Talk Group ID's

[mike1945]

You guys have been so much help..thank you. I'm hoping someone has the answer here..this one is really throwing my husband. As a for instance..our local fire goes out on a call..when they get there..they assign some radio number like F5 or something similar..that has nothing to do with the call group that is supposed to be theirs in the book. How can we figure out what the channel (or talk group) is that they are using once they respond to a call? Boy do I hope I phrased that with even a hair of intelligence so someone can understand....

 

[n4yek]

Once dispatched, a fire department is usually assigned a specific channel to use until they are done with the call and return to the station. Then that frequency goes back into the pool of freqs to use. It sounds like they are being assigned Ch. 5 by the way you describe. They only way to determine what it is, is to monitor all freqs and listen for they Fire department ID's when they are using a particular frequency, on conventional freqs they call these TAC channels.
If you are monitoring a trunk system, then you would listen for they fire department ID's and then see what Talkgroup they were using. Then that talkgroup would be Ch.5, store that talkgroup and label it Ch.5 as it would always be the same talkgroup number.

Hope this helps you.
Danny

 

[DELCOLHFC]

Does the RR DB help?

I see that you are working from "the book" I'm guessing this book...http://www.californiascanner.com/
I'm not from the area and have never read that book, I know a lot of the info in the database here at RR is from the book but maybe the DB listings have a better desription of the talkgroup's usage.
I looked in the DataBase here San Diego, County of (RCS - Public Safety) Trunking System, Various, California - Scanner Frequencies but I didn't see any listings for Ramona, I guess you would know better what town/area to look in. Again I'm guessing thats the system you are working with..........
Supply a little more info and maybe some more local folks can shed some light on your situation.

I have several 2055's and really enjoy them, glad to help any way I can.

 

[dougr1252]

A talkgroup is something that you only find in a trunking system. It's just a way of organizing a bunch of users who are all associated with a particular organization, like a fire department. Looking at the Ramona FD website (it's painful but go ahead) Ramona FD, it says that they partner with CDF or CalFire, which means they're probably on VHF. So they would use specific frequencies and not talkgroups. They also have an email address so they might even be willing to help you out.

Within their organization they will have names for the different frequencies, like F1, F2, Command 1, Tac 9, etc. They can change these anytime they like, but books are only printed every year or two. CDF typically has a repeated (rebroadcast) channel for dispatch, and then a tactical channel is assigned for use on the scene of an incident. The tac channel is not repeated so you would only hear it within a few miles of the incident. Check the RR database for CalFire Department of Forestry & Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference and see what frequencies apply to your area.

You guys have been so much help..thank you. I'm hoping someone has the answer here..this one is really throwing my husband. As a for instance..our local fire goes out on a call..when they get there..they assign some radio number like F5 or something similar..that has nothing to do with the call group that is supposed to be theirs in the book. How can we figure out what the channel (or talk group) is that they are using once they respond to a call? Boy do I hope I phrased that with even a hair of intelligence so someone can understand....