MOH Fleetnet questions

[imcleish]

Thanks Mike,

Only one question then. When A vehicle travels outside of its Zone (eg/ Zone 1 to Zone 2) how does the radio remain in contact with any tower in their not operative zone.

Many times I have listened to Peterborough units telling Orillia com centre they are switching back to their Zone 2 Talkgroup from a Zone 1 Talkgroup. The radio has obviously allowed them to affilliate with zone 1 towers as this has been heard on the whitby tower. Unfortunately I have not heard them then speak to their com centre as I do not have these talkgroups entered into my Zone 1 bank.

Is it possible that the talkgroup ID's we see displayed are able to affilliate with the boundary towers of the next zone?

Many of the Zone Common Channels are repeated from Zone 1 to Zone 2, just labelled slightly different.

DEC HEX Mode Display Description
8000 1f4 D 1ENF01 MTO/MNR/OPP Common Channel
8016 1f5 D 1ENF02 MTO/MNR/OPP Common Tactical
8032 1f6 D 1ENF03 MTO/MNR/OPP Common Tactical
8048 1f7 D 1ENF04 MTO/MNR/OPP Common Tactical
32768 800 A 1PCSAF1 Public Safety 1
32784 801 A 1PCSAF2 Public Safety 2
32816 803 A 1PCPOL Police Common
32832 804 A 1PCFIRE Fire Common
32896 808 A 1PCEMP Emergency Preparedness Common

What you are saying makes total sense to me, but I ask How Come then?

Thanks,

Ian

 

[mikewazowski]

Thanks Mike,

Only one question then. When A vehicle travels outside of its Zone (eg/ Zone 1 to Zone 2) how does the radio remain in contact with any tower in their not operative zone.

If they travel outside of their Zone, they must change the channel to a talkgroup within that Zone. An Oshawa vehicle travelling towards Kingston would usually switch over to a talkgroup on Zone 2.

Is it possible that the talkgroup ID's we see displayed are able to affilliate with the boundary towers of the next zone?

No. As you've pointed out, Oshawa CACC in Zone 1 uses the same talkgroups as Parry Sound in Zone 2. Imagine the confustion.

 

[VA3DBJ]

In the past week, there have been a lot of MVA's along the Zone 1 and Zone 2 boundry between Oshawa and Lindsay (highway 35/20 area). Oshawa units were forced to take a few patients to Lindsay cause Bowmanville was unavailable. Comm Centre told the units to switch to Lindsay CACC. One unit had trouble as he forgot how to do it. He was then told to use Provincial Common.

Based on previous comms this summer, with a lot of units crossing the zone boundry, I am under the impression that all the crew has to do is hit a button and use a dial or another push button to select the talkgroup. Numerous times i heard "dial to Lindsay CACC" or "push Lindsay CACC". So I assumed that the radios were multi-zone enabled in the programming.

I have been wanting to go down to the Bowmanville unit and see if I can take a look at the radios (maybe take a pic) to get a better visual cue, but I haven't made it down there yet.

 

[mikewazowski]

Yes, it is as simple as that. Changed "folders" to the CACC folder and turn the channel dial until you hit Lindsay or whatever CACC you want.

 

[VA3DBJ]

Do we know what radio types they are using? Wouldn't mind tracking down pics for the web site, to offer a visual cue, till I can safely take pics...

 

[VA3DBJ]

Grabbed this from one of the pdf documents from a while ago.

Each mobile radio will be formatted with 9 folders
• Each folder contains specific TalkGroups
• Folder 1 – will have the CACC Common TG for each CACC in the province
• Folder 2 – will have the Zone Common TGs for the province
• Folders 3-6 are CACC specific
• Folder 7 will have the Conventional channels and will be deprogrammed after cut-over to the network

Hope this helps explain it Ian.

 

[mikewazowski]

Guys, I've split this off into it's own thread since it's now veered off from the original thread topic.

The radios are Motorola MCS2000's.

Channel know on one side and Zone Up/Down arrows beside the display.

 

[imcleish]

Mike and ScannerDesk,

Thanks for helping to clarify this for me and any others who may have been having difficulty with the talk group/zone boundaries.

Ian

 

[motomeso]

Yes, it is as simple as that. Changed "folders" to the CACC folder and turn the channel dial until you hit Lindsay or whatever CACC you want.

Might be a little hard while travelling code down some busy streets.

Is there no way that talkgroups being used along Fleetnet Zone borders would be carried on both zones. Is each Zone its own system or is each Zone tied into the main controller in Cambridge.

I am sure even if they are seperate systems the technology is available to link the talkgroups together, no different then TPS linking to OPC common really. I guess they figure there is no need with the PCOM.

 

[mikewazowski]

It's called Omnilink and BMR didn't buy it. It allows Smartzone systems to be linked. The only controller in Cambridge is the one for Zone 1. The other Zones have their own controllers in a different location.

It still as simple as that. There's not many situations that would require dialing up another CACC while on the move. Either they've already dialed it up as they've left their base or they're still talking with their own CACC.

If it's really hard to spin the dial while you drive, then you keyup on whatever talkgroup you're currently on and have the CACC pass the message. They do that alot when they don't have time to switch over to a TAC channel and wait for a patch.

And if you think about it, you would probably still have pretty decent coverage if you travelled outside the zone unless you went really far. If you're travelling that far, then chances are you've already switched over a long time ago while enroute.

Bottom line, I can't think of too many situations where you would need a zone carrying another zone's talkgroups.

 

[motomeso]

I would have to agree, the ambulance should just switch over to CACC that call is originating in when they get dispatched and let the CACC handle the rest.

I am guessing the Omni link costs a few extra pennies eh? Maybe they will sell it to the Province as an upgrade later down the road. (Would you like to Super Size your order?)