Low Band Fire Dispatch

[kmangan]

Based on my quick scan of the RR frequency database for NH. It appears as though Mont Vernon, Brookline and Wilton Fire are the only 3 departments that use low-band (33.64) for their dispatch and operations

Mont Vernon and Wilton using MACC Base in Milford and Brookline using Hollis.

Pembroke and Allenstown also use low-band, but for Emergency Management use.

Why is this? low-band is notorious for poor building penetration.

Milford went to "high band" a few years ago using 154.370.

Is the problem not enough funding to do a build out to effectively cover MV and Wilton for MACC Base and for Brookline for Hollis dispatch. Or are these guys stuck in their ways?

Thoughts?

 

[steele_lpd]

Not knowing the ins and outs of their operation I would say it's hard to say.

As a side note... Southwest (KCF415) is using low band as part of their simulcast system. They transmit from dispatch on low band and use their mountain top radios as sort of a cross band repeater... That's a very simplified way of explaining it...

 

[jeffmarshall911]

Include Mason and Greenville Fire who are dispatched by Hillsborough County Sheriffs Office (HCSO) – in their case, they use VHF from dispatch to the remote cross-band repeater to low-band.

Low Band was the historical standard and it served/serves these communities well. Each town has their own reasons why they didn’t change. Some were simply “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it”. Some didn’t have the money to spend to modify dispatch radios and purchase new pagers when the state handed out the VHF portables/mobiles (some didn’t even accept the grant equipment). Some mutual aid organizations are defunct so there was no effort to create intelligence-based discussions and comms decisions. The list goes on.

Regarding HCSO & MACC, you have to be aware that they are simply a contracted service provider for the towns that they serve. If the town/department/department head doesn’t want to change (or can’t) then they cannot force the change. This results in agencies like MACC that have significantly more complex systems (i.e. more difficult to use/manage/support) for a much, much smaller client, customer and product base than their Comms Center peers.

/Jeff