Dispatch Question

[mfd12321]

I have a question about my fire departments radio system. I know the main frequency used and i listen to it on my scanner however I never hear any dispatches, I can hear "Engine 1 responding, onscene, in service" etc, but not the actual dispatch itself. I have searched high and low for other frequencies but I have only found this one. Are there any other ways that departments get toned out? It would be more enjoyable to listen to if I knew what they were headed to is all. Thanks for the help.

 

[Volfirefighter]

I have a question about my fire departments radio system. I know the main frequency used and i listen to it on my scanner however I never hear any dispatches, I can hear "Engine 1 responding, onscene, in service" etc, but not the actual dispatch itself. I have searched high and low for other frequencies but I have only found this one. Are there any other ways that departments get toned out? It would be more enjoyable to listen to if I knew what they were headed to is all. Thanks for the help.

The first step is to tell us what department you are listening to.

 

[mfd12321]

Mansfield Fire Department in Richland County

 

[wa8pyr]

I have a question about my fire departments radio system. I know the main frequency used and i listen to it on my scanner however I never hear any dispatches, I can hear "Engine 1 responding, onscene, in service" etc, but not the actual dispatch itself. I have searched high and low for other frequencies but I have only found this one. Are there any other ways that departments get toned out? It would be more enjoyable to listen to if I knew what they were headed to is all. Thanks for the help.

They're probably using an in-house alerting system over either phone lines or computer network lines. This is common with some city fire departments. In such a case, units on the air receive runs over the mobile computer or the dispatcher will simply call them and say "...respond to 1234 Any Street with the companies, on a {nature of run here}."

 

[mfd12321]

OK and if this is the case then Im assuming that there would be no way to listen to it.

 

[jackj]

You are correct, there is no legal way to monitor the dispatcher if this is the case. I agree with you that just listening to the radio chatter on a call without knowing the nature of the call is useless. Unfortunately this is going to become more and more common unless or until some company starts selling a digital pager for P25 systems that is reasonably cheap.

 

[mfd12321]

Alright, well thanks for the help.

 

[wa8pyr]

You are correct, there is no legal way to monitor the dispatcher if this is the case. I agree with you that just listening to the radio chatter on a call without knowing the nature of the call is useless. Unfortunately this is going to become more and more common unless or until some company starts selling a digital pager for P25 systems that is reasonably cheap.

Such a pager is a moot point in this case; it would be useless for a department which uses an in-house alerting system that doesn't dispatch over the air, analog or digital, and has probably been using such a system for years. One of the fire departments I used to work for only had one station, the dispatcher was right there in the station, and over-the-air dispatching would have been utterly pointless.

 

[jackj]

I see your point Tom and you're right. But our village's FD used to dispatch by phone. The phones in all the firemen's houses would start ringing when a call came in. All the firemen would listen to the call then go to the fire with the proper equipment. But what about the guy(s) who weren't home, the first they would know about a fire was when they heard the siren. So they went to a county-wide dispatcher under the Sheriff. The county has moved to a P25 system but the FD's still use analog VHF pagers which means that they still have one legacy VHF station to maintain. Something like a MDT that was small enough to clip on your belt would be perfect for them.

 

[owenbricker]

Mansfield fire

I can help you with that. mansfield fire uses a Zetron station alerting system that alerts fire and rescue for 5 city stations and the air national guard fire station. Frequency is 458.82500. low power i think 25 watts.You will not hear tones that is done thru zetron in station, but you hear all dispatches. Barry.

 

[mfd12321]

Thank you so much, this is exactly what I was looking for. One other thing, do I need to set my scanner to a low power setting to pick it up. Its a pro-106 and Ive never done it before.

 

[owenbricker]

Mansfield fire

No need, just enter the frequency,and your good to go. You should pick it up fine, system has been in use since 2006. with a handheld i can receive it from mifflin twp. to the east, and west of ontario. Barry.

 

[mfd12321]

cool, thanks Im putting it in now.