BCFA channel questions

[SA_tx_88116]

I’ve gotten myself in listening to the BCFA last night and I have a few questions. Question 1 what are these p25 VHF channels listed in the database?
Question 2 I noticed that the tones played before the dispatcher speaks differentiates can anyone tell me what the tones mean?
Question 2 how is the dispatcher so good at her job? Whenever she speaks she just has so much confidence and never stutters or pauses LOL.

 

[Fireman4404]

1. The three VHF repeaters are countywide simulcast with the ability to be patched in to talkgroups on the 800 side. They are to provide an effective communication layer for agencies from outside Bexar county that still use VHF conventional.
2. Numerous departments around Bexar County, most with multiple stations at this point, are dispatched by Bexar County FMO dispatchers. The different tones you hear are Motorola Quik-Call II tones. Each department has separate tones for fires and for EMS calls. Some departments now have different tones for each of their stations.
Back when many departments around the county were still volunteer, you had guys carrying pagers and/or assigned radios. The specific frequencies of each tone pair are what tells the pagers for a particular department to alert while other departments pagers stay quiet. This style of paging is a holdover from the past. With most all the departments being combination or career, the tones are really just activating station pagers now. Station pagers are still receiving alerts on 154.250MHz and that is patched in to the BX Dispatch talkgroup.
3. Lots of practice. Fire and EMS around the county have a pretty high call volume overall so the dispatchers are fairly busy around the clock. You listen long enough, and you’ll hear them have the occasional hiccup on a particular word or be able to tell when a particular dispatcher is pretty new at the job.

 

[KI5IRE]

I’ve gotten myself in listening to the BCFA last night and I have a few questions. Question 1 what are these p25 VHF channels listed in the database?
Question 2 I noticed that the tones played before the dispatcher speaks differentiates can anyone tell me what the tones mean?
Question 2 how is the dispatcher so good at her job? Whenever she speaks she just has so much confidence and never stutters or pauses LOL.

A1: I think they are for interop with Wilson/Atascosa/Medina counties, who may not have Phase II capable radios and back when SA/Bexar County was on EDACS. I never heard them used, only the talkgroups that are on the EDACS/AARRS systems. Aside from the BCFA VHF dispatch frequency, which is/was patched to EDACS/AARRS full time.

A2: The tones are different for the different agencies/stations to decode and alert stations, or for fire pagers like the Unications. Most places that use tones use a tone decoder for alerting and are like this, if they are not using iCall paging on their P25 TRS or using IP based paging/alerting. Some that are using iCall/IP based paging still use different tones though because a lot of the first responders "know" their tones.

A3: I think I know which BCFA dispatcher you're talking about, if it's the lady who always says everything with a really happy voice, she is SUPER good. One of the best I've ever heard. Same goes with the older guy at SAPD on nights. I was told by some SAPD officers he was an SAPD Lt. before "retiring" and going to comms and that's why he knows what info to give officers and talk on the radio so well. Miss hearing both of their voices when I was working in San Antonio as a stringer, made finding breaking news so much easier. Seriously some of the best dispatchers I've ever heard anywhere work in San Antonio/Bexar County 9-1-1.

 

[NC5267]

The VHF P25 repeaters are new and are supposed to replace the analog legacy VHF channels. 154.250, 153.770, and 151.145 in Fair Oaks. They were testing these when the AARRS was being built out and tested. They just haven't activated them or patched them to the system yet. On a different note, there were also some patches to the LCRA system when the EDACS was running. They haven't patched some of those back yet since the new system went live. Just some Interop channels connecting the systems.

 

[SA_tx_88116]

And the response channels are also on AARRS correct?

 

[NC5267]

Yes, only dispatch and and I think ops east are patched to the VHF channels. And those you will hear dispatch and occasionally some units. I haven't monitored 153.770 in a long time so I don't know if that's even still active. Everything else is on the AARRS. EMS channels, Fierground etc.

 

[otter9309]

The VHF repeaters are not replacing 154.250 and 153.770. They are active for VHF interop.

 

[NC5267]

Well, last a tech guy told me eventually they were going to replace the BCFA fire patches to P25. 151.3025 was patched and being tested with 153.770 early on. So who knows. Below is how he said his VHF zones were programmed in the Harris XL-200 radios.

155.2275 NAC: 61F *BCFA VHF-1*
NAC: 293
151.3025 NAC: 61F *BCFA TAC-3*
NAC: 293
Also noteworthy these are how the VHF state and national freqs are programmed in subscribers radios.

