Yesterday morning on my way to work I was listening to Orange County 911 talking to two sheriff units (car 78 and van 812) on their EDACS talkgroup. So the dispatcher tells car 78 he is showing as van 812 on their screen and then does a radio check with 812 to confirm. She tells him she is notifying the supervisor.
After about 5 minutes she calls 812 for a radio check. After he keys up she says, "now you're showing as car 78" and does a radio check with car 78. After going back and forth a few times she says "they don't know what the problem is."
As I look down at my radio, I can clearly see that they are both transmitting the same LID (obvious conclusion...NYCOMCO duplicated the LID when they programmed one of the radios).
I didn't have the heart to call and tell her (I've made that call waaaayyy to many times already).
But it brings me to my point (and this comes from working dispatch for many years)....we can teach people how to enter calls in the CAD, read EMD instructions off cards, etc. but one thing that is lacking in training is how various systems work. I once asked a dispatcher if they even knew what EDACS stood for and they had no idea. They also thought no one could hear them when they talked "private" by calling a unit on "individual."
Please include things in your training such as the difference between analog and digital, trunked vs. conventional, simplex vs. duplex, what a control channel is, what voting is...I could go on and on.
After about 5 minutes she calls 812 for a radio check. After he keys up she says, "now you're showing as car 78" and does a radio check with car 78. After going back and forth a few times she says "they don't know what the problem is."
As I look down at my radio, I can clearly see that they are both transmitting the same LID (obvious conclusion...NYCOMCO duplicated the LID when they programmed one of the radios).
I didn't have the heart to call and tell her (I've made that call waaaayyy to many times already).
But it brings me to my point (and this comes from working dispatch for many years)....we can teach people how to enter calls in the CAD, read EMD instructions off cards, etc. but one thing that is lacking in training is how various systems work. I once asked a dispatcher if they even knew what EDACS stood for and they had no idea. They also thought no one could hear them when they talked "private" by calling a unit on "individual."
Please include things in your training such as the difference between analog and digital, trunked vs. conventional, simplex vs. duplex, what a control channel is, what voting is...I could go on and on.
