KC2KZZ's Scanner & Weather Blog

2011 Predictions Revisited. How did I do?

2011-12-19T15:39:00.001-05:00

As many of you remember, I made some wild predictions last January that managed to piss a whole lot of people off (and bloat the ego's of others). I am reposting every single one and how close I came.

Warren County

1. Warren County Fire Will Not make it to VHF high thisyear. They will spend the entire year shaking out the Police Frequencies thatneed to be Narrow Banded.

Well I was right on with this one. Theysay VHF radio installation will start in February. (+1 for me)

2. Police Consolidation will continue. Lopatcong &Pohatcong are planning to merge. Greenwich will hold out for a while but willeventually join up. I see the state jacking up the NJSP cost to towns. Oncethat happens you will see Mansfield, Hackettstown & Independence all mergeinto 1 Dept. They will in turn start to cover Liberty and Allamuchy. In thecentral region, expect to see Washington take over PD for Franklin. Belivderewill remain independent and take over White Twp. Harmony will fall also,probably to the new South Regional PD.

I was a bit off, actually I probably predicted too farinto the future on this one. The Lopat-Pohat merger fell apart, becauseone of the Police chiefs decided not to retire. Sounds a lot like someone didn’t like what was happening and derailedit. I say conspiracy. (- 1)

3. The Demise of Franklin Twp. Rescue. They are alreadymaking only 50% of their calls, and thats giving them the benefit of the doubt.Sooner or later there is bound to be an incident, that that will be the end ofFTRS, with the territory split up between Washington, Bloomsbury & Greenwich.

56 Rescue is hanging in there like an old wart. They are on dual alert more often than not,so in my defense I am going to say that they cheated to stay afloat. (Tie)

4. The rise of Hackettstown Hospital EMS. They already coverMount Olive and do their own transports. Watch as they slowly start taking overEMS on the Eastern side of the county and beyond.

Well they haven’t really expanded as much as I thought theywould, however HRMC Rigs seem to beeverywhere. If nothing else they have taken over transports in the area (Tie)

And finally my favorite:

5. Phillipsburg Rescue - Rise of the Evil Empire! (I should get a 94 Rescue shirt for coming up with that)

This is really a multi part prediction. Now that Pburg EMSis licensed and is billing:

5a. Paid Day crew goes into service.

I called it (+1)

5b. Battle over Pohatcong Twp. E94 wins

The battle over Pohat & Alpha is ongoing still (Noscore)

5c. E94 expands into Lopatcong due the the volume of NursingHome Calls, adds 2nd paid day crew

Calling this one a tie. 94 hasn’t gained a permanent foothold, and 74/98 are banding together tokeep 94 out. 2^nd day crew maybe imminent also (Tie)

5d. Lopatcong EMS goes under as E94 provides faster responseand is more cost effective.

Lopat EMS is still here (-1)

5e. E94 Takes over all of Harmony Twp.

Since 56 still doesn’t make half their calls, I would saythat 74 has made more progress than anyone (-1)

5f. E94 Takes over Greenwich Twp., Washington EMS takes overall of Franklin.

I will admit I was way too optimistic , however in my defense the squads are pretty muchcovering each other, so as far as I am concerned they cheated (Tie)

Commentary on #5:

This isn't all that far fetched. Once Franklin Rescue goesdown, you will see an EMS power vacuum ensue. To avoid this, Greenwich, Lopatand Franklin should Merge into 1 Dept. Sooner rather than later (why Franklinisn't already shopping for a merger defies all logic to me). I left this here just so you all can read it again, I still believe this will eventually happen.

6. Lebanon Twp. EMS. Amid bankruptcy, the Squad will dissolve. Ambulances will wind up back in the town's possession (hence the fire dept.) and will fade into the abyss. - I have to say it is time for them to accept that the town screwed them and that it's over. It doesn't really matter who is at fault anymore. Go put your applications in over at 44 or 13 Rescue and move on.

That is exactly what happened, although I am not sure what happened the ambulances (+1)

Now for my NJ State Predictions

1. NJSP Cutbacks. As the state struggles to balance thebudget, you will see them jack up rates for local police coverage. This willbring the rise of regional Police Depts. and hence Trooper reductions. Expectthe NJSP to eventually turn into just Highway Patrol.

Chris Christie Saved the day with his hard line budget cuts. (-1)

2. Somerset County. I don't see the county wide police ideato take off. I do expect to see regional police depts emerge. Everyone in thecounty will eventually wind up on the trunk system.

So far, this is pretty much what has been happening (+1)

3. Demise of the State run Medevacs. With so many hospitalsjumping into the Medevac arena, see at least SouthSTAR be shut down. MONOC willexpand with another Medevac up north, and another Medevac will show up atTrenton Airport. Then Northstar will be shut down too. Remember those added DMVFee's they added to pay for the Helicopters? Those will stick around.

Yea that didn’t happen yet (-1)

4. Encryption, Mototrbo, Provoice...it continues and getsworse

Of course (+1)

5. Sussex County. See at least 1 Dispatch Center get shutdown, however no county wide dispatch center.

Talks have been in place and everyone with a dispatch centeris bitching that they don’t want to close it (Tie)

So how did I do? As far as the Warren County area goes, I was right on twice, and way off 3 times. There were 5 Ties and 1 no score also.

On the state predictions 2 on, 2 off and 1 tie.

Conclusion: Keep in mind that I made these predictions with almost no inside information. The 94 Rescue paid day crew stuff I had no idea about at all. More often than not, I was at least partially correct in my predictions on most of the points I covered. Now it is time to start thinking about 2012.....

Blogs are back!

2011-07-09T07:38:00.001-04:00

Since facebook doesn't really allow lengthy posts, I will be resuming my blogs/rants here and I will link them from facebook.

This blog has moved

2011-06-23T08:50:00.003-04:00

I decided to go with a facebook fan page. Hopefully I will be able to update things more there.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/KC2KZZs-Scanner-Files/226189824078849

NJ Transit Police to move to NJ Trunk System?

2011-05-04T11:32:00.001-04:00

The Idea is being seriously considered. You can listen to them test on the NJSP System on Talkgroup 54896.

Portland Ambulance Corps folds, Mayor has the audacity to act surprised

2011-04-05T09:19:00.003-04:00

You can read the entire article here:

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/slate-belt/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/130197721258280.xml&coll=3

The best part of this is the Mayor's response: Portland's acting Mayor Lance Prator said. “It came out of the blue.”

"Out of the blue" really? I guess everyone forgot about the article several years ago about Portland EMS and how they said how dire their financial situation was back then ever since Knowlton got their own Rescue squad. If Mayor Prator (and many other's) had any clue to what was going on with their Emergency Services, they would have known this.

I came to a realization that I was unfairly putting the blame on this EMS on the squads, when I really should be putting it on the municipalities. Lets compare the squads to an undisciplined 5 year old. Is it his fault that he wrecks havoc and is disruptive? No, its the parents fault for not keeping him in check. Same goes for the squads. Most towns for the most part (some exceptions: Rocky Hill, Lebanon Twp.) have had a total hands off approach. Unless the squad comes to the town looking for money, or something negative shows up in the paper, the towns don't get involved. They have no idea how long you wait for an ambulance, or the crap that goes on in the meetings, or the by law changes that only benefit 8 squad members out of 40. It's actually quite the opposite, what you see is a member of the squad goes to the town meetings, says everything is great, and no one checks up on it. Ask any town council member what the run stats are on their squad and guarantee they will be hard pressed to come up with an answer that even makes sense.

So the real losers here are the members who worked hard all these years, and the residents of NJ who relied on Portland to back up Knowlton (I am sure Medic 9 won't be crossing the state line). Everyone give the town council's a big round of applause for another job well done.

Statewide County/Local Govt Trunk System, yes this is how it can be done

2011-03-30T10:57:00.011-04:00

A thought struck me this morning, we have a lot of Motorola UHF trunk systems in NJ...and I mean a lot. All these counties and some towns spending all this money on redundant systems. So I began to think, what if we connected all the existing sites into one massive system. What would it look like? Lets assume first that everyone upgrades the existing systems to 9600 baud systems (which is probably going to be done anyway). This is what it looks like:

Note: All the images are roughly done and are not based on actual tests. This is to give you an idea of what is possible.

Dark Blue are actual systems in place. Light blue are under construction or proposed. Yellow are counties with enough UHF Frequencies to sustain a trunk system and white is nothing. The Pink are existing 800 Edacs systems I put in for reference. As you can see roughly half the state is covered by UHF Trunk.

So lets add the local trunk systems and see what happens:

As you can see we gain a bit more (I mistakenly added Atlantic City as a UHF trunk System below). Notice the clusters in Middlesex, Essex and Hudson?

As most of you know, most of these trunk systems overlap into adjacent counties, so lets adjust for that:

This is where it gets interesting. Essex and Hudson are nearly all covered, along with half of Union. So finally, lets convert the Yellow counties, and complete the sites under construction:

I now bring you the NJ Statewide trunk system. Just by completing what is already in progress, and converting some existing sites, we have 80% of the state covered. In addition, we also solve the Interoperability issue in NJ. Also, we could offload some of the services off the NJSP system, such as State Fire Coordinators, EMS Task Force, NJ Task Force 1, and Medevac's. The gains from this would be enormous.

Now I am not saying that everyone should join the system. Camden City, Newark, Paterson etc should probably be on their on system.

So how do we pay for it? Sell everything to a vendor and lease it back per subscriber. The towns and counties get most if not all of their money back. You only have to pay for what you use. The vendor can then complete the system to the north and south and we are on our way.

