TAC Channels

[dallascowboys]

Can someone tell me what the following stand for, VCALL, VTAC, IR, UCALL, and UTAC

Thank you.

 

[doctordialtone]

Can someone tell me what the following stand for, VCALL, VTAC, IR, UCALL, and UTAC

They don't "Stand For" anything. They're just Acronyms for
National Interoperability

.

National Interoperability (United States) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for National Interoperability (United States)

www.radioreference.com

 

[nd5y]

This is the group that came up with the interoperability channel names and channel naming standards.

Channel Naming

This is the standards document.

http://npstc.org/download.jsp?tableId=37&column=217&id=17&file=CommonChannelNamingDocument_11042_2017_180221.pdf

 

[mmckenna]

Can someone tell me what the following stand for, VCALL, VTAC, IR, UCALL, and UTAC

Thank you.

IFOG will give you that info,

However….

VCALL is the VHF Calling Channel that is assigned for non-federal public safety users.
VTAC is one of several VHF Tactical channels assigned for non-federal public safety users.

IR is used to indicate "Incident Response" for the several FEDERAL interop channels.

UCALL is the UHF version of VCALL
UTAC is one of the several UHF Tactical channels, like the VTAC ones above.

 

[ofd8001]

And they have 8CALL, etc., for 800 frequencies.

The thinking was to have a set of common frequencies in each responders' radio so that if they are deployed to other areas, there would be a means for communication among all involved.

A good theory, but there is still the potential to bring a VHF radio to a UHF area, etc.

 

[mmckenna]

A good theory, but there is still the potential to bring a VHF radio to a UHF area, etc.

Yep, an interoperability gateway will solve that.

Big issue is agencies that will not program these frequencies into their radios. These IFOG channels have been floating around for a long time now. Should be 100% adopted by all agencies, but you'd be surprised.

 

[chief21]

Big issue is agencies that will not program these frequencies into their radios. These IFOG channels have been floating around for a long time now. Should be 100% adopted by all agencies, but you'd be surprised.

Getting the frequencies into the radios is one thing; Training the users as to the purpose of the frequencies and how to use them is another thing altogether! (Ask me how I know this.)

 

[RRR]

"T.A.C." was originally a "Talk Around Channel"

Then folks started calling it "Tactical"

 

[ecps92]

All depends on where you are...

"T.A.C." was originally a "Talk Around Channel"

Then folks started calling it "Tactical"

 

[nd5y]

According to the APCO/NPSTC standard:
TAC = Channel is primarily used for interagency communications by any Public Safety eligible. **

** These channels are generally incident-based and not used for wide-area communications.

 

[chief21]

According to the APCO/NPSTC standard:
TAC = Channel is primarily used for interagency communications by any Public Safety eligible. **

Local definitions and Federal definitions are rarely the same. Many jurisdictions operate local "TAC" channels exclusively for intra-agency, rather than inter-agency, communications. The APCO/NPSAC standard definition probably refers only to NIFOG frequencies.

 

[dallascowboys]

Thanks everyone for the info, have one more question on this how do I find my local TAC frequencies that my area police and fire use or is that something that is not allowed ?

 

[RRR]

According to the APCO/NPSTC standard:
TAC = Channel is primarily used for interagency communications by any Public Safety eligible. **

Hmmm... "Talk Around Channels"

I know the "blue book" describes it as otherwise, and that those are industry standards now. But there have long been Talkaround channels.
YMMV

 

[chief21]

how do I find my local TAC frequencies that my area police and fire use or is that something that is not allowed ?

Here is a link to the Dothan Public Safety P25 trunked system. The listing shows only one talkgroup each for the PD, FD, and Sheriff - but it's very likely that each agency has several more talkgroups that they use as TAC or other special-purpose channels. As long as they are not encrypted, they can be monitored.

Dothan Public Safety P25 Trunking System, Dothan, Alabama

Dothan Public Safety P25 Trunking System Profile

www.radioreference.com

 

[edweirdFL]

Once you get your scanner programmed for the trunked system, to find the trunk groups that are not in the Radio Reference database you'll need to be "ID Searching". If your trunked scanner is "ID Scanning" then you will only hear the trunk group IDs that were programmed into it (the known ones) and nothing else.

 

[ofd8001]

Getting the frequencies into the radios is one thing; Training the users as to the purpose of the frequencies and how to use them is another thing altogether! (Ask me how I know this.)

I'm sure "we've always done it this way" comes in to play.

We went to a new radio system where everyone (police, fire and EMS) could talk to each other. Fire on scene could change channels to EMS and say what is needed when ambulance arrives. They continue just as they always have - tell fire dispatcher to relay to EMS dispatcher to advise EMS crew to. . . By the time that happens, the ambulance is already there.

 

[sflmonitor]

I'm sure "we've always done it this way" comes in to play.

We went to a new radio system where everyone (police, fire and EMS) could talk to each other. Fire on scene could change channels to EMS and say what is needed when ambulance arrives. They continue just as they always have - tell fire dispatcher to relay to EMS dispatcher to advise EMS crew to. . . By the time that happens, the ambulance is already there.

And then you have the law enforcement officers from different agencies who come together for some operation. They prefer to swap radios instead of actually switching channels because they “know” those interop frequencies are not programmed in their radios. They will swear by it. I’ve seen it more times than I can count.

 

[krokus]

Hmmm... "Talk Around Channels"

No. A talk-around is to bypass a repeater.

You are going to cause more confusion to newbies by bringing up your local thing.

 

[doctordialtone]

This is one of those threads that should have been closed about 15 posts ago.

 

[ofd8001]

Probably one of those things where a phrase means one thing here and another thing there.

TAC channels, when used in the context of "tactical" can be described in the National Fire Protection Association's Standard on Emergency Services Communications as:

9.3.1.3 A communications radio channel, separate from the radio dispatch channel, shall be provided for on-scene tactical
communications.

9.3.1.4 At a minimum, the tactical communications channel identified in 9.3.1.3 shall be capable of operating in analog
simplex mode.

It goes on to say that if the simplex frequencies selected for tactical use are the same as the output frequencies of any repeaters used by the system, a method of positive lockout of automatic system use of that frequency should be provided, controlled from the responsible telecommunications workstation. That's to prevent someone away from the incident keying up the repeater, not knowing someone at the scene is saying something important like "I need help real bad".