[ScanIndiana] Re: Crisis channels get an upgrade

[Bob Burns K4RXR]

At 09:57 AM 7/23/2006, scanner_freak at comcast.net wrote:

>Interesting, The article says Speedway, Lawrence, and  Beech Grove 
>do not use MECA... Is this true? They have a ton of talkgroups on 
>the system. What do they use?

The article is correct, however the wording is somewhat confusing.

The sentence in question reads: "It [MECA] acts as the communications 
hub for fire, police, medical and
emergency dispatch services for the entire county except the town of 
Speedway and the cities of Beech Grove and Lawrence."

The confusion is that "MECA", in this context, is referring to the 
public safety dispatch center, not the radio system. Speedway, Beech 
Grove, and Lawrence, I believe, have their own dispatch consoles. 
They use MECA for radio communications, but they don't use MECA for 
dispatching. Plainfield and Avon are the same way...they are 
dispatched from a center in Plainfield using MECA for comms.

Dispatch services and radio systems are two separate entities, though 
they are very interrelated. If you consider, for example, the 
counties that have switched to SAFE-T, you can say that they are 
using SAFE-T or the Indiana State Police radio system for 
communications, but they _aren't_ using the State Police or SAFE-T 
for dispatching. SAFE-T is a radio system, not a dispatch service. 
MECA, on the other hand, is both, though not all agencies use both functions.

Bob...