Allen County OH Fireground Channels

[W8HDU]

When entering the Allen County Fireground channels (below), are these entered as "conventional" analog NBFM with no tone?

Are these also the channels which dispatcher's refer to as OPS-1 etc?

866.175		M	CSQ	FG-1	County fireground (used as needed)	FM	Fire-Tac
866.5375		M	CSQ	FG-2	County fireground (used as needed)	FM	Fire-Tac
867.3125		M	CSQ	FG-3	County fireground (used as needed)	FM	Fire-Tac
868.3125		M	CSQ	FG-4	County fireground (used as needed)	FM	Fire-Tac
868.575		M	CSQ	FG-5	County fireground (used as needed)	FM	Fire-Tac

 

[kf8yk]

Those frequencies would be entered as conventional frequencies, the CSQ would suggest analog operations. Since these are simplex you would have to be quite close to the scene to hear anything.

I suspect these frequencies are not in use as everything above 862 MHz was removed from public safety use due to the 800 MHz rebanding order, Allen County can no longer operate on these frequencies legally.

You might want to try subtracting 15 MHz from each frequency as most of these old NPSPAC frequencies were simply shifted down, i.e. 866.175 becomes 851.175.

 

[wa8pyr]

I suspect these frequencies are not in use as everything above 862 MHz was removed from public safety use due to the 800 MHz rebanding order, Allen County can no longer operate on these frequencies legally.

You might want to try subtracting 15 MHz from each frequency as most of these old NPSPAC frequencies were simply shifted down, i.e. 866.175 becomes 851.175.

Right, those frequencies are massively outdated and have been for nearly 10 years! They're all cellular frequencies now.

A quick look at the FCC database shows the frequencies 15 MHz down to all be trunked frequencies, mostly State of Ohio but some Hamilton County and some Stark County as well.

If Allen County has any conventional frequencies, I'd suspect they're using the MARCS TA channels (M TA-1, M TA-2, M TA-3) which are 800 MHz P25 conventional, NAC 293.

 

[n3obl]

I cant find any existing fcc licenses for these frequencies anywhere in the US. Not sure what legal basis they had to use these channels.

 

[kf8yk]

I cant find any existing fcc licenses for these frequencies anywhere in the US. Not sure what legal basis they had to use these channels.

Prior to rebanding 866-869 MHz was the NPSPAC public safety band & there was lots of trunking systems licensed here. Post rebanding these licensees were mostly relocated to 851-854 MHz.

MARCS could allow subscribers to operate talk-around on a trunking system frequency if they want. There's a FCC rule [90.621] that allows simplex use of a trunked system output frequency without needing a separate MO class license. There's some examples of this in Cuyahoga County with the Westshore fireground frequencies.

I suspect that MARCS would still recommend using the MARCS 'TA' channels as Tom mentioned or the 700/800 national interop frequencies.

When running talkaround on a trunking system frequency there's always a chance the system is going to assign traffic on top of your simplex comms, I would prefer to run fireground on a frequency that has no competition with a trunked system.

 

[wbowery]

The OPS-1 etc. you hear Allen County dispatchers use are MARCS talkgroups.

 

[W8HDU]

I'm going to assume the frequencies I posted are bogus at this point.

And what Warren says makes sense because I have heard operations on the dispatch channel. But it also begs the question, is Ops-2 and Ops-3 also in the talkgroup? Or are they stand-alone? I'm trying to figure out how to receive them.

 

[wbowery]

They are all in the Allen County talkgroups found on Radio Reference.

Each OPS channel is a separate talkgroup. OPS-1 is 5512, OPS-2 is 5515, OPS-3 is 5518, OPS-4 is 5530 and OPS-5 is 5534.

I'm not sure what scanner you are using. You will need a P25 capable scanner and have the Ohio MARCS system programmed in.

I don't listen to Allen County much, but Putnam County assigns an OPS channel whenever they dispatch a fire department. After toning out the call on their dispatch talkgroup, they will end with, "Please use OPS-1." This prevents the dispatch channel from being tied up. OPS channels are basically the digital equivalent fireground channels.

 

[W8HDU]

I'm using the Whistler WS-1065. I'll have to check and see if I missed programming the Allen County ops you mention above.