railtrailbiker
Member
How common is it for a dispatch center to be using a PD's repeater input on a routine basis instead of a dedicated control line/link to the repeater?
Dispatch center using repeater input instead of dedicated control line/link?
- Thread starter railtrailbiker
- Start date
- Status
Pretty common in my experience, because it's cheap and easy vs a wireline link over microwave or fiber. This is especially true for smaller PSAP's.
The modern equivalent would be PSAP's using consolettes or mobiles as subscribers on a trunked system, instead of actual system consoles connected to the core.
Heck, for many, many years Orange County NY's 911 center was a subscriber on their own VHF channels for countywide PD Polling/MRD and EMS Operations channels. Not just that, but they had multiple repeaters on each frequency using different input tones throughout the county, and so the back room at the 911 center was filled with mobile radios used as control stations for each frequency/input tone combo. Quite the mess!
The modern equivalent would be PSAP's using consolettes or mobiles as subscribers on a trunked system, instead of actual system consoles connected to the core.
Heck, for many, many years Orange County NY's 911 center was a subscriber on their own VHF channels for countywide PD Polling/MRD and EMS Operations channels. Not just that, but they had multiple repeaters on each frequency using different input tones throughout the county, and so the back room at the 911 center was filled with mobile radios used as control stations for each frequency/input tone combo. Quite the mess!
This seems common place. I don't know how much of this is price vs people not knowing what they are buy vs people not knowing what they are selling. The reason why this is a bad practice is because the dispatcher will "win" in most cases over portable radios talking in to the system. If the dispatcher is giving out a call and someone gives a mayday, hits their emergency button, etc., they have to contend with the power of the dispatchers control station.
Most systems use leased lines, microwave, fiber, etc., to allow the dispatcher to be full duplex. This means in some cases console priority or summed audio is present in the system. The dispatcher hears all units at all times and can break/pause/etc. to handle critical traffic. This is why you hear some cities like NYC, Boston, etc., all can hear units "under" the dispatcher at the same time. The units can talk under - so the dispatcher doesn't have to parrot commands back out or if Engine 3 really needs water it'll be coming because the guy heard it at the same time the FF called for it.
Like everything - it comes at a cost. I have a felling most places do not understand it and don't ask for it, know to ask for it, or don't understand the importance of the feature & functionality. Other places maybe it's not practical for a reason I don't know - but I think the safety reason should trump cost - but here we are.
Most systems use leased lines, microwave, fiber, etc., to allow the dispatcher to be full duplex. This means in some cases console priority or summed audio is present in the system. The dispatcher hears all units at all times and can break/pause/etc. to handle critical traffic. This is why you hear some cities like NYC, Boston, etc., all can hear units "under" the dispatcher at the same time. The units can talk under - so the dispatcher doesn't have to parrot commands back out or if Engine 3 really needs water it'll be coming because the guy heard it at the same time the FF called for it.
Like everything - it comes at a cost. I have a felling most places do not understand it and don't ask for it, know to ask for it, or don't understand the importance of the feature & functionality. Other places maybe it's not practical for a reason I don't know - but I think the safety reason should trump cost - but here we are.
- Status
