Fleetnet/GMCP Emergency Alert

[VA3DBJ]

I have been hearing the MOH doing Emergency button tests, but I don't receive any indications of the emergency even tho I have the emergency alert enabled. Do I have something set wrong somewhere, or is there something special going on with Fleetnet??

dave..

 

[mikewazowski]

Despite what one individual says, Emergency Alert status is not broadcast over the control channel.

The Comm Centre or CACC will see them but you will not.

Trunker will show that the emergency button has been pressed but you will not see the tg status change.

 

[VA3DBJ]

Despite what one individual says, Emergency Alert status is not broadcast over the control channel.

The Comm Centre or CACC will see them but you will not.

Trunker will show that the emergency button has been pressed but you will not see the tg status change.

How would the BC246T indicate the alert if the emergency alert is enabled on it?? Is it a tone or a message on the LCD?? Even with all their testing, nothing happens. Maybe it doesn't work on the VHF type system..

 

[VA3DBJ]

After reading your last line for the "third" time, my reply needs to have idiot written on it.. Still experiencing the learning curve on the Fleetnet system. I just find it funny that the emergency alert is available. Does it work just on the 800 systems or is it a toast item on the 246T?

 

[mikewazowski]

It's all on how the system is setup. Fleetnet is setup to not change the status bit on the talkgroup during an emergency.

The vehicle still indicates an emergency to the console and the console acks it. The dispatcher is aware of the emergency however the other vehicles are not.

TPS is different as the status of the talkgroup changes to indicate emergency so all the radios will show the talkgroup in emergency status.

I would guess that the powers that be, would rather the emergency feature be a silent feature. No "Emergency" flashing on the display and 100 other officers asking what the emergency is about.

 

[slicerwizard]

The vehicle still indicates an emergency to the console and the console acks it.

Emergency button presses are acknowledged by the site controller, not a console.

 

[pathalogical]

Is the Emergency Alert an audible signal ? I have my local police division on Channel Alert and when it becomes active, it beeps three times very quickly. If a user activates their Panic Button, will I hear some beeps as well ? Listening to Parking Enforcement over the weekend, the dispatcher informed the P.E.O. to turn the radio off, then back on to cancel the Panic mode.

 

[bpsmicro]

That's essentially it. If the system is set up that way (not all are), the TG's status bit is set to indicate essentially "emergency mode". If your scanner is set up to receive that, it gives the beeps at the start of every transmission while in that mode (and with some scanners the display flashes "EMERGENCY" or somesuch).

In the case of the Ottawa EDACs system, I eventually turned off the emergency mode on my BC780 because while the scanner was giving out the tones, it turned off (or drowned out) the audio portion. So I found that when somebody hit their button (always by accident), I missed bits of the conversation because of the stupid beeps. Since the conversation usually started with "Portable <blah> your emergency button is pressed", I figured the beeps were redundant.

On Fleetnet, they don't use the status bit, as has been said before. But if you're listening, you know when somebody pushes the button because the dispatchers get all excited (or annoyed depending on your point of view).

Brad.

 

[mikewazowski]

Emergency button presses are acknowledged by the site controller, not a console.

This is the one I was referring to (known as Emergency Console Acknowledge Required):

Causes the radio to require an acknowledgement when an Emergency Alarm has been sent. An Emergency Alarm is not considered to be successful unless a dispatcher Acknowledge is received. If the Acknowledge is not received, the radio continues to transmit the Emergency Alarm until the selected number of Emergency Retries have been exhausted. This feature applies while operating in Emergency Mode for the current Trunking Personality.

 

[pathalogical]

Recently (last night) while listening to the police, I heard some very distictive beeps. They were very quick and were in a low-hi-low-hi pattern. I have my systems on Emergency Alert and after hearing these beeps, there was no excitment from dispatchers to find out if there was a cause for concern. On one other occassion, I've also heard the verbal announcement "PC Assist" from officers.

 

[slicerwizard]

This is the one I was referring to (known as Emergency Console Acknowledge Required):

All emergencies on Fleetnet are ACKed by the site controllers via the 308/30D affiliation function dual-OSW. For about half of them, I've also seen the 26E8 Emergency ACK dual-OSW. When seen, the 26E8 responses immediately follow (e.g. within 0.5 sec) the site controller response, which indicates that the 26E8 response is an automated response, not a dispatcher's response. I haven't seen any other form of response that could be a "dispatcher response"

Further, it looks like the 308/30D response is sent to all zones where the particular talkgroup is active (to support newer radios which can display emergency alerts), while the 26E8 response is only sent to the zone where the triggering subscriber unit is affiliated. I've seen different responses for the same radio on the same talkgroup on the same day, which suggests that it changed zones between the two emergencies. I've also seen two radios triggered at the same time on the same talkgroup, where one got a single response while the other got the dual response (from _my_ perspective).

Some logs:


Two radios, separate talkgroups, both ACK's seen for both radios:

308 I 20C9 Affiliation function; Emergency button pressed; RID=20C9 TG=224
30D I 2248
308 I 20C9 Affiliation function; Emergency button pressed; RID=20C9 TG=224
30D I 2248
308 I 20C9 ACK Emergency; RID=20C9
30B I 26E8
308 I 20C9 ACK Emergency; RID=20C9
30B I 26E8
308 I 20C9 Affiliation function; Emergency button pressed; RID=20C9 TG=224
30D I 2248
308 I 20C9 ACK Emergency; RID=20C9
30B I 26E8
308 I 20C9 Affiliation function; Emergency button pressed; RID=20C9 TG=224
30D I 2248
308 I 0433 Affiliation function; Emergency button pressed; RID=433 TG=22C
30D I 22C8
308 I 0433 Affiliation function; Emergency button pressed; RID=433 TG=22C
30D I 22C8
308 I 0433 Affiliation function; Emergency button pressed; RID=433 TG=22C
30D I 22C8
308 I 20C9 ACK Emergency; RID=20C9
30B I 26E8
308 I 0433 Affiliation function; Emergency button pressed; RID=433 TG=22C
30D I 22C8
3C0 G 3080 SS1
308 I 0433 ACK Emergency; RID=433
30B I 26E8
308 I 0433 ACK Emergency; RID=433
30B I 26E8
308 I 0433 ACK Emergency; RID=433
30B I 26E8
308 I 0433 ACK Emergency; RID=433
30B I 26E8


Two radios, same talkgroup, different responses seen:

308 I 26EF Affiliation function; Emergency button pressed; RID=26EF TG=224
30D I 2248
308 I 26EF Affiliation function; Emergency button pressed; RID=26EF TG=224
30D I 2248
308 I 26EF Affiliation function; Emergency button pressed; RID=26EF TG=224
30D I 2248
308 I 2238 Affiliation function; Emergency button pressed; RID=2238 TG=224
30D I 2248
308 I 2238 Affiliation function; Emergency button pressed; RID=2238 TG=224
30D I 2248
308 I 2238 Affiliation function; Emergency button pressed; RID=2238 TG=224
30D I 2248
308 I 26EF Affiliation function; Emergency button pressed; RID=26EF TG=224
30D I 2248
308 I 2238 Affiliation function; Emergency button pressed; RID=2238 TG=224
30D I 2248
308 I 26EF ACK Emergency; RID=26EF
30B I 26E8
308 I 26EF ACK Emergency; RID=26EF
30B I 26E8
308 I 26EF ACK Emergency; RID=26EF
30B I 26E8
308 I 26EF ACK Emergency; RID=26EF
30B I 26E8

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