Speaking of which I never herd a peep out of Cochrane while out there, musta been really quiet today.
I know the ambulance was out a few times today and Fire was out between 1530 and 1600 for sure. And the radio guys were fiddling with one of the Tac repeaters (.1625 I think) all afternoon.
masonb said:
iDEN is untraceable isn't it?
Yes, for all intents and purposes, iDEN can't be scanned. Besides the fact that it's in a digital format that scanners don't deal with, it uses TDMA protocol, which essentially allows multiple conversations on the same frequency at the same time, kind of time-shared multiple times per second. It would be the same as scanning all the channels of a trunk system conventionally with no way of picking the conversation you wanted to hear. That's a really simplified example and probably not 100% correct, but it gets the gist of the concept to you.
masonb said:
Speaking of patching up with CPS, have you ever herd anything on Interop Bravo-3 or Bravo-4 in the 35*** range from CDR? Im assuming it can hook up to Bravo-2, Alpha-4, Alpha-2, Alpha-15, Bravo-10, Alpha-1 ect.... everything relatively close to Calgary.
I personally haven't heard any patches on those channels. I don't recall if my Unitrunker setup has ever noticed a hit on either of them, either. I'm also not exactly sure how the patches work. There is a mobile radio on the CPS dispatch supervisor's desk with RCMP frequencies programmed into it, but I don't think that's how it works. There is some kind of landline data link that the RCMP can call into and link up their dispatch center in Red Deer with the CPS radio network here. That, IIRC, is how the patches usually work. Furthermore, the two units that go out of the city most often - C-FCPS and C-FHWC, aka HAWC1 and HAWC2 - have RCMP PACS radios as well as two CPS radios (usually one kept on Fire/EMS, one kept on CPS).
masonb said:
Oh and I got another question, does the Sheriff communicate with the RCMP through phone, a patch through to PACS from CDR or do they just have a PACS radio system in their car along with the CDR?
I haven't had the chance to see a Sheriffs' vehicle up close yet. My understanding is that they have PACS radios. I believe they are "Tango" units, i.e. 3T4 etc.
They do not have radios for the Calgary (753f) system - the patching for that is all done in the Calgary system's infrastructure itself.
masonb said:
Also, how does this iDEN stuff work, is it like talking into a MIKE phone or is it somehow put into radio form?
MiKE phones are just an iDEN radio coupled with a cellphone body and functionality. Calgary Transit uses iDEN as well. TELUS (and the other iDEN providers, like Nextel/Sprint in the States) make all sorts of radios for the iDEN network, looking much like "normal" radios.