Ventura County Fire (VNC) CMD 5/ Tac 6 use?

[Progline]

Back in 2019 a thread here clarifed that CMD2/Tac3 was shifted to East County, and CMD8/Tac9 shifted to West County. It was implied then that CMD5/Tac6 was for Oxnard. But now the DB says CMD14 is for Oxnard. Since I can't hear Oxnard from here, and I don't recall hearing any reference to that pair on Dispatch, can someone confirm what CMD5/Tac6 is used for?

TIA

 

[iscanvnc2]

CMD5/TAC6 is indeed for the Oxnard plain (Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Camarillo, etc). CMD14 is very rarely used as an overflow when 5/6 are on a extremely extensive incident, at least that's how it appears to me. It's been months since I've heard it. It should be just CMD14.

 

[uman18]

CMD14 was the old Oxnard City fire dispatch before they moved to VNC for dispatching years ago. It's used every now and than when CMD 5 is being used. I also hear some training and side chatter on it from time to time. CMD 5 and Tac 6 are the correct channels for responses in the Oxnard area and CMD2 is east and CMD8 is west, like you stated.

I also heard Gold Coast Ambulance a while back on their old dispatch channel. Medics were playing around. Never delete old channels! 155.2350

 

[iscanvnc2]

CMD14 is 154.415. That was the Santa Paula FD frequency which VNC eventually took over after SP dissolved their FD & contracted with VNC.

The old Oxnard City fire dispatch frequency was 154.145 (transposition?) which I have kept in one scanner. Now I frequently hear
Riverside County FD (CALFIRE) CMD5 PL 167.9, Nothing else.

 

[uman18]

CMD 12 is the same freq. as CMD 14 on the data base. I’m 97.5 percent sure that CMD 14 is the old OXD DSP. 154.1450, very similar, maybe it’s a typo?
I use to travel to Riverside often back in the day and they do use the same freq as the old OxN Fire.

 

[iscanvnc2]

I have heard VNC dispatch tell units to switch to either CMD 12 or 14 & in both cases they were heard on 154.415 as shown in the DB. The distinction is probably in the repeater input tone & resultant repeater(s) activated. I've noticed a difference in receive levels. It is confusing.

Maybe someone connected with communications will jump in rather than our guessing/surmising.

 

[KK6ZTE]

CMD 12 is an OST channel while CMD 14 has a fixed input tone. Slightly redundant considering CMD 14 is CMD 12 Tone 3 (not a tone like tone 28 that would be "difficult to find") but I digress.

 

[iscanvnc2]

For the record (or us dummies, take your pick) what does OST stand for?

 

[KK6ZTE]

Operator Selectable Tone, basically the output tone of all the repeaters a user can select stays the same, but the input changes depending on what the user selects. It's a way of frequency sharing, where multiple repeaters on the same frequency can overlap but not interfere with each other since only one is activated at a time.

It's standard operations for most CA (and possibly federal, but I'm not in a position to confirm) firefighting organizations. It's cheap and works.

My apologies for not being clear.

VNC Command 12 can have any number of input tones selected, while the output tone remains the same, meaning multiple different repeaters with varying coverage can be activated by the user depending on the tone they select. VNC Command 14 has a single input tone (tone 3), only possibly activating one repeater.

CAL FIRE SLU Local, since we're talking Ventura, is an OST channel. Normally, tones 10-13 are used in San Luis Obispo County. However, since SLU is the administrative unit for Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties (contract counties) there are SLU Local transmitters in SBC and VNC (tone 9 Santa Ynez Peak, 7 and 8 on Red Mtn and one other), controlled from a base station at Ventura CHP dispatch.

 

[uman18]

I've heard traffic on CMD 12, and I have that programed with no PL tone. I'm still confident CMD14 is the 154.1450 the old OxFD. Ive had that programed in my scanner since they switched to VNC dispatch.

 

[iscanvnc2]

Late this afternoon VNC dispatched telling units to respond on CMD 14. Response was on 154.415. The only thing on 154.145 is Riverside County.

5:52 Units again dispatched to respond on 14 to TC in Oxnard. Again response was on 154.415 PL 100.0.

 

[KK6ZTE]

Late this afternoon VNC dispatched telling units to respond on CMD 14. Response was on 154.415. The only thing on 154.145 is Riverside County.

5:52 Units again dispatched to respond on 14 to TC in Oxnard. Again response was on 154.415 PL 100.0.

You should have been able to hear them on either 12 or 14 as the only difference between them is the input tone. The official CA state radio load has them both as 154.415 with a tone of 100.0 on the output. Is what you're observing?

What likely happened, and what I've seen locally, is they reuse a pair licensed in their area and expand the operations by adding additional repeaters on the same pair to cover additional areas (often unlicensed boxes). County of SLO has done this with 5 Cities Command (used to just be Pismo Beach) and Bay Command (used to be South Bay Fire).

 

[iscanvnc2]

I did since to the scanner the is no difference.

The point is to verify to uman18 that 14 is not 154.145 as has been by documentation (you #12) & listening (me #11)

 

[KK6ZTE]

Just wanted to confirm! Thanks.

 

[uman18]

I did since to the scanner the is no difference.

The point is to verify to uman18 that 14 is not 154.145 as has been by documentation (you #12) & listening (me #11)

Ok, i have to come here and say I was wrong , 14 is the same as 12 but 14 is a fixed PL tone assigned to the Oxnard Plains. The old Oxnard 154.1450 is assigned else were on the VNC channel line up. I feel like a rookie!

To my defense, I believe before when Oxnard use to self dispatch Oxnard was on VNC 14.

 

[iscanvnc2]

Glad we got that straightened out. As for 154.1450 being else where on the VNC line up, I don't see it in the RRDB. It makes sense that VNC would have taken it over when OPD gave up dispatching.

As I said previously, all I hear on 154.1450 is Riverside County. If you hear anything local, let us know.