Hey guys. I don't know where this goes. My fire department is trying to find a way to record our fire ground communications on a simplex system. All of our repeated communications are recorded at the dispatch center. My chief had tasked me into figuring out a way to recored our fireground being that transmissions don't reach back to dispatch. Is there any way to do this?
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Recording fire grounds comms
- Thread starter fman74
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Scanner audio out using a patch cable into a computer running the freeware Audacity program; problem solved. I've done it that way, and it works really well. Audacity's recording function has a voice-activation option so you don't record long periods of silence, too. An older laptop will do the job. 
Kingmobileaudio
Member
Could also use Uniden's x36hp models to do it to the SD card
marksmith
Member
Recording with an HP-1, HP-2, BCD536HP or BCD436HP. Other scanners record but the data is less easy to handle away from the scanner
Recording only takes place when a transmission rakes place. Recordings are in WAV format.
It records the specific date and time of the transmissions as well as the talkgroup or frequency along with the audio itself and puts these into a folder or folders for the incident.
All records on to mini SDHC cards on the scanner which can be pulled from the scanner and copied easily or copied via USB from scanner to PC.
I copy these folders to PC and then use an application called Media Monkey to play back because each time a microphone is keyed, it shows the date, time, system, department, talkgroup, and length of transmission. Any of these individual transmissions is a separate .WAV file that can be copied, distributed, emailed, or whatever.
Mark
BCD536HP/HP-1E/HP-2E/BCD996XT/BCD396XT(2)/BCD996T/PSR-800/PRO-96 +
Recording only takes place when a transmission rakes place. Recordings are in WAV format.
It records the specific date and time of the transmissions as well as the talkgroup or frequency along with the audio itself and puts these into a folder or folders for the incident.
All records on to mini SDHC cards on the scanner which can be pulled from the scanner and copied easily or copied via USB from scanner to PC.
I copy these folders to PC and then use an application called Media Monkey to play back because each time a microphone is keyed, it shows the date, time, system, department, talkgroup, and length of transmission. Any of these individual transmissions is a separate .WAV file that can be copied, distributed, emailed, or whatever.
Mark
BCD536HP/HP-1E/HP-2E/BCD996XT/BCD396XT(2)/BCD996T/PSR-800/PRO-96 +
MONITORING247
Member
recording .
The ws 1080 and the radio shack pro668 can also record transmitted signals HAPPY SCANNING
The ws 1080 and the radio shack pro668 can also record transmitted signals HAPPY SCANNING
rbm
Member
I use ScanREC Pro for just that sort of thing.
I've attached a short sample in the form of a zip file that includes a log file and a wav file of the audio.
The log file has timestamps and duration of every transmission.
(Relative time is the index into the audio file for that transmission.)
My computers all synchronize their clocks with a time standard every 3 minutes so the accuracy is quite good.
You can PM me for any specifics.
Rich
Like Stated before you could mount a bcd536hp or use bcd436hp or a ws1080 or a RS Pro-668 mounted in the firetruck at the scene then download the audio with a computer.
An "out in left field" thought would be for your fire department to become an official Broadcastify feed provider. If you could tie the audio from a radio at the fire station into a computer it could be fed into Broadcastify.
Broadcastify will archive audio for about 6 months that you can access later as desired. These are stored in MP3 format.
This means would alleviate the necessity of someone back at the fire department watching whatever is used to store recordings (such as on a scanner or computer) to avoid overfilling the bucket.
This also has a side benefit of your members being able to hear, via smartphones, those fireground channels so they can hear what is going on when they are unable to respond, such as being at their "regular" jobs.
Lastly this might also be a good community service. The fire department I retired from has been a feed provider, Whenever bad weather occurs or there is some major incident going on, the listener count jumps up dramatically.
Broadcastify will archive audio for about 6 months that you can access later as desired. These are stored in MP3 format.
This means would alleviate the necessity of someone back at the fire department watching whatever is used to store recordings (such as on a scanner or computer) to avoid overfilling the bucket.
This also has a side benefit of your members being able to hear, via smartphones, those fireground channels so they can hear what is going on when they are unable to respond, such as being at their "regular" jobs.
Lastly this might also be a good community service. The fire department I retired from has been a feed provider, Whenever bad weather occurs or there is some major incident going on, the listener count jumps up dramatically.
Kingmobileaudio
Member
Not a good idea either. The scene would need some kind of internet access to send audio to Broadcastify. Lose the connection, no more recording. All of this would have to be at the fire since the radios are simplex. The scanners that record audio are the best bet.
How many units are going to need recording capability? Just a command vehicle, or will all the apparatus need it? What kind of budget do you have for the project? There are commercial solutions, using one of the scanners that will record audio to a SD card or build a custom setup using a laptop/raspberry pi and SDR stick. How many simplex channels are you looking to record? Just one or multiple channels?
DickH
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If it's a smaller department, only the Command vehicle (or Chief's car) needs to have a laptop setup as suggested.
DickH
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That would also fit into the "Rube Goldberg" category.
And the station can not receive the units at the fire.
Thread moved to Industry Discussion forum.
sfd119
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So I take the audio out pin of our XTL radio and bring it into a "Line In" on our computer. I run it into RadioLog: ResponderApps - RadioLog
If you notice the features of the app (besides recording), it can also log MDC/GE Star/etc hits, along with tracking Emergency/ManDown alarms.
Great for tracking radios on scene if you have this capability. I've been running it for a couple months now with no issues. Plus you can't beat the price.
If you notice the features of the app (besides recording), it can also log MDC/GE Star/etc hits, along with tracking Emergency/ManDown alarms.
Great for tracking radios on scene if you have this capability. I've been running it for a couple months now with no issues. Plus you can't beat the price.
Styles
Member
You could use this as well. Not sure of your Budget FDNY Tactical Communications Recording System - TCRS fireground recorder
Our fire department has been doing the Broadcastify option for several years and works well. It isn't that cumbersome or unwieldy.
I agree it isn't perfect - you can lose intenet connectivity (very rare can count on one hand how many times this happened) and you can lose power to the fire station (a little more often, but that's what they make generators and Universal Power Supplies for). Whether or not fire stations receive units in the field depends upon how far away they are and how tall the receiving antenna is.
Having recording scanners in vehicles has issues too. The unit with the scanner may be out of service or on another call. I've also seen a great number of occasions where firefighters "tinker" with radio stuff, including scanners, in fire apparatus, despite being told to leave them alone.
I agree it isn't perfect - you can lose intenet connectivity (very rare can count on one hand how many times this happened) and you can lose power to the fire station (a little more often, but that's what they make generators and Universal Power Supplies for). Whether or not fire stations receive units in the field depends upon how far away they are and how tall the receiving antenna is.
Having recording scanners in vehicles has issues too. The unit with the scanner may be out of service or on another call. I've also seen a great number of occasions where firefighters "tinker" with radio stuff, including scanners, in fire apparatus, despite being told to leave them alone.
sfd119
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Majority of our district doesn't have a reliable internet signal with Cell Phones. This wouldn't work for us. Not only that, most people wouldn't want their simplex fireground channels broadcasted around the world, especially with the amount of backseat quarterbacks and sleezy news media around.
That's why you hide it? Not that hard to mount it under a seat or something.
Wow, very slick!
On occasion I get agencies at work asking how to record their transmissions for informal review. While I don't think I'd rely on this for purposes of legal record retention, it looks like a great option for informal or semi-formal recording for incident review, or (as noted by the OP) recording local channels which aren't recorded at the comm center.
To the OP, if you have a real radio(s) at the firehouse that can reliably receive your simplex fireground channels, this would likely be a good option for you.
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