Maryland noob here...

Dipping my toes in the water with scanning Maryland...

Am I correct in assuming the Cecil County Sheriff's Dept. is on Cecil's non-scannable VHF system?

Also, where can I listen to the MSP Helicopters? I saw the medevac freq's here:Medevac Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference but not sure if that's just for mutual aid or if everyone uses those.

Thanks.

You are right about Cecil County.

The Trooper helos do use the medevac and the MSP trooper frequencies, but generally they operate on the communication system of the county where they are responding.

They have the capability to come up on the fire tactical channels of about all counties in Maryland.

So if they are responding to a medical airlift in Baltimore County, for example, they will contact that county's fire operations and they will be provided the talkgroup to make direct contact with the incident commander and the EMS officer.

Not sure what happens in Cecil County, but that is true for everywhere else.

If Cecil has some VHF simulcast channels that are not encrypted it might happen there.

Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652

Thanks for that info. Is there a certain freq or county system to listen to for their initial dispatching?

The individual counties initiate the request for their response, and the medic for that county does a "consult" with Trauma (typically the hospital involved for helicopter evac). I think it is part of their protocol that they agree to helicopter transport as opposed to transport to the closest facility.

The county contacts Syscom, and the nearest helicopter is dispatched and the county is given an ETA.

The Trooper will contact the county and receive talkgroup, incident commander and medical officer.

Trooper then contacts those individuals on the assigned talkgroup to get landing site info and patient status.

I believe the Troopers report their status (enroute, arrived, available) on VHF Lo 44.74 mz, but the actual activities take place on the county system where the medevac is taking place, generally on a fire tactical channel. On the Eastern Shore they have specific talkgroups for each county for medevac in that county (all on the same system). In Anne Arundel, Howard, Carroll, Baltimore, Harford, and most others it is the tactical fire talkgroup that the incident is on.

Trooper helos are very capable with radio communications.

They also use the Maryland Aviation Medical evac frequencies, but not so much in central Maryland.

Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652

The trooper radios appear to have limited programming for each of the county systems. When the trooper calls the county, the county dispatcher patches the trooper's TG to the fireground tac channel for the duration of the incident. That way the troopers don't need to have all the tac channels programmed, and the incident commander doesn't have to worry about finding the helo.

or they could possibly through FiRST which has dedicated Air channels 700 Mhz available...Mike

Initial dispatch from SYSCOM for units that are on the deck is typically done by phone. This may be changing a bit as the Maryland FiRST system rolls out, they do have a net for that purpose on there. For now, however, initial dispatch is generally landline unless the bird is already airborne.

boatbod said:

The trooper radios appear to have limited programming for each of the county systems. When the trooper calls the county, the county dispatcher patches the trooper's TG to the fireground tac channel for the duration of the incident. That way the troopers don't need to have all the tac channels programmed, and the incident commander doesn't have to worry about finding the helo.

Click to expand...

In Anne Arundel County no patch is done for trooper helos. They are simply told which fire Tac frequency the incident is on and they switch there on their own.

Same for any incidents on the Eastern Shore through the UMESC system. Howard also does not patch them.

I am sure they do get patched in a number of areas but never in my area.
Their radios are hardly limited. They have some sophisticated communications gear on those helos.

Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652

Eastern Shore has a separate talkgroup for each county on the system for Aviation. I have not heard Troopers patched to these talkgroups, but it is possible that some are. Older helos?

They were quite active both foe evac and other purposes during that Thunder on the water or whatever they call that speedboat race.

Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652

For the LES Harris systems, they don't have EDACS radios on board, hence the VHF-800 links with dedicated talkgroups on each system.

marksmith said:

hey have some sophisticated communications gear on those helos.

Click to expand...

Indeed they do: til.ca - TIL - tdfm-9300

dpcain said:

For the LES Harris systems, they don't have EDACS radios on board, hence the VHF-800 links with dedicated talkgroups on each system.

Click to expand...

Can you amplify your answer a bit? Do they use simplex 800 / VHF channels on the EDACS systems?

dpcain said:

Initial dispatch from SYSCOM for units that are on the deck is typically done by phone. This may be changing a bit as the Maryland FiRST system rolls out, they do have a net for that purpose on there. For now, however, initial dispatch is generally landline unless the bird is already airborne.

Click to expand...

I don't see them moving from landline to radio dispatch for helicopters on deck at the their base - it's not like multiple units need it be alerted at the same time. Telephone can be more efficient at relaying detailed / complicated info, plus they have to get wx info, work out performance data, routing, etc. Plus there is a good amount of time spent on the ground spinning up....

OP, while It's rare to hear an airborne MSP helicopter get dispatched to a new incident, SYSCOM still uses 44.74 to communicate with airborne units. Flight tracking was done experimentally with ADS-B, although I've never seen a Trooper Flight ID, so I'm not sure the status of that system.

maus92 said:

Can you amplify your answer a bit? Do they use simplex 800 / VHF channels on the EDACS systems?

Click to expand...

For example, in Ocean City- Trooper-4 typically operates on 154.02500 simplex with a PL of 146.2 which is patched to talkgroup 02-045 on the EDACS system.

ResQguy said:

For example, in Ocean City- Trooper-4 typically operates on 154.02500 simplex with a PL of 146.2 which is patched to talkgroup 02-045 on the EDACS system.

Click to expand...

There ya go. That link is hardwired, and TG 02-045 can be patched by Ocean City as needed for on-scene comms with ground units.

Syscom

Hi
44.74Mhz iPL 110.9s used for MSP operations by Syscom. There is a back-haul repeater in WMd. and possibly other locations in Md. Try 465.050 Mhz PL 110.9.maybe you can hear it. Also Helo1 and Helo2 are used to coordinate landing sites at Wva locations frequently.

Enjoy
Wmbio

Maryland FiRST now lists a talk group called "SYSCOM to MSP Aviation." Why in a million years MSP and SYSCOM WOULDN'T utilize FiRST as a state-wide dispatch/control medium is beyond me.

marksmith said:

Eastern Shore has a separate talkgroup for each county on the system for Aviation. I have not heard Troopers patched to these talkgroups, but it is possible that some are. Older helos?

They were quite active both foe evac and other purposes during that Thunder on the water or whatever they call that speedboat race.

Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652

Click to expand...

Eastern Shore Consortium certainly does use patches.

There are 4 Aviation TG's in common use:
- Aviation Call used by Trooper to make initial contact with county dispatch.
- Aviation 1 for Queen Anne
- Aviation 2 for Talbot
- Aviation 3 for Caroline

After initial contact is made, the dispatcher patches Aviation 1,2 or 3 to the appropriate Tac channel.

It's seamless fire units on the ground, and unless you are using a PSR800 or other newer radio, you'd never know the patch existed. You can see it in operation if you use trunker.

ocguard said:

Maryland FiRST now lists a talk group called "SYSCOM to MSP Aviation." Why in a million years MSP and SYSCOM WOULDN'T utilize FiRST as a state-wide dispatch/control medium is beyond me.

Click to expand...

Because we really really do not want airborne assets to use 700MHz trunked frequencies unless it is absolutely necessary due to interference potential with other systems. That's why NPSTC and others worked to create designated AG (air to ground) channels that are not licensed in any trunked system.

Also, because trying to program FiRST into every local,county, other radio in the state is a pipe dream (at this time, I have hope though). Adding a conventional frequency in your next programming schedule is cake.