Baulkham Hills RFS District

[cartman]

Whats the go with Baulkham Hills?
Heard them on VHF this morning ... 164.0875 123.0 CTCSS .... the usual "copy so far .... yes copy so far", then callsigns "Firecom" and "North Rocks 1".
But the frequencies are allocated to Baulkham Hills Shire rather than RFS
A bit odd.
Are they on the GRN?
I havent heard them there, only here on VHF

Rural Fire Service
119.1000 AM Tx Castle Hill
164.0875 123.0 Tx Kurrajong Heights
164.3125 tone ? Tx Hillside

Shire works channel?
164.3625 tone ? Tx Kurrajong Heights


Wikipedia on "The Hills District RFS"
(The Hills District was formally known as Baulkham Hills)
(Stand Alone District)
Annangrove - Cat 1, Cat 7, Cat 9, PC
Box Hill / Nelson
Catering Brigade - PC, 2 x Trailers, Catering Van
Communications Brigade - PC, Forward Command Unit
Glenhaven - Cat 2, Cat 9
Glenorie - 2 x Cat 1, Cat 9, PC
Hillside - 1 Cat 1, 1 Cat 9
Kellyville 2 x Cat 1, PC, Lighting Unit
Kenthurst - 2 x Cat 1, Cat 7, PC
Lower Portland
Maroota + Canoelands
Maroota South - Cat 1, Cat 9, PC
Middle Dural - Cat 1, Cat 9, PC
North Rocks - Cat 1, Cat 7, PC
Round Corner - Cat 1, Cat 5(Bulk Water), Cat 7, Cat 13(Bulk Water), PC
Rouse Hill - Cat 2, Cat 7, PC
Wisemans Ferry - Cat 1, Cat 7, Cat 9, Cat 15(fireboat)

[Scotty]

Baulkham Hills RFS still use the old local council VHF channel system, but you can hear them 'test' the GRN and RFS PMR systems most weekends. They would surely be the only RFS in Sydney and surrounds (and likely one of the only in the state) still using the old local council VHF systems from 10+ years back for their main ops, and it would be anybodies guess why they continue to do so, considering they appear to be more than adequately covered by the GRN and the RFS UHF PMR systems.

I have their VHF channels listed as this:

NAME: FREQ: TONE:
FIRE 1 164.0875 123.0
FIRE 2 164.0875
FIRE 3 164.3125 123.0
FIRE 4 164.3125
FIRE 5 164.3625 123.0
FIRE 6 164.3625

Fire 1/3/5 are duplex channels with a subtone of 123.0.
Fire 2/4/6 are the same channels but simplex, I don't have a subtone listed.

[freqwaves]

Yes,what I had down as being used by the council came up with RFS comms being heard.So this explains things.

[Scotty]

There seems to be a hazard reduction of some sort occurring this weekend in the Baulkham Hills RFS District.

From listening it appears they are making good use of their GRN channel 'eG019 BKM HL' (TG: 10036). I can't hear anything on their normal PMR VHF (council) channel or the UHF PMR channels. I also can't get anything on the fire ground channels, but am pretty sure I'm too far away to pick up any activity.

It may be the case they are finally moving with the times and switching to the GRN...

[scanSydney]

From listening it appears they are making good use of their GRN channel 'eG019 BKM HL' (TG: 10036). I can't hear anything on their normal PMR VHF (council) channel or the UHF PMR channels. I also can't get anything on the fire ground channels, but am pretty sure I'm too far away to pick up any activity.

It may be the case they are finally moving with the times and switching to the GRN...

Hate to say it, but nope!

They allocated eG019 BKM HL for the HR command/operations and more specifically for the helicopters to talk back to FCC and the incident controllers. All the Baulkham Hills units talked on VHF as per usual. Out of area vehicles also used the GRN talkgroup because they lack the VHF radios with FIRE 1 on them.

[Scotty]

That would explain why I heard plenty of out of area crews but don't recall hearing any local crews.

Surely the successful use of the GRN over the weekend by all but the Baulkham Hills crews shows not only how well the system works, but the absurdity of running two separate, unlinked networks?

Is it a case that there is an actual need for the old VHf system, or it is just a refusal from those above to move with the times?

[scanSydney]

Is it a case that there is an actual need for the old VHf system, or it is just a refusal from those above to move with the times?

Not sure. What I heard initially was that the old VHF system was better for their area due to the extremely hilly nature of their RFS district, which I suppose to a degree is true. But after being out in the field at Wisemans Ferry all weekend, GRN works with no problems at all, all the way through along Old Northern Road at least.

I don't know why they refuse to link them together at least though - could have been a lot easier than running the separate channels.

[Scotty]

Sounds like a bit of a 'dads army' style approach

I wouldn't think there would be anyway to interconnect the old VHF system with the GRN or UHF PMR. Not without spending a bucketload of money on a smart link type system. Even then I don't know how possible it would be, or how worthwhile.

[ivahri]

Scotty,

A bucketload of money? It can be done easily and for peanuts... but the chances are that they don't want to do that.

Cheers

Richard

[Scotty]

What peanuts are we talking though - your standard cashews or your macadamia's?

If it was cost effective one would think the link would have been installed.