CHOA & AMR Ambulances

[DanRollman]

Anyone have any insight on radios used by the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta helicopters and ground ambulances in metro Atlanta?

Or the private (company) radio channel AMR's DeKalb County contract ambulances use? I am aware AMR is dispatched and responds on the DeKalb Fire Rescue talkgroups, and gets posting instructions there as well. But I understand they also have a way to communicate with their own company supervisors and base for administrative purposes. Based on weeks of searching, the AMR company channel is clearly not a talkgroup on the DeKalb DTRS.

 

[MTS2000des]

AMR uses APX portables with programming on various metro Atlanta trunking systems, including UASI and DeKalb county. They operate off DeKalb fire talkgroups when responding to calls in DeKalb.

They also use Southern LINC's iDEN system for much of their non-emergency stuff like granny totes, special events, etc.

CHOA choppers use HEAR and have 800 radios on various systems, as do their ground trucks, but their daily operations are usually handled by cellular phones.

 

[30319]

CHOA Ambulances

CHOA Helicopters and ground ambulances also use Southern Linc iDen radios. The Helicopters do have 800 mhz. and HEAR capability as they respond to scene calls unlike the ground ambulances. Because the audio quality and coverage area of Southern Linc leaves much to be desired many of the ground crews are relegated to using cell phones. Cell phones can't be used for flight crews while in flight. The ground crews routinely call the CHOA Communication Center via cell phones and are transferred to a Physician for consultations. Those calls are recorded for quality assurance and documentation purposes.

I hope this helps.