AMR Rochester

[k2hz]

I see that AMR ambulance is now on the P25 system TG1760. The old VHF frequency seems quiet except the repeater has keyed up a few times with no audio. Is 151.655 officially deprecated?

In addition to TG 1760 Dispatch they seem to have TGs 1761-1768 for operations with 1763 and 1768 having significant activity. Does anyone have info on the designation of these TGs? They seem to fit the same pattern as Monroe Ambulance although AMR has more TGs available.

 

[Homer_LCPDFR]

Nothing official, but 1768 appears to be supervisor talk channel. I need a bit more before I can confirm it. I've got transmissions from just two guys, seemingly both supervisors in flycars, pretty informal, referring to responding to calls on their respective "sides" (I don't think AMR assigns supervisors based on side of the city, I'm only familiar with "7M40," the daytime supervisor and "7M80," the nighttime supervisor).

1763 appears to be a secondary channel (dispatcher on the channel, mainly talking about jobs that have already been dispatched). Again, I need a bit more on it.

 

[k2hz]

"Flycars" and "sides" sounds like the Paramedics.

 

[Homer_LCPDFR]

Well, you're not too far off base.

After taking another listen, I could not have been more wrong. It initially seemed like supervisors, but I've reviewed some recordings and found the following:

I have recordings from 3/27 of the two units responding to an intox at what seems to be a hotel (mentions of housekeeping and room numbers [which I initially thought to be address numbers]). It seems both units were staffing the site. Not sure what detail they would be working.

Recordings from 3/28 have the same two units communicating about the details of a medical call, but there isn't a whole lot to go on.

3/30 has discussions of responding to a medical call, again, same units, "a dude having a bloody nose, a bathroom on your side." And then attempts to determine what bathroom he was in. They mention an usher.

 

[k2hz]

I notice several RIDs on 1768 and all but 1 so far are 22711xx vs on dispatch the RIDs are all 22712xx which are probably mobiles. RIDs on 1761 and 1763 are also all 22711xx possibly portables. The only hits I have on the other TGs are probably just from a unit testing.

I never listened to AMR in the past and am really not interested in doing so now so I am just looking at my UT log. It does sound like this is an on scene events Tac/Talk TG from what you are hearing.

 

[Trbogeek]

AMR is on Saia, in Buffalo. Seems short sighted to split the company over two independant systems. They lose many benifits this way, but that may be by design.

 

[k2hz]

AMR is on Saia, in Buffalo. Seems short sighted to split the company over two independent systems. They lose many benifits this way, but that may be by design.

AMR now has the same advantages as their competitor Monroe Ambulance, who moved early on to the P25 system, of full interop capability with local law, EMS and Fire. There is a major issue now with AMR not having enough rigs and crews to keep up with calls in the City of Rochester. Many calls have to be covered by mutual aid from County VACs and RFD units are tied up for long periods where they were a first response waiting for an available ambulance. I think that situation may have encouraged this move. Patches from another system to various Monroe County TGs would not provide the flexibility of actually being a P25 system subscriber.

While I am not really familiar with their corporate operations, it also seems to me that AMR operations are locally focused and not particularly coordinated with AMR operations in other areas.

In any event, Buffalo/Erie County is a different operating environment with no central unified Public Safety communications system. Dispatch and radio communications are mostly on an individual agency basis on a mix of frequency bands and modes. So I think it was a wise move for AMR there to go on Saia for a reliable wide area network with capability to patch to some of the more critical Public Safety systems. In Monroe County, all Law, Fire and EMS is now on the Monroe/Ontario P25 system. RFD is still primarily on VHF patched to the system but is expect to switch over soon.

 

[k2hz]

I am hearing AMR conducting training on TG 1767. It appears to be classroom instruction on radio use. Does any one know if this TG is dedicated to training or it is a general TAC TG? What I have heard is not any kind of tactical exercise, just discussion on how to use the radio so not sure to tag it as Talk or TAC.

 

[Homer_LCPDFR]

I can't say for certain, but I would think it's dedicated to training.

If it were a general tac it would be programmed into all Operations radios and we would hear EMTs accidentally switching to the channel accidentally and trying to call dispatch (as is the case with 1763 and 1765).

Not saying that's enough to go on, but it at least points in a particular direction.

It's also worth noting that, while I don't have recordings, activity was logged on 6/7 (not sure what sort), but to my knowledge the last class graduated in late March (unless there was a class in between I'm not aware of, EMT-B training certainly doesn't take long).

If you do go ahead and submit it, you might want to submit 1763 along with it as "AMR Secondary" or something similar. It's used infrequently, there's enough to confirm it (mainly mic checks, updates on existing jobs, etc.).

 

[k2hz]

I have submitted both as EMS-Talk since use does not appear to be for actual incident response.

 

[GTR8000]

It's also worth noting that, while I don't have recordings, activity was logged on 6/7 (not sure what sort), but to my knowledge the last class graduated in late March (unless there was a class in between I'm not aware of, EMT-B training certainly doesn't take long).

I would think that any new hires get trained in their procedures, which probably includes an introduction to the radios and radio system. Doesn't have to have anything to do with EMT classes graduating.