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I was listening to MARS on Sunday and WSP got into a foot pursuit in downtown Bellevue. BPD joined in and patched Bellevue 1 to MARS so the Bellevue units could talk directly to WSP. It worked really well, and was a perfect example of how interoperability should work with the TRS. It seems like any major incident that potentially could cross jurisdictional boundaries should just automatically be patched to MARS.

Anyway, my question is this: when MARS and Bellevue 1 were patched together, both talkgroups had their usual ID # on my trunktracker. It was unlike typical patches where the ID # changes slightly, i.e. Fire Tac 2 patched to MA Zone 1 and Fire Tac 2's ID changes to 22195. Why is it that when MARS was patched, both talkgroups were still being broadcast normally? Does it have to do with MARS's permanent patches to VHF/UHF?

They may have been "cheating".....

They were probably patching BEL-1 to MARS via the old Midland UHF base station in the back room of Eastside Comm. This UHF base station is hooked into the console, and looks just like any other talkgroup or conventional frequency. So, when they wanted to patch to MARS, they simply created a patch between BEL-1 and this Midland Base station, and voila - they are on MARS (the UHF port of it, anyway).

Though there is probably another way to do it, this is the way the Eastside Comm staff has determined is the "best" way to patch stuff into MARS.

Brad/N7JGX
Whidbey Island, WA

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