scanSydney

This afternoon I was monitoring a fire that had flared up out South Maroota way. Was initially monitoring via The Hills GRN TG (10036) off Horsley Park, but found I was missing conversations. Turns out some units are still using the old VHF channels for dispatch, which seems to be registered again as of earlier this week (02/09/2019).

As someone who was monitoring, it came across as a bit of a dogs breakfast. There is no link between the GRN and VHF (but Firecom does seem to be able to TX on both at the same time, on occasion), so responding crews and stations who were calling up on one were not hearing the other. On far too many occasions crews were calling on one mode and not getting a response because Firecom was busy on the other. Got worse when 'urgent' & 'emergency' messages started to be sent by crews on VHF, and not being received by crews on the GRN. Most crews were responding on the GRN and using it on scene, so I don't think reception was the issue. Plus ambos and SES attended and no issues with reception. Eventually the VHF was used as a tactical channel, with a separate Firecom operator, but using it with dispatch alongside the GRN wasn't working (IMHO), and I wonder why they continue to use it.

Anyway, I'll add the VHF channels back to the list.

If they're using an omnitronics console which they likely are then turning on the paddles for both back end radios will give you the they hear and tx on both but there being no crosslink. I'm surprised they're still getting away with being non standard ... seems rules for some and not others.

I don’t think they even have any console link, just two seperate, unlinked radios (or a console for the GRN only).

On some TX’s they key up both mics, then other times they don’t. There doesn’t seem to be any consistency about when it happens. When they are talking on one and someone calls up on the other, you can hear that unit coming through a speaker in the background somewhere.

The dual tx like you mentioned suggests omnitronics consoles.

Scotty wrote: SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS (merger of Wingecarribee/Wollondily)
GRN
eG038 SHLD2 30017
eG039 SHLD1 10077 - primary GRN channel

My mistake with this one - done a little bit more research and tracking; turns out 30017 is the primary channel for the Southern Highlands. eG038 is SHLD1 and eG039 is SHLD2.

scanSydney wrote:

Scotty wrote: SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS (merger of Wingecarribee/Wollondily)
GRN
eG038 SHLD2 30017
eG039 SHLD1 10077 - primary GRN channel

My mistake with this one - done a little bit more research and tracking; turns out 30017 is the primary channel for the Southern Highlands. eG038 is SHLD1 and eG039 is SHLD2.

Thanks scanSydney.

I noticed during the fires last year/early this year that the nswgrn.com site had 30017 as the primary channel (gG038 as SHLD1) but never got around to asking here if that was correct. I'll update the list here to reflect that.

While I'm here, are the P25 PMR channels all linked to one vote channel? And if so, can anybody give the channel name and radio tag. If so I'll update the list.

Scotty wrote:While I'm here, are the P25 PMR channels all linked to one vote channel? And if so, can anybody give the channel name and radio tag. If so I'll update the list.

Should be S015.

No S015 is Southern Tablelands.
It'll be E017 and or E018.
Saying that there is no PMR in use in the southern highlands.

E017 was Wingecarriby (unsure of spelling) and E018 was Wollondilly so that would stand to reason they become the SHLD especially considering the "e"Gxxx chanels. I haven't updated my portable yet so still have the old channels/names in it with just some minor changes in the eG section done.