Help needed - RFS & SES, Mid Murray (non GRN).

[poobah]

Thanks again rusty. Once I get things up and running, I will probably use the NACs - I'm a bit OCD as well, and I'm guessing that using them makes for a cleaner and tighter listening experience?

I'm having a devil of a time getting this thing to work at the moment. I've given up on P25 altogether for now, and I'll be happy if I can just get some good old analogue static that coincides with a known transmission. At least then I'll know what frequency to focus on! I spent today driving around 'scanning' the known local frequencies, but got nothing even though there was definitely traffic. The way this thing works, If I can reduce the number of frequencies I need to scan then I can increase the number of alternative configurations to try in a given scan list.

I'll keep you posted!

[tsunami_australia]

~ Talkgroups are NOT used in emergency services conventional voting systems ~

You obviously don't log NSWPF channels!


Andrew

Nope encrypted terrorists aren't worth watching though they weren't playing with talkgroups in this area pre encryption so they must have changed some things if they're now using conventional talkgroups. The rest of the agencies don't use it.

[tsunami_australia]

The way this thing works, If I can reduce the number of frequencies I need to scan then I can increase the number of alternative configurations to try in a given scan list.

I'll keep you posted!

Not sure how different it is to my old 996T but my 996T is near flamin' useless scanning a heap of conventional frequencies compared with my prehistoric Realistic 2039 I used to have and use. It works great with trunking but that's about where it stops. Even with half the services locked out it's still not a good runner. I had put a service per group (system I think they're calling it now) then areas etc per sub group. The trunking I really hadn't worked on beyond a list of interest. Once it wonders beyond the trunking it just doesnt' cut the mustard. It's handy for it's close call feature though.

[poobah]

I'm actually having a heap of fun getting this thing set up, it's a little ripper!

It's very slow to scan - a 'free scan' of 400-470MHz in 12.5kHz steps would take around 10 minutes to complete a cycle. But you can create individual scan lists of up to 16 frequencies that will scan in a couple of seconds.

Where it shines is that it is loud, rugged, fits in a pocket, and its reception and battery life are amazing. It also records what it receives and stores them as messages, so you can just hit a button to play back everything you missed and catch up with the whole conversation. Very cool.

The ACMA lists a bunch of frequencies on towers in my area - some RFS, some SES, etc - but also a bunch listed as 'New South Wales Government Telecommunications Authority'. From my limited sampling so far it seems that the RFS and SES are using these government frequencies rather than their own. I guess these will become GRN?

[JAFO]

Some more free advice, we all started at the beginning, no one was born knowing RF principals or radio programming. We all had to learn. The free advice, don't be afraid to ask questions, but do some homework first, which you appeared to have done, unlike some. And done over think it.

LOL . . . . the above statement is so true

Only last month, Rusty and a couple others here showed me how to Identify the Different Services - FRNSW, RFS, ASNSW and GRN under the NSW RadCom Governing Authority on the ACMA Database.

I've been scanning for 30 years, started off in Albury/Wodonga, switched to Trunking in 1997 when I moved to Sydney, had used the ACMA Database in 2010' to do up a GPS Scan File for the UBCD996T. And when the NSW Government Telecommunication Authority took over management of most Radio Communications Licencing of NSW Agencies some 5 years ago . . . . I didn't notice the still individual listings till last month, when those on here pointed it out to me how to identify them . . . made me feel rather stupid that I didn't see it before . . .

There is a wealth of knowledge on here

[poobah]

So are the old RFS and SES frequencies now redundant statewide?

If a rural area like mine is using GTA frequencies, I can't imagine there would be many left holding on to the old ones?

[tsunami_australia]

I can't speak for SES which I beleive is mostly UHF PMR, but NSW RFS is now all VHF hi fireground portables, UHF 411meg odd simplex (FM and P25 on the same frequencies), 420meg P25 vote PMR and GRN. You will see with a quick search the VHF and UHF fireground channels eg F01 SIM ANLG (an old FOPS channel) is 411.0125 and that VHF fireground "FIREGROUND 1" 161.1500 and their counterparts. The rest is P25 voting or GRN.

The VHF fireground channels are generally firefighters, the UHF fireground channels are for the group officers (sector leaders in large events) to talk with captains/trucks and then the group/sector leader speaks back to firecomms. The VHF fireground channels are GREATLY misunderstood by too many along with their purpose. The old idea was for a small fire all trucks and hoses etc could talk OFF the main PMR/GRN channel and then in a larger incident that each brigade/tanker would have their own VHF channel for nozzle, pump and crew leader and then the crew leader would converse on UHF simplex to their superior and up the chain meaning if JOEBLOW 1 was on FG1 then FREDKNOBS 9 (using fake brigade names there) would be on FG2. However due to ignorance and arrogance at the higher levels they just blanket stipulate a VHF FG per incident and even 100km apart is too close for some to use the same channel ... yet the UHF simplex system recycles the same 4 frequencies. I gave up trying to explain that portables will NOT get beyond 10-15km to each other.

[poobah]

Thanks again TA.

