disable.

Etiquette

If you are not the owner or manager of a resource, it is good policy to check with the agency

that hosts the resource before you connect and use it.

NOTE: Sometimes a repeater may be enable in the repeat mode (by some other control point) and it not show on the FIN console. If you are in doubt as to what state the repeater is in, toggle back and forth.

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Radio Talkgroup Patch

• FIN-MIA1 to any Talkgroup on Console

FIN Workstation Resource Patch

• SOF-IOPATCH-MIA1 to Other agency Resource

• Workstation to workstation first

Confirm Connections

• Users Test in Field

FIN MIA1 --------------- sof-iopatch-mia1

FIN MIA2 --------------- sof-iopatch-mia2

FIN MIA3 --------------- sof-iopatch-mia3

FIN MIA4 --------------- sof-iopatch-mia4

Radio Console

Talkgroup Name

FIN Resource

Name

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WEB RESOURCES: SLERS & Interoperability Training

http://slerstraining.state.fl.us/

Public Safety Information for the State of Florida

http://dms.myflorida.com/suncom/public_safety

Florida Interoperable Network Information

http://dms.myflorida.com/suncom/public_safety/radio_communications/florida_interoperabili

ty_network_fin

Florida Interoperable Network ON LINE TRAINING

http://dms.myflorida.com/design/dms2/flash/Inoperability/index.htm

Homeland Security Public Safety Communications

http://www.safecomprogram.gov/SAFECOM/about/default.htm

The Association of Public Safety Communications Officials – Training Courses

http://www.apco911.org/institute/

Dispatcher On-Line Magazine

http://www.911dispatch.com/db/index.php