Payson Fire & Rescue - No Comms on Fire 3

[PMJ2kx]

Hey all - random question for Utah County folks. I monitor both the Lake IR and West Mountain (what the DB calls the county simulcast) sites for Utah County fire/EMS comms and can't help but notice Payson is oddly quiet recently. I can hear the Fire 3 dispatcher talking to Ambulance 91 all the time, but just not the crew responding back. I would assume their radios would be affiliating to West Mountain, but I can't hear them on either site (via BCD996P2) nor can I see them (via Unitrunker).

I've heard every other south county agency, including Juab County, without any issues. And I remember hearing them in the past over what sounded like a digital-to-analog conversion on Fire 3, but that was a while ago and it's been a hot minute since I had my scanner on.

Any ideas here?

 

[PMJ2kx]

UPDATE: ran out of time to edit the post

I finally caught a call in Payson as of 9:08PM - I can hear Engine 95, but not Ambulance 91. Since most of the calls I've heard previously just had the ambulance, that leads me to believe it's something with their radios. Still curious why they can't be heard...

 

[Junior1970]

According to a trusted source Payson Fire/EMS are still using their old VHF radios patched to the 800. That's why you hear that modulation.
I have heard the same thing in Central Utah on police and fire comms that "patch' their VHF radios to their respective 800 talkgroup(s).

Not sure how this will be handled going forward with the P25 system.

 

[tvengr]

I finally caught a call in Payson as of 9:08PM - I can hear Engine 95, but not Ambulance 91. Since most of the calls I've heard previously just had the ambulance, that leads me to believe it's something with their radios. Still curious why they can't be heard...

Do you have the sites using the custom Motorola 800 MHz rebanded band plan?

 

[PMJ2kx]

According to a trusted source Payson Fire/EMS are still using their old VHF radios patched to the 800. That's why you hear that modulation.
I have heard the same thing in Central Utah on police and fire comms that "patch' their VHF radios to their respective 800 talkgroup(s).

Not sure how this will be handled going forward with the P25 system.

Gotcha - that makes sense. Also, I should have just checked the description in the DB since it clearly says "Fire 3 (Linked to 155.190)" - they just had a call and I heard them (barely) on VHF, so I definitely think the 800 patch is broken. Mystery solved.

Thanks for the help!

Do you have the sites using the custom Motorola 800 MHz rebanded band plan?

Yeah, both scanners (325P2 and 996P2) as well as Unitrunker all have had the bandplan in place for a little over five years now. I've been "scanner dormant" for a while and just recently picked this hobby back up so this was a good reminder to check - thank you!