Another Medcom question

[cappy400]

I put the Medcom talkgroup into my 436 and i have been listening to it. I have picked up traffic from the Medcom dispatch to units in the field. I have heard medic 3, medic 8, medic 6 and other units, but last night i heard the dispatcher say a medivac helicopter was coming in, with an eta of 20 minutes, i listened and listened and i never heard 1 single thing from the helicopter. Tonight i heard the dispatcher ask medic 6 to go to the helipad to me Pegasus, which was inbound with an eta of 6 to 7 minutes. Again i never heard 1 single thing from Pegasus. No communication about patient status, about landing or anything. 2 nights in a row i know they had helicopter traffic but i did not pick up anything. Am i doing something wrong? Do i not have the right talkgroup installed? I live in Staunton and i get 2 or 3 bars of signal strength. Iheard Pegasus leave Rockingham Memorial Hospital the other night, and the pilot talked about switching over to carter mountain tower to communicate with Uva. The Medcom says it does the communication with all inbound Uva traffic, ground or air. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Am i missing something? Onthis side of the mountain when i hear Aircare 5 or Pegasus talking to either hospital over here they communicate alot with them, so i feel i am missing something or i do not have something put in correctly.

 

[LeSueurC]

Try the UHF CORE channels, 463-468. I know here Nightingale uses 468.0000 and Norfolk General uses 463.1000.

 

[manny49]

look at state agencies under medevac

 

[cappy400]

Would the helicopters still use old frequencies even though uva medcom is on the Charlottesville albemerle Motorola 2 smart net radio system?

 

[QDP2012]

Would the helicopters still use old frequencies even though uva medcom is on the Charlottesville albemerle Motorola 2 smart net radio system?

With respect to UVA's frequencies, as far as I know, there are not any "old" frequencies. UVA uses all of its frequencies, just for certain purposes.

The VHF HEAR frequencies (155.3400, etc.) are used by ambulances outside Albemarle.
The local ambulances (CARS, WARS, SVRS, ACFR) use the TRS to contact UVA and MJH.

MEDCOM uses its TG to dispatch UVA Medic V ambulances/crews (UVA Medic 3, etc.), the NETS and Pegasus-Ground units, and maybe the SEMM units too. Sometimes Pegasus Helicopter will be heard on that TG, but not often.

Realistically, the only time you are likely to hear Pegasus on the TRS is when it needs to contact CECC or ACFR units for LZ instructions, and then on an ACFR Tac TG.

Pegasus can contact UVA on a variety of frequencies, including the UHF Med 9 channel, listed in the Medevac page that manny49 mentioned above.

UVA has UHF Med 9 and Med 10 coverage across a broader area than CECC has with its TRS towers.
The analog UHF Med channels are more reliable than a digital TRS because they cannot get messed up by "going digital/robotic" like a TRS can.

When Pegasus "switches over" to Carter's Mtn, it's likely on either Med 9 or Med 10.

Hope this helps,

 

[cappy400]

When you say TRS, Do you mean Trunked Radio System? My lingo may not be correct describing this, so i hope you can understand what i am trying to say, Pegasus helicopter generally uses the med 9 or 10 frequencies, but those frequencies are "patched" into the digital trunking system? So for example when they communicate with "medcom uva" their med 9 or 10 frequency is "patched" into the trunked system? when they are flying from lets say augusta county or rockingham and they get over carter mountain to give patient info to uva they generally use med 9 or 10 and they can still communicate with medcom. Am i sort of correct?

 

[QDP2012]

When you say TRS, Do you mean Trunked Radio System? My lingo may not be correct describing this, so i hope you can understand what i am trying to say, Pegasus helicopter generally uses the med 9 or 10 frequencies, but those frequencies are "patched" into the digital trunking system?...Am i sort of correct?

Not quite. Sorry if I repeat myself here.


TRS = Trunked Radio System (in this case the Charlottesville / Albemarle Trunked Radio System)
TG = TalkGroup (on the TRS)
LZ = Landing Zone
Med Channels = the nationally designated UHF "Med Channels" (1 through 10) (in this case 9 and 10)

The Med channels are analog repeater UHF channels, not associated with a TRS. Pegasus uses Med 9 (usually) to communicate with UVA. No TRS involved.

When Pegasus needs to use the TRS, it can. As far as I know, Pegasus can access the TRS directly, and talk directly to CECC or to an ACFR unit that is the LZ-control when the helicopter needs to land and get a patient, without a patch by MEDCOM or CECC.

If for some reason Pegasus cannot or does not want to use the TRS directly, then Pegasus can also rely on UVA MEDCOM to enable a patch between a non-TRS frequency and the TRS TG that Pegasus needs to use. Patch-setup might involve MEDCOM coordinating with CECC in real-time.

So for example when they communicate with "medcom uva" their med 9 or 10 frequency is "patched" into the trunked system? when they are flying from lets say augusta county or rockingham and they get over carter mountain to give patient info to uva they generally use med 9 or 10 and they can still communicate with medcom. Am i sort of correct?

No; there's some confusion there.

Pegasus and UVA can, and often do, communicate directly on Med 9 or Med 10, UHF analog repeater(s) within the UVA multi-county coverage area, without involving any element of the TRS.

In general, Pegasus only accesses the TRS when it needs to contact another TRS user, not MEDCOM. This usually is for LZ coordination.


Hope this helps,