N5FDL
Member
A usually-reliable source tells me that in +/- March, the current Control 3 will become a countywide fire dispatch channel in San Joaquin County. That is, all the agencies presently dispatched on Control 1, plus Tracy (lucky us!) will be dispatched on Control 3 or whatever they end up calling it.
This will reduce congestion on Control 1, which is good, but will require apparatus to monitor the new dispatch channel whenever they are out-of-the-house (AOR) and not on a run. I am thinking that may not last and units will monitor their CAD terminals and their response channel rather than the busy dispatch channel. Of course, it won't be much busier than Control 1 is now, BUT if you are listening to it you won't here the responses.
One benefit of this may be reducing dispatch errors, as after the change only one Lifecom dispatcher will be responsible for toning out the runs. If they choose to do it that way. (Tracy still won't be transmitting tones except for the Batt Chief and AMR units as the stations are digitally "toned" over the Internet).
This, of course, will not impact Manteca FD (dispatched by Stockton), Stockton, or Lodi (which I think is dispatched by LPD).
Just a heads-up.
This will reduce congestion on Control 1, which is good, but will require apparatus to monitor the new dispatch channel whenever they are out-of-the-house (AOR) and not on a run. I am thinking that may not last and units will monitor their CAD terminals and their response channel rather than the busy dispatch channel. Of course, it won't be much busier than Control 1 is now, BUT if you are listening to it you won't here the responses.
One benefit of this may be reducing dispatch errors, as after the change only one Lifecom dispatcher will be responsible for toning out the runs. If they choose to do it that way. (Tracy still won't be transmitting tones except for the Batt Chief and AMR units as the stations are digitally "toned" over the Internet).
This, of course, will not impact Manteca FD (dispatched by Stockton), Stockton, or Lodi (which I think is dispatched by LPD).
Just a heads-up.