• The dispatch frequency shall only be used for radio transmissions that are intended for the dispatcher.   Departmental announcements and talk-around or car-to-car traffic are prohibited on the dispatch frequency.
• The evening pager test has been changed to a weekly test that will be conducted on Sunday evenings at 6:00 p.m.
• The dispatchers will be making a practice of repeating all important transmissions that are received by State Dispatch.   This includes scene call acknowledgements, arrival and size-up reports, and requests for mutual aid.
• All transmissions on the dispatch frequency shall be made in plain english.   The use of 10-codes is not accepted for the sake of clarity during emergencies. 
  

-2012 NARROWBANDING AND REPROGRAMMING INFORMATION-


Programming Information for Rutland County Departments on State Dispatch and who use the dispatch frequency to contact State Dispatch and who may use the county tactical frequencies

Rutland County Fire Mutual Aid Narrowband and System Enhancements

CH-1 State Dispatch 154.250 PL 131.8 on TX & RX All Mobiles, Portables and Base Stations

CH-2 Department Operating Your Frequency and Your PL

CH-3* COUNTY TAC A 154.010 PL 131.8 ON TX AND RX All Mobiles and Portables

CH-4 *COUNTY TAC B 154.265 PL 131.8 ON TX AND RX All Mobiles and Portables

*Note the placement of County TAC-A and TAC-B is recommended as CH 3 & 4, if this presents a problem to how your department operates they can be anywhere you decide, but should be in your portables and mobiles for mutual aid coordination. V-Call and V-Tac frequencies should also be programmed into your radios for interoperability in major emergencies.

We are also implementing an ALL CALL PAGE that should be programmed into your pagers on 154.250. This is an all call and would be used to alert you to a communications problem, weather warning or other urgent messages such as dispatch being evacuated without having to go through 40 tones.

The A Tone for the County All Call is 539.0 The B tone is 600.9

Our goal is not to cost departments an excessive amount. The above plan will accomplish our primary goals including:

Narrow banding on the dispatch frequency 154.250 and making sure all mobiles and portables have PL 131.8 on the Transmit and Receive Sides.

Renaming the county fire ground frequencies County TAC-A 154.010 and County TAC-B 154.265. Both must have PL 131.8 on both the, transmit and receive sides. We recommend they be located in channels 3 & 4 if at all possible but they can be anywhere in your frequency plan as long as you have them and know where they are.

VCALL and VTAC frequencies be installed in all mobile and portable units with frequencies and PL’s as required in the VCOMM plan.

That a county all call tone be installed in all pagers that can be so programmed to allow for quick notification.

2005 STATE DISPATCH POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

The Association approved the updates to the State Dispatch Policies and Procedures in July 2005.   Each fire department that utilizes State Dispatch should become familiar with the updates and make sure that all department members are properly trained on the protocols.   These changes were brought forth due to an increase in call volume that is being experienced on the system and an effort to remain in compliance with FCC licensing regulations.   The highlights of the updates include the following: