Muskoka Lakes Fire to get new MOTOTBRO radios

[125]

Here is a C/P from a local paper:
The township will fund 55 per cent of the nearly $20,000 bill for the radio apparatus. The remainder is hoped to be financed through a grant from the Joint Emergency Preparedness Program — a federal government program developed in the 1980s to improve emergency management capabilities across Canada.
The department submitted its application for the grant in early October. Hayes said a government decision on the grant is expected by March of next year.
The radio purchase includes repeaters to boost the signal strength of the department’s hand-held radios. New Motorola MOTOTRBO radios are also part of the purchase, which would allow firefighters to access channels used by other emergency services during major disasters, when crews from different public safety agencies will be required to work together.
“This equipment would enhance our existing radio communications network and provide the interoperability needed in an emergency situation,” said Hayes. “The (new radios) will be programmed to have our existing channel lineup, plus common channels that would enable interoperability with other emergency services having the same frequencies.”

 

[Forts]

Are other agencies up there already using MotoTRBO then?

 

[JRayfield]

The XPR-series of radios ("MOTOTRBO" radios) can hold up to around 1000 channels. And they work extremely well in analog mode. So this agency may just be planning on using them in analog mode. But even if they do use digital mode for their own operation, they'll have a lot of capacity for other agencies' analog channels.

John Rayfield, Jr. CETma

Are other agencies up there already using MotoTRBO then?

 

[125]

All the other local agencies (except the O.P.P..MNR, MTO, MOH these use fleetnet trunk) use analog coventional systems. Muskoka Lakes (second smallest community in the county POP 6500) is bordered by Gravenhurst, Bracebridge, Huntsville, Georgian Bay and Seguin townships ( all are volenteer fire depts). All current systems already have common channels. A year ago Bracebridge opted to upgrade their current system with a new tower and new repeaters. The fact all the equipment in the trucks and portables only get 100-200 hours use per year not like the cities were equipment is used on a 24/7 basis. Remember the purchase is for HT's only and all the systems in the county (all upgraded over the past few years) are only one step up from a beer can and a string. Muskoka Lakes, Bracebridge, Georgian Bay and the MOH (fleetnet) county wide are dispatched from the same comm center in Bracebridge. Gravenhurst is dispatched from Orillia and Huntsville and Seguin are dispatched from Huntsville. This is like wearing a tuxedo to the dump...

 

[thomas724]

well after spending a nice slow week at the cottage on 3 mile lake. I can report back that the Muskoka Lakes Fire Dept is in analogue mode. I heard them quite a bit when I was there

 

[mikewazowski]

I could have saved you a trip as Muskoka Lakes comes in quite strong at my location. I believe their repeater is located on the Global TV Gibson River tower.

Many fire departments are replacing their old analog radios with TRBO portables. They offer a great analog feature set and accessories. The pricing is quite decent as well. Around $800 will get you a portable with full keypad and display.

 

[exkalibur]

Mike, any idea if they're going to be using them in DMR mode? And I agree, they're fantastic analog radios too. Lots of people down here in TO using them on analog systems.