As I stated above...West Warwick,Warwick and every other fire and police dept in the state of Rhode Island all have RISCON radios. That was the requirment. It is not a requirment that every dept uses the network for full time operations only that they have a radio in their police cars and fire trucks for interop communications in the event of a major incident. That was the original purpose of the network.
Thank you, I was NOT aware of that. But I believe the night of that fire, 154.28 MHz was used as a mutual aid channel. They were able to handle that incident quite well using that, considering the scope of the incident.
I think I've made my point, however. I see absolutely no reason why Rhode Island had to change to this digital system. Just the extra cost for each department to carry one of these radios is more than was necessary. As you (and everyone) can clearly tell, I am NOT in favor of these cities and towns switching over to this digital system. I thought before digital, that Rhode Island had one of the BEST Radio systems around. That mutual aid channel was used daily.
I hear people say, the reason places go to digital is because the feds require interoperability. That all started with 9/11 and the attack on America. Yet the Number 1 Target, New York City, did NOT switch over to digital radios. They tried it with the FDNY/EMS in South Brooklyn, NY and found it not a system they would be interested in using. (I wonder how many people knew that). So they didn't buy into the program. Instead all their police, fire and EMS operate on ultrahigh band (fire dept simulcasts on high band also).
I appreciate having this discussion and being allowed to express just how I feel. I am now 65 years old. I had maybe 50 years of enjoying fire/police activity on a scanner. What more could I ask for. It was a great hobby. A few of us would meet up and just hang out listening to and chasing the action. For me and several of my buddies, it was in the area of Burger King on Broad St. in Providence.
I spent $500 on a portable scanner solely for making my trips to Providence. That scanner and listening to digital has been a big disappoint for me. Just recently, New London, Ct went to digital. It was the most active department in Eastern, Ct. Now I've learned to do without it. When they used ultrahigh band, I had no problem listening. Now for me, there is no listening.
It will never be the same. I'm just glad that I've been able to enjoy it for so many years.
Thank you for listening to my story.