Gold Cross EMS/Central EMS in Augusta/Richmond County

[ColdWarVeteran]

Effective today, April 2, 2023, Gold Cross EMS will be terminating their EMS coverage within Richmond County @ 0800 hours. Central EMS will begin providing EMS coverage beginning at 0600 hours on the same date to provide an overlap. This info provided by WJBF News as posted on April 1, 2023.

I've been monitoring the Gold Cross VHF frequency (154.2125mhz) this morning and the last EMS call I heard dispatched for Richmond County was just before 0800 hours today. No radio chatter in the past 3 hours whereas there's usually calls dispatched on a regular basis. I'm curious as to what type of communications Central EMS will be using. I doubt that they've had the opportunity to establish a two way radio system, similar to Gold Cross, in such a short amount of time prior to taking the EMS zone. I'll assume they're using the county TRS for dispatching calls as the news article stated that the county 911 center will have reps from both Central EMS and the Georgia DPH.

Now that Augusta/Richmond County installed their own TRS, they've followed in the steps of Columbia and McDuffie Counties by encrypting all communications. Just about the only thing EMS, fire or law enforcement related to listen to, on the Georgia side of the Savannah river, is GSP and a couple other smaller counties such as Lincoln, Warren, etc. Seems like we're going to be more in the dark about what happens in Richmond County if Central EMS decided to use the county radio system.

 

[shajoe44]

Local article said today they are using handhelds in dispatch until software can be installed. Not sure if this means they will have their own frequencies or use the Richmond County system.

 

[ColdWarVeteran]

I did hear some EMS activity on their VHF frequency in between doing some errands. I heard an ambulance calling AUMC and identified as “Masters 1” and stated they were inbound from the Masters Tournament with a patient. It seemed like they were on the wrong frequency as the traffic sounded like they were attempting to give a patient report. That’s usually done on the HEAR channel (155.340 MHz) and they were announcing that they were arriving at their door and the hospital never responded.

According to the news article there will be other agencies assisting the county with EMS calls initially. The VHF frequency Gold Cross uses (154.2125 MHz) is licensed to them so I’m assuming they’re allowing another EMS provider to use their system during the tournament.

Today was the first time I’ve heard activity on the frequency in just over 24 hours. There could’ve been activity prior but I probably missed it as I haven’t listened full time. Seems strange not to hear activity on that frequency since because it had regular activity before the transition.

 

[shajoe44]

Looks like they are using Fire Tac 2 as their channel. I was watching the local news and they happen to show the screen on the handheld the driver was using. It said "Fire Tac 2"

 

[ColdWarVeteran]

When I was a firefighter in Augusta we used Fire Tac 1 when “in service” while out of the station or when terminating command. We were assigned a Tac channel for response and then return to Tac 1 once command of the incident was terminated. We used Fire Tac 2-4 for working incidents and we had an EMS Tac channel for medical calls. That was when the county was still using Palmetto 800, I have no clue what talk group’s they have in place now and how they’re being utilized now that they have their own system that’s encrypted. Maybe they have their talk group’s configured differently and for different purposes on the new system(?)