Harford County Fire Dispatch

[joshmsr]

Hey folks...just wondering if anyone knows when Harford Fire dispatch uses 460.60000 vs the CMARC 10511 290f Harford FD Main (Fire Dispatch). I have a SDS100, and some tone-outs setup for Abingdon Fire and Abingdon EMS. Just wondering if there is a distinction between which fire companies use the analog vs digital system for dispatch purposes?

Thanks!
Josh

 

[K4EET]

joshmsr, Welcome to Radio Reference! I hope you find this website enjoyable and use it frequently...

To answer your question, I can offer this. Down here in Anne Arundel County, the analog system is typically for the Fire Department's volunteers with Minitor pagers. May be a similar scenario in Harford County.

 

[maus92]

I would imagine that the UHF frequency is used for FTO, i.e. paging. The CMARC system is used for operations. The UHF and CMARC dispatch channels are likely simulcast; not sure if you will hear field units on UHF.

 

[tvengr]

I can tell you about 3-1/2 years ago 460.6 was being used for the department issued pagers. It has a 136.5 PL tone.

 

[hill]

The UHF frequency is just a patch of tbeir main dispatch talkgroup from the trunked radio system. All fire department radio traffic takes place on TRS.

 

[maus92]

The UHF frequency is just a patch of tbeir main dispatch talkgroup from the trunked radio system. All fire department radio traffic takes place on TRS.

Do you know if field units are heard on UHF? Console audio can routed to both radio systems, so the initial dispatch is transmitted on the paging frequency and the TRS tg; subsequent traffic is heard only on the dispatch TG (or whatever ops tg is assigned.) Two tone paging is somewhat difficult to implement on P25 simulcast systems, which is one reason why it is fairly rare, although it is used in Talbot County.

In Anne Arundel, a dispatch begins with tone-outs heard on the VHF paging channel, then the voice announcement is heard on both the VHF channel and the dispatch tg. Subsequent dispatch related traffic is only heard on the TRS, usually on a response tg. So technically in AACo, the two systems are not patched.

 

[tvengr]

I have been monitoring 460.6 with 136.5 PL tone. I hear tone outs and voice dispatch. I have heard units responding and coming into service on that frequency. There is no incident activity.

 

[maus92]

I have been monitoring 460.6 with 136.5 PL tone. I hear tone outs and voice dispatch. I have heard units responding and coming into service on that frequency. There is no incident activity.

Good info. Are the tones also heard on the dispatch tg? Also in AACo, you sometimes hear a short pre-dispatch announcement of a major incident before the tone-out begins that happens only on the dispatch tg.

 

[tvengr]

Are the tones also heard on the dispatch tg?

Tone outs are on UHF only. UHF and the dispatch talkgroup carry the same radio traffic.