Are UHF MED channels analog only?

[speedway_navigator]

A comm tech from our medical team is working a fire victim shelter in northern California. They have state issued radios, the 205 has them on MED 3. He can't hear the traffic on his personal radio. He has to put in PL code 13 so we're assuming it's analog.

The NIFOG says those freqs can be 6.25 kHz. I don't know if there are analog radios using that bandwidth.

Can MED channels use NXDN?

 

[riccom]

13 would be the ran code on nxdn, but normally they are analog

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[mmckenna]

A comm tech from our medical team is working a fire victim shelter in northern California. They have state issued radios, the 205 has them on MED 3. He can't hear the traffic on his personal radio. He has to put in PL code 13 so we're assuming it's analog.

13 could be a designator for a specific PL tone. They may be mimicking the CalFire OST (operator selectable tone) tone schedule, which would equal 141.3hz.

There shouldn't be any guessing though. Your tech should talk to whoever the COML or COMT is and find out for sure.

The NIFOG says those freqs can be 6.25 kHz. I don't know if there are analog radios using that bandwidth.

Can MED channels use NXDN?

6.25KHz channels are too narrow to be useful for analog. 6.25KHz is going to be digital.
They could be NXDN, but I suspect they would still be running analog. Again, this is information that the COML or COMT should be able to provide.

 

[riccom]

Hey mmc would cal fire still use the old bendex Kings?

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[mmckenna]

Hey mmc would cal fire still use the old bendex Kings?

Not sure. I know CalFire has mostly switched to Kenwood, but I wouldn't doubt there were a few of the old BK's still floating around out there.

I have a friend who's retired and living up near Yosemite. He's active with the Mariposa County search and rescue and has been pretty active with the fires up there. He had a bunch of old CalFire BK's that had been passed down to them. He was piecing good radios out of the various parts so they could interoperate as part of the fire response.

Either way, the OST setup is still used by CalFire, and is standard statewide. I'd bet some local/county agencies have adopted it for interoperability reasons. Most fire fighters that have been around for a while are familiar with it, and it's well accepted.

 

[ecps92]

Jay as others have chimed in already the tone could be the Cal-Fire/USFS PL Pick List
see the wiki at National Incident Radio Support Cache - The RadioReference Wiki

Med 3 is 463.0500 NB

As to Digital, there are some Regions that are using Non-Analog [seems they claim due to HIPAA] so it could be, but likely NOT

Also, could they have moved their MED channels [using the same Alpha Tags] to the Local Trunk System ?? Have him put his Radio CSQ and see if he hears the traffic, that might point out if they are UHF vs on a 700/800 TRS

Stay Safe out there..

A comm tech from our medical team is working a fire victim shelter in northern California. They have state issued radios, the 205 has them on MED 3. He can't hear the traffic on his personal radio. He has to put in PL code 13 so we're assuming it's analog.

The NIFOG says those freqs can be 6.25 kHz. I don't know if there are analog radios using that bandwidth.

Can MED channels use NXDN?

 

[DaveNF2G]

NXDN is not considered interoperable. To be compliant with the national plan, digital use would have to be P25.

 

[AI7PM]

NXDN is not considered interoperable. To be compliant with the national plan, digital use would have to be P25.

^^^^That.

 

[garys]

I have never heard of the UHF MED frequencies being anything but analog. They are 12.5 khz and were originally supposed to be narrow banded before most of the other frequencies. I don't think that happened.

I'll guess that "PL Code 13" might just be the numerical code that follows (more or less) the Motorola codes that were used for a long time. 13 equates to "1A", which is 103.5.

 

[gesucks]

" the 205 has them on MED 3"

Go back to your COML and ask them to give you a properly completed 205 with the PL frequency or letter code. They should only be using the frequency or the TIA letter code. The whole purpose behind a 205 is to have a standard form with standard fields. I hate when COMl/COMTs start making up stuff on the forms. That is a incident with a Type 1 IMT, they should know better.

 

[speedway_navigator]

The PL is 141.3, he was issued Kenwood 5300 series radios, which were all DOA in the cache. CA OES techs have been there to program the radios, they were not keep the PL code after a channel change or power cycle.

So far 2 workers I know have come down with a virus or norovirus. Norovirus or something similar went through the red cross shelter we worked after hurricane Sandy, so we started wiping down radios and spkr mics with antiseptic wipes as they came in for battery changes or had users do that at shift change.

I can't find the rule that says the MED channels are designated interoperable (that's hard to type), hence my question as to modulation limitations to analog only.

 

[DaveNF2G]

If by "rule" you mean something in Part 90, that might or might not exist. Regardless, if you are involved in a mutual aid response and are using equipment that does not comply with the NIFOG standards, then you are likely to have trouble communicating with anybody. The IC could, if necessary, dismiss your agency from the scene due to lack of communications capability and call somebody with compliant gear to replace you.

 

[norcalscan]

The PL is 141.3, he was issued Kenwood 5300 series radios, which were all DOA in the cache. CA OES techs have been there to program the radios, they were not keep the PL code after a channel change or power cycle.

I just saw this thread - a bit too late probably. I assume this was part of a DMAT response for the Camp fire and your member, who happened to be a COMT for the team, was issued a state cache Kenwood 5300 tuned to MED3, and his personal radio he brought that was also on MED3 wasn't working? I see two issues mentioned, with the personal radio not hearing the traffic unless set to a certain tone (did it work in Monitor/CSQ mode?), and the issue of the cache radios not keeping the OST after a channel change or power cycle? MED3 (narrow, analog) was definitely a channel they were using, with 141.3 as the tone for their fixed infrastructure (on two local mtn tops, one of which I am not sure if it survived a fire burnover or not). If I recall, there is either a program function in Kenwood that makes the OST "sticky" after a channel change or power cycle, or it is a firmware update (I recall it was a firmware update on the TK-57xx for OST to behave properly, but don't quote me on that).

Is there a hot wash of this particular incident you can give us?

 

[jaspence]

A PL code is not needed to receive radio traffic on an analog FM system, even if the transmitter uses one.