I would like to hear some thoughts on this.

It's All Crashing down!

2011-03-30T09:42:00.003-04:00

First:

To save money, Franklin Twp. considers eliminating its police force

http://www.nj.com/hunterdon-county-democrat/index.ssf/2011/03/to_save_money_franklin_twp_con.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Then:

Raritan Police to move dispatch to Somerset County 9-1-1 Communications Center

http://www.nj.com/messenger-gazette/index.ssf/2011/03/raritan_police_to_move_dispatch_to_somerset_county_9-1-1_communications_center.html

Finally:

I have heard that Rocky Hill First Aid Squad has been taken out of service by order of the town, due to response times and in-fighting. Montgomery has taken over the town for the foreseeable future.

and on a low note, we have a nor'easter heading our way with the potential for some snow. Is this winter ever going to end?

NJ Transit Completes Tetra Power Trunk Trail. No word on who gets the new radio system contract.

2011-03-25T10:44:00.001-04:00

http://tetramou.com/tetramou.aspx?id=11696

St. Claire's Medics

2011-03-25T09:36:00.004-04:00

I couldn't help but notice that during the roll over this morning on Route 80 in Hardwick, ALS 517 didn't sign on until a good 20 minutes after the initial report of the rollover. In fact, the Medevac was cancelled before they signed on.

The reason I bring this up is that ever since Micom has taken over dispatching, it seems that it is taking the medics longer to get the call. At least that is my perception and I have nothing to base this on except what I hear on the radio.

So has this move from CenCom to Micom really benefited anyone? Is Micom prioritizing Bergen & Passaic County calls over the St. Claire's Medics? I will be listening more closely now.

Med Central files for Narrowbanding License Modification

2011-03-18T16:13:00.003-04:00

http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/ApplicationSearch/applMain.jsp?applID=6048264

CenCom-2 West returns from the dead

2011-03-16T13:56:00.003-04:00

Or maybe it never died like we all thought. Medic 171 (Atlantic Ambulance Unit) is being dispatched on 155.265/192.8 and is assigned to the Milford Urgent Care in Pike County, PA.

How to fix the EMS mess in NJ

2011-03-15T15:00:00.002-04:00

I stumbled upon this today. This is a thread that dates back to 2008.

http://forums.emsworld.com/showthread.php?95610-How-to-fix-the-mess-that-is-NJ-s-EMS-system&s=ec317984441aee5fdd9a317c5640606f

Warren County Narrowbanding Marches On, Hunterdon Falling into Chaos.

2011-03-14T08:54:00.002-04:00

Now that the EMS repeater is now in service, Warren County just filed to add another site for PDEast (154.875), in Blairstown. What this means is they will no longer patch that channel with 158.775 that used to be PDNorth.

What this now does is free up the VHF frequency, possibly for the future fire repeater. This could be a problem since Lehigh County Police uses that same frequency (158.7750 186.2 Ch. 3 Scope/Lookups) and generally comes into the county quite strong. Hopefully when they narrowband this will all shake out.

Hunterdon County however is slowly becoming a mess. Now that the UHF repeaters are up, Fire companies are grabbing UHF frequencies and throwing together their own radio plans like crazy. Meanwhile the squads seem to have very little interest in moving to UHF. The end result right now is instead of Public Safety on 2 bands, they are now on 3. With many squads complaining that they can't afford new radios, this will be interesting to watch as the 2012 narrowbanding cut off approaches, since Hunterdon appears to have little interest in spending the money to narrowband the existing VHF channels.

Commentary:

First off, I applaud both counties for trying to improve their radio systems and move communications forward. Although both are making steps in the right direction, I don't really see these changes as more than a band aid approach.

I do understand that money is a major issue now and ultimately was the deciding factor, Neither plan really has room for much future expansion. All both plans do is get Fire (and in WC EMS) on repeaters and shuffle a few channels around. Aside from that it really doesn't change much. I think both counties missed the boat and should have considered a joint trunk system. Long term, I think the return on investment would be much higher than what they are doing now, especially with both counties footing the bill.

I am actually very surprised at Hunterdon County. Once a pioneer in NJ Radio communications, they have been on a downward spiral for some time. Being the 3rd highest per capita income in NJ (Only behind Somerset and Morris), one would think they would have enough tax money to fund a decent radio system.

More weather station fun

2011-03-07T09:16:00.002-05:00

So I apparently put my temperature sensor too close to the ground. During yesterday's rain event my temperatures went from -40 to 115. Next step is to start considering buying a Davis (Like I should have done in the first place).

My first week with the Home Patrol-1

2011-02-24T08:59:00.002-05:00

So my curiosity finally got to me and I went ahead and got one of these. I will start off by saying is that this is totally different from what I was used to.

Initial Impressions

So out of the box, I loaded my favorite lists that I had created because I was dead set against using the rr database. First thing I found was the NJSP taking 20 minutes to scan, that was because all the sites were turned on by default if you don't set your location. I really don't know why they insist on listing all the IR sites since there is virtually no activity on them, but thats for another time. The form factor is more like a modern GPS, so if you have a newer car, it may play nicer with your interior than one of the XT mobiles, even with the remote head.

Once I corrected that, things went pretty good. I will say that you can't beat the screen. If I could have that screen on my XT's I would be in heaven. Scan speed and reception are on par with the XT radios also. The next day we went to Atlantic City. Once I got there I punched in the AC zip code and the radio was ready. Now the problem with that is you then have to go in and lock out a bunch of stuff you don't want, but over all it worked great.

So after a week of using it

Overall its a nice radio. There are a lot of limitations which I will get into. It finally found its home on my night table, and when I work at home it follows me into the office hooked up to the discone. I have finally settled on Power Patrol to make my scan list changes. I did try Arc Patrol, and just like every other product of theirs I have used I think it is poorly written and WAY over priced. Power Patrol is still a little lacking, but as with FreeScan, I am sure it will only get better with time. The recording feature is nice, so if you miss a dispatch you can replay it.

So here is what is missing

Trunk ID Search

Conventional Search

Decent Favorites/scan list operations (more on that)

Easy Freq Input (I can live with this, but its the point)

Delay options

Audio adjust per channel or system

Close Call

This is my major gripe with the radio

The favorites list is, well a pain in the ass. You can create multiple favorites, but what you cannot do is select more than 1 at a time. What you can do though is add 1 list into another. So for example if I have Warren County as 1 favorite, and NJSP as another, I can copy all of NJSP into Warren, which is fine until you don't want it in there anymore. You can of course create a new list and copy just what you want, but it is time consuming and a hassle. If I had to fix 1 thing about the radio it would be that. If Uniden changes anything in future firmware upgrades, it should be that.

Things I really like

Of course the screen. Now you get 3 lines of text up to 64 characters per line. You can easily hold on a System, group or channel. Overall the audio is pretty good. So is the P25. Even the RR database is nice, although I still prefer to setup the scanner my own way.

Conclusion

If you need a radio and you know what you want to hear and don't care about service searching, etc, then this is the radio for you. I would not replace any of my XT's with it, but it does compliment them while at home. What is nice is that it runs on batteries, so you can move it around the house if you want (it does come with AC & DC cords). The antenna connector is SMA, so that might be a bit challenging since it comes out the side of the radio. For my setup I use a BNC extension cable with my Seeker800 antena near the window. If Uniden adds an advanced mode with more flexibility, I think they will appeal to more of the advanced users and can really have a winner here.

More Pburg and NJT

2011-01-28T09:30:00.002-05:00

First Pburg

458.4875 114.8 - UHF Link to E94 (155.265)

453.4875 114.8 - UHF to Pbrug DPW (153.845)

NJ Transit in a letter to the FCC said they would not be rebanding, but will replace the system. They are expecting a decision on a replacement in the next 60 days.

Phillipsburg Rescue

2011-01-25T10:15:00.003-05:00

Don't panic, this is scanner related. While searching the UHF Freqs, I stumbled upon what appears to be a new link frequency between Warren County and Pburg.

458.4875, PL 114.8

At my location, the mobiles come in great, but the county not so great.

The License for this and other UHF Freqs can be seen here

I have not checked the other freqs yet. The freqs currently posted for Pburg UHF may not longer be in use. I will need to check into that.

Uniden Home Patrol

2011-01-14T10:09:00.002-05:00

In case you haven't seen it yet.

www.homepatrol.com

I keep trying to talk myself into getting one, yet everytime I got on radio reference, someone winds up talking me out of it. I like the appearance, but over all it is missing a lot of the functionality that the BCD996XT has.

Bottom line, this scanner is good for someone who doesn't know, or want to spend the time to program their radio. Also for someone who is knew and doesn't know all the ins and outs. For the experienced users, you get more bang for your buck with the 996.

EMS units, fire departments should also merge in Alpha, Lopatcong and Pohatcong townships

2011-01-13T08:57:00.001-05:00

So much for my Uniden Home Patrol rant this morning. I would like to state that I didn't have anything to do with this, however yet again my point is being proven.

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/phillipsburg/index.ssf/2011/01/news_comments_ems_fire_departm.html

1/7/2010 Snow Ops

2011-01-07T10:45:00.003-05:00

Aside from the usual Road Dept./Patrol Channel Freqs.

NJSP Trunk System
NJSP Snow Room on B2-8
DOT Ops on Statecom-1 North
NJSP/DOT Ops on Statecom-2 North
DOT Ops on Statecom-5 Central
DRJTBC Ops on District 2 Spec Ops

NJ Transit Update

2011-01-07T09:01:00.003-05:00

I couldn't figure out why I did not see any sign of NJ Transit rebanding their trunk system. Now I know why.

http://mccmag.com/onlyonline.cfm?OnlyOnlineID=224

This again spells bad news for scanner listeners if they wind up going with Tetra or Harris.