I mainly just want to hear rfs firecom and ses state ops when I'm going about my business.

At a fire incident I'll have access to radios of course, but the G3 will be a lightweight way to monitor firecom and VHF fireground chatter from the end of a hose, as well as FRNSW/parks/forestry/council. Around here we mostly use UHF CB for fireground as a lot of the guys have their own and other traffic is negligible. We do carry VHF portables on the trucks so we'll certainly use them when the situation warrants, but it is rare. I don't really need to monitor any command-level rfs/ses frequences, as when they are in use I'll have the appropriate hardware.

One of the things I would like to do is to preconfigure the G3 for other areas, but this is tricky without being able to monitor first to establish which frequencies are in use and for what purpose. I have identified firecom and state ops in my local and neighbouring towns, so I guess I can remove all the other 'rfs' and 'ses' channels here, but I was hoping to be able to do it state-wide.

Seems like this will all become MUCH easier when the GRN is here!

[tsunami_australia]

"so I was confused how the RFS could use one frequency in town A, and another one in town B, and yet the radio would work on both without manually switching. I figured it was using a kind of trunking. and that I would need some codes to play along."


No it's not trunking or anything remotely like it. The exact feature is called voting. For Motorola it's option code Q387:Conventional voting scan. The radio selects/changes channel itself based on signal strength (RSSI). With the RFS the opposite happens on rx where the repeaters vote who can hear the vehicle clearest. For the mobile/portable you make a channel, say "RFS MY AREA". That channel will then have 1 of the tx/rx frequency pairs programmed in and be tied to it's own scan group of several other channels you've added. Change the scan type to vote scan. Then when sitting on "RFS MY AREA" the radio actually then does a comparative value of sorts of signal strength in all the channels in that scan then selects the strongest. When the tanker drives 10-20km away the radio will pickup another tower as stronger and change it over.

Most country radio systems are based on "voting" so it would be something worth whilst looking into.

[Xplorer00]

It's very slow to scan - a 'free scan' of 400-470MHz in 12.5kHz steps would take around 10 minutes to complete a cycle. But you can create individual scan lists of up to 16 frequencies that will scan in a couple of seconds.

Amongst what others have mentioned, your 400-470 MHz range is way too wide.
Without any doubt, unless it's a $30k+ special type product, the best of all commercial receivers, scanners and SDR's will take some time to cover that range.

Try narrowing down to these ranges: 72-85MHz, 159-174MHz, 403-428MHz, 466-470 MHz, 476-478MHz.
Depending on where you are, use below websites as an early warning that your normal minimal traffic could increase as events occur.
Big events like shows, rally's, NYE... when you know of something coming up, start searching and log any and all freqs.
Lock out any Transformer squiggly type sounds as they are probably encrypted or a mode you can't listen to.

If you take your device on holidays, the above and below can be used for every state and territory in OZ.

BoM website - weather events usually kickstart services into being on-standby at stations.
http://www.bom.gov.au/

NSW RFS - Current and upcoming Hazard Reduction burns
(NSW FRNSW are often called into VIC to assist CFA crews & vice-versa).
https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-informa ... reductions.

NSW RFS - Fires Near Me
(Some northern VIC SES units have NSW radios to assist with cross border assistance).
(Some NSW FRNSW units (like Albury) and NSW border RFS units have VIC RMR radios to talk with VIC FIRECOM and fireground channels).
https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-informa ... es-near-me

VIC Emergency - Situations near NSW & SA border may kickstart cross border assistance
(HEMS helicopter from Bendigo are often called into NSW to assist with a medical extraction).
(NSW Ambulance often travel to Bendigo hospital).
https://www.emergency.vic.gov.au/respond/

QLD FES News Room - As above, situations may arise for cross border assistance
(QLD heli is often called to assist in northern NSW)
https://newsroom.psba.qld.gov.au/

SA MFS - Media Release; again cross border assistance may be called upon.
https://www.mfs.sa.gov.au/media-warning ... -releases/

SA SES - Incidents & Warnings; again cross border assistance may be called upon.
https://www.ses.sa.gov.au/incidents-and ... nings-map/

SA CFS - Warnings & Incidents; again cross border assistance may be called upon.
(SA CFS are often in western VIC to assist, and some border units have VIC RMR portables).
(SA CFS and VIC CFA/DWELP share some VHF fireground channels).
https://www.cfs.sa.gov.au/warnings-and-incidents/

ACT - Emergency Map; again cross border assistance may be called upon.
(Normally encrypted ACT F&R can be heard on some FRNSW channels/TG's).
(ACT RFS & SES and NSW RFS & SES often assist each other).
https://esa.act.gov.au/

WA - Warnings & Incidents
https://www.emergency.wa.gov.au/

TAS - Warnings & Alerts
http://alert.tas.gov.au/Pages/Home.aspx
http://www.fire.tas.gov.au/Show?pageId= ... tBushfires

NT - Warnings & Incidents
https://securent.nt.gov.au/alerts

Flight Tracker - Air assets from all emergency services will be active prior to, during and after events.
https://www.flightradar24.com/