Radio Communications KING COUNTY FIRE TRAINING OFFICER’S ASSOCIATION Photo Courtesy of Brian Birmingham

ê King County System consists of 3 separate sub-systems. ê Seattle, King County/Valley Com, Bellevue(EPSCA) ê 3 systems are controlled by 2 smartzone controller computers. ê Computers are redundant, the backup controller is always ready to go in a case of failure 800 Mhz Radio Stats

ê 28 transmitter sites in the county wide system ê 8 sites in the Valley Comm/King County system (Simulcast sites) ê 3 intelli-repeaters in the KC/VC simulcast system 800 Mhz Radio Stats cont.

ê Simulcast sites (KC/VC, Seattle, EPSCA) ê Stand alone repeater sites ê Site trunking over 132 frequencies ê over 14,000 users ê over 500 Talkgroups 800 Mhz Radios Radio Types

Repeater Sites

Regional Map

Site Trunking ê Zone controlling computer failure ê All Talkgroups default to Fire 1 unless site trunk Talkgroups are setup ê Renton Fire has fire 1-7 set up for site trunking they are located at B bank positions 1-7. On the mobile radios RFD Admin is Site trunked and is located at position #27. ê No Emer ê No Emer button during site trunking ê No scanning during site trunking

800 Mhz Radio Basics ê Key the mike and wait for the 2 quick beeps prior to speaking. This is the talk permit tone. ê No bedroom voices - speak loudly w/o yelling ê Microphones should be about 3”-5” from mouth, ¼” for Headsets! ê Take advantage of the carrier tail if possible to avoid re-acquiring frequencies from the zone controllers ê If transmitting near another radio, have the other radios volume turned way down, and or cover speaker. This will reduce feedback

Basics ê The radios are NOT waterproof - delicate electronics inside are sensitive to moisture ê If you know you’re going anywhere near a flowing sprinkler head, give your radio to someone who isn’t! (Repairs run around $ repair, new radios are $ ) ê After the fire clean them up! (Damp rag, mild soap, toothbrush, toothpick)

Bonks, what causes them? ê Traffic is currently on the channel - The system will not let you talk over another unit. After getting bonked, you can talk after the radio gives you 2 quick chirps. This means it’s OK to talk. ê During heavy volumes of traffic, there may not be any frequency pairs available for use. ê You may be out of the range of the repeaters - below grade, metal buildings, large concrete structures can all block your radio signal. ê Try to get near openings, windows, or doors -even turn your 3watts, it doesn’t take much to block a signal

Bonks cont. ê If you are working in an area that has poor radio operation. Consider and plan on using STATE OPS 1 or STATE OPS 4 for local communication. ê Always have someone monitor the Fire dispatch talkgroup and relay info to and from Valley Comm to document events. This person would have to be outside the structure. ê City Hall, Renton High, Valley Medical are all excellent examples of when to use this tactic.

Emergency Button EMER Z3 talkgroup ê An EMER Button press will take you automatically to EMER Z3 talkgroup. ê You will stay there until you reset the radio ê You obtain the highest priority for frequency allocation (Now a priority 1, Normal is 3, Disp. is 2) ê Instead of a 1 second carrier tail there is a 1 minute carrier tail. ê You may also select the Emergency Zone 3 talkgroup by switching to A15. Important

Emergency Button cont. ê Once on the EMER Z3 talkgroup, Advise dispatch whether it’s an true emergency or an accidental push ê If it’s a true emergency declare a MAYDAY, and give as much info as possible regarding your Emergency ê If it’s and accidental press, advise dispatch of the accident while on EMER Z3, give radio number, and wait to hear Valley Comm confirm it. Then you can reset

Scanning ê How to: ê Advantages -monitor calls ê Limits / Drawbacks - scan delays, uncertainty of the source of radio traffic ê Fires - Turn it OFF!

Scanning Side Button #1 Side button #2 Side button #3 PTT Button Use this button to toggle through the scan options -(Priority,Non-priority,No scan) Allows viewing and changing repeater sites. Push & Hold to change This will allow you to go into direct(Simplex) mode on conventional repeated talkgroups

Scanning Battery, monitor, encryption, alert, scan, programming, direct

Scanning Start button Select Buttons Scanning Indicator Detail

Select the dot button below the item you want

Return Select Button

Push & hold to view & program scan list Toggle between scan options Scroll thru scan list while in program mode Delete from scan list Press & hold to enter a talkgroup #. Press again to return to Fire 1 Dimmer & Backlight

