Allen County Fire Abandons VHF

[W9LW]

On January 6, 2025 dispatchers of Allen County fire departments (those outside the city of Fort Wayne) disabled a bridge between their 800 MHz P25 system and VHF FM transmitters on 154.01 MHz. Traffic that was previously audible on 154.01 MHz FM is now available only on the county's 800 MHz P25 system. Fortunately for people who have 800 MHz P25 receivers, the dispatch channel and fireground "ops" channels are unencrypted, unlike the rest of the P25 system. Unfortunately, most scanning receivers are susceptible to "simulcast" interference created by the system transmitting the same data on the same RF frequencies from multiple sites. Note that although the city of Fort Wayne is in Allen County, the Fort Wayne Fire Department uses a different P25 talk group for its dispatch channel and that talk group is encrypted.

 

[west-pac]

Up until a few years ago, the County Fire Disp, and Ops TGs were encrypted. I wouldn't be surprised if they go back.

Your title says they're abandoning VHF, are tone outs still going to be on VHF?...I listen to 154.010, but I haven't been paying attention today.

 

[W9LW]

... are tone outs still going to be on VHF?...I listen to 154.010, but I haven't been paying attention today.

Nothing is being transmitted on 154.01 MHz anymore. No tones, nothing.

 

[W9LW]

Up until a few years ago, the County Fire Disp, and Ops TGs were encrypted. I wouldn't be surprised if they go back.

It is my understanding that the Unication P25 pagers that firefighters now carry lack the ability to decrypt encrypted signals, which is the only reason that county fire dispatch went unencrypted. I expect the dispatch channel to remain unencrypted until a.) P25 pagers that can handle encryption become available (and departments buy enough for all their volunteers) or b.) pagers are no longer needed (because, e.g., all departments replace all volunteers with career staff or they find another way, such as a cell phone app, to call out volunteers).

 

[ChicagoRadio736]

It is my understanding that the Unication P25 pagers that firefighters now carry lack the ability to decrypt encrypted signals, which is the only reason that county fire dispatch went unencrypted. I expect the dispatch channel to remain unencrypted until a.) P25 pagers that can handle encryption become available (and departments buy enough for all their volunteers) or b.) pagers are no longer needed (because, e.g., all departments replace all volunteers with career staff or they find another way, such as a cell phone app, to call out volunteers).

I read in other forums that the G5 pagers support encryption AES-256