London trunked radio system talkgroup

[hotpocket]

So, got a bit of an odd question.

I recently got my DSDPlus FastLane working properly, and I've come across a talkgroup that doesn't appear to be in the database. Talkgroup is 412. This makes me think its a London Fire talkgroup.

There are also multiple radios that I've captured on this talk group, that don't appear on any others. These are the radio id's I caught
14601
14602
14603
14604
14605
14606
14607
14608
14609
14610
14611
14612
14614

Based on those ID's and following the LFD radio format of 14xxx, this definitely makes me think those radio's belong to LFD, but I can't seem to figure out what they could be for. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Forts]

Yes it's an LFD group. If you look at the radio ID's, you'll see they follow the station numbers. I'm not sure if I've ever seen call grants on that group, just those same radios rejoining every 15 minutes. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the alerting/backup alerting system.

 

[hotpocket]

Yes it's an LFD group. If you look at the radio ID's, you'll see they follow the station numbers. I'm not sure if I've ever seen call grants on that group, just those same radios rejoining every 15 minutes. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the alerting/backup alerting system.

Yeah, I noticed that too and was wondering about it maybe being a standby channel or something. I also noticed the same thing with another unknown talk group “434”. My thinking is based on the fact that 432 is station alerting and 433 is the dispatch talkgroup it would make sense that 434 would maybe be a backup for one or both.

As far as 412, it kinda fits in the range of the HAZMAT/Training talk groups but given the separation between 412 and 417, it seems like it could be a standalone purpose altogether. Maybe somebody else has an insider’s insight to help solve this mystery? I mean we don’t ever hear anything on these talk groups, but now my curiosity is piqued.

 

[Forts]

434 I believe is backup alerting, I've heard testing on it in the past. There are multiple groups between 402 and 434 that occasionally will see an affiliation but they never get used. There are also some that I believe were just brought over from the EDACS system and are no longer used (they used to have training talkgroups, special events etc).

 

[hotpocket]

Very interesting. I think I'll give 434 an alias of "LFD backup" and 412 as "LFD Unknown" just for my own organizing. I'm having way too much fun with DSDPlus FastLane now

 

[Muxlow]

Its oddly fun monitoring the system and tagging radio ID's too

Once you get all the London Fire ones and become bored again, you can always move over to the UHF side and monitor the local DMR Connect Plus systems that has a bunch of unknown talkgroups and users on it. If you do NXDN on the ONQ system and put DSD into voice following mode it will decode radio alias if the radio is setup for it (most of them seem to be using it) Get lucky now and then and the radio alias gives hints to who the talkgroup belongs to. Lots of fun!

Oh and a fun tidbit. London EMS Supervisors all have fire radios in their vehicles. So EMS Supervisors are always listening in on the action from LFD. If you get some radio id #'s affiliate but you never see any transmissions from them, then good bet they are the medic ones

 

[gary123]

There are a few of us doing the same on LMRN. Its a bit more difficult as you have to eyeball the units. One eyeballed you have to figure out what station the unit is out of. DSD is great for allowing you to tag the RID with the alias or a user friendly name.

 

[hotpocket]

There are a few of us doing the same on PSRN. Its a bit more difficult as you have to eyeball the units. One eyeballed you have to figure out what station the unit is out of. DSD is great for allowing you to tag the RID with the alias or a user friendly name.

I’ve actually done a little bit of tinkering in LMRN on DSD. The working theory I’m using is based on the number of hits (probably not that accurate, but for me it kinda works). If a particular radio ID is getting a lot of hits compared to the other ones, I make an educated guess that it’s a dispatch console as I would assume that it would be having a lot more traffic than a different ID range (at least with OPP).

With EMS I take an educated guess based on length of transmission as I know from FleetNet that the trucks always used shorter transmissions and dispatch has to give call details therefore, it would be longer. As far as actual locations, I’m gonna take my lead from the more experienced people like you 😉

 

[gary123]

I think RID aliasing is going to be one of the hottest new features for people to be adding to their scanners or DSD/SDR trunk. London, and KW come to mind as some of the western services. Toronto, Hamilton, Peel , Niagara too. BUT We do not want to hijack this thread. perhaps a new thread on RID/Alias for local FD's would be of interest.

 

[Forts]

The ability to tag RID's in scanners has been there for years.

 

[gary123]

Yes it has. the problem is no one has wanted to put in the effort to document the RID/Alias information. even if it's shared on the WIKI page for the system. Admittedly, it's a bit of work to create the User ID list for the system but once completed it really enhances the monitoring experience.