scanSydney

news wrote:I say run 2 x networks. 1x P25 encrypted network for public safety Tier 1 agencies, then run a second DMR Network for all non public safety Tier 2 agencies.

Even so, wouldn't SLSA fall under the tier 1 category anyway? Last I heard, DMR radios weren't up to public safety standards, especially if you're gonna use 'em on a salt-sprayed sandy beach... that's half the reason why they're so much cheaper!

A month or so ago we had a Cessna ditch into the ocean about a kilometre off-shore, for which SLSA were the primary responders (including a LifeSaver chopper) but the entire operation was a complete shambles because nobody could communicate with the crews at the crash site.

The cops were trying to get the helo to goto ESO 10 on the GRN, the ambos were asking for them to goto STATE1 (and I'm not sure why FRNSW was even called) but nobody managed to get contact with them at all until they returned to the airport to refuel and one of the cops drove down there to talk to them in person!

A year ago the LifeSaver chopper would've been able to talk direct on the analog police channel.

Now I know SLSA isn't an "agency" as such but as an ESO my 2c says they should be on the GRN, even if some of my tax dollars has to go toward helping them get there (better spent there than sending a dozen pollies on a "fact-finding tour" of Hawaii anyway).

Andrew

Bigfella237 wrote:Even so, wouldn't SLSA fall under the tier 1 category anyway? Last I heard, DMR radios weren't up to public safety standards, especially if you're gonna use 'em on a salt-sprayed sandy beach... that's half the reason why they're so much cheaper! Andrew

They have been using GP series(Waris) portables for many many years without a problem so that argument is not valid

Bigfella237 wrote:A month or so ago we had a Cessna ditch into the ocean about a kilometre off-shore, for which SLSA were the primary responders (including a LifeSaver chopper) but the entire operation was a complete shambles because nobody could communicate with the crews at the crash site.

The cops were trying to get the helo to goto ESO 10 on the GRN, the ambos were asking for them to goto STATE1 (and I'm not sure why FRNSW was even called) but nobody managed to get contact with them at all until they returned to the airport to refuel and one of the cops drove down there to talk to them in person!

A year ago the LifeSaver chopper would've been able to talk direct on the analog police channel.

Sounds like the entire operation was a balls up, can't comment as I was not there. Problem with the inter-agency issue is that agencies have different naming conventions for radio channels. The latest profiles should resolve that with only the RFS having different talkgroup descriptions for inter-agency talkgroups(TYPICAL)

Bigfella237 wrote:Now I know SLSA isn't an "agency" as such but as an ESO my 2c says they should be on the GRN, even if some of my tax dollars has to go toward helping them get there (better spent there than sending a dozen pollies on a "fact-finding tour" of Hawaii anyway).

Andrew

My view is complicated, it would be perfect to have all agencies on the one network within reason, but having volunteer life guards at a beach sporting APX6000 portables on their hips tying up very valuable tower capacity just does not wash with me.

If you think the GRN gets busy now, wait until the very large govt agency finally start turning on more radios and talkgroups in the near future, the network capacity will need all it can get.

I'm not saying that DMR gear won't work in these conditions, or that it won't continue to work given the appropriate care and maintenance, I'm just saying that it's not rated for public safety use, which is part of the cost disparity, so there is no guarantee it will work when it really needs to work.

And I completely agree that the GRN has capacity issues now, which as you say, will only get worse as more agencies migrate from PMR next year, but it's up to the GCIO to expand the network to cope with the increased traffic, it shouldn't be an argument to not have an agency join?

From what I've heard listening to SLSA comms, most of the day-to-day traffic is handled locally anyway, it's only morning & evening sign-ons & sign-offs and the occasional major incident (such as the one I describe above) that go through SurfCom so I wouldn't expect that SLSA would have too much impact on site capacity? At least that's how it is out here in the sticks, I can't say what happens within the cities.

Of course major incidents are completely different to day-to-day comms, when you have 5 or 6 separate agencies all concentrated on one site and all trying to transmit at once you are going to have busies on all but the largest sites, but again, that should be the GCIO's problem (in a perfect world)!

But... everything we're discussing here is moot anyway because they've obviously already committed to a stand-alone DMR network!

Andrew

The coverage in some cases will need a boost as well .....

Hearing Surfcom on 471.200Mhz 186.2 carrying out end of day call to all patrols for stats .... booming into Liverpool. Same frequency as before but different ctcss tone

I'm hearing it in Campbelltown on a small UHF folded dipole.Transmits well across Sydney.

So are the frequincies on page 1 still correct or have they changed!!

sw sydney scanner wrote:So are the frequincies on page 1 still correct or have they changed!!

put them in give it a go..

Far north coast is using 471.2000 91.8 Tx Cudgen (near Kingscliff)
Heard Brunswick Head Support Ski come up on channel
(Monitoring from Surfers Paradise where the surf people are using NXDN)

Grant

that would be Brunswick Heads Support Ski.

In Surfers you can hear the paid council lifeguards on analogue