MoCo Fire Radio & Patched Police Dispatch channels?

[MOCOMD1]

The Montgomery county page notes Fire and EMS radios are programmed with channel 73 dedicated as a Police Dispatch Path for the different sectors. 73A Rockville, 73B Bethesda, ect ect

Portable fire radios seems to have this exact programming, however Mobiles do not.

Can anybody share some insight into this? Are the patched dispatch channels possibly labeled as something different on the mobiles than the portables?

 

[redburgundy]

I can think of two plausible reasons.
1. Mobile radios were installed first, and only later did they recognize that it would be valuable for FD personnel to monitor PD dispatches. Portables came later.
2. There is no reason for FD mobile radios to ever be used for monitoring PD communications--they should always be on FD talkgroups (or hospital consults). But portables need more flexibility.

RR indicates that FD mobiles can only monitor PD TGs, but not transmit.

I' wonder if mobiles in Chiefs' buggies can transmit; I know I've heard FMs transmit on PD TGs.

 

[gesucks]

First, these are not patched talkgroups. It is the same talkgroup the only difference is the Fire ID's are set up in the system with no Tx on the PD talkgroups.

Most mobiles are W4 Astro Spectras and can only do 128 channels so there for PD is not included. New units that have the O5 XTL-5000's have the same set up as the portables.