PWCFD VHF loss of voice announcement

[Outerbanks4wd]

PWC FD has stopped voice announcement on VHF, 154.325. You hear the tones drop but no voice. This usually occurs on the weekends, no voice and returns during the week, however voice has been absent on VHF for almost two weeks. Anyone have any insight?

 

[richardbritt]

What does PWC stand for?

 

[richardbritt]

I think I figured it out and it's Prince William County. From the user's name I was thinking of the Outer Banks area where I am very near.

Regards Richard

 

[N4VKF]

I am hearing voice traffic tonight. The patch must have been down.

 

[TJX400]

Most of the time it's a permanent patch. The tones are set off on the VHF frequency from the CAD. If the VHF frequency is not permanently patched into the P25 system (VHF audio plays into the P25 system), they probably didn't notice it wasn't going through until a radio guy said something or someone brought it up. So like you said, it probably just stopped working and nobody realized it.

 

[maus92]

I would have thought volunteer FFs would notice the issue since the paging with dispatch audio is mainly for them - although they probably rely on smartphone apps for alerting at this point.

 

[Outerbanks4wd]

After listening to 154.325 w/ multiple radios it seems that somehow the PL was turned off. All my radios are programmed for tone. I finally called the shop and requested that the next time the techs were around to verify that pl was being transmitted. Like fm not even forty minutes later the pl was t/on and now they have added a series of tones at begining and end of xmit of dispatch.

Another question/observation: does this mean that the fire pagers are dependent on pl tone to open the rcvr on the pager, or station tones?

 

[Bote]

Another question/observation: does this mean that the fire pagers are dependent on pl tone to open the rcvr on the pager, or station tones?

I don't think pagers even have PL decoders, they just listen for the paging tones.

In the trunked radio era, typically the old VHF base station is replaced with a newer conventional transmitter and they transmit paging tones with no PL tone. Then if their s.o.p. includes transmitting the voice dispatch that sometimes is transmitted with PL tone, but not always. It depends on the department.

If they were smart, they'd transmit the voice with PL so if you don't want to hear the paging tones you'd have that choice. I haven't listened to Prince Willy in a long time so I can't remember how they usually do it (when things are "normal").

 

[TJX400]

Usually on the VHF simulcast they set the tones off, then there's the attention tone, and then the fire dispatcher dispatches the call.

 

[TJX400]

Looks like the voice patch is disabled again. I'm sitting at my place in Hanover and I am receiving their tone-outs clear as day on the VHF simulcast, but no voice.

Just added the frequency to my SDS, so I'm thinking what the original poster said about them being silent on weekends is most likely what's going on.

 

[vavolff]

Looks like the voice patch is disabled again. I'm sitting at my place in Hanover and I am receiving their tone-outs clear as day on the VHF simulcast, but no voice.

Just added the frequency to my SDS, so I'm thinking what the original poster said about them being silent on weekends is most likely what's going on.

Just my $0.02, there may have been a change in how the volunteers staff up, kinda odd to kill the voice on the weekends when most are off. Some departments have moved to a weeknight/weekend staffing model, kinda sounds like what possibly happened here. I hope someone with some insider info spills the beans, this piques my interest. I'm down in VB, so unfortunately I can't help out, or I would. I've been dabbling in scanners for over 30 years and this is definitely a first on me!

 

[TJX400]

Yeah, the last time I checked, it was the tone-outs only, there is consistently no voice being patched from 5A. Thinking they are keeping it for tone-outs only for station paging instead volunteer paging.

 

[vavolff]

@TJX400 good call!

 

[BoxAlarm187]

Some departments have moved to a weeknight/weekend staffing model, kinda sounds like what possibly happened here.

PWC made a major shift in their staffing model about 2-3 years ago with career staffing assigned to all firehouses on a 24/7 basis, and with volunteers still doing staffing at certain firehouses as they're available. The volunteers at Companies 4, 6, and 15 are gone completely. There's no longer any home response for the volunteers, so the use of pagers is a thing of the past.

 

[maus92]

Also some jurisdictions use smartphone apps linked to their CAD systems.

 

[fredva]

Just south of Prince William, Stafford, Fredericksburg, and Spotsylvania have done away with their conventional paging frequencies completely due to lack of need. In a lot of Virginia jurisdictions that have seen population growth and increased traffic congestion, the expectations on how volunteers work have changed. The expectation is that volunteers running calls will be at the station when the calls come in.

 

[Bote]

...In a lot of Virginia jurisdictions that have seen population growth and increased traffic congestion, the expectations on how volunteers work have changed. The expectation is that volunteers running calls will be at the station when the calls come in.

OTOH, with increased traffic congestion, volunteers responding from home just might get there quicker than responding from the station LOL

Das Auto über alles!

 

[vavolff]

PWC made a major shift in their staffing model about 2-3 years ago with career staffing assigned to all firehouses on a 24/7 basis, and with volunteers still doing staffing at certain firehouses as they're available. The volunteers at Companies 4, 6, and 15 are gone completely. There's no longer any home response for the volunteers, so the use of pagers is a thing of the past.

Makes perfect sense! I remember when Suffolk had this model in the late 90's/Early 2000's and it completely ended when Chuckatuck swapped from the vollies to paid. Surprised PWC went this long, thanks for the info @BoxAlarm187

 

[BoxAlarm187]

Surprised PWC went this long, thanks for the info.

You're quite welcome! Just to be clear, PWC still has some strong volunteer stations, so equally-qualified volunteers can actually bump career personnel from their riding position depending on some different factors. You'll still see volunteer activity (and volunteer-owned apparatus) for years to come in PWC.

 

[vavolff]

@BoxAlarm187 awesome!