Alberta Updates

Foothills
Blackie FD: 153.545 PL 136.5

Ranchlands
Municipal (Chain Lakes) Public Works 159.465 PL 123.0

Willow Creek
County Fire Disp 155.370 PL 167.9

Crowsnest Pass
Crowsnest FD: 154.920 PL 146.2

All four of those are already in the database, though three of them don't have the tones included.

You should go into the RRDB and into each county and hit Submit, then post the appropriate info for each county.

Heidi750 said:

Foothills
Blackie FD: 153.545 PL 136.5

Ranchlands
Municipal (Chain Lakes) Public Works 159.465 PL 123.0

Willow Creek
County Fire Disp 155.370 PL 167.9

Crowsnest Pass
Crowsnest FD: 154.920 PL 146.2

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As Jay911 said, please submit them through the RRDB in each county. If you don't do this they are just lost in the forums as opposed to saved in the database as submissions, and will get properly tracked.

Heidi750 said:

Foothills
Blackie FD: 153.545 PL 136.5

Ranchlands
Municipal (Chain Lakes) Public Works 159.465 PL 123.0

Willow Creek
County Fire Disp 155.370 PL 167.9

Crowsnest Pass
Crowsnest FD: 154.920 PL 146.2

Click to expand...

I have created submissions for all of them this time, and edited the database, however I have a question.

The Crowsnest Pass FD of 154.920 in the DB show as a DMR frequency. Are they running DMR and Analog?

The 154.920 freq was analog years ago, and was a terrestrial link between Black Diamond and CNP (with maybe an intermediate hop in Ranchlands). They have definitely switched to DMR throughout the pass, but may be still using the legacy freq as a secondary backhaul.

For what its worth, the last time I heard 154.92 it was analog but that was back in Feb/March of this year.

Jay911 said:

The 154.920 freq was analog years ago, and was a terrestrial link between Black Diamond and CNP (with maybe an intermediate hop in Ranchlands). They have definitely switched to DMR throughout the pass, but may be still using the legacy freq as a secondary backhaul.

Click to expand...

So add the frequency again with analog along with DMR, that would make some sense with the CTTCSS tone

I'm not sure if they're using 154.92 for the DMR. I know they have some 130 and 140 MHz freqs in use, perhaps as a local network (for the three FDs and one rescue squad in the pass). I don't have my scanner or Sentinel handy or I'd give them to you right now.

Quick Question:
If the Fire Dept in the Pass are using DMR ...
Do I need a separate System for each Dept Frequency?
If not would I just list them like a conventional System?

Jay911 said:

I'm not sure if they're using 154.92 for the DMR. I know they have some 130 and 140 MHz freqs in use, perhaps as a local network (for the three FDs and one rescue squad in the pass). I don't have my scanner or Sentinel handy or I'd give them to you right now.

Click to expand...

It's difficult to tell without monitoring the channels. If they're treating them like three different repeaters but re-using one group of talkgroups and radio IDs (which makes sense) - as in, Rescue 26 is radio ID 2601 on the tower in CNP and on the tower in Bellvue and on the tower in Frank (or whereever they are, I forget right now), and Fire Dispatch is always tg 100, then you could create one system and make three sites in the system, even three "one frequency" sites. That's how I've done, for example, WestJet here in Calgary, and Heritage Park. Both of them have multiple frequencies but the talkgroups are the same on each frequency.

If, however, the talkgroups and RIDs are different when units roam from tower to tower, i.e. Fire Dispatch is on tg 100 on CNP site, but on tg 24 on the Bellvue site, you'd need to make separate systems.

I've dug out my laptop and found the freqs and locations for the CNP FD repeaters.

Bellvue:
freq 138.870
lat/long 49.571942,-114.3566667

Coleman:
freq 167.445
lat/long 49.635277,-114.491942

Crowsnest Pass:
freq 138.915
lat/long 49.632500,-114.570277

I used a radius of 30 miles on all three.

If you are in the area, the best time to listen to be certain to get a transmission will be around 1800 to 1930. These departments are part of the fire dispatch system run by Foothills Regional Emergency Services Commission (FRESC) based out of Black Diamond, and they (FRESC) begin pager/radio tests around 1830-1845 each night. FRESC starts with station 1 in Longview and works upwards numerically, so to get to the CNP stations (24/25/26 IIRC), it might take a few minutes.

EDIT: For ease of detecting the talkgroups and etc., I would program them as conventional frequencies with no names (if you program them by hand instead of with Sentinel, you can just not use the "Edit Name" menu; it'll appear to contain a name like "138.9150 MHz" but it'll really be blank). If you do that, the system #, site #, color code, slot #, RID, and TGID will show up on the screen when you receive a signal.

Heidi750,

If your listening, let us know what you find and I will update the database accordingly!

Thanks for the updated info ...
I should be out there in a week or two ...
I'll let you know what I find.

This afternoon, I heard Blairmore Fire at station 24 on 154.92 in analog.