The Dust just can't settle

2011-01-06T10:09:00.001-05:00

Move over E94, there is another empire in town!

http://www.nj.com/hunterdon-county-democrat/index.ssf/2011/01/whitehouse_rescue_expansion_pl.html

NJSP Metro North

2011-01-05T09:49:00.002-05:00

Today we are taking a break from Warren County, although we are far from finished :D

NJSP Metro North has been active in Newark and Irvington for the last couple of nights. They have been operating on B2-9 and I have heard at least 1 pursuit each night.

2011 Part 3: S.O.S (Save our Squads)

2011-01-04T09:25:00.003-05:00

So I have predicted the future. Its up to everyone else to change it. This is my overview of each squad, where they are heading and what they can do to change it.

Franklin 56 Rescue
Currently 56 has a low # of calls, and doesn't make half of them. They are financially sound, however membership and more importantly the current leadership is a mess. It appears they have started a new membership drive, but with the lead time between recruitment and EMT school, it is probably too little too late.

Worst Case scenario - The squad dissolves either by choice or by the town. The territory is split up between 83, 98 & 43. Harmony would go to 74.

What can be done? Merge! Although it would be more like a bail out at this point. 83 Rescue taking over 56 would make the most sense. A merger with Bloomsbury is another option, especially due to their proximity to the Franklin border. Bloomsbury's finances would be a concern and could potentially make matters worse. My suggestion: Ask 83 Rescue to take them over.

Greenwich Rescue
I can't say too much here. They seem to make most of their calls...for now anyway.

Outlook? For the time being they can afford to go it alone, but need to keep the membership drives going. Merging with Lopatcong would be beneficial to both squads and would be the best future option. A Franklin Merger would add territory but no membership. A Bloomsbury Merger would be problematic due to their high membership and poor finances.

Lopatcong Rescue
Decent membership and finances, but need to keep the membership drives going.

Long term outlook? Although they appear solid, the high number of calls to the area medical facilities will continue to stress and weaken the squad, however turning them over to a paid company or squad (aka Phillipsburg) will put them in a very bad position and may lead to their eventual demise.

What can be done? Recruit Recruit Recruit. The more members they can come up with the better. This needs to be their focus. A merger with 98 Rescue would help as well, but the number of these medical facility calls could derail the effort.

Phillipsburg Rescue
High membership and good finances, look for expansion. Phillipsburg has the potential to be the next Centronia EMS if they play their cards right.

Long term outlook? If the neighboring squads don't do something to strengthen themselves soon, Phillipsburg will start taking territory.

Worst Case Scenario for everyone else: Phillipsburg's territory expands to the Franklin Border

Bloomsbury Rescue
They have the best membership and the fewest # of missed calls, but financing is problematic and could be their downfall, especially as equipment continues to age. The squad also suffers from an identity crisis, being half a Warren County Squad and Half Hunterdon.

Outlook? The squad needs to start raising revenue fast. If a paid Phillipsburg day crew comes into play, they could easily lose their Pohatcong coverage and possibly mutual aid status as well. A merger with Greenwich or Franklin would keep their foothold in Warren County, but would be a hard sell to either squad. Warren County would probably at that point insist on Paging them directly for any in county jobs.

Oxford/Belvidere
I grouped these to together because they are both have the same membership crisis, especially during the day. A merger is the best way to go and would be mutually beneficial.

For the rest of the squads, they all need to keep the membership up, but over all seem to be hanging in there. Blairstown is unfortunately out on their own with no one else really close by. Washington and Mansfield all seem to be doing good jobs. With Hackettstown Hospital running their own EMS, they could potentially take over Hackettstown, Independence and Liberty if 73 & 78 start slacking.

Conclusion
What started out as some random predictions, should really be taken as a wake up call to all the area squads. I actually wrote an article a year ago about this (if you read this far then I suggest you read that as well.) :

http://kc2kzz.blogspot.com/2010/01/squads-join-or-die.html

Franklin hung in there longer than I had predicted, however I still do stand by what I wrote. As a first responder myself, I appreciate and understand the sacrifices that everyone makes to keep EMS running. I do, however, recognize a sinking ship when I see one.

The fate of Quakertown & Lebanon Rescues should be a wake up call for everyone. Don't let the town councils (who know NOTHING about ANYTHING) decide your fates.

I will recap this time next year. In the mean time, Happy 2011.

2011 Part 2 Follow up

2011-01-04T08:49:00.004-05:00

Seems like I stirred the pot a bit with my predictions. You either liked it or hated it. Seems like squad members (except Phillipsburg) hated it, and everyone else (including Pburg members) like it.

The funny thing is that this did not start out to be a Pro-Phillipsburg/Anti-Franklin article (although I knew when I started it that Franklin would be getting trashed). Anyone who knows me knows that I have given Both E94 & F94 quite a bit of sh*t over the last few years, Especially when it came down to the countywide paging fiasco (I expect another round when it comes down to the new county radio plan). I had looked at the big picture and called it as I saw it, good or bad. As far as EMS went, E94 came out on top in that part of the county.

Ironically, as I passed the Franklin Building on my way into work, I see that they FINALLY put out a sign recruiting new members (This was not there yesterday). Maybe a little too late, but it appears that the leadership finally had some great epiphany that they are in trouble.

In part 3, I will give my overview of the squads and their best actions for survival.

Happy 2011 - My New Year Predictions

2011-01-03T09:00:00.003-05:00

Last year was very busy, and my blog clearly suffered. I am hopefully starting the new year out right. Here are my 5 Warren County Predictions, and my 5 NJ predictions. These are future predictions and may not happen in 2011.

Warren County
1. Warren County Fire Will Not make it to VHF high this year. They will spend the entire year shaking out the Police Frequencies that need to be Narrow Banded.

2. Police Consolidation will continue. Lopatcong & Pohatcong are planning to merge. Greenwich will hold out for a while but will eventually join up. I see the state jacking up the NJSP cost to towns. Once that happens you will see Mansfield, Hackettstown & Independence all merge into 1 Dept. They will in turn start to cover Liberty and Allamuchy. In the central region, expect to see Washington take over PD for Franklin. Belivdere will remain independent and take over White Twp. Harmony will fall also, probably to the new South Regional PD.

3. The Demise of Franklin Twp. Rescue. They are already making only 50% of their calls, and thats giving them the benefit of the doubt. Sooner or later there is bound to be an incident, that that will be the end of FTRS, with the territory split up between Washington, Bloomsbury & Greenwich.

4. The rise of Hackettstown Hospital EMS. They already cover Mount Olive and do their own transports. Watch as they slowly start taking over EMS on the Eastern side of the county and beyond.

And finally my favorite:

5. Phillipsburg Rescue - Rise of the Evil Empire!
This is really a multi part prediction. Now that Pburg EMS is licensed and is billing:

5a. Paid Day crew goes into service.
5b. Battle over Pohatcong Twp. E94 wins
5c. E94 expands into Lopatcong due the the volume of Nursing Home Calls, adds 2nd paid day crew
5d. Lopatcong EMS goes under as E94 provides faster response and is more cost effective.
5e. E94 Takes over all of Harmony Twp.
5f. E94 Takes over Greenwich Twp., Washington EMS takes over all of Franklin.

Commentary on #5:
This isn't all that far fetched. Once Franklin Rescue goes down, you will see an EMS power vacuum ensue. To avoid this, Greenwich, Lopat and Franklin should Merge into 1 Dept. Sooner rather than later (why Franklin isn't already shopping for a merger defies all logic to me).

Now for my NJ State Predictions

1. NJSP Cutbacks. As the state struggles to balance the budget, you will see them jack up rates for local police coverage. This will bring the rise of regional Police Depts. and hence Trooper reductions. Expect the NJSP to eventually turn into just Highway Patrol.

2. Somerset County. I don't see the county wide police idea to take off. I do expect to see regional police depts emerge. Everyone in the county will eventually wind up on the trunk system.

3. Demise of the State run Medevacs. With so many hospitals jumping into the Medevac arena, see at least SouthSTAR be shut down. MONOC will expand with another Medevac up north, and another Medevac will show up at Trenton Airport. Then Northstar will be shut down too. Remember those added DMV Fee's they added to pay for the Helicopters? Those will stick around.

4. Encryption, Mototrbo, Provoice...it continues and gets worse

5. Sussex County. See at least 1 Dispatch Center get shut down, however no county wide dispatch center.

I have a late addition I forgot about:
6. Lebanon Twp. EMS. Amid bankruptcy, the Squad will dissolve. Ambulances will wind up back in the town's possession (hence the fire dept.) and will fade into the abyss. - I have to say it is time for them to accept that the town screwed them and that it's over. It doesn't really matter who is at fault anymore. Go put your applications in over at 44 or 13 Rescue and move on.

Finally, our first 2011 admission to the Encryption Hall of Shame:

MICCOM gets added since they have decided to go with a Mototrbo System for the St. Claire's Medics. Although not encrypted, for the most of us it might as well be. Thanks a lot A**H****'s.
On a side note, they could have gone on the NJSP system (since they seem to lease space to just about anyone now). Cost would probaby have not been much different, plus the medics could have had access to all the Statewide EMS Talkgroups.

Future Warren County EMS Repeater?

2010-04-15T07:07:00.002-04:00

http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/ApplicationSearch/applFreqSum.jsp?applID=5451281

153.9875 is either going to be mobile to mobile or the repeater input channel (my money is on the repeater).

