high point fire

[REVREID]

i observed a few days ago,and a few times yesterday that high point fire dispatch is using the computer aided dispatch-or maybe a better term for it.any how-its a computer voice dispatching. then they went back to human voice. just wondering if they are going to make the switch over soon.

 

[yardbird]

Can't say for them

Charlotte Fire, Wake Co. and Union Co. Ems are using it.

David

 

[JDrisc3480]

Moore County is using it as well

 

[W8RMH]

Something like Lucution? Columbus, OH has been using it for years, and they average over 12,000 runs a month. The best thing about it they can dispatch up to 20 runs simultaneously, which saves lives and property, along with reducing response time. It dispatches the same way every time which also reduces stress. You get use to the voice, which is actually a recorded human voice, not computer generated.

 

[REVREID]

yes-it is similar to what i have heard on Charlotte fire, and i believe Durham fire and ems.i watched a video about it from Charlotte fire. they talked about the advantages of dispatching several calls at once. i suppose that High Point will have it fully functional before long

 

[NCFireman11]

I was in Greensboro yesterday and noticed the "Samantha" style voice coming across High Point Fire TAC F6 (I guess it was being patched with dispatch). For those unfamiliar, Samantha is the female voice used for automated dispatching coined by Charlotte FD.

I heard through the grapevine Greensboro/Guilford Co Fire will be switching to Locution dispatching as well next year.

 

[chris8video]

Today (first time I noticed anyway) the "Samantha" voice is operating on HP Fire Dispatch. It had been on F6 during (what I figure is) testiing.

Human dispatcher still dispatching nearly simultaneously on Fire B2.

 

[WA4MJF]

Not sure how it can do 20 simultaneously at the same time, unless you have 20 discrete frequencies. AFAIK, Wake County has two Fire and two EMS, one each for voice and alpha pagers. An alpha frequency for Fire Marshals, the use same voice as rest of fire. That a lot of frequencies, but really only 2 voice frequencies.

 

[Zbizzle911]

The system is called PURVIS. It was installed in the last part of 2018 in all of the stations and com center. The stations have boards in them that show what calls are active in the city and if you have a call it list the type address and who was dispatched. It was tested for a while on F and went live on A several weeks ago. As it was described to us that are in the stations it uses an IP connection to do the dispatching and can dispatch several calls at the same time this way. You can tell when multiple calls are being dispatched because if you have the radio open in the station your call takes priority over the speakers and when it is done dispatching you hear the remainder of the dispatch for the other call. I actually like it over the old system bc the voice is always the same, the volume is always the same and the bell that used to scare the crap out of me is gone.

 

[trauts14]

@chris8video i have noticed that as well. i spoke with the city of hp radio shop a few days ago and should have asked that. sometimes it is the "robot dispatch," and sometimes it is human. i have also noticed, dual dispatches with "robo" starting first, and human dispatching right after robo. tto bad hppd went full encryption.

 

[trauts14]

@chris8video and @REVREID can you guys still receive hp city services? for the life of me, i cannot get trash/electrical/sewer to work with my bcd-436hp. i get hpfd no prob, but my scanner will not RX the services i mentioned. i thought i programmed it wrong so i erased everything and just set "site-1" with no luck.

 

[Zbizzle911]

@chris8video i have noticed that as well. i spoke with the city of hp radio shop a few days ago and should have asked that. sometimes it is the "robot dispatch," and sometimes it is human. i have also noticed, dual dispatches with "robo" starting first, and human dispatching right after robo. tto bad hppd went full encryption.

The human dispatchers still dispatch every call they are just on B now and the PURVIS system is on A. When we are out of the station we monitor B and the human dispatch is what we hear ( B is also used for single company calls like med calls) .

 

[trauts14]

@Zbizzle911 thank you for that. what is the advantage of the, "robo" PURVIS dispatch? It seems difficult to understand.
-------------stuart(KI4HOT)

 

[Zbizzle911]

@Zbizzle911 thank you for that. what is the advantage of the, "robo" PURVIS dispatch? It seems difficult to understand.
-------------stuart(KI4HOT)

There are many advantages of this new system. here's a list in no particular order
1.) The volume and voice is always the same. So you don't have to worry if the mic is far away or real close to the dispatchers mouth. With the voice being the same all the time you don't have to worry about someone having a different dialect or being sick affecting their voice or your understanding of them.
2.) They can dispatch several different calls at one time. Before the dispatcher had to triage the calls and dispatch them accordingly. Now purvis can dispatch several calls at the same time because it is an IP based system.
3.) It frees up the dispatchers to be able to be more attentive to the other talk groups and not having to worry about getting a call out.
4.) The alerting system in the station is much more gentle than the old bell and bright lights that I'm sure took years off my life by scaring me lol . The new system has red LED lights that come on at night some its more gentle and a tone that ramps up slowly. It doesn't get my heart racing like the old one.

Im sure there are more but these stick out to me. I really like the system over the old way.

 

[trauts14]

@Zbizzle911 thank you. It is great the system allows for multiple calls at once. When dispatch receives a call, do they just press a PURVIS button? Either way, the original call goes to 911 and then the dispatcher presses the button to have PURVIS transmit? Since the PURVIS system seems difficult to understand as a citizen with a scanner, do you guys see the calls on handheld units/dash mounted units? If you cannot fully understand PURVIS, do you simply rely on the human dispatch?

 

[Zbizzle911]

@trauts14 Inside the stations there are screens in several locations including the bays that show call type, units assigned and the location. Inside the trucks we have MCT's that we use to check en route, on scene and clear, it also shows you all the dispatch info that the call taker has entered and any hot spot info ( this is info from previous calls to the same address) I think its pretty clear in the station and on our radio system, Not sure what it sounds like on a scanner. Some people do have trouble understanding it but I think it will get better with time. They will learn how to understand what's being said. I remember the first time I heard a digital transmission and it was weird and hard to understand at first but now its second nature to me so I would think its just something that will come with time. As far as what happens in the dispatch center I have no idea how it works. We hardly ever go down there unless we need to swap a walkie out or something like that.

 

[trauts14]

@trauts14 Inside the stations there are screens in several locations including the bays that show call type, units assigned and the location. Inside the trucks we have MCT's that we use to check en route, on scene and clear, it also shows you all the dispatch info that the call taker has entered and any hot spot info ( this is info from previous calls to the same address) I think its pretty clear in the station and on our radio system, Not sure what it sounds like on a scanner. Some people do have trouble understanding it but I think it will get better with time. They will learn how to understand what's being said. I remember the first time I heard a digital transmission and it was weird and hard to understand at first but now its second nature to me so I would think its just something that will come with time. As far as what happens in the dispatch center I have no idea how it works. We hardly ever go down there unless we need to swap a walkie out or something like that.

gotcha, thank you------------KI4HOT

 

[chris8video]

@chris8video and @REVREID can you guys still receive hp city services? for the life of me, i cannot get trash/electrical/sewer to work with my bcd-436hp. i get hpfd no prob, but my scanner will not RX the services i mentioned. i thought i programmed it wrong so i erased everything and just set "site-1" with no luck.

I don't keep the city services active on my scanner. Sorry.