Baltimore Help Requested

[mondaro]

Hello Everyone,

As I begin my trip to Baltimore next week can someone point me in the right direction?

1) Baltimore County Fire & EMS, besides low band is there Fire & EMS dispatched repeated on a VHF High or UHF repeater
or is everything done on TRS ?

2) Baltimore City Fire, after dispatch, what Talkgroup to they communicate on once they get dispatched?
I stay across the Steadman Station downtown So I am interested in Engine 23 and Rescue 1 etc.

3) Baltimore City downtown air traffic besides 123.025 for the helicopter traffic is there any other active
air channel I should be monitoring?

4) What does WBAL TV 11 News use to communicate their assignments to there, reporters? does
anyone know if they have an active IFB channel that one could hear downtown?

Also, anything that is a must-have in a scanner in downtown Baltimore what does the Baltimore
Fire Chaser Buffs communicate on?

Many thanks in advance for any information.

Tony M.
Harrison, NJ

 

[ka3jjz]

A couple of things here - the city and county systems are completely separate. Many make the mistake of thinking because they share a common name, that the system is common. Don't think you'll hear one over the other. Under normal conditions, you won't

Trying to hear both systems (without a SDS scanner, AFAIK) is going to be frustrating at best. You will encounter simulcast distortion issues which is going to make listening difficult. At least in my case, when I was working at SSA Woodlawn (a suburb in the Baltimore County area), the only way to partially mitigate it on my 396t was to run the attenuator at all times. But it was far from a perfect solution.

Mike

 

[fourwd1]

Bal County Fire Dispatch has no UHF or VHF HI freqs, the P25 TRS is primary.
Not sure if they still use 46.28 as a patch to MedEvac helos.

 

[maus92]

Baltimore County operates on their 800 TRS almost exclusively, and utilizes the Ops TGs after dispatch unless it's a major incident - then they use the lettered Tac TGs.

Baltimore City's VHF simulcast / backup channels are notoriously unreliable. They also use their TRS exclusively. After dispatch, they operate on the Main TG. Major incidents get switched to Fireground TGs.

Besides 123.025, you could monitor 44.74, which is still used for state police medivac missions. They will also use the 700 AG frequencies, and the state's TRS.

You can start with these for news organizations, but it came from an old list:

450.0375 450.1625 450.1375	WBAL-TV (NBC 11) [Chopper 11]	Ch. 1/2, News Desk Ch. 3/4, Engineering IFB	R/M [131.8] R/M [131.8] S [131.8]
450.5375 450.5625	WBFF-TV (Fox 45)	News Desk/Engineering IFB	R [123.0] S [123.0]
450.3875 450.4375 450.3375	WJZ-TV (CBS 13) [Chopper 13]	News Desk Engineering IFB	R [141.3] R [141.3] S [141.3]
450.3125	WMAR-TV (ABC 2)	News Desk/Engineering	R [131.8]

I would also strongly suggest monitoring Anne Arundel County, the jurisdiction to the south of Baltimore City. Very busy 800 analog TRS system. They operate on multiple response TGs assigned by the dispatcher on the initial dispatch. VHF simulcast of dispatch / FTO on 154.010.

 

[ka3jjz]

I haven't been there in a while - did 46.46 finally die a painful death for Baltimore county dispatches?

 

[mondaro]

Thanks, everyone for your info so far, I am using BCD 536 in the mobile and SDS 200 Base at the hotel and SDS 100
for the streets when walking around- For Aircraft I am using BCD 760 oldie but goodie -

 

[tvengr]

I just checked. Baltimore Co Fire dispatch is still active on 46.46.

 

[fourwd1]

Don't forget FD Mutual Aid 154.28, it's busy.

 

[tvengr]

Here are simplified hpe files for the Baltimore Co and Baltimore City Fire TRS systems which will give you everything you want to hear. Each is set up on a separate favorites list:
FL 51 Baltimore Co Fire South
FL 52 Baltimore Co Fire North
FL 53 Baltimore City Fire
Use the Baltimore Co Fire South file unless you go north of the city and lose the south system. The east division of fire is not on the north system. Save the attached zipped file to your computer and extract. Go to the File tab on Sentinel and Import from hpe file (Favorites List) to open each file and save it as a favorites list in Sentinel.

 

[ResQguy]

Thanks, everyone for your info so far, I am using BCD 536 in the mobile and SDS 200 Base at the hotel and SDS 100
for the streets when walking around- For Aircraft I am using BCD 760 oldie but goodie -

The 536 is going to be all but useless around here, I sold mine as soon as I got the SDS200 installed. Both the SDS radios work wonderfully for the city and county systems. Also, scan Anne Arundel & Howard Counties for nearby good action. If you want to hear medevac operations, your best bet is to also scan the MD FIRST system tgs 7640 & 7648.

The Baltimore area buffing scene has all but died, there is no active buff repeater system in the area until you get to DC.