Weather Station Offline

2010-04-08T06:51:00.003-04:00

Due to cronic issues, not to mention a 7 foot fall that the base took, the online weather station feed has been taken down. Right now I do not forsee it coming back, but you never know.

PDF updates will be coming eventually. My time has been very limited since starting my new job, plus not much has really changed in the last couple of months.

Some Things to watch out for

2010-03-16T15:22:00.003-04:00

NJSP System.
Last couple of days I have seen the NJSP Helicopters affiliating on 24764.

NJ Transit.
There is going to be a change over to Type 2. No what the time line is for that.
54416 will be North Patrol after the change over. I have not seen any evidence of them rebanding the system yet either. (I don't think there is anyone left in NJ at this point aside from them).

Warren County Police Simulcast

2010-02-10T08:35:00.002-05:00

The plan for the future radio plan after narrow-banding calls for PDNORTH & PDEAST to be combined to be called PDNEAST. They would simulcast the towers that currently serve North and East. Currently, 1 dispatcher handles both North and East at the same time.

So on and off I have been hearing Blairstown Police units on PDEAST. I dismissed it for a while now and thought I was hearing things. Well last night I did some investigating and found that they were simulcasting the NORTH and EAST freqs. This morning I woke up and the patch is now down. I am assuming that for the moment, that the patch is only up at night.

The Demise of Oxford Twp. Police

2010-02-01T14:12:00.002-05:00

As of Midnight 2/1/10, Washington Twp. Police is now covering Oxford. The Oxford Officers have been merged into the Washington Twp. Police. IMHO, this appears to be a win-win situation. Remember, WT also took over Washington Borough last yet.

Northampton County Changes start today

2010-01-26T12:52:00.001-05:00

This webpage has all the info:
http://www.nc911.org/html/updates.html

PDF's to be updated shortly

Squads Join or Die

2010-01-17T08:18:00.003-05:00

Some of you may remember this picture from school:

Join, or Die is a famous political cartoon created by Benjamin Franklin and first published in his Pennsylvania Gazette on May 9, 1754.^[1] The original publication by the Gazette is the earliest known pictorial representation of colonial union produced by a British colonist in America.^[2] It is a woodcut showing a snake severed into eighths, with each segment labeled with the initials of a British American colony or region. New England was represented as one segment, rather than the four colonies it was at that time. In addition, Delaware and Georgia were omitted completely. Thus, it has 8 segments of snake rather than the traditional 13 colonies.^[3] The cartoon appeared along with Franklin's editorial about the "disunited state" of the colonies, and helped make his point about the importance of colonial unity. During that era, there was a superstition that a snake which had been cut into pieces would come back to life if the pieces were put together before sunset.

Now that the history lesson is over, in a way history does repeat itself. This time the volunteer squads are now under attack. This article explains what is going on in Morris County:

http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20091221/COMMUNITIES/91218014/Morris-area-ambulance-squads-in-danger-of-shutting-down

This isn't limited to Morris either, this has been slowly happening all across our state, and MONOC, Atlantic, Quality, and the slew of other private ambulance companies couldn't be happier.

I can't say I blame these town councils either. All day long I listen to these squads going to 3rd alert, mutual aid, that goes to 3rd alert. 30 minutes later you finally get an ambulance on scene. The fact is that people are just not around during the day and even evening like they were 10-15 years ago.

However in my opinion, the blame for this mess lies soley on the leadership of the volunteer squads. Here is a handful of reasons:

a) Squads tend to be clique-ish. Usually there are 2 or 3 groups. If you aren't in the popular group, the rules are different for you.

b) There is always a power struggle. Whoever is in charge does whatever they need to stay in charge. This includes driving out other members and working the by laws to restrict who can vote and who can't.

c) Member drives are generally non existant with most squads.

d) There is WAY too much drama in the squads.

and finally my favorite:

d) Men and Women don't mix well in this kind of environment. You have husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, ex husbands and ex wives, girlfriend and girlfriend, her husband and his wife. You get the picture. I am currently involved in my 3rd volunteer squad and I have seen it all, and it eventually winds back up to item a, b or d.

For the most part, you don't see this type of thing in the Fire Service. Some companies do have their issues as well, but NOTHING compared to what you see in EMS. That is why you see so much turnover.

So back to the point of this blog. For the volunteer squads to survive, they need to move to plan B, and quickly.

Plan B: Squads need to start merging and create regional squads. This would Save money by needing less equipment and stations, and it would give you a larger group of people to work with.

A good example is where I live, Franklin Twp. Rescue (56), Greenwich Rescue (98) and Lopatcong Rescue (74), all should merge into 1 regional squad. 56 is a mess right now, and the other 2 aren't far behind. 56 is in such a critical state, that if they don't do something in the next 6 months, I would not be surprised to see Washington Boro to start taking daytime coverage in Franklin. Another example is Oxford & Belvidere. They are already on dual alert for half the day as it is, it is time to merge.

In my opinion it will save the squads....or if nothing else, put them in a much better position than they currently are, and it does sound like good common sense doesn't it. Lets face it though, the leadership of these squads will probably never let themselves be put in a position of losing power and would rather go down with the ship, rather than to save the squad by merging.

My last thought on this. Where the hell is the NJ First Aid Council on all this? Maybe someone can explain to me what exactly they do anyway, except have meetings and take money. I have been involved in EMS on and off for nearly 20 years and I still don't have any idea what purpose they serve. I sure don't see them helping anything here. They should be fighting EMS privatization tooth and nail.

First post of 2010

2010-01-06T15:53:00.002-05:00

Wow, the year looks so futuristic. Anyway a few more things that have changed.

NJSP Perryville (5 Comm) now appears to be covering Route 78 all the way to the PA Border. I already reported that Washington (3 Comm) took over Hampton, well it appears that they took over Glen Gardner Borough as well.

Talkgroup 16592 is in use for what sounds like full time. I still don't know who they are, but they are making frequent pickup and drop off's at several jails (Passaic, Essex, Union etc). Sounds like it should be NJDOC, but they aren't using the standard NJDOC lingo. They also are affiliating on 16624.

Some 2010 changes

2009-12-28T08:30:00.005-05:00

As of January 1:

EMS 4 will be going into service in Hunterdon County. EMS 2 will relocate to Warren Hospital and EMS 4 will be stationed at Glen Gardner Fire.

Rutgers (Yes the University), will take over dispatching for Dunellen.

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200991208032

Byram Township will be Switching over to Sparta Township Dispatch.

This just in, Stanhope has switched over to Sparta as well. This leaves Hopatcong just dispatching themselves.

12/31 and the changes keep coming:

In Hunterdon County, NJSP Perryville Barracks will no longer be covering Hampton Borough. Washington Barracks is taking that over. This now splits NJSP in Hunterdon between 3 different Troop Stations and 3 different Comm's.

Bad Dispatchers or Bad Dispatching??

2009-12-15T09:52:00.005-05:00

This one has been on my mind for a long time now. This will probably be my last rant before I start complaining about Christmas lights being up too long again (January 15th, take em down!).

We all complain about bad dispatchers, however in most cases it isn't their fault. Most are products of either training, or the policy's of the dispatching center. Most fall into the "Because this is how we have always done it" mentality.

So having said that, here is my list of good and bad Dispatching centers. This list really is only going to include regional center's, and not individual towns. I also can't speak of every center in NJ, so several are going to be absent here.

Top of the list is Burlington County. They get the call out quicky, and put together a good radio system. They have been doing it right since I first started scanning. Right behind them are Camden County, Gloucester, and Mercer. Most of the MICU centers are up there as well (Monoc, Atlantic/Cape Medcom, REMCS, CenCom, Med Central etc.).

Moving down to the middle of the pack are Ocean and Monmouth. Both do a fine job but could stand some improvement.

Now, lets shoot right to the bottom of the list. This might surprise you, but Hunterdon County is on the bottom, and I have a few good reasons why.

#1 They have WAY WAY WAY too many fire tones. Every minute counts in this business, yet it is not unusual to listen to 90 seconds of tones, only to hear a fire alarm which they already know is a false alarm (more on that in a sec). There are some stations that have at least 4 sets of tones, maybe even 5. It makes no sense to me. Why does anyone need that many? Why was it allowed to begin with? This is ridiculous.

#2 Once you finally get through the minute and a half of tones, now the dispatcher gives you the entire medical history of the patient on the initial alert....not once but twice. Now I don't know about anyone else, but if I am trying to get to a call, I'm trying to get my pants and shoes on. I don't need all that information over the pager. You should be giving that when the Rig signs on. One can't help but wonder how many other emergencies get stacked up because the dispatcher is rambling on about some guys surgery 2 weeks ago.

#3 So now you get a fire alarm called in, then you get a call that its a false alarm.....yet, they still feel the need to dispatch 4 stations, and even tell you that its a false alarm and someone called in to cancel. All I can say is WHY??? Again, bad SOP.

I will say that once they get the units on the air, things generally run pretty good, but getting there is like having a wisdom tooth pulled.

Time to move up now from the bottom. Warren County is down here too. Although they have much improved since I moved here (and the new radio plan is going to help), I just can't get past the annoying pager tests every single night of the week between 6 & 7. In this day in age, do you really need to tone out every single fire & EMS station every single night? Can't you just split it up and maybe of 5 or 6 a day, or better yet, why do it at all? Why is a dispatcher who is dealing with emergencies need to be burdened with this? I actually lock the channel out during that time, it's like finger nails on a chalk board after a while. Aside from all of that, they are doing a good job.

