DC Fire 154.19 down?

[ka3jjz]

Yep. sure seems like it. It's usually very busy with the med/fire dispatches, but it's been quiet the last few days. Anyone know what is going on?

73s Mike

 

[firefighter]

DCFD 154.190 Down

Hello: I am a retired DC firefighter and called my buddy in the fire dept radio shop. He advised me that it will be down for a few weeks. They have a new tower at the dispatch center and are installing a new antennna and new Motorola transmitter that will give much better coverage.

 

[ka3jjz]

Re: DCFD 154.190 Down

Hello: I am a retired DC firefighter and called my buddy in the fire dept radio shop. He advised me that it will be down for a few weeks. They have a new tower at the dispatch center and are installing a new antennna and new Motorola transmitter that will give much better coverage.

Excellant Tom. Thanks for the explanation. In fact, I had heard the same, but wanted to get something 'semi official' before I mentioned it to someone else.

73s and stay cool...Mike

 

[ScanManQSL]

DCFD Disp Is Back Up & online

Guess what guys. 154.190 - DCFD Disp is back up and sounding much better then before. Im receiving it a S10 as before the new antenna maybe a S1/S0

 

[dc2wheel]

Did they stop using the 77hz CTCSS tone? I can only receive them if I turn off the tone squelch.
-dc2wheel

 

[ka3jjz]

Seems like it; it's rather weak over here in Glen Burnie (tho on indoor antennas that's hardly a surprise), but like you, if I disable the PL, it comes through fine.

73s Mike

 

[hartgk01]

154.19

I'm in Eldersburg MD and I get it very well but I do have an outdoor antenna.
I don't understand what you mean by disabling the PL. Is that only done on certain radios?
I usually scan on a PRO-95 and PRO-2053 and I am not aware of having a PL feature.
Thanks

 

[ka3jjz]

Your radios are not capable of receiving the PL; however, the 895 does have it, and I had 154.19 programmed with the 77.0 PL code. It seems that they are now working Carrier Squelch - which basically means, no PL code.

PL (Private Line) is the Motorola term for CTCSS; it's a subaudible tone that allows those radios that can handle it to pass audio only when the tone is detected. It can help cut down on unwanted signals and other interference on the same frequency.

73s Mike

 

[hartgk01]

154.19

Thanks,
So some frequencies have more than 1 PL?
Is this something else you have to program?

 

[ScanManQSL]

Washington DC Fire Department Dispatch

I agree that they disabled the CTCSS tone. I’m still amazed how well I am receiving the signal on my indoor antenna (S10). Like I said before I had to use the outdoor antenna just to receive a signal.

To ka3jjz: Was the signal weak before they change the antenna for your area?

-Ben-

 

[dc2wheel]

Re: 154.19

Thanks,
So some frequencies have more than 1 PL?
Is this something else you have to program?

One frequency could technically have 50 PL's [here are the fifty commonly used ones: http://radioreference.com/apps/wiki/index.php?title=CTCSS ]
One such example in our area is that Quick Messenger Service from DC & Ride-On bus service out of Silver Spring both operate on 452.825, but QMS uses a PL of 203.5, whereas Ride-On uses 156.7. You don't have to program the PL into your scanner [and some scanners don't decode PL anyway], but if you just enter 452.825 without a PL you'll often hear both bike messengers & bus drivers having what sound like VERY disjointed conversations
-dc2wheel

 

[ka3jjz]

Sure thing; and in that case, if the scanner you used had the capability, you could easily filter out the agency you don't want to hear.

Here's a real life example; Bladensburg uses 453.9 with a PL of 141.3 for its police dept; but the MTA/BWI police use the same frequency with a PL of 123.0. I'm not much interested in Bladensburg, so I program my 895 with the 123.0 PL. In this case, Bladensburg will not open the scanner.

To ScanManQSL - DC fire was stronger by at least 2 S units before the changeover. The antenna may simply be in a bad spot to hear them. Not too awful worried about it, as I don't travel to DC nearly as much as I used to.

73s all Mike

 

[firefighter]

DCFD 154.190 PL OFF

I WAS IN CONTACT WITH MY FRIEND AT DCFD COMM. AND HE ADVISED ME THAT THE PL WILL BE ON AS SOON AS THE TRANSMITTER IS REPROGRAMMED. SEEMS THE FACTORY ONLY PROGRAMMED THE FREQUENCY AND FORGOT THE PL. THE NEW ANTENNA IS NOW 180 FEET UP THE NEW TOWER . BE SAFE GUYS.

 

[ka3jjz]

Tom I hear rumblings that the antenna is having some VSWR problems, and the power out of the antenna isn't quite what is expected. Is that true, and when (if) is that expected to be addressed? Eventually it is possible that it could cause the finals to fail - the output power is most likely cut back right now if that's the case (this is what often happens with ham radios....)


73s and thanx...Mike

 

[Samuel]

anybody noticed the annoying chirps (2 beeps) in the middle of transmissions? What is this?

 

[ResQguy]

Its the Motorola standard RFPA alarm condition. It will go away when the VSWR is corrected. :roll: D.C.O.U.C. is aware of the situation.

 

[TinEar]

Before 154.19 went down, I got it at about two bars on that pseudo signal strength meter on the Uniden 785. Now I get it at about five bars so it's considerably stronger than it was. It's actually a good sounding signal.

Thought I just caught the new PL tone for it when I saw PL 186.2 flashing on the screen and then realized it was FDNY Bronx/Staten Island that was coming in so well. That's a good example of what was talked about earlier in the thread. I'll fix that by locking out the PL 186.2 so I only hear D.C. - and anybody else not using the 186.2 tone.