Communicating with other non-fire agencies ê City Police - RENTON PS (B-14) ê City/County Jail - STATE OPS 3 (C-3) ê City/County Public Works - REN-CITY (A-14) ê King County Sheriff - PSOPS S1(B9), PSOPS S2(B10) ê WSP – MARS (B15), mobile radio (pos #12) ê Airlift – Usually State Ops1 (simplex, A16)

Mutual Aid Response (Zone One) ê When enroute and prior to switching talkgroups, Advise Valley Comm your switching to an Eastside Talkgroup. Then advise Eastside Dispatch that you are responding. Ex; VALLEY Eng 16 responding ê When dispatched determine talkgroup if not already advised. If you don’t have it on your portable, advise host agency that you need to be patched via the MA ZONE talkgroup. ê Eastside units responding into Zone 3 will either have our talkgroups or be patched via MA ZONE 3. It will be seamless to Zone 1 responders

Emergency Operations Center ê If the 800 crashes we will use VHF City frequency ( ) on VHF radios. ê We will also use State Ops Channels for short range communications. Portables (3 watts) will operate for a distance of about 3 blocks – line of site. Obstructions will reduce transmit distance. Mobile radios (35 watts) will transmit city wide. ê We will also use civilian amateur radio

Batteries ê Brand new rating of 1500 milliamps hours ê 80% rating is the minimum allowed for use in Fire Ops. Any battery below this rating must be taken OOS and sent to Sta.12, attn: M.Ketchum. A replacement battery will be sent. ê Tri-analyze every 90 days minimum ê Guaranteed 1 year warranty. Renton Fire has been getting over 3 years so far!

Batteries continued Mark the date of conditioning Mark the final reading Check the condition of the battery label and replace if needed Copies of Battery template are here Battery Labels H:\communications\battery labels.doc

Simplex AKA Direct or Walkie Talkie

Conventional repeated

Trunked repeated Back

Return Do not carry 2 radios! You aren’t logged on to one of them and you short the station for recall radios with the other.

Accessories ê Remote Speaker Microphones - Don’t leave them on apparatus they will become lost! ê Driver Headsets ê Earpieces ê Voicemitter mask amplifiers

Pagers ê Page gate should be installed in all stations ê Software allows for easy maintenance ê No immediate plans to go to the Valley Com paging system. Pager #’s

Haz-Mat gear ê Familiarize yourself with this equipment if you have not had a chance to ê Radios ê Harness (radio) ê Adapter ê Headset ê MSA BA Mask

Recent 800 Mhz Radio Servicing ê Inventory of Valley Com system radios ê Replacement of a chip on the radio board to hopefully eliminate Nextel Cellular interference ê Radio bench tested for tolerances ê Frequencies were aligned ê New templates were programmed (most of Z3 has identical portable templates) ê We are still waiting to have one more upgrade done to the radios. Motorola will be performing this upcoming servicing to improve repeater site selection.

Talkgroups Portables NO EMER BUTTON Red denotes - NO EMER BUTTON EMER WILL NOT WORK ON THESE TALKGROUPS! Pos"A" Bank"B" Bank"C" Bank 1FIRE-1FIRE1 *STATEOPS-1 2FIRE-2FIRE2 *STATEOPS-4 3FIRE-3FIRE3 *STATEOPS-3 4FIRE-4FIRE4 *ICALL 5FIRE-5FIRE5 *ITAC-1 6FIRE-6FIRE6 *ITAC-2 7FIRE-7FIRE7 *ITAC-3 8OPS 1VCC PSITAC-4 9OPS 2PSOPS S1MA ZONE 1 10OPS 3PSOPS S2MA ZONE-3 11Z3 ADMINIMS SMA ZONE-5 12BEL FTAC1IMS ALLMA POOL 1 13BEL FTAC2CITYMA POOL 2 14BEL FTAC3PUB SFTYMA POSFD 15EMER Z-3MARSMA PC 1 16STATE OPS1RFD ADMNMA PC 2