Also down near the bottom are all the Sussex County dispatch centers. I'm not going to harp on any one specifically, but lets just say they need work and leave it as that. I think its time for the county to merge them all into one center and stop this none sense of these towns switching centers every year.

Just up from Sussex & Warren is Somerset and Washington Twp (West Morris). Overall, both do a good job now, but have lots of room for improvement. Somerset County has been a mess for a long time, and they are finally getting things together (you can probably thank the bad economy for that).

Now for the most improved. Although not a regional center, Mt. Olive gets the award. When I lived in Flanders 10 years ago, the dispatching was HORRIBLE. Although not perfect, they are tons better than they used to be. Congratulations!

So the moral here is this. Keep the dispatching short and get the call out. If its a 2 minutes medical explanation, call it a medical emergency and move on. A car accident is a motor vehicle accident. You can discuss air bags, finger injuries, whatever when the units sign on. If anyone from these dispatch centers are reading this and are getting pissed, then stop listen to how other counties are doing things once and a while. Just because you have been doing it this way for 10 or 20 years, doesn't mean its effective.

Radio ID Tips

2009-12-14T08:01:00.003-05:00

After using this new Radio ID feature on my 396XT, I thought I would share some of the things I have learned over the last few weeks.

Think about what you are tagging. There are only 500 memory slots right on a system right now, and even on a small trunk system, you can run out of memory quick.

Most of the time, Fire Units will stay the same (esp. vol.). City fire units sometimes swap trucks around, so keep this in mind. EMS units can go either way, depending on the city. Police generally change cars all the time. When I created my Allentown list, I have Police Portable, and Police Mobile listed as alpha tags and I left it as that.

If you are going to be using the same alpha tag (for example "Police Mobile"), you might want to add a # to them, Police Mobile 1, Police Mobile 2. This way if you make a mistake and you see a police unit now responding to fire calls, it will be easy to identify.

Unitrunker can really help you identify radio ID's, and on some systems you can actually see a trend in how the radio ID's are setup. In addition, unitrunker logs the # of hits on each talkgroup, so if you are short on space, you can sort by the # of hits and just put in the most used radio ID's.

For you NJSP Fans
The NJSP system has over 10,000 radio ID's. Your best bet is to limit the alpha tags to:
x Comm Radio's
Troop Stations
Medevacs
EOC's
MICU Centers
REMCS

If you only monitor 1 or Comm talkgroups, what you might want to do is to alpha tag the radio ID's that only pertain to that comm. For myself, I monitor 3-Comm (B). I tagged the Washington and Hope cars, so I know when I see the transmission what part of the county they are in. Sussex is on its own, so I didn't bother to tag any of those cars. For B2-5, I am in the process of tagging only the Perryville cars.

A note about the Helicopters, NJSP has a fleet of several Aircraft. So one day Helicopter 3 may just be an air unit, and the next it might be SouthSTAR.

Right now I don't plan on incorporating these ID's into my PDF's, but I am considering creating an excel file for download. So far my ID's include: NJSP, Allentown, Bethlehem City & Morris County. Scott, W2SJW, has provided a very good list of Franklin Twp. Radio's on Radio Reference.

Warren County Radio Upgrade Plan

2009-12-08T08:33:00.001-05:00

This was just posted. Makes some interesting reading.

http://www.wcpublicsafety.com/firstresponder/documents/radioplan.pdf

Fish & Game now on NJ Trunk, Uniden to release new Firmware

2009-11-03T06:35:00.003-05:00

24752 - Fish & Game calls this channel 11. Not exactly what I would have picked, but there you have it.

According to W2SJW on radioreference, NJSP should be rebanding Troop C sometime this month.

The big news is that Uniden is going to be releasing new firmware for the XT scanner series that will let you now see radio ID's. Not exactly a very useful feature on the NJSP system where we have 10,000 radios, but this will be good on smaller systems. I can see myself adding a few things in NJSP such as some of the troop stations, REMCS, maybe the Helicopter's.

This new feature already presents a case to upgrade our radios to whatever follows the XT. What seemed like PLENTY of channels in a scanner, now just dwindled to nothing.

New updates coming soon. I have updates for NJSP, Warren County and Northampton.

Finally, go out and vote today. I don't know about anyone else, but I am tired of all the election phone calls from these two @ssholes.

As of 1pm, NJSP on B-Troop has Rebanded

2009-10-27T13:08:00.002-04:00

NJSP Rebanding Update

2009-10-27T10:15:00.003-04:00

Today I heard failsoft tones on 851.5625 and 852.2375. It is coming.

radioreference now charging to post for sale ads

2009-10-26T08:21:00.004-04:00

I see that the money grabbing over at radioreference.com has now extended to the for sale section. I have been a supporter of this site since it was called trunkedradio.net. I was never a fan of the premium accounts to begin with, but this latest money making scheme has turned me off. I can't speak for the other 48 1/2 states, but the NJ and North East PA databases are mediocre at best. Load up one of my PDF's and see for yourself. Oh by the way, mine are still FREE!

Don't get me wrong, I know that it is expensive to run a site, but I think you need to be reasonable. Maybe it's time to head back over to strongsignals.net. RR is quickly becoming the Microsoft of the scanner world.

NJSP Rebanding Update

2009-09-18T07:28:00.002-04:00

The NJSP has filed a license modification one of their primary trunk system licenses (WNHY937) to reband all the freqs. that fall into the reband range.

Add	000806.56250000	1	1	41	FX1	200	10.000	50.000
Add	000806.61250000	1	1	42	FX1	200	10.000	50.000
Add	000807.21250000	1	1	43	FX1	200	10.000	50.000
Add	000807.23750000	1	1	44	FX1	200	10.000	50.000
Add	000807.66250000	1	1	45	FX1	200	10.000	50.000
Add	000807.76250000	1	1	46	FX1	200	10.000	50.000
Add	000808.13750000	1	1	47	FX1	200	10.000	50.000
Add	000808.43750000	1	1	48	FX1	200	10.000	50.000
Add	000808.51250000	1	1	49	FX1	200	10.000	50.000

Bethlehem City, PA goes P25 Trunk

2009-09-04T18:51:00.003-04:00

As reported on radioreference, they have migrated to a P25 Motorola Trunk System. The control channel is 853.800. For Uniden XT owners, you just need to set the Trunk System Type as P25. For older Uniden's, You should refer here:
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Software_Support_for_Uniden_Rebanding

and here for GRE/Radio Shack:
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Object_Oriented_Scanner_Software

Talkgroup list so far:

9 Fire Alerting
11
39 EMS Dispatch
45
51 Sounds like buildings or maintenance
55 Police Tac
61 Fire Ops
65 Fireground
75
77 Police Dispatch
109 Police
127 "test test"
4001

NJ Park PD on 800

2009-08-28T11:58:00.002-04:00

Updates to the Park PD Talkgroup Plan:

24656 PARKS PD
24688 PARKS PD Ops 1

In unrelated news, my employer is rewarding us by relocating our jobs to Buffalo or Chicago. If you know of anyone hiring Unix people, let me know.

Antenna's

2009-08-20T19:00:00.006-04:00

Not much going on in the scanner world, so I thought I would give my opinions on some antenna's I have used over the years (in no real order).

Max Systems 800
They still sell these, with much wider radials. I bought a first generation one back in 1990, and if you weren't careful, it could easily take an eye out. It did ok on 800, but not on anything else.
Performance gets a C+, Safety gets a D-

Austin Spectra
This looks like a mean antenna, unfortunately looks don't mean anything. It did ok on VHF & UHF. Not so good on UHF-T and 800. Not worth the $80 at all. This comes in 2nd in the ugly antenna contest. C+

Radio Shack Mag Mount Cellular Phone Antenna
They should still sell these. This antenna works great not only on the 800 Band, but VHF & UHF as well. My own tests showed that this antenna worked better on VHF, than on RS's mag mount scanner antenna. I still have one. B+

NilJon
These were all the rage about 8 years ago. I dropped $60 on one of these too. It looked so unusual, it must have been a scientific breakthrough and must work great. In the end, it didn't work any better than anything else, and it looked ridiculous on the roof of your car. C+ for performance and F for looks and the winner of the Ugly Antenna Category.

Watson Telegainer WS899
If you like telescopic whips, then this antenna is for you. It works pretty good on all bands and has a nice black coating when collapsed. My only complaint is that over time it has become a bit wobbly. B

Homebrew Center Fed Dipole
Someone posted a good article on constructing one of these on RR a couple years ago and many of us, including myself, trucked off to Home Depot and spent $30 on copper tubing. I had built one of these years ago after reading about it in Bill Cheeks scanner mod book. Not a bad antenna if you have to stick it in the corner and are limited. If you built it out of wire, you can keep it rolled up and pull it out in an emergency. I found that up on my attic, everytime I moved it 3 feet my reception changed and something else I listened to stopped coming in. I moved that antenna no less than 25 times before I finally took it down. I give it a B-.

Seeker800
Nothing pulls in 800Mhz better than this. Plus it performs fantastic on UHF, UHF-T, VHF, even low band. When I travel with the HT Scanner in the car, this is usually the antenna I use. I wish they could make it less bulky though. Performance it gets an A, C for size/bulk.

