Franklin/Grand Isle Counties

[Bud34k7]

Franklin / Grand Isle Counties

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Being a retired firefighter from Grand Isle it sure would be nice to be able to hear it on here.

 

[methusaleh]

Where are you located? Perhaps you could host a feed. I would if I lived in that area. I can not hear them at all from my home QTH.

 

[Bud34k7]

I live in Florida, thats why I asked.

 

[dic]

I just took a leisurely 2 hour trip through Grand Isle form north to south.
I heard NOTHING on the 800mhz Police and Fire frequencies and nothing on the State 460.450 Sheriff frequency.

I know it was only two hours, but it was at 4pm on a beautiful busy Sunday afternoon, I find it hard to believe that there was not ONE radio call in over two hours.

Dic
N1XBA

 

[jimlawrence]

Don't be surprised about that. This is Vermont, after all. I just cruised through Barre and Montpelier in the middle of the day on a Sunday and heard NOTHING.

VSP St. Albans might have been handing any Grand Isle traffic. I have heard, in the past, that St. Albans is the busiest barracks in the VSP. YMMV. I monitored the Franklin Co. sheriff while in Burlington today and heard nothing at all, if that's any indication.

Happy listening!

Best Wishes,
Jim

 

[amcare38]

There's a few reasons you heard nothing.
1. The 800 mhz system is only used by Fire & EMS for operations. Paging for South Hero, Grand Isle & North Hero is done via text pager (at least for now anyway).
2. Alburgh & Isle LaMotte Fire & EMS are dispatched & operate on 154.190 (100.0).
3. Police doen't use the 800 mhz system.
4. Grand Isle Sheriff's Dept. usually doesn't have units on duty on Sunday.
5. Grand Isle Sheriffs don't use the 460.450 frequency. They're dispatched by VSP St.Albans & operate on that frequency or via cell phones.
6. VSP St.Albans frequency is 460.025.

I just took a leisurely 2 hour trip through Grand Isle form north to south.
I heard NOTHING on the 800mhz Police and Fire frequencies and nothing on the State 460.450 Sheriff frequency.

I know it was only two hours, but it was at 4pm on a beautiful busy Sunday afternoon, I find it hard to believe that there was not ONE radio call in over two hours.

Dic
N1XBA

 

[amcare38]

Jim,

Franklin Sheriff;'s stopped 24/7 patrol coverage when they lost the St.Albans Town contract July 1,2011.

Randy

Don't be surprised about that. This is Vermont, after all. I just cruised through Barre and Montpelier in the middle of the day on a Sunday and heard NOTHING.

VSP St. Albans might have been handing any Grand Isle traffic. I have heard, in the past, that St. Albans is the busiest barracks in the VSP. YMMV. I monitored the Franklin Co. sheriff while in Burlington today and heard nothing at all, if that's any indication.

Happy listening!

Best Wishes,
Jim

 

[zerg901]

Is South Hero FD using 154.40 R, 154.145 M, or 154.34 HT at all?

The FCC ULS shows 851.2625 R, 852.3375 R, 851.0625 R, 868.4625 R, 868.50 R, and 868.6625 R for Grand Isle County Mutual Aid.

Is it true that the Grand Isle County FDs are being dispatched by a private company in Saint Albans?

 

[LathamScan]

The other VHF channels that South Hero have are not used, at least not now.

The upper 800 MHz. channels were active last I knew; there were problems with Canadian interference on the lower channels.

All of Grand Isle County Fire & EMS are now dispatched by St. Albans Central Dispatch. They used to be dispatched by Contact Communications in South Burlington (an answering service). Paging for the lower 3 towns still done on their 152.480 digital paging network.

There is a plan to abandon 800 MHz. and get a new VHF channel to communicate with St. Albans Central for dispatch and paging but not sure how that is coming along. As you may be very well aware of, being that close to Canada poses a lot of frequency coordination issues.

 

[zerg901]

I have a 2008 PSAP map for Vermont. It shows that Williston VSP is the PSAP for the Grand Isle County towns. Has this changed? Seems to me it would make more sense for Saint Albans to be the PSAP if they are the dispatch point. (Simpler for me to remember anyhow).

 

[LathamScan]

As I have been told, yes this has changed. The PSAP in Williston was one of 4 or 5 operated by the State. The St. Albans City PSAP (where I used to work) was operated by the city, and while I was there years ago, was only taking 911 calls for the city. All of the other calls for fire/ems in the county came transferred from Williston. But now, I believe all 911 calls for Franklin & Grand Isle Counties go to St. Albans City (Central) Dispatch.

 

[DaveNF2G]

That sounds similar to the trend in New York (and maybe other states?). State Police are being dispatched more by local multiagency multijurisdictional 9-1-1 centers than by state-operated dispatch facilities that only "do" SP dispatching. It is more cost-effective.