Dutches County Fire questions

[silverbk]

I just recently moved to Dutchess and I have been monitoring the Fire frequencies with some success.

According to the database it looks like channels 1 thru 17 have been setup by the county and some departments appear to have their own fireground repeaters.

How are the portables setup. Do they have channels 1 thru 17 in them? Do they allocate a channel slot for simplex or use a talkaround key?

Are there people running around with 65 fire channels in their portables?

There seems to be a lapse in the numbering scheme, was that intentional?

Lastly is there still any activity on low band?

 

[K2KOH]

The only activity left on low band is 46.360...some departments still have low band pagers.
As far as the radios...my old department had only a few portables, and all we had in them were Dispatch, Response, Command, Pawling 11, Dover 17 and I believe MED 9 and 10. The radios were set up odd was repeater and even was simplex. The mobile radios were the same.
Different departments do different things, so YMMV.

 

[nozzlenut83]

That is correct. Usually with the first 16 channels, The odd numbers are the repeaters and the even channels are the talk around except for Channels 1 & 2. Dispatch 1 is now only used for tone alerting and dispatching and Response 2 is the main channel and is repeated. No talk around is used on these frequencies anymore. Channel 17 is usually the Fire Police channel and is low power simplex only. The Channel 17 designation is not official but pretty constant throughout the county. On a side note many departments use Channel 18 as the "other" channel 11 repeater. Channel 11 uses one PL for the Pawling tower and another for the Milan tower (Milan tower designated as Channel 11A). Departments choose which Channel 11 to put into their radios based on location and which one they will most likely need. Many departments have both.

The private fireground channels are up to the individual departments. Many departments choose to number their own frequencies with thier county ID number (ex. Fairview F-41 - Repeater, F-41A - Talk Around, F-41B - Low Power Simplex, East Fishkill F-39/40, and many more). Other departments just numbered them where they fit in to their channel scheme. (Ex Arlington FD F-43/44, F-45/45, F-47/48, New Hamburg FD F-27, etc.) In general Odd numbers are repeaters and Even numbers (or -A, -B, etc) are talk around or simplex channels.

As far as departments having all the frequencies in their radios, the county requires Channels 1-16 at minimum. After that agencies are free to do what they want. Many agencies use seperate zones or banks for mutual aid channels. Most departments do not have every other agency's frequencies in their radios. Most just have access to mutual aid departments. The county procedures for mutual aid incidents is that operations be conducted on a county fireground. That is not always followed, but it is usually a good practice since some departments in the county are lucky to have the 16 county channels available.

Hope this helps,
nozzlenut83

 

[SCANdal]

83,

So, if I program my scanner like this....

F1 453.900 (114.8) Dispatch (simulcast with 46.360, csq)
F2 453.925 (114.8) Response
F3/F4 453.800 (114.8) Command
F5/F6 453.050 (114.8) Fireground
F7/F8 453.450 (82.5) Fireground
F9/F10 453.625 (82.5) Fireground
F11/F11A/F12 453.950 (114.8) Fireground
F13/F14 453.850 (114.8) Fireground
F15/F16 460.450 (114.8) Field Ops
F17 453.9125 (136.5) Fire Police

I should hear all that there is to hear in terms of countywide fire radio traffic?

SCANdal

 

[nozzlenut83]

SCANdal,

That would just about cover it. The only things you may want to add are MED 9 for ALS/BLS coordination and Poughkeepsie City 911 Fire. But for countywide fire that should do it.

MED 9 Illinois/Clove - 462.9500 (192.8)
City Fire Dispatch F1/F5 - 453.6500 (136.5)
City Fireground F2 - 458.5375 (136.5)
City Fire College Hill Repeater F3/F4 - 453.7500 (136.5)

Also Dutchess 911 can disable the repeaters when needed. This is rarely done, but it does happen occassionally. Mostly Command 3 and Field Ops 15.

Hope this helps,
nozzlenut83

 

[K2KOH]

I don't know if I would waste my time with the Fire Police frequency...I've yet to hear anything on there, other than bleedover from 453.925, since I was close to the tower.

 

[Spec]

Ref. Fire Police : Because it is a simplex on a 12.5 split the only good point it has a different PL than .925.

 

[silverbk]

That's pretty much what I'm running except since I'm in East Fishkill I added their "private" fireground freq.

Incidentally there was an MVA at 376 and lake walton road last night and they requested Fire Police to the scene. I logged them on 453.15000 114.8 PL directing traffic.

I just want to make sure that when I hear someone say "switch to channel 39" that I have the freq and I know what it is.

 

[Spec]

Most times when you hear "switching to..." and the number such as 39 it is the departments number in the county numbering plan. 39 is East Fishkill. Most departments use their own fire ground if they have one set aside such as E. Fishkill. The county plan comes into play when there are multiple incidents within those districts most times. There is always something to listen to in Dutchess on FD. A well thought out system and well operated.

 

[nozzlenut83]

Just a note about 453.9125 (136.5) the Fire Police channel. Most departments that have enough fire police and enough money to actually equip those members with radios to use the frequency probably already have their own FD frequency and their Fire Police members use that. The county Fire Police freq is good for large scale incidents with mutual aid if the responding departments don't already have each others frequencies installed. It was a fairly well used freq when the UHF plan was first implemented, but now the trend is for each FD to have their own repeater (or two, or three..).

The Dutchess County Fire Police Response Team does use this frequency when they are operating at an incident or event.

