FDNY Terminology

[BillQuinn]

I was wondering what "Fallback Step 3" means with the FDNY and what it means when a dispatcher says "the mixer is off". thanks.

 

[usnasa]

http://www.fdnewyork.com/terms.asp

 

[Rudy3145]

MIXER OFF

Our radio system (for now) is a 2 channel simplex voting receiver type. We transmit on one frequency and receive on another. This gives us in the Central Office the ability to transmit and receive at the same time. The frequency you listen to is the output of the Central Office. In order for you to hear what we hear, we have to turn on the "mixer".This device injects our receive audio into the transmitter. When a unit wants to give us sensitive information they ask us to turn it off, thus preventing anyone listening from hearing the transmission. It's not fool-proof though. Anyone within range of the low power transceiver of the unit can monitor the output frequency of the mobile and hear the message

 

[DaveNF2G]

It's like turning a repeater on and off, although as Rudy has explained, that's not exactly what they are doing.