Baldwin Central Dispatch

[KV4PM]

Even our local media noted that Baldwin Central recently started using automated dispatch (which I hate) but it didn't seem to last long. All I have heard lately are the usual human dispatchers calling fire stations or EMS. Did the county not like it after all, having technical issues already, or what?

 

[sadave]

They are having all kinds of technical issues. The system, which uses "Samantha" as the voice we love to hate, includes a suite of field-level and station-based equipment including tablets for use in vehicles and display boards at the fire stations. The system also includes apparatus geo-locating to aid dispatchers and on-scene commanders as to the whereabouts of available and assigned units. It is taking a bit of time to get everything synced up like it should.

Every fire department in the county has their own ops, tac, and admin talkgroups which could be added/used by MedStar for direct communications when a fire ground talkgroup (BC Fire 1, etc) is not essential. Why this is not being done is unfortunate. A significant amount of unnecessary radio traffic could be reduced if MedStar was able to routinely talk to on-scene fire fighters instead of their all too common, "What is the ETA on the med unit?" Hopefully, the technology will aid in providing sufficient situational awareness and improve overall efficiency.

 

[KV4PM]

"The system, which uses "Samantha" as the voice we love to hate..."

When someone wants to make a call or get info, do they say "Hey, Samantha?"

Seriously, thanks for the info. I do in fact frequently hear requests for the ETA of Medstar, so I hope they get the bugs worked out soon. With all of the insane growth here, we need it.

 

[mike36507]

A week or so was the last time I heard the automated voice. And it was an obvious error, it was paging out Loxley fire for a call in Foley or Magnolia Springs. I think they tried it and it was unsuccessful. I personally prefer to hear a human voice over the automated.

 

[KV4PM]

I personally prefer to hear a human voice over the automated.

Me too, but it got me to thinking about a lady dispatcher at one agency (forget which one) many years ago who would get her words twisted when something big was going down (trust me, things were a lot calmer around here 40+ years ago) and this led to such classics as "We have a firest fore!" and "Fots shired, fots shired!"

 

[mike36507]

Noticed last night, the automated dispatch was back on.

 

[sadave]

Yep, but still with some bugs to be worked out. The latest one causing headaches is the multi-talkgroup dispatch involving MedStar and a fire department first responder. The following is not an actual call but is indicative of the problem which has already been heard.

Samantha dispatches a call on MedStar TG and BC Fire East TG for Elberta VFD for an auto accident. MedStar Dispatch acknowledges the call but Elberta does not. After about a minute the second dispatch goes out but instead of dropping MedStar and only going to Elberta VFD, the entire dispatch is repeated including MedStar as well. Of course, then MedStar has to ask if a second med unit is needed (which could be a legitimate question) when all that is really needed if for Elberta VFD to acknowledge the page. This actually increases unnecessary radio traffic and potential confusion rather than increasing overall efficiency.

This may be a user familiarity issue or something that needs to be addressed with Samantha's programmers.

 

[TomServo]

I meant to ask this while this thread was still active but forgot -- are these Baldwin County dispatch calls still being simulcast over the analog VHF frequencies? I recently started listening again and an only hearing activity on Foley and Summerdale channels. Nothing on the East/West/Central/South channels that used to be active.

 

[sadave]

All the VHF channels are still active and multicast across multiple talkgroups.

BC Fire East	-	155.385000	NFM	CTCSS 192.8Hz
BC Fire North	-	154.130000	NFM	CTCSS 156.7Hz
BC Fire South	-	154.385000	NFM	CTCSS 192.8Hz
BC Fire West	-	155.550000	NFM	CTCSS 192.8Hz
BC Fire Central	-	156.165000	NFM	DCS 503

Shep

 

[TomServo]

Thanks, Shep. I guess there's just not much happening when I listen.

 

[Clarky]

I would rather listen to "Samantha" than the female computer generated voice which Pensacola Fire uses. At least, I can understand Samantha.

 

[TomServo]

I had no idea the voice on the Pensacola Fire was computer generated. Every time I've heard it, it sounds very much like a human. Is it only used part time?

 

[WX4AJM]

I'm receiving Baldwin County every here and there at night all the way in Dale County.
The one pro I can give is that they repeat the call brief once - at least I can understand it better.

 

[TomServo]

That makes sense, I've heard what I thought might be Enterprise PD digital transmissions a few times here in Baldwin County recently. I can't decode them but it matched up with other things I was hearing from that general direction.

And I also realized my idiotic mistake from my previous post - I can't monitor Pensacola FD, I'm hearing Escambia County, duh.