As pointed out by Spec, this frequency is a low power split and is limited to 2 Watt operations only by both the FCC licensing and the County Radio Plan. So you need to be real close to hear anything and use CTCSS to eliminate interference from Response 2, F/G 11, and even Dispatch 1.

Hope this helps,
nozzlenut83

 

[silverbk]

Most times when you hear "switching to..." and the number such as 39 it is the departments number in the county numbering plan. 39 is East Fishkill. Most departments use their own fire ground if they have one set aside such as E. Fishkill. The county plan comes into play when there are multiple incidents within those districts most times. There is always something to listen to in Dutchess on FD. A well thought out system and well operated.

I must concur, with the small amount of monitoring I have done I am impressed by the professionalism of the dispatch personnel.

I come from Westchester County, where it is an entirely different situation.

 

[APX8000]

F1 453.900 (114.8) Dispatch (simulcast with 46.360, csq)
F2 453.925 (114.8) Response
F3/F4 453.800 (114.8) Command
F5/F6 453.050 (114.8) Fireground
F7/F8 453.450 (82.5) Fireground
F9/F10 453.625 (82.5) Fireground
F11/F11A/F12 453.950 (114.8) Fireground
F13/F14 453.850 (114.8) Fireground
F15/F16 460.450 (114.8) Field Ops
F17 453.9125 (136.5) Fire Police

SCANdal

Just a quick note for all on the fireground repeaters...

F5 is on Illinois (Town of Llyod in Ulster County)
F7 is on Clove (Town of Unionville)
F9 is on Hosner (Town of East Fishkill)
F11 is on Pawling using input PL 114.8
F11A is on Milan using input PL 82.5
F13 is on Silver (Town of Northeast)

Response 2, Command 3 and Allcomm 15 are up on all towers using talk-back voting. Dispatch 1 is currently off the nearest one or two towers to the department being dispatched. However, they are working on the NEW Dispatch 1 system which will simulast off all towers in the near future.

I must concur, with the small amount of monitoring I have done I am impressed by the professionalism of the dispatch personnel.

Top notch people at DC911. Listening to them vs. listening to Orange County for example is like night and day.

Also, here are some of the fire repeaters up in Dutchess...feel free to make changes, additions, corrections, etc.

Amenia FD DC 460.0875 114.8 Fireground Repeater
Arlington FD DC 463.1250 114.8 F-43 EMS Repeater/F-44 Simplex
Arlington FD DC no longer using 461.7500 114.8 F-45 Admin Repeater/F-46 Simplex
Arlington FD DC new admin 453.0000 82.5
Arlington FD DC 460.2000 114.8 F-47 Fireground Repeater/F-48 Simplex
Beacon FD DC 460.4000 114.8 Fireground Repeater
Beacon FD DC 453.325 Intercity Communications/Intercomm
Beekman FD DC Main Repeater 453.3750 114.8
Beekman FD DC 453.075 114.8
Beekman FD DC 460.1625 114.8
Castle Point DC Also shared with VA Police 162.2125 151.4
Dover (J.H. Ketcham Hose) DC 453.8500 82.5 F-17 East Mountain
East Fishkill FD DC 453.150 114.8 F-39 Fireground Repeater/F-40 Simplex
Fairview FD DC 453.3000 114.8 F-41 Fireground
Fishkill FD DC 453.7000 114.8 F-23
Fishkill FD DC MAY NO LONGER BE USED 462.1250 114.8 F-19 (actually Rombout)
Fishkill FD DC Possible New 453.700
Hughsonville FD DC 463.2500 151.4 F-45
Hyde Park FD DC 460.2500 110.9 F-46
LaGrange FD DC 453.200 110.9 F-47 (F-47 also listed as Arlington)
Millbrook FD DC 460.4125 DCS754 Fireground Repeater
Millerton FD DC 453.7750 173.8 Fireground Repeater
Milan FD DC 460.025 465.025
New Hackensack FD DC 453.1250 100.0 F-52
New Hamburg FD DC 453.7500 114.8 F-27
Pawling FD DC 453.9500 71.9 Fireground Repeater
Pleasant Valley FD DC 453.3500 136.5 Also Have PL listed as 82.5 by SCANDAL
Pleasant Valley Town DC 453.1000 F-56
Poughkeepsie City FD DC Dispatch Repeater 453.6500 136.5 F-1 Repeater/F-5 Simplex
Poughkeepsie City FD DC College Hill Repeater 453.7500 136.5 F-3 Repeater/F-4 Simplex
Poughkeepsie City FD DC Fireground 458.5375 136.5 F-2
Rombout FD DC 462.1250 114.8 Same as Fishkill (neg. Fishkill on 453.7)
Roosevelt FD DC 453.250 114.8 Also have PL listed as 167.9 by SCANDAL
Stanford FD DC 460.6250 118.8 Fireground Repeater
Unionvale FD DC 460.0625 114.8 Mainly used for EMS Comms by members responding
UnionVale FD DC 453.6750 Town highway frequency also used by FD
Wappingers Falls FD DC 469.3875 114.8 Non-repeaterized private channel

 

[DaveNF2G]

Dispatch 1 is currently off the nearest one or two towers to the department being dispatched. However, they are working on the NEW Dispatch 1 system which will simulast off all towers in the near future.

I can usually hear Dispatch 1 up here in Averill Park. I hope the simulcast system isn't anything like what Albany County went over to on their VHF channel. They used to be loud and clear from either of their two sites. Now they sound like crap.