Patches, patches everywhere.

[Pro-95]

OK I obviously have no idea what a patch is cause what I though it was it isn't.

In our little sector of the radio spectrum on the Washoe County Regional Communications System 800Mhz EDACS that I monitor with Etrunker.....

They have a talkgroup of 0103(hex) 0259(dec). Under TrunkerDM it lists this TG as a patch. OK. Under groups with new radios it lists only about 4 radios(no radios have been defined). Under hits it lists 0 hits. oookkkk. Nothing affiliates with this TG. Yet when I listen to this TG I hear a variety of traffic on it. Tonight the dispatcher(s) are reffering to south and north units which is usually different dispatchers. And then one dispatcher replies to a request for info as "Blue" is closed. Blue is an entirely different TG.

So I am utterly confused. What is a patch? What is the relationship of a patch and a TG? Can a "linking" frequency(old term) be assigned as a TG on a trunking system? Meaning that 0259 is the patch TG and if different agencies/sectors/groups want to talk they use this universal TG?????? When is a radio "patched"? Is it automatic or transparent to the operator? When I monitor the patch TG what dictates what I hear and what I don't?

ACK.

 

[SCPD]

Hi Michael;

A patch is initiated by a dispatcher/operator with access to a console. Suppose the dispatcher wants to coordinate with two different groups of users - on two different talkgroups. The dispatcher can patch the two (or more) talkgroups together.

Example: dispatch patches talkgroup "B" to talkgroup "A". This causes a command to be sent over the control channel that tells the radios affiliated to talkgroup "B" to also respond to calls on talkgroup "A". In this example, talkgroup "A" is called the supergroup (at least on Motorola's implementation). The dispatcher could add talkgroups "C", "D", and so on if needed. Radios affiliated to talkgroups "C" or "D" would also respond to talkgroup "A". On some systems this is also called a multi-select.

Once the joint operation is complete, the dispatcher can kill the patch.

-rick

 

[Pro-95]

Excellent. Thanks Rick!

So what I thought, I thought was true and you helped me understand how. So where I was getting confused is in the systems I'm monitoring use of the patch.

It seems as though they are using patches as you descirbed to "ALL-CALL" groups. They just don't seem to be turning off the patches when they don't need them. (my perception of need)

That makes more sense.

 

[loumaag]

Mike, another use of the "patch" is when dispatch load is low and money is tight (like always) they will have a single dispatcher take calls from two or more areas. Now most of the time the dispatcher will just do this from the console without "joining" TG's, but if it gets a little hectic he will patch them so that TG "A" and TG "B" cannot have coversations going at the same time, and he (or she) does not have to dip into the prozac stash. :lol:

What is interesting is when the areas being affected have nothing to do with each other. In North Louisiana, sometimes the troop "G" and "F" dispatchers will cover for each other. So say you were in Shreveport, LA listening to Troop "G" and the dispatcher in Monroe (across the state) may take a break; the Shrevport dispatcher will patch Troop "F" dispatch in so now you are hearing everying across the North part of the state on one TG.

 

[mlevin]

In this area a common use for a patch is during mutual aid calls. Baltimore Co. FD is analog while Baltimore City FD is digital. There arev two TGs on the Co. system set aside for mutual aid runs. the City FD radios have this TG programmed into their radios and whenever a City Unit runs into the County, the Co. dispatcher just patches the mutual aid TG into whatever TG the City Unit needs to operate on.

Also during water rescues the Co PD Helicopter tunes to the PD.FD common TG, and te dispatcher patches that into the Firegournd TG so the FD units can talk directly to the Police Chopper.

 

[Jay911]

Patches in this area usually involve patching trunked talkgroups to conventional frequencies. Rural fire departments are (for now) on conventional radio systems and the city fire crews are on a Smartzone trunk system. Dispatch can and often will patch the trunk talkgroup to the conventional frequencies so that the two sets of crews can speak with one another.

 

[ColoradoRedlands]

Patch numbers in Moto Systems

I am curious about the MSEL and Patch numbers that appear in Trunker on Motorola Smartnet systems. Are these numbers actually being assigned by the Moto system, or are they just a number of some creation made up by trunker to ID them.

If they are truly Moto numbers, is there any significance to the specific numbers assigned?

 

[joescanner]

Re: Patch numbers in Moto Systems

I am curious about the MSEL and Patch numbers that appear in Trunker on Motorola Smartnet systems. Are these numbers actually being assigned by the Moto system, or are they just a number of some creation made up by trunker to ID them.

If they are truly Moto numbers, is there any significance to the specific numbers assigned?

They are really Motorola protocol identifiers.

The difference between a patch and a multi-select, as I instruct my fellow employees when I conduct radio training, is that a patch is two-way whereas a multi-select is one-way. Both functions are initiated by a dispatcher at a console.

A multi-select is useful when broadcasting to multiple talkgroups all at once, but where the dispatcher doing the broadcast doesn't interact with field units on those talkgroups (think an old-fashioned LAPD APB).

A patch is useful, for example, when staffing levels at a dispatch center dwindle, and one dispatcher takes over for one or more additional dispatchers. Instead of everyone in the field having to change channels, they stay where they are supposed to, and talk on one big party line. It doesn't matter if a portable or mobile unit has or doesn't have the given talkgroup. They will still transmit on all of the talkgroups (or at least that is what the radios think!).

The change in the status nybble comes from the list here on RR somewhere. A patch, if i'm not mistaken, adds 3 to the uniden talkgroup ID, where as a multi-select adds 7. (This is because Uniden radios decode the talkgroup ID incorrectly (my opinion), and because Trunker was written to mimic the Uniden radios which, of course, were the only trunk trackers for a while. Or vice versa. Or something. I think it's chicken-and-egg

 

[WayneH]

Re: Patch numbers in Moto Systems

If they are truly Moto numbers, is there any significance to the specific numbers assigned?

http://www.radioreference.com/modul...viewtopic&t=1720&highlight=supergroup

Look for my post toward the bottom.

-Wayne