Greetings;
Regional Radio
Some of you may remember me inferring that there was a regional radio system planned for the area surrounding Calgary, mainly for emergency services. As of recently, I have learned that this project may be put on hold while the possibility of a provincial network, a la the province-wide networks in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, etc., is investigated. The story is that the RCMP are interested in retiring the PACS network (PACS = Province of Alberta Communications System, a series of conventional repeaters networked across the province), and the province is simultaneously looking to dismantle MDMRS (Multi-Department Mobile Radio System, a similar system to PACS). Of course, the two top runners are expected to be Motorola (SmartZone/OmniLink) and M/A-COM. Personally, I'd prefer Motorola, as a tremendous amount of agencies in this part of the province are using Motorola trunked networks at this point, everything from conventional to SmartNet to SmartZone systems. Ultimately, what this means is I don't think we'll see any wide-area networking happening in the near future, perhaps for a couple of years at the earliest.
Changes afoot in Emergency Dispatching
There will be three new stations dispatched by Calgary Fire Dispatch soon (within the next month, if my instincts are right). The three stations are the ones serving the Municipal District of Bighorn - Exshaw (69 Station), Ghost (68), and Benchlands (67). These fire departments operate on a pair of VHF repeater systems in their own area; the carriage of the radio signal back to Calgary Dispatch is handled by interfacing the VHF signal with the CFD trunk radio system, on Fire's channel C16 (Uniden ID 400).
Changes, part 2
This is probably old news, and I am too far from the area to know if there has been any differences in radio communications. However, it's my understanding that Brooks/Newell 911 has handed its Fire/EMS dispatching (and possiby call answering) over to the Foothills Regional Emergency Services Commission, which already dispatches the Municipal District of Foothills, M.D. Ranchlands, and M.D. Willow Creek, as well as the town of Canmore. If the radio communications are now being handled by Foothills, based out of Black Diamond, there's no word if they are using the same setup for Newell County as they are in Canmore - with an IRLP node setup between Black Diamond and Canmore.
Regional Radio
Some of you may remember me inferring that there was a regional radio system planned for the area surrounding Calgary, mainly for emergency services. As of recently, I have learned that this project may be put on hold while the possibility of a provincial network, a la the province-wide networks in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, etc., is investigated. The story is that the RCMP are interested in retiring the PACS network (PACS = Province of Alberta Communications System, a series of conventional repeaters networked across the province), and the province is simultaneously looking to dismantle MDMRS (Multi-Department Mobile Radio System, a similar system to PACS). Of course, the two top runners are expected to be Motorola (SmartZone/OmniLink) and M/A-COM. Personally, I'd prefer Motorola, as a tremendous amount of agencies in this part of the province are using Motorola trunked networks at this point, everything from conventional to SmartNet to SmartZone systems. Ultimately, what this means is I don't think we'll see any wide-area networking happening in the near future, perhaps for a couple of years at the earliest.
Changes afoot in Emergency Dispatching
There will be three new stations dispatched by Calgary Fire Dispatch soon (within the next month, if my instincts are right). The three stations are the ones serving the Municipal District of Bighorn - Exshaw (69 Station), Ghost (68), and Benchlands (67). These fire departments operate on a pair of VHF repeater systems in their own area; the carriage of the radio signal back to Calgary Dispatch is handled by interfacing the VHF signal with the CFD trunk radio system, on Fire's channel C16 (Uniden ID 400).
Changes, part 2
This is probably old news, and I am too far from the area to know if there has been any differences in radio communications. However, it's my understanding that Brooks/Newell 911 has handed its Fire/EMS dispatching (and possiby call answering) over to the Foothills Regional Emergency Services Commission, which already dispatches the Municipal District of Foothills, M.D. Ranchlands, and M.D. Willow Creek, as well as the town of Canmore. If the radio communications are now being handled by Foothills, based out of Black Diamond, there's no word if they are using the same setup for Newell County as they are in Canmore - with an IRLP node setup between Black Diamond and Canmore.
