Anne Arundel Co Fire Dispatch

[xawen]

AAFD broadcasts all of their dispatches on 154.01. Until sometime Wednesday (Jan 31) this included the tones for station identification. After Wednesday, the tones seem to have disappeared. Does anyone have any info on this change or know if the tones are being broadcast anywhere else?

For years, I've been using TwoToneDetect to pick out dispatches from specific local stations. But without the tones I have no way to identify the stations in a given dispatch. I'm sure the department has a modern way to do it and doesn't need the tones anymore. But, I'd love another way to continue to listen to just dispatches from local stations.

 

[maus92]

I believe the county uses Active 911 to alert volunteers (a smartphone app). The FSA system(s) does not require tones over RF as that function is performed over a network connection.

 

[ThePhotoGuy]

I was told that with the new system that they would no longer use 154.01, tones, or pagers. I don't listen to 154.01 but if the tones aren't being used than they may have choose to stop before the switchover.

 

[Radiofan1982]

I was told that with the new system that they would no longer use 154.01, tones, or pagers. I don't listen to 154.01 but if the tones aren't being used than they may have choose to stop before the switchover.

Interesting thanks for the information.I was also noticing the calls with out the stations tones the past few days so this may explain the reasons that they have stop.

 

[Chris52]

I hope they don’t take down 154.010. I hate seeing counties/cities do away with the VHF or UHF dispatch frequencies.

 

[xawen]

I hope they don’t take down 154.010. I hate seeing counties/cities do away with the VHF or UHF dispatch frequencies.

As of now it's still being broadcast, but the tones no longer preceed the dispatch. I totally understand why they stopped using them (old, clunky, not needed, much better tech available), but I'm bummed. For my use case, it worked so well for so long I didn't even think about it.

Does anyone have any suggestion for a way to programmatically identify the stations for dispatches using public data? They do a good job calling units in PulsePoint for most dispatches. But due to timing/delays, I can't think of a way to match that up to live dispatch audio.

Edit: OK...now I'm confused. As I was typing this, a call went out with the tones. The only one I have heard all day.

 

[empire550]

I hope they don’t take down 154.010. I hate seeing counties/cities do away with the VHF or UHF dispatch frequencies.

They most likely will drop it completely. It is a cost that isn't really needed anymore with IP based alerting in the stations and App dispatching to units. I would assume its going away in the near future.

 

[SqueakyWheelComm]

AAFD broadcasts all of their dispatches on 154.01. Until sometime Wednesday (Jan 31) this included the tones for station identification. After Wednesday, the tones seem to have disappeared. Does anyone have any info on this change or know if the tones are being broadcast anywhere else?

For years, I've been using TwoToneDetect to pick out dispatches from specific local stations. But without the tones I have no way to identify the stations in a given dispatch. I'm sure the department has a modern way to do it and doesn't need the tones anymore. But, I'd love another way to continue to listen to just dispatches from local stations.

My G5 is set to Two-Tone to isolate box areas in south county. Its been quite annoying having to play back every single call. I put in the P25 patched talk groups, however the P25 audio is atrocious and muffled on AA, Calvert, etc. The P16 and the VHF audio is much more crisp and clear. Calvert still uses VHF simulcast on dispatch, every FD I am aware of throughout much the state still maintains a VHF simulcast dispatch for station alerting. The only up side to the P25 is the signal coverage is great, otherwise the audio not impressive.

 

[xawen]

My G5 is set to Two-Tone to isolate box areas in south county. Its been quite annoying having to play back every single call. I put in the P25 patched talk groups, however the P25 audio is atrocious and muffled on AA, Calvert, etc. The P16 and the VHF audio is much more crisp and clear. Calvert still uses VHF simulcast on dispatch, every FD I am aware of throughout much the state still maintains a VHF simulcast dispatch for station alerting. The only up side to the P25 is the signal coverage is great, otherwise the audio not impressive.

Yeah, I'm assuming the varying quality is just due to testing, patches, etc... I'm sure once they start to deploy that will clear up.

But, they obviously are done with two-tone dispatches. I would love to find another way to identify stations for each dispatch based on available data. Two-tone was the only way I knew to do it. The only other source I know of to see dispatch data is PulsePoint. But the timing of PulsePoint updates isn't consistent, so it would be very difficult to associate an update with a dispatch recording.

 

[maus92]

Yeah, I'm assuming the varying quality is just due to testing, patches, etc... I'm sure once they start to deploy that will clear up.

But, they obviously are done with two-tone dispatches. I would love to find another way to identify stations for each dispatch based on available data. Two-tone was the only way I knew to do it. The only other source I know of to see dispatch data is PulsePoint. But the timing of PulsePoint updates isn't consistent, so it would be very difficult to associate an update with a dispatch recording.

The FD audio will improve as it will be native digital throughout, not patched analog that been squished by a digital codec.

 

[SqueakyWheelComm]

Yeah, I'm assuming the varying quality is just due to testing, patches, etc... I'm sure once they start to deploy that will clear up.

But, they obviously are done with two-tone dispatches. I would love to find another way to identify stations for each dispatch based on available data. Two-tone was the only way I knew to do it. The only other source I know of to see dispatch data is PulsePoint. But the timing of PulsePoint updates isn't consistent, so it would be very difficult to associate an update with a dispatch recording.

I did some digging around last night, Apparently AA county in fiscal year 2024 budget was approved for a Zetron. Basically AAFD will end up with hideous sounding tones like Calvert uses.

 

[maus92]

I believe that funding was removed, but I need to go back and look at the most recent Capital Budget- they change.

 

[1977addis]

2-12-2024 still hearing ops om 154.010....Listening from Harford County

 

[maus92]

2-12-2024 still hearing ops om 154.010....Listening from Harford County

154.010 is patched for the initial dispatch on ALPHA for paging purposes. The patch is then taken down, so other traffic on ALPHA is not typically heard - except when an on-the-air unit may marks up as responding just after the dispatch. Ops are not normally patched to VHF like they are in Montgomery County for example.

 

[empire550]

154.010 is patched for the initial dispatch on ALPHA for paging purposes. The patch is then taken down, so other traffic on ALPHA is not typically heard - except when an on-the-air unit may marks up as responding just after the dispatch. Ops are not normally patched to VHF like they are in Montgomery County for example.

Its more of a multiselect. You will only hear the dispatcher on it. No matter when in the call they are talking.

 

[maus92]

Its more of a multiselect. You will only hear the dispatcher on it. No matter when in the call they are talking.

Thanks - I guess I imagined that I heard a unit talking over VHF - must have been audio from another source. So is the Multiselect enabled automatically, perhaps by the CAD software, or is it a manual function performed by the dispatcher?

 

[empire550]

Thanks - I guess I imagined that I heard a unit talking over VHF - must have been audio from another source. So is the Multiselect enabled automatically, perhaps by the CAD software, or is it a manual function performed by the dispatcher?

probably set up in the dispatch console with alpha.