I'm hoping someone here can give me the answer I'd most like to hear
regarding the City of Calgary's new emergency services trunk. (Pardon my
technospew mode while I explain things; it's a habit.)
Calgary Fire is currently moving from nine 413mhz freqs to this new system.
Calgary EMS has just switched from a GE/Ericsson trunk to this new system.
Calgary City Police switched several months ago from 15-20 462mhz freqs to
this new system.
I can only presume that Police are on the same system with Fire and EMS
because I occasionally (read: often) hear what I'd term 'data bursts' from
the same frequencies that Fire and EMS are now on. I have heard confirmed
Fire/EMS on the same batch of 29 frequencies, and these data bursts on all
of these 29 frequencies as well as on 3 others within 866.0625 -> 868.9375.
Fire and EMS are in the clear, plain voice transmissions; in fact, Fire is
currently linking their transmissions with 3 of their old 413mhz channels
for the benefit of those who have old-style radios still.
Fire and EMS are operating on a single set of channel and group numbers.
Group A appears to be entirely for EMS, and groups B and C are for Fire use.
There are 16 channels within each group. This seems to correspond to the
16-channel selector on a regular Motorola radio used in concert with the
A/B/C function selector switch.
Obviously I haven't been able to hear what the police are calling their
channels.
I have confirmed that the brand of radio that the police are using are
Motorola Astro units; however, I have also confirmed that the radios that
Fire and EMS are using are identical in outward appearance to 'regular'
Motorola mobiles and portables (comparable to the ones my own fire
department uses on our 413mhz system).
Finally, although the Canadian government publishes a list of radio
licenses, this system did not show up in the most recent list, probably
because it is shared by the police and protected systems like the police are
excluded from the list.
I have several questions I hope someone can answer, when armed with the
above info:
1. What type of trunk system is this?
1a. (most important to me) If I bought a TrunkTracker, would I be able to
track this trunk system, as far as Fire and EMS go?
2. I believe I know all the frequencies that Fire and EMS are using. Within
the limits I mentioned earlier (866.0 -> 868.9), I have found five Motorola
style control channels (or what sounds like them; continuous data, in any
case). Is there a way I can figure out which is the right control channel?
Ie. if I toss out 866.0375, 866.1375, 866.2375, 868.2125, and 868.2625, can
anyone tell me which frequencies 'normally' are associated with the above
data channels?
2a. I am hearing rigs on three frequencies within the batch, simultaneously
broadcasting identical transmissions. The first three data channels listed
above (the 866.x ones) are all roughly equal in strength. Is it possible
that I'm actually hearing three trunk systems that are linked together to
provide good coverage citywide, and if so, what can I do to figure out which
is which?
Thanks very much in advance.. if I haven't posted sufficient information to
get the answers I've requested, someone please tell me what else you need to
know, and I'll try to get it.
I would really like to be able to TrunkTrack this system--the SCAN key on my
PRO-43 is wearing out from skipping all the data bursts from the police
radios!
Jay
derran@revenge.cuug.ab.ca
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