What flavor of Motorola?

[CyberGoth1440]

Does anyone know what type of radios Birmingham Fire & Birmingham Police use?
I have searched the Motorola site & found one that Looks like the handhelds fire use but I'm not sure.

 

[TechnoDave]

If no one on here can tell you by Monday, I will take a look when I get back to work and let you know.

 

[CyberGoth1440]

Thanks, I'm mainly interested in the handhelds but any info would be great.

 

[dave911]

The fire radios are the Motorola Astro XTS-3000R ruggedized version. Some have the keypad and some, like the firefighters, don't. Mostly officers are the one with radios that can do private call. Dave will have to let you know about the PD side.

 

[CyberGoth1440]

Thanks Dave! I don't have the ability to monitor "private calls" with the PRO-96, do they use that mode often? I have only heard it mentioned once on a TAC channel by an EMS supervisor.

 

[dave911]

Thanks Dave! I don't have the ability to monitor "private calls" with the PRO-96, do they use that mode often? I have only heard it mentioned once on a TAC channel by an EMS supervisor.

Not a whole lot. EMS 3 uses it the most when he talks to the other EMS Support Units about supplies. The police use it more than the fire. I've heard some good stuff there but not recently.

 

[CyberGoth1440]

That's interesting, don't think I have ever heard a PD unit mention private mode, guess they want to keep folks from knowing about it.
Can you monitor private calls by manually scanning all system frequencies? This used to
work on the Decatur/Morgan County EDACS system when DEMSI supervisors would say "key up for an individual" . There were only 5 frequencies so I never understood the point of "Individual" mode unless it was to keep other ambulance crews from listening.

 

[dave911]

Yes, you can hear them by open scanning. It's not like listening to a channel, though. It's more like a two way phone call. Each radio has its own ID and they can call each other. When it shows up in the scanner, it's a longer number than the usual TG ID. If you hear someone talking and can figure out who they are, you can save their ID and put a name with it in the scanner. That way, you'll know who it is in the future. Pretty cool.

Here are a few I have. I didn't save the PD because I didn't know who they were...

AC 2 (Asst Chief Nathan) 753338
Communications Chief 753430
Training Chief 753258
EMS-3 (QA/QI Manager) 753272
Battalion 1 753336
Engine 15 I-Call 753415
Rescue 16 I-Call 753421

 

[CyberGoth1440]

I remember seeing ID's in that format on my old PRO-94 when listening to the BHM/JEFFCO system, it wouldn't decode the digital audio of course but WOULD display the talkgroups.
Guess I'll get a BC396T or whatever Uniden comes out with after this whole rebanding deal is over, the PRO-96 doesn't do Private Calls for whatever reason.
By the way, I checked out the XTS-3000 series on Motorola's site and the "MODEL II" looks like the one I've seen BPD using - it's the one with the basic display but not the full keypad.
Thanks!

 

[TechnoDave]

The car radios are Motorola Astro. I didnt get a chance to look at the handhelds, will try again today.

 

[dave911]

BPD has the same radios as fire department, just not the rugged version. I found a picture from a chase out East.

As for the keypad, only the officers have radios with a keypad on the fire side.

Here are a few BPD I-Call IDs I have found in the past day or two...

BPD Sgt I-Call 749386
BPD Sgt I-Call 749562
BPD Sgt I-Call 749778

The IDs starting with 741xxx appear to be beat cars.

 

[CyberGoth1440]

Thanks guys!
Here is a Brochure from Motorola on the XTS3000 series. Looks like the Model II in the pic.

 

[exkalibur]

Great, but the radio in that picture isn't an XTS3000. It's an XTS5000.

http://store.magnumelectronics.com/images/category/24.jpg

Notice the gray around the screen, just like the pic a couple of posts ago? Now look at an XTS3000.

http://users.chariot.net.au/~mattb/scan/xts3000.jpg

Notice, no gray around the screen.

 

[CyberGoth1440]

It's hard to tell from the B&W photo in the brochure but the radio on the cops belt does look like the XTS5000 in your post. Dave911 says Fire uses XTS300R's so I guess we will
have to wait for BHAMDISPATCHER or someone eles to help out here.
Basically the same radio though, isnt it?

 

[exkalibur]

Not even close. The XTS5000 is FAR superior to the 3000. They're similar in that, the 5000 can do everything the 3000 can do, but a hell of a lot more.

 

[TechnoDave]

OK, confirmed.... the police handhelds are XTS 5000.

 

[scanrfan]

Have over 40 I-Call TGID's from Birmingham & Jefferson County Al. in my file that I haven't identified yet. Have been collecting I-Call TGID's for last 6 months or so. Use BC 396. From what I've heard on the radio, the I-Call is a "Discrete" talk-around or simplex feature. Would like clarification or explination of I-Call.

 

[dave911]

Have over 40 I-Call TGID's from Birmingham & Jefferson County Al. in my file that I haven't identified yet. Have been collecting I-Call TGID's for last 6 months or so. Use BC 396. From what I've heard on the radio, the I-Call is a "Discrete" talk-around or simplex feature. Would like clarification or explination of I-Call.

I-Call is a private radio to radio conversation that none of the other radios on the system can hear.

 

[CyberGoth1440]

I-CALL (866.0125) is also a simplex mutual aid frequency. Losts of local agencies use it for
chit chat & BS. Sometimes the repeater function is on, and you can hear both sides.
Thanks everyone for the info on the Motorola's!