Radio Shack Mag Mount Scanner Antenna
Yea I know there is a part # for this, I don't feel like looking it up. I think most of use have used one of these because, you could buy it anywhere. It does the job but in reality not really worth the money. C

Radio Shack 800 Scanner Antenna
This is a nice 800Mhz antenna, and when it first came out, was a real bargin for $12. If 800Mhz is all you listen to, worth buying. B

Antenex ABSCANC
I have had one for a few years now and it has worked pretty good. Not too high or ugly, and has held up well on the roof of my Truck. B+

Comet SMA-3
I bought this as a replacement for my Seeker800. More sleek and lighter, it works almost as good on 800, and excellent on VHF. UHF is fair and UHF-T & Low Band forget it. Even still, it gets used quite often. B

and finally

Diamond SRH77CA
This is the longest HT antenna I have ever seen, however is fantastic from VHF up to UHF-T. Doesn't do too bad with Low Band either. 800 isn't too great, but if you are looking to pull in signals, this will do it. B+

There are more, but these stand out the most.

StateCom Talkgroups...getting there

2009-07-31T12:02:00.002-04:00

57872 - Statecom-1
28784 - Statecom-4

28080 - Statecom
28112 - Statecom
28208 - Statecom
28240 - Statecom
28144 - Statecom
28176 - Statecom
28848 - Statecom
28816 - Statecom

NJSP Rebanding cometh....

2009-07-15T16:43:00.002-04:00

NJSP just filed an application for the Randolph Site.

Added:
851.5625
852.2375

http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/ApplicationSearch/applMain.jsp?applID=5029896

Attachment
07-14-09
The New Jersey State Police is Submitting this application for the rebanding process. After the rebanding
process is complete, we will modify the licenses to remove the old frquencies.

If you haven't sold your non-rebandable scanners or trunk radios, better do it now while you can.

Some sort of corrections on NJSP System

2009-07-10T09:18:00.002-04:00

I'm not sure who these users are. They are going from Jail to Jail giving radio checks. Doesn't sound like NJDOC.

24270 Analog
16592 Digital

Updates

2009-07-07T10:17:00.002-04:00

Lots of pdf updates today. Check your email.

Also, 54784 on the NJ Transit system is the Meadowlands Maint. Complex Security.

Some Area Fed Stuff

2009-07-02T10:57:00.002-04:00

I don't normally post Much on the Federal stuff, but though I would list some stuff that has shown up in my area.

First the stuff I can't identify, if anyone knows please let me know:
163.6500 PL 100.0
167.4375 NAC 207 - All Encryption
163.7875 NAC 382
163.4625 PL 100.0
172.400 NAC 4CE - All Clear

Now the stuff that I have heard active:
167.175 NAC 167 - FBI Allentown (All Enc)
167.4875 NAC 167 - FBI Allentown (All Enc)

DEA is often active out of Allentown on their common Freqs. All NAC 156
CBP comes in on NET-1 (165.2375 100.0) and NET-7 (165.4625 100.0)
ATF is active on their common Freqs as well. All use NAC 650 and have been Enc.
and of course, Delaware Water Gap 168.475 & 170.050. Both NAC 4F9.

NJSP Updates

2009-06-26T08:48:00.003-04:00

Please make note of the channel name update. I guess I can't read my own notes.

As much as it pains me to write this, it appears that NJSP is finally moving ahead with rebanding. I found a dismissed license that showed license requests for the 2 freqs in the B-Troop freq group to be rebanded. They also have a license to reband the Sea Girt IR Site.

It seems that they have changed the conventional channel plan of the NJSP Radios. Gone are the 09-22 channels we once had. 09-TA appears to be gone from the channel plan as far as I can tell, although I still hear it being used by investigators. My guess is that they have not had their radios rebanded yet. I have not confirmed this yet, but from what I have been hearing, they have 2 conventional tac channels now

SP-1 TA 851.3375 192.8
SP-2 TA 852.3125 192.8

In Addition, they have rebanded ICall, ITAC-1 through ITAC6. My Troopers in my area seem to like ITAC-2.

As far as the reband process, it still is in the works. I know that our EOC EMRAD radio has not been touched yet.

What is NJ Transit doing?

2009-06-16T11:27:00.003-04:00

I'm seeing a lot of new traffic on Block 0 on the trunk system. What was once Type-1 may now have been converted to Type-2.

Another new talkgroup showed up as well.

54784 - This appears to be security at one of the stations.

Warren County & Hunterdon County Updates

2009-06-13T09:40:00.002-04:00

On the Hunterdon County Front

472.6125 is now rebroadcasting AMBO-2 and the DPL changed to D662. If you are monitoring these new UHF freqs, I would suggest you keep Tone Search on, since it sounds like they will be playing with the DPL's.

Warren County
Squads have been getting their new VHF Radios. Greenwich EMS is finally off low band and has joined everyone else on EMS Dispatch-1. We can finally say goodbye to EMS on Low band, although you may still hear occasional traffic. Pburg EMS is still on thier own channel, and Allamuchy appears to be staying on Sussex EMS 1 for now anyway. They have also added MDC to all the new radios. This includes the new police radios that have been rolled out recently, and Pburg fire as well.

Some Scanner Updates

2009-06-10T08:51:00.005-04:00

Hunterdon is continuing their testing of UHF Freqs. Here is the latest channel Plan:
471.375 D466 HCTAC-1
470.3125 D703 HCPD-2 North
470.525 D125 HCPD-3 South
470.550 D423 HCPD-5 Central
470.675 D074 HCPD-6 County
470.775 D546 HC Fire-1
471.325 D031 AMBO-5
470.800 D315 Unknown
472.6125 D243 Radio Techs.

Remember, this is subject to change at anytime.

On the NJSP Front:
There were some funky patches going on in the last week. I wasn't around while they were taking place, but they showed up on Unitrunker. REMU was testing another 24xxx talkgroup yesterday, could be the DEP is adding another Talkgroup.

More PDF Updates with the new format are pending, as time permits.

Correction on Human Services

2009-06-02T08:27:00.003-04:00

This is the complete VERIFIED HSP Channel Plan:

35568 HSP 1 South
53616 HSP 2 Central
36400 HSP 3 North
856.2125 HSP 4 T/A (156.7)
855.7375 HSP 5 T/A (156.7)
59440 HSP 6 DYFS
59504 HSP 7 Command Post
59536 HSP 8 Car to Car
59472 HSP 9 Detectives
59568 HSP 10 Detectives Car to Car
41072 DCF Case Workers

Updates and voting results

2009-05-30T09:59:00.003-04:00

First of all, thank you to everyone who voted. By a margin of 2:1, the vote is for combining everything per town. Expect to see new pdf's with the new format in the coming weeks.

Thanks to an anonymous friend, I have some Human Services Updates (Remember the new talkgroups?)

New Lisbon Developmental Center

F-1 155.895rx 158.910tx PL 156.7

F-2 156.135rx 158.955tx PL 156.7

The five new talkgroups for Human Services Police are as follows, the talkgroup #'s have been confirmed, however they may not match up to the list below. This is still subject to verification.

59440 F-6 DYFS (police units assigned to the DCF/DYFS Offices)

59472 F-7 Command Post

59504 F-8 Car to Car

59568 F-9 Detective Dispatch

59536 F-10 Detective Car to Car

*All HSP talkgroups are statewide (omni link)

Statecom Talkgroups
It appears my list I posted is probably incorrect. I found out there are 10 talkgroups for Statecom now.

57872 - Statecom-1 Statewide
28080 - Statecom South?
28112 - Statecom South?
28208 - Statecom Central?
28240 - Statecom Central?
28144 - Statecom North?
28176 - Statecom North?
28784 - Statecom
28848 - Statecom
28816 - Statecom

If anyone has the complete Statecom Layout, please let me know.

Format Changes

2009-05-21T09:34:00.003-04:00

For those of you who aren't part of the yahoo announcement group, I just posted a poll on changing how the towns are grouped together. I have also uploaded a sample of how the new format would look. If you aren't a group member, now would be a good time to join.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kc2kzz-pdf/

PDF Updates and other info

2009-05-20T09:41:00.001-04:00

The following PDF's were updated:

NJ State:
- Many talkgroup updates
- Updates to rebanded freqs.

Hudson County
- Added Jersey City Trunk System
- Added Hudson County USAR

Please take a moment and vote in the Poll that was just posted.

Also, while I was in Jersey City yesterday, I noticed that the ITAC repeaters (Including NJITAC5) are simulcasting on the rebanded frequencies.

Hunterdon County UHF

2009-05-10T09:48:00.003-04:00

Hunterdon County Has begun simulcasting VHF on their licensed UHF Freqs.

HCTAC-1 471.375 D466 (154.965)
HCPD-2 470.3125 D703 (154.785)
HCPD-3 470.5250 D125 (154.815)
AMBO-5 471.325 D031 (155.400)

Some Updates

2009-05-06T07:08:00.002-04:00

Uniden Announced new scanners, the BCD996XT and the BCT15X. These will replace the current models and has most/if not all the features of the 396XT & 346XT.

NJSP Updates:
Remember Rebanding? It's still coming...someday. Seems like 09-TA isn't active anymore, I hear the Troopers now on ITAC2 (Rebanded).

I have a couple of confirmed Talkgroups too:
35824 - B2-6. Marine Units aren't using this, at least not right now. Sounds like a spare channel for now.
40944 - Sounds like another Radio Repair Talkgroup. Even though this is in the Digital Block, all the transmissions I have heard are Analog.

Warren County:
PDF update will be coming soon. Some new Tone Out updates. Also, the new Phillipsburg BOE freqs came active. They are using Speech Inversion Scrambling on these. My Puxing 777 can decode this and no one is missing anything.

Somerset County:
Green Brook will be moving to the County Trunk System. Look for Police on the Central PD talkgroups. There is also a new talkgroup to link Somerset to other counties called Inter-County Comm (TGID 1744).

