MetroSafe Talkgroup Questions

[KI5IRE]

I will be visiting the Louisville area in a few weeks and was trying to figure out how the city/county channels work.

I understand that LFD is dispatched on 209 – Louisville FD Dispatch (Receive Only) and county/suburban fire departments are dispatched on 210 – Jefferson County Fire Dispatch (Receive Only), but what channels do they operate on? I'm trying to find out what the assignments are for structure fires, accidents, medicals (I know EMS is E) etc. I see the talkgroups 201-204 – Lousiville Fire 1-4, and the 4 talkgroups 205-208 – Suburban Fire 5-8. What are these channels? I also see 2 Metro Fire Tac talkgroups 235-236 called Metro Fire Tac 1-2 and talkgroup 212 – Louisville Fire Tactical, what are these? Are all the suburban city tactical talkgroups where they go for fires?

Also, where does Shively Fire Department operate? I didn't see any talkgroups for them.

 

[Charlie1068]

LFD uses Fire 1-4 and JCFD used Fire 5-8 if either one gets a call they will use the first channel they have on the list so LFD is 1 and JCFD is 5. If there is a major event like a fire or water rescue they will request the channel to be secured at that point any unit not affiliated with that incident are pushed to the next channel LFD would be 2 and JCFD would be 6 and so fourth. Also when it comes to the TAC channels they use them usually to talk to each other in that specific Fire department, but they are rarely used

 

[Charlie1068]

And usually if it’s not a major incident they will use the first channel for both departments while multiple units are responding to separate calls these are usually medical runs with ems and injury accidents depending on the severity also Shivley operates on Suburban Fire

 

[alky1234]

And usually if it’s not a major incident they will use the first channel for both departments while multiple units are responding to separate calls these are usually medical runs with ems and injury accidents depending on the severity also Shivley operates on Suburban Fire

Actually, Shively operates on LFR's channels and gets dispatched on LFR Alert under units Chief 55, Quint 25, and Engine 25.

Also, check out the WIKI on Louisville, it has most of the information you are seeking. Jefferson County (KY) - The RadioReference Wiki

 

[ofd8001]

I also see 2 Metro Fire Tac talkgroups 235-236 called Metro Fire Tac 1-2 and talkgroup 212 – Louisville Fire Tactical, what are these? Are all the suburban city tactical talkgroups where they go for fires?

If it's a Tactical Channel of any kind, they are mostly unit to unit communications. They are not monitored as a rule by the dispatchers. They are not used for fireground operations as a matter of routine.

FD TAC 1 and FD TAC 2 were set aside for use as common tactical channels for all departments. There may be large scale searches, hazardous materials incidents, etc. where a couple of additional radio channels could be helpful. So that's how they came to be. LFD TAC was also an additional channel available to Louisville fire for unit to unit communications. These three are very rarely used, probably because most everyone has forgotten they are there.

FD TAC 11 on up to 99 are the tactical channels for suburban fire departments. Suburban departments use a four digit numbering system with the first two digits representing the department. Each department has its "own" tactical channel. So with Highview's numbers starting at 11, FD TAC 11 is Highview's Tactical channel. You may hear anything on these channels from training scenarios, to "Hey meet us at xxx for lunch".

Pretty much a hard and fast rule: If there is an ongoing incident, communications will be confined to talkgroups FIRE 1 - FIRE 8. These are monitored by the dispatch center with a lot of unit to dispatcher, dispatcher to unit, unit to unit interaction.

If a fire unit is dispatched to a medical call, they will remain on their fire channels - they do not switch to medical channels, even though their radios have the medical channels.

There is also a Simplex radio frequency that could be used for fireground communications if a fire unit is in a bad coverage spot, such as in a basement, tunnel, etc.

I agree the wiki has some good information, but it is a little dated as there have been merging of fire departments and some that are listed are there in memory only.

 

[KI5IRE]

Thank y'all for the help!

Are there any "direct" simplex channels I might program as well? I know we have some here in TX for fire, EMS and law.

Also, does anyone by chance have a list of radio IDs for the MetroSafe system, or at least important ones such as law/fire dispatch, apparatus for at least LMPD/LFD? I'd love to put those in the Unication or my Unidens

 

[ofd8001]

There is one simplex channel: 856.2625 PL 203.5. It is only available in fire portable radios and is low power. It would only be used when radios are in "dead zones".

That wiki page referred to in Post #4 above is the most comprehensive list I've seen on Radio IDs. The only changes would be are as follows:

Eastwood, Harrods Creek, Worthington have merged into Anchorage/Middletown and their department number is 99.
McMahan has merged into Jeffersontown and their number is 33.
Lake Dreamland has merged into Pleasure Ridge Park and their number is 22.
Lyndon has merged into St. Matthews and their number is 26

On the type of apparatus on the suburban side (aka Jefferson County Fire), water tankers (tenders) are a thing of the past. Some ladder companies are now using "6".

On the EMS side, I think Mercy Ambulance is long gone with Rural Metro and Yellow being AMR.

