SLATER signalling for FD

[rjvalenta]

following a different thread and after learning some things in the moto-forum... let me try to boil this down to it's simplest form of question(s) in the hopes of finding the most direct answer:

it used to be that we could all listen to a frequency and hear QCII tones for specific firehouses or units... that system is going away. and with that, dispatching is handled by talkgroups that cover large areas, so if someone lives in Mehlville they will be hearing calls for Monarch and West County - it's a LOT to listen to, and maybe someone only wants to hear about what's nearby.

How does someone do that?

in a previous thread someone mentioned that there could be 4 or 5 various things to send an alert to a firehouse or a truck, but... what are they?

how could someone in this region, listening to SLATER, set up a scanner, or a NAS XTS, or a Unication pager to just hear the houses or units they want to hear?

if a local firehouse sends a truck to a school for show & tell, those responders need to be able to be alerted if they are needed somewhere (but they aren't hearing every call across the entire dispatch area), so it's not at the firehouse only, something can light up their radios... right? what is it?

and, how could any of us limit what we hear across the dispatch talkgroup? does anyone know the system being used? does anyone know if it's possible with an SDS200, or in CPS to set up an XTS for NAS, or a Unication pager to just hear the calls to houses or units you want to hear?

 

[nick1427d]

The only "alerting" that goes over the air is via the trunking system and its just a set of tones that doesn't alert anything. They are simply for getting your attention.

The new system is all internet based. Calls are generated in CAD and whatever the CAD says the system will alert those needed. Each station has a computer that receives the alerts and alerts the station/trucks accordingly. Individual users utilize an app where they can select which house, trucks, call types, and any combination. So for example, if I wanted to only be alerted to Fires I can turn that on/off on the app.

They are all alerted via the app when on the street. Some even have the app on their MDTs/iPads. The calls always come to the MDTs/iPads anyway so the only time you could potentially miss a call is if you are not in truck or station and have your phone AND radio turned off.

In short, theres no way for the scanner listener to select who or what they are alerted to anymore. It's still divided by regions though. Some departments are dispatched on North, South, East etc if you wanted to narrow it down a bit. It's all or none really.