NJ Transit:
Lots of Police activity on SPEC OPS-2. No sign of rebanding on this system as of yet.

NJIC Testing Today

2009-04-08T20:28:00.003-04:00

For those of you not familiar, this is the NJICS website:
http://interoperability.state.nj.us/index.shtml

I caught testing earlier today on TG 28848. They were testing patching from a conventional freq somewhere (You could clearly hear the MDC). One of the units kept saying he was on "SP Tac". I don't know if they were referring to the talkgroup or the conventional freq.

Unitrunker shows 3 ID's affiliating on that today. 2 were NJSP radios and 1 was a State Medical Examiner Radio.

Statecom Talkgroups

2009-04-07T11:43:00.001-04:00

It appears that there are more StateCom Talkgroups than we thought.

57872 StateCom 1 Interagency Statewide
28080 StateCom 2 Interagency South
28112 StateCom 3 Interagency South
28144 StateCom 2 Interagency North
28176 StateCom 3 Interagency North
28208 StateCom 2 Interagency Cntrl
28240 StateCom 3 Interagency Cntrl

New Talkgroups on the NJSP System

2009-04-03T11:09:00.003-04:00

Looks like Human Services has more than just 1 new talkgroup. Keep your eyes on these:
59440
59472
59504
59536
59568

And NJSP on 35280

My First 48 Hours with the BCD396XT

2009-04-01T09:47:00.003-04:00

I'm not going to go over all the specs and repeat the info thats posted on other sites. This is just a round up and my first impressions and issues.

P25 - Digital Decoding is improved. MIRS and Bucks county sound much better than before. Also decoding is clear even with 1 bar or less. NAC decoding works great.
Reception - Is is improved. Not by much but I can tell a difference.
Tone Out - You can now decode tones. I tested that feature and it works great.
Multi Colored backlight - That is a nice feature. Also the Dimmer option is back. Another nice feature is you can set a color for specific freqs or talkgroups.
Audio is improved
You an now show the talkgroup ID's in HEX

Some other nice features I like
Temporary Lock out!
Multiple Display modes (you can now see both the freq and PL on conv. freqs)
You can now follow patches if you turn Status Bit to Yes
Bandscope mode (if you are looking for new freqs)
Multi site trunking
You can assign NFM to EDACS systems (audio is now match to all the other systems)
You can step audio up or down per freq or talkgroup

Now, for the stuff I don't like so far:
Tone Out - Still can't monitor more than 1 frequency
Trunk TGID Lockout Review - Instead of the alpha tags, it shows the talkgroup #'s

Those are my only complaints. Great Job Uniden!!!!

Also, Freescan works pretty good too. It is still a little buggy, but still the best software for Uniden Scanners out there. I am sure all the bugs will be worked out soon.

My BC396T is officially for sale now. $330 shipped.

Scanner news - The Uniden BCD396XT Finally arrives. Other Rants and Raves

2009-03-27T06:54:00.005-04:00

If you haven't been following the scanner boards, the new scanner many of us have been waiting for has finally shown up. So far the initial reviews have been pretty good. Mine has not shown up yet, but when it does I will be giving a nice run down on it.

I am going to be selling my BCD396T, probably going to be asking around $350 if anyone is interested.

I woke up to about 30 emails from one of the yahoo groups complaining about radioreference.com and how many people took the time to submit information and how RR is selling CD's and charging for extra features on the site. This is the very reason why I never charged for my pdf's. I understand that the website generates a lot of traffic and we all have to pay our bills, but when you start charging money for other people's work, it becomes a messy situation to say the least.

Warren County Receives Stimulus to upgrade Law Enforcement Radios

2009-03-15T09:40:00.003-04:00

As reported by the expess times, Warren County is due to get $1.3 million to upgrade law enforcement radios. I am guessing that this is to move the Police Radios to the NJSP Trunk System. This is in addition to the Radio Grant to Replace all the EMS Radios with VHF Hi-Band Radios. I would also think that the Fire Radios are included in here somewhere as well.

I had no idea that Lakewood EMT's were so talented

2009-03-13T09:11:00.004-04:00

http://wcbstv.com/local/lakewood.ambulance.ems.2.958231.html

My Prediction, EMS will go encrypted next.

Update: I tried to find the actual video but no luck. If you have it please send it to me.

New Human Services Talkgroup?

2009-03-12T08:42:00.002-04:00

I've been seeing 59568 suddenly affiliating several times a day with a known Human Services radio. Add it to the watch list.

PDF Updates

2009-03-10T10:19:00.001-04:00

The Following PDF's were updated today

Warren County
- Updated Fire Tone Out section (added Countywide, deleted incorrect hazmat)

Morris County
- Updated Boonton
- Updated Rockaway

Middlesex County
- Updated Edison

SAR Teams of Warren County

2009-03-04T08:41:00.002-05:00

Warren County has their own SAR team. They are pretty new, but seem to be off to a good start.

http://sartwc.com/index.html

New Uniden Scanners Due Out Soon

2009-03-04T08:13:00.001-05:00

Looks like the new Uniden Scanners will be out by the end of the month. So far hamstation.com is the only one I know of taking pre orders if anyone is interested.

http://www.hamstation.com/shopping/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2500

In other news, radioreference.com has relaunched with version 4.0 of the site.

On the Warren County front, a grant just came in to complete the EMS move to VHF. The only squad at this point still on low band is Greenwich Rescue.

As you can see, since the first of the year, the updates have been few and far between. It seems that everything has pretty much come to a halt with this bad economy. I am hoping that once I get my hands on that new Uniden Scanner, I can start updating the PDF's with Tone Out information. I plan to clean up the Hunterdon County tones and hopefully start adding some for Northampton, Lehigh and Sussex Counties.

Just a reminder

2009-02-01T12:32:00.004-05:00

Today is February 1st....TAKE DOWN THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!!! (or at least stop turning them on. Christmas has been over for 6 weeks...geez)

NJ Park Police moving to NJ Trunk System

2009-01-26T17:29:00.002-05:00

The Park Police showed up today on 24656. It seems that this is a statewide talkgroup. I could hear units in South Jersey calling Trenton.

So the big question is, will other DEP units be moving to the trunk system? Over the last 3 months, 2 other 24xxx talkgroups popped up in Unitrunker. I would keep an eye on these 2:
24592
24624

Yaesu FT-7800R

2009-01-21T08:27:00.006-05:00

I am going on 2 years with this radio. I have owned many many many radios (Scanners, Amateur & Commercial), and this has to be the most frustrating radio I have ever dealt with. This radio is even worse than the AOR Scanners. I have to break out the manual to do ANYTHING. Whether it's adding a channel to a scan list, deleting a channel, adding PL tones. Even with the manual, it takes me 3 tries.

On the plus side, it does have 20 scan lists, sounds nearly as good as a Motorola Mobile, and with a couple parts from Home Depot, you can have a remote head without paying the extra money. I keep on thinking about selling it, but I don't because it fits well in my Jeep.

If you are considering picking one of these up, I HIGHLY suggest that you spend the extra money and buy the software and cable. It will save you a lot of aggravation.

Updates for today

2009-01-16T15:09:00.001-05:00

Monmouth and Northampton PDF's were updated.

Also, I finally broke down and joined facebook. Search for my email (john at wc2em d0t net)

Updates

2009-01-06T09:31:00.001-05:00

Lots of PDF updates today. I Just going to list the counties that were updated:

Firebuff
Monmouth
Morris
NJ State
Somerset
Sussex
Warren

Back To Business

2009-01-05T07:23:00.003-05:00

Well the holiday season has finally ended. I will hopefully have pdf updates by the end of the week. As promised, my list of things that pissed me off in 2008.

#1 - My Dad's Accident
As many of you recall, my dad had a bad accident in the summer which required him to flown from the scene to a trauma center. What many of you don't know is that this resulted from a fall and has now left him a quadriplegic . This happened to someone who worked his all life and was due to retire next year. As you can see, this is at the top of my list.

#2 - Bush Administration
I don't care what party you support, you have to admit these guys are a complete disaster. One would almost think that they came into office and wanted to see how much damage they could caused. Only 2 weeks left...good riddance.

#3 - Exxon and all the other blood sucking oil companies and traders
Gas might be cheap now, but will it last? Probably not. Either way they still get mentioned since they screwed the entire county for the first 8 months of 2008.

#4 - Horizon Blue Cross of NJ.
I am going to warn you now, if you have these guys as your health insurer and you actually need them to pay for something, you are F*CKED. My dad is lucky enough to be covered by them and guess what, they don't want to pay for ANYTHING. They are even fighting the Medevac Bill, saying it wasn't necessary. Are you freaking kidding me? Like he called up and said "Get me a helicopter". Maybe the Paramedics should call the insurance companies before they request a medevac and make sure its ok. These people are nothing but a bunch of criminals and should not be allowed to do business!

#5 - John Corzine (NJ Governor)
As much as I understand the budget issue, this does not give him a right to lie to the NJ public. He claims he isn't raising taxes, but because of his budget cuts, my taxes are going up on the county, municipal and the school level. IF YOU DO SOMETHING THAT CAUSES TAXES TO GO UP, THAT IS THE SAME AS RAISING TAXES. STOP LYING TO THE NJ PUBLIC.

#6 - New Warren County Pagers
How many times does it take to program a pager? In Warren County it takes at least 3 times. Who the hell would program a minitor and leave the squelch open after the alert? What started as a good idea turned to crap pretty fast. I can tell you that Warren County Firefighters HATE the new pagers. No one can monitor the Alert channel on a radio without listening to the NJ Turnpike, or some road dept. in Eastern PA. How about some PL or something guys?