VCALL (Zone-1)
01. VCALL10 155.7525/155.7525 156.7
02. VTAC11 151.1375/151.1375 156.7
03. VTAC12 154.4525/154.4525 156.7
04. VTAC13 158.7375/158.7375 156.7
05. VTAC14 159.4725/159.4725 156.7
06. FVTAC17 161.8500/157.2500 156.7
07. FVTAC17D 161.8500/161.8500 156.7
08. VFIRE21 154.2800/154.2800 156.7
09. VFIRE22 154.2650/154.2650 156.7
10. VFIRE23 154.2950/154.2950 156.7
11. VFIRE24 154.2725/154.2725 156.7
12. VFIRE25 154.2875/154.2875 156.7
13. VFIRE26 154.3025/154.3025 156.7
14. VMED28 155.3400/155.3400 156.7
15. VMED29 155.3475/155.3475 156.7
16. VLAW31 155.4750/155.4750 156.7

VCALL (Zone-2)
17. VLAW32 = 155.4825/155.4825 156.7
18. TXCALL1 = 154.9500/154.9500 156.7
19. TXCALL2 = 155.3700/155.3700 156.7
20. VTAC33 R = 159.4725/151.1375 136.5
21. VTAC34 R = 158.7375/154.4525 136.5
22. VTAC35 R = 159.4725/158.7375 136.5
23. VTAC36 R = 151.1375/159.4725 136.5
24. VTAC37 R = 154.4525/158.7375 136.5
25. VTAC38 R = 155.7375/159.4725 136.5

 

[SA_tx_88116]

Well, last a tech guy told me eventually they were going to replace the BCFA fire patches to P25. 151.3025 was patched and being tested with 153.770 early on. So who knows. Below is how he said his VHF zones were programmed in the Harris XL-200 radios.

155.2275 NAC: 61F *BCFA VHF-1*
NAC: 293
151.3025 NAC: 61F *BCFA TAC-3*
NAC: 293
Also noteworthy these are how the VHF state and national freqs are programmed in subscribers radios.

VCALL (Zone-1)
01. VCALL10 155.7525/155.7525 156.7
02. VTAC11 151.1375/151.1375 156.7
03. VTAC12 154.4525/154.4525 156.7
04. VTAC13 158.7375/158.7375 156.7
05. VTAC14 159.4725/159.4725 156.7
06. FVTAC17 161.8500/157.2500 156.7
07. FVTAC17D 161.8500/161.8500 156.7
08. VFIRE21 154.2800/154.2800 156.7
09. VFIRE22 154.2650/154.2650 156.7
10. VFIRE23 154.2950/154.2950 156.7
11. VFIRE24 154.2725/154.2725 156.7
12. VFIRE25 154.2875/154.2875 156.7
13. VFIRE26 154.3025/154.3025 156.7
14. VMED28 155.3400/155.3400 156.7
15. VMED29 155.3475/155.3475 156.7
16. VLAW31 155.4750/155.4750 156.7

VCALL (Zone-2)
17. VLAW32 = 155.4825/155.4825 156.7
18. TXCALL1 = 154.9500/154.9500 156.7
19. TXCALL2 = 155.3700/155.3700 156.7
20. VTAC33 R = 159.4725/151.1375 136.5
21. VTAC34 R = 158.7375/154.4525 136.5
22. VTAC35 R = 159.4725/158.7375 136.5
23. VTAC36 R = 151.1375/159.4725 136.5
24. VTAC37 R = 154.4525/158.7375 136.5
25. VTAC38 R = 155.7375/159.4725 136.5

Thanks for the info

 

[SA_tx_88116]

Well, last a tech guy told me eventually they were going to replace the BCFA fire patches to P25. 151.3025 was patched and being tested with 153.770 early on. So who knows. Below is how he said his VHF zones were programmed in the Harris XL-200 radios.

155.2275 NAC: 61F *BCFA VHF-1*
NAC: 293
151.3025 NAC: 61F *BCFA TAC-3*
NAC: 293
Also noteworthy these are how the VHF state and national freqs are programmed in subscribers radios.

VCALL (Zone-1)
01. VCALL10 155.7525/155.7525 156.7
02. VTAC11 151.1375/151.1375 156.7
03. VTAC12 154.4525/154.4525 156.7
04. VTAC13 158.7375/158.7375 156.7
05. VTAC14 159.4725/159.4725 156.7
06. FVTAC17 161.8500/157.2500 156.7
07. FVTAC17D 161.8500/161.8500 156.7
08. VFIRE21 154.2800/154.2800 156.7
09. VFIRE22 154.2650/154.2650 156.7
10. VFIRE23 154.2950/154.2950 156.7
11. VFIRE24 154.2725/154.2725 156.7
12. VFIRE25 154.2875/154.2875 156.7
13. VFIRE26 154.3025/154.3025 156.7
14. VMED28 155.3400/155.3400 156.7
15. VMED29 155.3475/155.3475 156.7
16. VLAW31 155.4750/155.4750 156.7

VCALL (Zone-2)
17. VLAW32 = 155.4825/155.4825 156.7
18. TXCALL1 = 154.9500/154.9500 156.7
19. TXCALL2 = 155.3700/155.3700 156.7
20. VTAC33 R = 159.4725/151.1375 136.5
21. VTAC34 R = 158.7375/154.4525 136.5
22. VTAC35 R = 159.4725/158.7375 136.5
23. VTAC36 R = 151.1375/159.4725 136.5
24. VTAC37 R = 154.4525/158.7375 136.5
25. VTAC38 R = 155.7375/159.4725 136.5

I have another question, yesterday there was a huge grass fire and after I heard the call for it on the BCFA dispatch channel BCFA tac 3 just came to life! I say it like that because I programmed this channel awhile back and heard nothing so I figured it was out of service but now they were using it for on scene ops. But I don’t know if it was the radios they were using but they sounded really old and whenever they keyed the mic it would make that one kind of medium pitched static noises that you get with a CTSS tone it’s hard to describe I have video if you want to see it.

