London Fire Dept TAC4

[Rouse]

I was just wondering if anyone else monitoring the London Fire Dept has noticed lately that there is no traffic on TAC4 anymore. Has the frequencies changed?

I am using a BC246T with the mems I got from Forts (thanks again Forts) and I have checked to see if I have locked it out by mistake but can't see anything wrong with the freq layout.

I hear Dispatch and all the other channels fine but as soon as she says go to TAC4 I hear nothing more on the call.

I am using 860.6625 for TAC4.

 

[Forts]

You didn't happen to enter an incorrect pl tone for the channel did you? It should be 118.8. Or perhaps they have dropped the tone (or changed it) for some reason. I'll keep an ear on it and see what I can find out.

 

[Rouse]

Thanks Forts. As far as I can tell looking at ARC246 the tone is still set correctly at 118.8. I think I might also try reloading the original mems I got from you to see if there is something I am missing. It's just strange that it is only TAC4?

Half the problem with trouble shooting this is waiting for them to use TAC4, the dispatcher seems to choose TAC's at random.

 

[mikewazowski]

Thanks Forts. As far as I can tell looking at ARC246

Did you see what is actually programmed in your scanner? Sometimes programs screw up when uploading the data. The only way is to check your scanner and not rely on what arc246 says.

 

[Rouse]

Did you see what is actually programmed in your scanner? Sometimes programs screw up when uploading the data. The only way is to check your scanner and not rely on what arc246 says.

The LFD freq's were working fine up until this week. As far as I know I have changed nothing as far as the scanner programming goes.

I checked the scanner for the tone and frequency but am still getting nothing on TAC 4.

A call just went out to Grandview Ave for a CO detector (6:50pm) on TAC 4. 12 company responded on TAC 2 and dispatch corrected him and told him to go to TAC 4. There is definitely nothing on TAC 4.

I just reloaded the LFD freq's from the original mems too???

 

[mikewazowski]

Have you tried to put it in by hand?

 

[pro_96]

london fire tac 4

I hear london fire dept on tac 4 this afternoon

 

[Rouse]

Have you tried to put it in by hand?

Yes, I re-entered the freq and I also re-entered the pl tone 118.8.

 

[Rouse]

I hear london fire dept on tac 4 this afternoon

Are you sure you were on TAC4 (860.6625)?

Here's what I have:

 

[motomeso]

Why not just take the tone out for now and see if you hear them with just the standard squelch? Maybe they dropped the tone or your scanner is having troubles decoding it due to improper deviation levels or the PL frequency is off a little.

 

[Rouse]

Why not just take the tone out for now and see if you hear them with just the standard squelch? Maybe they dropped the tone or your scanner is having troubles decoding it to to improper deviation levels or the PL frequency is off a little.

Sounds like a plan, I will give it a try and see what happens. I just wanted to see if Forts was having the same issue, saying as he has the same radio and freq layout.

 

[ve3tej]

Tac 4 is working at my place with a PL tone on recieve

 

[Rouse]

Tac 4 is working at my place with a PL tone on recieve

Thanks thats good to know. Are you using 118.8 for the pl tone too? I erased the radio lastnight and re entered the freq's but haven't been around to hear if there has been a call on it yet.

 

[ve3tej]

That is correct with the pl of 118.8. I am using a comerical radio to.

 

[Rouse]

Well I am stumped?? I have no idea why that is the only channel that doesn't work. Very strange that it worked up until about a week and a half ago. Seems like everyone else is getting it but me? I guess my BC246t doesn't like TAC4 anymore.

Another wierd thing is that I am hearing people talk on the control channels:

0860.2375
0860.4875

ID 33376 is how it is showing up. Doesn't sound like Fire Dept chatter either unless they use thier handhelds for events and stuff?

 

[Rouse]

Hey Forts have you heard anything on TAC4 on your 246T?

I switched the CTCSS/DCS on TAC 4 to search instead of 118.8 and I am now able to get TAC4 but all it shows me on the display is DCS 023 which is what all the other TAC's 3-5 showed before under DCS. It isn't actually showing what pl tone it is using or picking up on???

 

[Forts]

Sorry for the holdup in getting back to you... I've been in Michigan since last Thursday. I think I should be in London pretty much for the rest of the week, so I'll let you know what I'm seeing...err hearing... on Tac4 (and I'll use a few different radios as a comparison).

 

[Rouse]

Sorry for the holdup in getting back to you... I've been in Michigan since last Thursday. I think I should be in London pretty much for the rest of the week, so I'll let you know what I'm seeing...err hearing... on Tac4 (and I'll use a few different radios as a comparison).

That’s great Forts I really appreciate it. I am able to get TAC4 now but only if I have CTCSS/DCS in search mode instead of a pl tone of 118.8. All other TAC’s are unchanged and using the 118.8 pl tone.

 

[Forts]

Well I've been in London off and on the past 2 days and naturally haven't heard one call go out on Tac 4. I'm back in the city again tomorrow so I'll keep my ears to the radio!

 

[Forts]

Finally heard a call go out on Tac4 today... They are indeed using DCS023 instead of PL118.8 on that channel. If you have 118.8 programmed in, you won't hear a thing. Tac3 and Tac5 still seem to be using 118.8 from what I saw. I'll pay closer attention tomorrow when I'm back in the city.