And that is my top 6. I was going to stop at 5, but the Warren County thing has really been eating at me. Since 2008 turned out to be such a bad year, I'm adopting a "I don't give a crap" attitude for 2009 and we'll see how that works for me.

Update:

I forgot #7, I turned 40 in 2008.

Happy New Year

2008-12-31T15:37:00.001-05:00

I want to wish everyone a happy new year. Look for pdf updates soon after the new year, and my list of things in 2008 that pissed me off.

PDF Updates

2008-12-02T08:54:00.000-05:00

The Following PDF's were updated today:

NJ State
- Added T/A Freqs for Human Services
- Some General Cleanup. Merged some TGID's/Conv. Freqs where it made sense to

Warren & Sussex County
- added NAC Codes for Del. Water Gap Rangers

Northampton County
- Updated Tac 3 Info

Lehigh County
- Updated Allentown Trunk System

NEW JERSEY WILDLAND FIRE AGENCIES

2008-11-28T10:09:00.001-05:00

I just came across this very well written article about the NJ Forest Fire Service by John H. Rieth.

http://www.sectionb10.org/operations_info/njffsrosternov08.htm

PDF Updates for today

2008-11-19T09:26:00.001-05:00

The Following PDF's were updated today:

Hudson County
- Updated Bayonne Trunk System
- Updated Hoboken City

Monmouth County
- Updated Keyport Police

Sussex County
- added serveral Fireground freqs

Lehigh County
- Major update to Allentown Trunk System

Vote for Scott

2008-11-18T09:08:00.003-05:00

Vote for Scott for Hampton Rescue Squad Chief(Hunterdon 13 Rescue).

In other news, the Uniden BC396XT is now being type accepted by the FCC. I can't wait to get my hands on one of these.

Allentown, PA
I've been spending a lot of time monitoring Allentown, and I moved unitrunker over there as well. I should have a lot more updates on the trunk system soon.

Berks County

2008-11-06T09:37:00.000-05:00

Berks County is following the trend and moving to a single countywide paging freq. It comes in surprisingly well here in Warren County.

151.2200

Go Vote

2008-11-03T09:43:00.000-05:00

Put the scanner down and go vote.

Nuff said.

My latest Stack in a Shack Pic

2008-10-30T08:14:00.004-04:00

I thought I would post my setup again today. I would like to point out that the Phillies baseball that sits at the top has been there since last year and that I predicted back in January that they would win the world series...HA!

Some other stuff:

Many thanks to NJSP radio repair. The new antenna on Montana Mountain has really improved reception at my house.

With the severe weather this week, I have seen a couple new talkgroups pop up on the JCP&L trunk system. 976 and 144.

and finally...
Warren County has restarted testing on the NJSP trunk system.

Volunteer shortages, high costs stymieing emergency service in Warren County

2008-10-26T03:42:00.005-04:00

Interesting Reading, but look on the bright side. Warren Hills got their football field, so all is good...since its for the children. The next one to get hurt on the football field is going to have to wait a while for an ambulance to show up...at least they can lie on artificial turf.

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/warren-county/index.ssf/2008/10/volunteer_shortages_high_costs.html

Update: The above is a good reason why you shouldn't write a blog at 3am when you have been up for 20 hours. Despite all that, I still stand behind what I wrote (yea I can't let this Warren Hills thing go.)

PDF Updates

2008-10-24T08:29:00.000-04:00

The Following PDF's were updated today

NJ State
- added NJITAC6
- added Municipal Police Section (local & county police on Trunk System)
- deleted some old unused talkgroups
- updated NJ Railroads
- updated RACES call signs
- added Marine channel note in DEP section

LBI
- added future Beach Haven EMS freq.

www.ThePublicSafetySite.com

2008-10-16T09:12:00.002-04:00

If you are looking to keep up with all the public safety happenings, head on over to www.ThePublicSafetySite.com.

Here you will find the latest news, PS job openings, fundraisers, etc.

Check it out and make sure you tell them I sent you.

859.7875 Mystery Solved

2008-10-13T09:00:00.003-04:00

I would like to thank Mario for solving this mystery.

Just wanted to let you know, I confirmed 859.7875 as being "ITAC-6" - I heard this
being used by Passaic County a month or so back and they id'd it as such. it is
part of the UASI radio system.

This is probably NJITAC6, not ITAC-6.

859.7875 Update

2008-10-11T08:32:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I traveled from Warren County, to Burlington County and back. The entire trip I picked activity on 859.7875, 156.7. Activity sounded similar to the CIB or Criminal Justice talkgroups. The odd part is that while I heard activity the entire trip, the signal never really got good. The best reception was when I was just south of Flemington. I'm calling on everyone to monitor this and see what they hear.

Some NJSP Conventional Activity

2008-10-06T07:53:00.003-04:00

Well all know that 9-TA was 866.3125 (Now rebanded 851.3125). 867.3125 has been floating around the lists for years and no one has really reported hearing anything on it, or even what the channel designation was. Yesterday while driving on the 287/78 interchange, I happened to pick up a couple troopers chatting on 852.3125. So whatever this is, its still in use and has been rebanded as well.

Another conventional Frequency, 859.7875. This one showed up as NJ Homeland Security. I did get some key ups while drving in Mercer county last week and the PL was 156.7, which is obviously consistant with the ICALL/ITAC PL.

PDF Updates

2008-10-03T08:14:00.001-04:00

Updated Today:

NJ State
- added several NJSP talkgroups
- updated DRJTBC Channel Plan
- added new Academy talkgroup in NJ Transit Section

Warren County
- added Snyder Bus Freq
- updated EMS Stations

It appears that Academy Express has moved off the Type 1 talkgroup and onto that new type 2 talkgroup. Not sure if this is the start of a trend or not.

I am now starting the difficult task of getting my Unitrunker back in order....after months of neglect. Part 2 of that will be deleting all these old radio ID's that haven't been used in years.

Updates for Today

2008-10-02T08:30:00.001-04:00

Hudson County
- Updated NY/NJ Port Authority Rebanded Trunk system freqs.

Lehigh County
- Updated Fire/EMS Station's

Sussex County
- Many PL Updates

PDF Updates

2008-10-01T13:05:00.001-04:00

The following PDF's were updated today:

Middlesex County
- updated South Amboy Fire
- updated Edison Conv. Fire

Morris County
- updated county trunk system

Union County
- corrected PL for Linden PD.

24 hours on the new Uniden Firmware

2008-10-01T09:51:00.003-04:00

All I can say is so far, so good. I think Uniden got it right this time.

Also, much to my dismay, the Warren Hills bond did pass yesterday. Is it really possibly that I'm the one who doesn't get it? Can there really be this many stupid people out there???? Well enjoy your football field. You'll be paying for it for the next 20 years idiots.

Today's Ramblings

2008-09-30T13:17:00.002-04:00

Uniden Released the much anticipated 3.0 firmware for the 396 & 996. Make sure you update your scanners.

On the NJ Transit Trunk system, Academy now has 2 type II talkgroups. 59408 & 59424.

And that is all for now because I am off to Vote.

NJ Transit Trunk System moving to Type II?

2008-09-29T17:40:00.001-04:00

I see some evidence that this might actually be happening. Perhaps a prelude to rebanding. I will post more as things evolve.

No Ranting today, just PDF updates (but still vote NO!)

2008-09-29T08:51:00.001-04:00

The following PDF's were updated today

Union County
- Lots of Corrections (thanks to Tony K.)

Lehigh County
- Some PL Updates and updated LANTA Freqs

Northampton County
- Updates to LANTA Freqs

Warren Hills School District: I AM NOT YOUR PERSONAL ATM MACHINE!

2008-09-28T12:37:00.002-04:00

So, to get the scanner stuff out of the way, they are on 151.775, D516. Now, if you are one of these "But its for the children" people, then do use both a favor and just stop reading now.

I get this "Special Election" notice from the Warren Hills School district. It appears that a bond is about to expire. So instead of doing the right thing and giving the taxpayers a break, they of course want to go right out and spend money on a new bond for artificial turf and a lot of other crap on an athletic field. Now they could have waited until the general election that is only 5 weeks away, but instead, they try and SNEAK it in and hope that most people, except the teachers and parents in the area show up and vote.

So I decide and do some research, because one would think that this school district is doing so well academically, that they deserve to spend millions on a football field so the kids don't have to get dirty in a grass field. I check the 10 ten schools, they aren't there. How about the top 50...nope....top 100...nothing. Out of 316 schools, Warren Hills Ranks 175! THIS ISN'T EVEN THE TOP 50%!!!!

(Source: http://njmonthly.com/articles/towns_and_schools/highschoolrankings/top-high-schools-in-new-jersey.html)

Where do they get off trying to spend more tax payers money in this economy??? Where do they get off spending our money on this crap when they aren't even in the top 50%. Do these school board members live in fantasy land? Maybe they just gave up teaching the kids and figured maybe they would have better luck turning out some pro football players.

Among the lies they want you to believe, they claim we won't be paying any more because the bond we have been paying off is expiring. The fact is that this is NEW NEEDLESS SPENDING. The school board should be doing everything they can to lower spending. To all you parents out there, if you don't like the school, send your kids to private school, or move to Hunterdon County. We are taxed to the hilt in this part of Warren County as it is and the main reason is Warren Hills. This is money that could be going to public safety, instead we are paying for a poor performing school district.

So, I urge everyone in the area to vote NO NO NO NO NO and put a stop to this crap.