Talkgroups Mobiles PosTGPosTG 33BEL F-TAC 249V COMMON 34BEL F-TAC350LOC GOV S 35BEL F-TAC451ALL GOV 36BEL F-TAC 552PSOPS N1 37BEL F-TAC653PSOPS N2 38BEL F-TAC754PSOPS S1 39IMS S55PSOPS S2 40IMS ALL56MA POOL1 41VALLEY MC57MA POOL2 42OVERLAKE MC58MA ZONE 1 43HARBORVIEW MC59MA ZONE 3 44AUBURN MC60MA ZONE 5 45HIGHLINE MC61MA POSFD 46ST FRANCIS MC62MA PC 1 47TACOMA GH63MA PC 2 48VCC PS64MA SNO 1 PosTG 65MA SNO 2 66KCEOC COM 67KCEOC OPS 68KC EM 1 69KC EM 3 70KC EM 5 71REGROUP8 72STATE OPS 1 73STATE OPS 4 74STATE OPS 3 75ICALL 76ITAC-1 77ITAC-2 78ITAC-3 79ITAC-4 NO EMER BUTTON Red denotes - NO EMER BUTTON PosTGPosTG 1FIRE -117RFD PREV 2FIRE -218REN - PS 3FIRE -319REN - CITY 4FIRE -420FIRE1 ST 5FIRE -521FIRE2 ST 6FIRE -622FIRE3 ST 7FIRE -723FIRE4 ST 8OPS - 124FIRE5 ST 9OPS - 225FIRE6 ST 10OPS - 326FIRE7 ST 11Z3 ADMIN27RFD ADMIN ST 12MARS28REN POL PRI 13POS FTAC129REN POL TAC 14POS FTAC230BF DISP 1 15Z3 EMER31BF DISP 2 16RFD ADMIN32BEL F-TAC 1

Talkgroups

Practice Question Are you happy to be here today? A You Bet! B Not a Chance C Not sure Yet D Where am I again? E I have no idea of the right answer

1. Where is the EMER button located? a) It’s the blue button on the side b) It’s the middle dot button on front c) It’s the orange button on top

2. How long after pressing the PTT button should you pause before speaking? a) 5 seconds b) 1 second c) 2 seconds

3. STATE OPS Simplex channels are a good place to communicate when a) Coverage on the regional system is poor? b) True c) False

4. To exit the EMERGENCY mode, you should? a) Turn the Radio off, after confirming the event with dispatch on the EMER talkgroup b) Press the home button on front c) Press the orange button a second time

5. The EMER button only works on ________ Talkgroups. a) Repeated b) Trunked Repeated c) Simplex

6. Simplex, or Direct communications means what? a) Simple radio to radio transmissions (walkie talkie) b) Direct repeater to repeater transmissions Satellite network communications

7. Site Trunking means that the _____ has gone down and I will need to switch to a Site Trunked Talkgroup. Ex; Fire 2 * on B Bank a) Zone Controller b) Radar c) Satellite

8. How many Talkgroup banks does the MTS 2000 radio have in our department’s configuration? a) 36 b) 45 c) 48

9. The difference between a Repeated and Trunked Repeated system is? a) range of communications b) capacity of communications Trunked repeated uses pairs of frequencies

10. If my radio goes into Fail-soft or Site Trunking, I should. a) hurl the radio as far as humanly possible! b) call B.C. Moeller and give him the what for! c) Switch to ST ( * )talkgroups on Bank “B”

11. During Site Trunking, My EMER button will work as normal? a) False b) True

12. During Site Trunking, all Talkgroup Patches and Merges are lost? a) False b) True

13. During Site Trunking, all Talkgroup Patches and Merges are lost? a) False b) True

14. OPS 1, 2, and 3 talkgroups are only monitored when ?(not talking about recording) a) There is traffic on them. b) There is a working incident going on. c)When Valley Com is requested to monitor

15. The 800 Mhz Motorola MTS 2000 II radios cost approximately? a) $ b) $ c) $

16. If my radio gives me a Bonk tone, I should? a) wait a second and the radio will give me a di,di,dit talk permit tone b) replace my battery c) feed it.

1. When transmitting over the 800mhz system, the best way to be heard is to? a) speak closely and clearly into the microphone b) breath heavily into the microphone c) key the PTT button about a half second before talking d) both a and c

18. If my radio says “OUT OF RANGE” on the display. a) I won’t be able to transmit b) I can only reach the guy next to me c) I’m probably out of King County or below grade in a building. d) both a and c

19. Once I’ve logged my radio on to the CAD, should I swap it with someone else’s radio under normal circumstances? a) Yes b) No

20. If I have any questions concerning the 800 MHz radios I should? a) Refer to 800 manual on the “H” drive b) Give the Training Division a call c) Get my screwdriver out d) Guess e) Any of the above except for c and d

21. A downed Firefighter should first attempt to call for help on normal talkgroups before resorting to the EMER activation. a) True b)False

22. When transmitting with the radio, it is best to separate yourself from other radios, and or turn the other radios volumes down to avoid feedback a) True b) False