State Firefighters Convention 9-13

[RF-Sponge]

The annual state fireman's convention and parade is sunday 9-13.
There will be a lot of chatter on the radio - including the statewide fire coordinators channel, the 8CALl channel and an assigned 8tac channel. STOCKS is supposed to be in use also. This is happening in Shelton on sunday.
Might make interesting listening!

 

[cg]

Sunday 9/15
Previous years, the apparatus going to the parade were supposed to utilize the interop system to notify of being enroute then getting parking assignments from coordinators upon arrival.
V/UTac X1 & X3 are in use at the Big E but shouldn't even come close to causing issues.

chris

 

[WoodburyMan]

8TAC and 8CALL is in use. I would monitor those to see how they work. Heard it on DEMHS TG. Also picked up a few transmissions so far.

DEMHS is HIGHLY active today so far. Both Fire Coordinator and and Interop Talkgroups. I suggest everyone monitor this to nail down any new talk groups.

 

[cg]

MCV 1 from DEMHS at the convention, the ERV1 was not used. A little bit of DEMHS but mostly Fire Coordinator 1 activity monitored on the B, L, H Simulcast sites.
I heard 8CALL90 activity, unsure if all bands were activated or just the 800. They were switching to 8CALL94.
Noted no interference between that and Big E traffic on VHF, UHF, and 800 interop. VTAC11 & 13 patched to UTAC41 & 43 and to CoMIRS (MA P25 TRS).

chris

 

[WoodburyMan]

I observed the same. Fire Coordinator 1 was mostly used with some DEMHS Interop. Trucks and stationing coming in were calling and testing equipment on 8CALL90, lots of it, but told to switch to 8TAC94 when they got there. I heard nothing on 8TAC94, bit to far away and I bet they were lower powered transmitters to get from my location. I heard specifically on either DEMHS Interop or Fire Coordinator 1 that they were exclusively using 8CALL90 and 8TAC94. So I don't think there was anything else. I monitored I, L and A sites. Didn't see any new unknown talk groups at all pop up today, let alone DEHMS.

On a side note I managed to get my antenna setup squared away finally. Utilize a 18" Mobile Scanner Antenna on a paint can lid to get VHF and 450 UHF bands, combined with a direction Yagi tuned for 700 and 800mhz High UHF. I've gone from -105db down to -90db now -80db for my closest Troop L site, and I and A come in lower than -100db. Uniden also picks up P25 way better in NAC SEARCH vs a programmed NAC.

 

[n1chu]

The annual state fireman's convention and parade is sunday 9-13.
There will be a lot of chatter on the radio - including the statewide fire coordinators channel, the 8CALl channel and an assigned 8tac channel. STOCKS is supposed to be in use also. This is happening in Shelton on sunday.
Might make interesting listening!

Last year the parade was held in Avon. The 8CALL, 8tac channels were somewhat busy with the attending depts signing on the air when they left their respective towns/cities. Since I only heard a few use the sign-on freqs, and a year has gone by where further education may have been enacted, I expect more depts used these sign-on channels this year. I did not attend this year so I wonder if anyone can confirm my expectation?

 

[izzyj4]

Didn't listen in this year, was on the bike with my club watching from the side lines. Not many out of area units in attendance this year. I think it had a lot to do with the weekend it was held. Huntington Fire Co. and the rest of the SFD did a great job hosting the convention.

 

[WoodburyMan]

Old... but this was the only other reference to 8TAC in the last few months.

Last 2-3 days I've had a good deal of testing on 8CALL90. Also, I got 3mb almost of recording (30+ minutes) yesterday of digital sounds on 8CALL90 as well. Ticking. It didn't sound like DMR or P25 or anything I can easily recognize. It was a slower pattern and bandwidth that makes me think its text. You can listen to it here 12-12-19 1-34-07 PM - 8CALL90 - Calling.mp3

Isn't 8CALL90 only supported to be analog voice only? No?

 

[doctordialtone]

Isn't 8CALL90 only supported to be analog voice only? No?

Common Public Safety - The RadioReference Wiki

Specifications

 

[WoodburyMan]

View attachment 77950

Common Public Safety - The RadioReference Wiki

Specifications

The first link eludes to Digital Modes with 8CALL90D, with the D maybe being digital? but the 2nd doc doesn't list any digital modes, and says to only use voice and use analog with CTCSS 156.7 Hz. Either way, my SDS is now set to 'figure it out' more or less rather than listen for 156.7hz tone.

 

[Giddyuptd]

D references direct. Talk around or car to car. Simplex.

8call90 also has or can be repeated depending where you are.

 

[n1chu]

Old... but this was the only other reference to 8TAC in the last few months.

Last 2-3 days I've had a good deal of testing on 8CALL90. Also, I got 3mb almost of recording (30+ minutes) yesterdayanalog of digital sounds on 8CALL90 as well. Ticking. It didn't sound like DMR or P25 or anything I can easily recognize. It was a slower pattern and bandwidth that makes me think its text. You can listen to it here 12-12-19 1-34-07 PM - 8CALL90 - Calling.mp3

Isn't 8CALL90 only supported to be analog voice only? No?

Just a guess... and probably way too early to consider, but wondering if FirstNet has got their hooks into the mix... they may have gotten an exemption to the “analog voice only” rule? And what you hear is preliminary testing?

 

[cg]

I think it was more likely someone "testing" console alerts and similar stuff or a patch left up. I was hearing some of it but locked it out. It happened over a period of a couple days too.

chris