MetroSafe is a simulcast system, so SDS 100 use would be encouraged. I've used the x96 and x36 line of scanners on the system and simulcast distortion can be bad in many places.

 

[KI5IRE]

There is one simplex channel: 856.2625 PL 203.5. It is only available in fire portable radios and is low power. It would only be used when radios are in "dead zones".

That wiki page referred to in Post #4 above is the most comprehensive list I've seen on Radio IDs. The only changes would be are as follows:

Eastwood, Harrods Creek, Worthington have merged into Anchorage/Middletown and their department number is 99.
McMahan has merged into Jeffersontown and their number is 33.
Lake Dreamland has merged into Pleasure Ridge Park and their number is 22.
Lyndon has merged into St. Matthews and their number is 26

On the type of apparatus on the suburban side (aka Jefferson County Fire), water tankers (tenders) are a thing of the past. Some ladder companies are now using "6".

On the EMS side, I think Mercy Ambulance is long gone with Rural Metro and Yellow being AMR.

MetroSafe is a simulcast system, so SDS 100 use would be encouraged. I've used the x96 and x36 line of scanners on the system and simulcast distortion can be bad in many places.

I will mostly be in the Henry/Oldham County area, so hoping my 436 and 396 will fair me well, if not I'll also be listening on my SDS100 and Unication G4.

Appreciate the help guys! Any other systems y'all recommend giving a listen to (DMR, NXDN, P25) with interesting traffic in the Henry, Oldham, Jefferson, Shelby or across the river areas? I do like discovering and identifying new talkgroups and stuff when I can.

 

[ofd8001]

Oldham County is on the MetroSafe system, so be sure to program the LaGrange site. The RR data is pretty accurate for them and their talkgroups. Since you'll be on the "backside" of the Jefferson County Simulcast towers, you might not have the distortion issue.

KSP will be active, Henry County is covered by Post 5 and Shelby County is in Post 12.

 

[Charlie1068]

If you got the range AMR in Louisville and Clark IN on DMR can be interesting to listen too

 

[KI5IRE]

If you got the range AMR in Louisville and Clark IN on DMR can be interesting to listen too

What systems are they on? Do any municipalities in the Louisville metro use private EMS (AMR etc.) or are they mostly inter-facility transfers?

 

[KI5IRE]

Oldham County is on the MetroSafe system, so be sure to program the LaGrange site. The RR data is pretty accurate for them and their talkgroups. Since you'll be on the "backside" of the Jefferson County Simulcast towers, you might not have the distortion issue.

KSP will be active, Henry County is covered by Post 5 and Shelby County is in Post 12.

Thank you, I will add them as well. Louisville is Post 4, correct? Last time I was up there I was able to hear Indiana Project Hoosier Safe-T on zip code search, do you know what the name is for the ISP region in Clarksville and across the river from Oldham, Trimble, Carroll counties?

 

[ofd8001]

Yes to Post 4. You are kind of iffy on hearing them in the Oldham/Henry area as the closest tower is at the Fairgrounds. ISP will be the Sellersburg post, which is dispatched by the Versailles regional dispatch center, if I remember right (don't listen to ISP much).

 

[Charlie1068]

AMR is UHF conventional AMR Louisville does private transports only. AMR in Clark IN responds to emergency calls and is the primary EMS service in Clark

 

[INDY72]

AMR runs on the ERS-OCI TRBOconnect Capacity Plus, and Connect Plus TRS's (DMR), and Yellow is ona conventional DMR repeater if I remember right.

 

[Charlie1068]

Funny enough I could never find the ERS in Louisville AMR is on UHF conventional and in Clark IN as well

 

[Remington12G]

AMR runs on the ERS-OCI TRBOconnect Capacity Plus, and Connect Plus TRS's (DMR), and Yellow is ona conventional DMR repeater if I remember right.

AMR stopped using the ERS-OCI system in Kentucky about 6 months ago according to my buddy. They use the system as a backup but all calls and runs are dispatched via LTE CAD/MDT, they all use UHF MedCom channels in Lexington which is why they mainly still have the radios besides backup.

 

[msradell]

On the type of apparatus on the suburban side (aka Jefferson County Fire), water tankers (tenders) are a thing of the past. Some ladder companies are now using "6".

The letter companies that are using a "6" are Tiller units, I believe the only companies using them are St. Matthews, Jeffersontown and Middletown/Anchorage whose unit was formally a Worthington truck.

 

[msradell]

That should have been "ladder" companies not letter companies.

 

[kc4jgc]

Quick question:
The RRDB says this system is phase II but the groups indicate phase I ("D" vs "T"); Are the TG's in phase I FDMA or phase II TDMA at this time? I ask because I'm in the area somewhat regularly; I don't want to program my Pro-106 if everything is TDMA. My focus is Jefferson and Bullitt Counties. It's been obvious from the silence my last several trips to Shepherdsville that Bullitt County has shifted their ops to Metrosafe from their old freqs.