Olympic Ambulance?
- Thread starter sepura
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Try 462.950
n7lxi
Member
VHF for the Cencom fire radios, UHF for the company radios. Pretty boring stuff though. Most of the chatter is on Nextel.
Stavro35
Member
Olympic ambulance
Is indeed on 462.950
I wish other smaller ambulance companies used radios. But I understand the appeal of NEXTEL and other means of communications for these types of communications.
Is indeed on 462.950
I wish other smaller ambulance companies used radios. But I understand the appeal of NEXTEL and other means of communications for these types of communications.
AMR is all over the Seattle/King-County area and you can easily hear them on VHF. 154.22 is the main dispatch frequency. I can't recall the others off-hand but you can search 154-156 and probably find a few.
Agreed that there isn't much chatter. It's usually just dispatching.
Agreed that there isn't much chatter. It's usually just dispatching.
A couple of comments from someone who has worked EMS around here. First, Nextel is a horrible idea for EMS (or any other public safety organizations) as a dispatch tool. When I worked as a Critical Care Transport RN for Rural/Metro Ambulance in King/Pierce/Snohomish counties we had a Nextel as our only communications. The idea is great, but in actual application it is dangerous. Nextel is simply a trunked cell phone that uses the "push to talk" function instead of a fully connected phone call. The problem is that the cell coverage is not what it needs to be and if the system is busy (which happens a lot) you get "bonked" when you try to make a call. Like any trunked system you have no comms at all until the system is available. With a conventional radio system you can break in if you have an emergency and someone will hear you. So you could be getting shot at or doing CPR and needing help and you have to wait while someone else orders a pizza.
In the 80's and early 90's I worked at Shepard Ambulance (now AMR) and after a few years on the streets I moved to dispatch. We dispatched the BLS and CCT rigs and also Airlift Northwest before they opened their own dispatch center at Boeing Field. We had (and I think AMR still has) four frequencies. 155.220 (PL 103.5) was F-1 and was used for Seattle and North. 155.295 (PL 179.9) was F-2 and used for Airlift Northwest. 155.280 (PL 103.5) was F-3 and used for east King County (Bellevue, etc) and 155.160 (PL 103.5) was F-4 and used for south King County. F-4 you might recognize as the primary Washington State SAR frequency and it got quite busy sometimes. In fact all of the frequencies are in the "special emergency" band and are also used by school buses. That got annoying when we had an emergency call to dispatch and someone was looking for little Mary's backpack, but that's the life of shared frequencies.
FYI, the VHF radio system that AMR acquired from Shepard was probably the best system I have ever worked with in regards to coverage. The base antenna placements were outstanding. I have sat in my rig in Bellingham and south of Portland and talked crystal clear to dispatch in Seattle, all without repeaters.
In the 80's and early 90's I worked at Shepard Ambulance (now AMR) and after a few years on the streets I moved to dispatch. We dispatched the BLS and CCT rigs and also Airlift Northwest before they opened their own dispatch center at Boeing Field. We had (and I think AMR still has) four frequencies. 155.220 (PL 103.5) was F-1 and was used for Seattle and North. 155.295 (PL 179.9) was F-2 and used for Airlift Northwest. 155.280 (PL 103.5) was F-3 and used for east King County (Bellevue, etc) and 155.160 (PL 103.5) was F-4 and used for south King County. F-4 you might recognize as the primary Washington State SAR frequency and it got quite busy sometimes. In fact all of the frequencies are in the "special emergency" band and are also used by school buses. That got annoying when we had an emergency call to dispatch and someone was looking for little Mary's backpack, but that's the life of shared frequencies.
FYI, the VHF radio system that AMR acquired from Shepard was probably the best system I have ever worked with in regards to coverage. The base antenna placements were outstanding. I have sat in my rig in Bellingham and south of Portland and talked crystal clear to dispatch in Seattle, all without repeaters.
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