PG County terminology

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ka3jjz

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I understand when the dispatcher says 'Talkgroup 8 Charlie (something or other)', but to what does 'talkgroup 2' refer? I suspect that would be something in Zone 2 as the chart defines it in our wiki...best regards...Mike
 

troymail

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I believe since going live, they have dropped references to both the old "channel XX" and the "8" part of trunked talkgroup number. They only did this before the switch because the old 490 frequencies were patched in -- e.g. 8A2 (Ch 2 North) and 8C7 (Ch 7 South).

Based on the Zone Map that John provided (http://wiki.radioreference.com/images/c/c7/PGFD_Zone_Map.JPG), talkgroup "2" (OPS 1) is the same talkgroup in all Zones except "Special Events" so there is no need for the dispatcher to specify "8 alpha 2" or "charlie 2". The other talkgroups require "alpha-something", "bravo-something" and "charlie-something" since the "channels" (talkgroups) in each zone are different talkgroups (A3 != B3 != C3)

This may not be 100% correct but this has been/is my observation.....(John will correct me! :p)

BTW: for those who may have not noticed it or read about it: You can listen here: LiveFireFeeds (at least the Northern Zone of Fire)
 
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gesucks

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More Info

This was provided by Chief 807B on another forum (Thanks Jay)

"Just as an FYI and to assist a few this was sent out.

Here is a brief overview of the new radio zones/talk groups:

Talk Group 1 This is the announcement channel on all zones except for the “SE” (special events)

Talk Group 2 This is the operations channel (local alarms, EMS incidents, rescue locals w/o entrapment on non-limited access highways..ect) all zone but “SE”

North side Box Alarms will go to on Zone Alpha Talk Group 3 (first incident) Zone Alpha Talk Group 7 (second incident). If needed Zone Alpha 11 or Alpha 12. Also Zone Golf 3 or Zone Golf Talk Group 7 (second incident) can be used. The Golf zone would be a box alarm where no mutual aid companies would run the incident other than Montgomery County.

North Side STREET Alarms and Gas Leaks (inside) will go on Zone Alpha Talk Group 11 or Zone Alpha Talk Group 12. Again Zone Golf Talk Group 3 or Zone Golf Talk Group 7 (second incident)can be used. Again the Golf Zone cannot be used by mutual aid companies other than Montgomery County.

South Side Box Alarms will go to Zone Charlie Talk Group 3 (first incident) or Zone Charlie Talk Group 7 (second incident). If needed Zone Charlie Talk Group 11 or Charlie 12 can be used. Also Zone Hotel Talk Group 3 or Zone Hotel Talk Group 7 can be used. The Hotel Zones would be used on a Box Alarm where no mutual aid companies other than Montgomery County were on the incident.

South Side STREET Alarms and Gas Leaks (inside) will go to Zone Charlie Talk Group 11(first incident) or Zone Charlie Talk Group 12(second incident). Again Zone Hotel Talk Group 3 or Zone Hotel Talk Group 7 can be used. The Hotel Zone cannot have any mutual aid companies other than Montgomery County on the incident.

*************** Talk Groups 11 and 12 on all zones are stand alone talk groups. This just means they cannot be expanded out.********************

Rescue Local incident with a report of entrapment or reported to be on a limited access highway(Rt.50, I95, 295 & 495) county wide will go to Zone Bravo Talk Group 3 (incident) or Zone Bravo Talk Group 4 (second incident). Also the Bravo Zone is used for MED CALL with EMRC and the hospitals.

Haz Mat (CO Leaks with sick people), Water Rescue, and Technical Rescue incidents will go to Zone Delta Talk Group 3 (first incident) or Zone Delta Talk Group 7 (second incident). Also Zone Delta Talk Group 11 and Talk Group 12 are available if needed. The Delta Zone is a county wide zone.

*********** Please keep in mind the north and south dividing line has changes from Central Ave.(Rt.214) to Pennsylvania Ave. (Rt.4).**************
 

troymail

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Wow - Seems like alot to keep track of....

I certainly hope the PGFD CAD is able to issue the right talkgroups! Particularly those where only Montgomery County would run -- I suppose if the incident were to escalate, they'd switch the whole operation to another TG? Why are these only good for Montgomery County (curious)?

Re: 11 and 12 are "stand alone" - What does "they ca't be expanded out" mean?
 

chief34a

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Montgomery County has APEX radios in place in all stations along the border and I believe most stations in the county, so they can operate on the TDMA only talkgroups (G and H zones). Any other mutual aid companys at this time do not have the radios so they must stay on the dynamic talkgroups (Zones A, B, C, & D). The dispatch printout gives the talkgroup to respond on in the information on the incident.

When there is an incident on talkgroup 3 or 7the incident commander also has additional talkgroups he/she can use without asking for permission. Example: incident on 8A3, the incident commander also has 8A4, 8A5 and 8A6 that they can use. Talkgroups 11 and 12 does not have additional talkgroups that are automatically attached to the incident or in other words, they can't be "expanded".
 
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troymail

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Thanks John - now I understand - it's similar to how Anne Arundel assigns an incident to "1E" but then if they need a water supply talkgroup (and there aren't more than two incidents going on), they tell them to use "1F".... Baltimore City has a similar "group" of talkgroups.
 

troymail

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Been listening for a while now and noticed in the last few days what appears to be an "expansion" of usage of the zones other than A, B, and C -- most of what I'd seen for the first week or so was zones A/B/C - but this week there is alot more usage of Zone D over the last fews days and last night there was activity on TGID 1001 which I think the dispatcher referred to as "8G3" (which according to the zonemap is in the Northern TDMA zone).

Is this a "phase in" of usage of the zones? - i.e. get people comfortable with the basic talkgroups and standard zones first and then gradually expand into the other zones?

BTW - it should be known by now that the system dynamically shifts assignments between FDMA and TDMA automatically (depending upon the presence of a non-TDMA capable radio on the TG).... watching on Pro96Com over the last few days, most all activity is TDMA, it still appeared that TGID 1133 (Fire Dispatch) was almost completely TDMA.... well that's not the case today (Thanksgiving) as I've seen 1133 on TDMA quite often. I suspect this is because of the holiday and/or other reduction in activity (FDMA only radios tuning in).

I also noticed on Pro96Com that one of the voice frequencies (772.88125) is used by the system only about 50% of the time (in both FDMA and TDMA mode) compared to the rest of the system voice freqs (*or just appears to be) which seem to have a fairly equal distribution across them as far as usage/assignments.... not sure what that means - it's just an observation.

* perhaps this frequency is just harder to receive at my location than the others --- idunno
 
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