 

[NC5267]

TAC 3 is called Ops East on the trunked system. 39347. Probably the patch sounding garbled. TAC 3 ops is an old channel alias from the EDACS days. Even from the VHF days. Pretty much all of the agencies dispatched by BCFA use the trunked radios some have VHF in trucks for interoperability with surrounding agencies that still use VHF. Media county, Bandara, etc.... A lot of that has changed also with the agencies using multiband radios.

 

[SA_tx_88116]

TAC 3 is called Ops East on the trunked system. 39347. Probably the patch sounding garbled. TAC 3 ops is an old channel alias from the EDACS days. Even from the VHF days. Pretty much all of the agencies dispatched by BCFA use the trunked radios some have VHF in trucks for interoperability with surrounding agencies that still use VHF. Media county, Bandara, etc.... A lot of that has changed also with the agencies using multiband radios.

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

Also where does this squelch tone come from? Fast forward to 11 seconds.

 

[NC5267]

I didn't catch what station was enroute. That sounds like they are using the VHF side with those ident squelches. I mean they all have the VHF sides in there radios so they could use it whenever they wanted. I know surrounding countries have that freq also. I haven't monitored the VHF side in awhile. It sounds like outside departments talking to each other also.

 

[Fireman4404]

The noise before each unit’s transmission is an MDC1200 data burst. Whoever that agency is just happens to have theirs setup for leading edge PTT for unit ID. Definitely outside of Bexar. I can’t place the identifiers though that I heard. Definitely not units out of Medina or Bandera counties. And I can’t think of any others around that identify with 10xx numbers. BSB is the 70s and Canyon Lake the 50s. Guadalupe county has been on LCRA for a hot minute so their need to use a VHF patch really isn’t there. Maybe someone out of Wilson or Atascosa but that would be odd. When EDACS was still running the last few years, BCFA was patching out of county units in via a VFIRE21 to Mutual Aid 5 patch if it was anywhere in the south half of the county or near Medina County usually . The OPS/TAC3 patch was primarily used for interoperability with Comal County the last few years. And mostly just when Bexar-Bulverde Fire and Bulverde-Spring Branch Fire were working together.

 

[SA_tx_88116]

The noise before each unit’s transmission is an MDC1200 data burst. Whoever that agency is just happens to have theirs setup for leading edge PTT for unit ID. Definitely outside of Bexar. I can’t place the identifiers though that I heard. Definitely not units out of Medina or Bandera counties. And I can’t think of any others around that identify with 10xx numbers. BSB is the 70s and Canyon Lake the 50s. Guadalupe county has been on LCRA for a hot minute so their need to use a VHF patch really isn’t there. Maybe someone out of Wilson or Atascosa but that would be odd. When EDACS was still running the last few years, BCFA was patching out of county units in via a VFIRE21 to Mutual Aid 5 patch if it was anywhere in the south half of the county or near Medina County usually . The OPS/TAC3 patch was primarily used for interoperability with Comal County the last few years. And mostly just when Bexar-Bulverde Fire and Bulverde-Spring Branch Fire were working together.

Thanks I always wanted to know what that was. Also doesn’t a Motorola HT1250 make that sound?

 

[SA_tx_88116]

I didn't catch what station was enroute. That sounds like they are using the VHF side with those ident squelches. I mean they all have the VHF sides in there radios so they could use it whenever they wanted. I know surrounding countries have that freq also. I haven't monitored the VHF side in awhile. It sounds like outside departments talking to each other also.

The fire was at 191 Woodland Hills

 

[NC5267]

Did you hear the BCFA dispatcher tell the units what channel to respond on? I haven't heard the dispatcher mention Tac 3 in a long time. Just ops.

 

[SA_tx_88116]

Did you hear the BCFA dispatcher tell the units what channel to respond on? I haven't heard the dispatcher mention Tac 3 in a long time. Just ops.

No, but after 15 minutes they moved to fireground 22 on AARRS

 

[Fireman4404]

Thanks I always wanted to know what that was. Also doesn’t a Motorola HT1250 make that sound?

There’s many radios that do MDC signaling these days. It most commonly gets used for unit IDs but can also be used for selective calling and other radio control commands.

 

[northstarfire0693]

I remember when BCFA was running everything off 154.250 or TAC-3 (153.770). This is before the EDACS system was in place. I spent years (1992-2002) with Montgomery Drive ( aka Camelot then Gardendale, now ESD 10) Those were the good old days in Bexar County.