Are you coming down for APCO or something else?

 

[mondaro]

The 536 is going to be all but useless around here, I sold mine as soon as I got the SDS200 installed. Both the SDS radios work wonderfully for the city and county systems. Also, scan Anne Arundel & Howard Counties for nearby good action. If you want to hear medevac operations, your best bet is to also scan the MD FIRST system tgs 7640 & 7648.

The Baltimore area buffing scene has all but died, there is no active buff repeater system in the area until you get to DC.

Are you coming down for APCO or something else?

Coming down for my daughter we are both into " Bronycon 2019 " My Little Pony convention, also Baseball I am a huge O's fan win or loose - I am also doing a ride-along with my buddy he is on the fatal team for Baltimore City Police. I really appreciate the help everything it's not my first time down here monitoring but I love to compare notes since its been a while since I ask for help on this area.

 

[Citywide74]

Buffing is mainly done via GroupMe pages

 

[Citywide74]

[QUOTE

The Baltimore area buffing scene has all but died, there is no active buff repeater system in the area until you get to DC.

And even that is largely silent, unless the Canteen goes on the road

 

[ocguard]

I know this thread is over a week old now, but wanted to speak to Baltimore City fire/EMS... once they're dispatched verbally, there is very little voice traffic unless it's an actual fire. All status changes are done via MDC. The only voice chatter is fire ground operations, units asking for additional information or resources, and units closing out a call with a disposition other than what they've been dispatched to.

Once dispatched on A2/C2 DISP, all EMS calls are on A3/C3 EMS1, all minor fire calls (1 engine, 1 truck, or 1 engine & 1 truck: alarm systems, car fires, gas odors, etc) are on A1/C1 MAIN. Tactical boxes and full boxes are assigned one of four fire ground talk group (A16, A6, B16, C16). Rescue boxes are assigned C16.

 

[mondaro]

I want to thank everyone who replied trip was awesome and all info helped, THANK YOU and if I can ever be of help if your heading to New Jersey please PM me !! - Tony

 

[sfb88]

Can someone describe for me what simulcast distortion sounds like? I live in the Belair-Edison area of Baltimore City and monitor Baltimore City Police and Fire with a BCD536HP. I can understand most transmissions and those that I can't understand sound like real life talking where you can't make out the words due to volume accent, etc. It does not sound like random tones or sounds. Is this simulcast distortion? Would an SDS scanner be worth the investment of money and learning time?

 

[tvengr]

Presently, the Uniden SDS100 and SDS200 are the only scanners that will reliably receive P25 simulcast systems. It would be well worth the investment. They use the same BCDx36HP Sentinel as your scanner, so it will not require much learning. The big difference will be setting up the display the way you like it. Otherwise, operation is very similar to your scanner. Incidentally, the audio sounds very distorted or drops out when you have simulcast problems. I live in Baltimore County and could not receive the south site of the Baltimore County system with any of my other scanners in spite of having more signal than the north site.. The SDS100 and SDS200 perform flawlessly. I monitor Baltimore City from my location with no problems. One thing to try with your scanner is setting the squelch to 0. Also try moving the scanner around the room and pointing the antenna in different directions. Sometimes, turning on the attenuator to reduce the signal can improve reception. That may reduce the problem of receiving multiple simulcast sites.

 

[maus92]

Can someone describe for me what simulcast distortion sounds like? I live in the Belair-Edison area of Baltimore City and monitor Baltimore City Police and Fire with a BCD536HP. I can understand most transmissions and those that I can't understand sound like real life talking where you can't make out the words due to volume accent, etc. It does not sound like random tones or sounds. Is this simulcast distortion? Would an SDS scanner be worth the investment of money and learning time?

 

[sfb88]

I want to thank those who responded to my question. I think I may be somewhat lucky since I am just using the factory supplied antenna and I don't think mine sounds like the link provided. I have included a Google Drive link to a WMA file recording I made with a little Olympus hand held recorder. It is about 5 minutes of Baltimore City Police NE district and Baltimore City Fire.

BCD536.WMA

drive.google.com

 

[N4VKF]

I know this thread is over a week old now, but wanted to speak to Baltimore City fire/EMS... once they're dispatched verbally, there is very little voice traffic unless it's an actual fire. All status changes are done via MDC. The only voice chatter is fire ground operations, units asking for additional information or resources, and units closing out a call with a disposition other than what they've been dispatched to.

Once dispatched on A2/C2 DISP, all EMS calls are on A3/C3 EMS1, all minor fire calls (1 engine, 1 truck, or 1 engine & 1 truck: alarm systems, car fires, gas odors, etc) are on A1/C1 MAIN. Tactical boxes and full boxes are assigned one of four fire ground talk group (A16, A6, B16, C16). Rescue boxes are assigned C16.

Thank you for this explanation. I'm programming a G4 pager and needed to know how the talk group flow worked.