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Posts Tagged Chicago begins transition to digital radios

Chicago Fire Department moves to digital radios – more

Dec 1

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | 1 Comment

This from Chris R:

HELLO CHRIS

… A PAGE FROM THE CFD RADIO  TRAINING CLASS HANDOUT

PAY ATTENTION TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE FOR THE COLOR CODE KEY TO THE ANALOG,DIGITAL,SIMPLEX OPERATION. REMEMBER DIGITAL CHANNELS HAVE A NAC CODE,ANALOG CHANNELS HAVE A PL CODE.

THIS SYSTEM IS A DIGITAL UHF P25, AND REPEATED ANALOG, AND SIMPLEX ANALOG NON REPEATED ANALOG SYSTEM NOT A P25 TRUNKED DIGITAL SYSTEM.

AND THE O’HARE 800 MHZ CFD TRUNKED SYSTEM WILL BE GONE SOMETIME IN 2013,ALL CFD FIRE APPARATUS WILL BE ON THIS UHF SYSTEM, THIS WAS IN THE POWER POINT PRESENTATION FOR THE CLASS.

THERE WILL BE NO RADIOS INSTALLED IN THE FIRE APPARATUS TILL AFTER THE FIRST OF THE YEAR ALL RADIO COMMS ARE BY HT RADIOS AND THE COMMS TO NIFERN OR MUITIAL AID ARE BY COMMAND PERSONNEL RADIOS ONLY THE REGULAR FIREFIGHTERS RADIOS ARE PROGRAMMED BY THIS ATTACHED PAGE NO IDEA ABOUT COMMAND RADIOS YET.

Chicago Fire Department digital radio programming

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Chicago Fire Department switches to digital

Nov 14

Posted by Admin in Fire Department History, Fire Department News | 2 Comments

This from several readers:

ATTENTION : The Chicago Fire Department Main Fire and Englewood fire channels will be switching once again from analog to digital, this time permanently, on Sunday November 18th 2012. If you would like to continue listening and you do not want to buy a digital scanner, you can always go to RadioReference.com, it is a 30 second to 1 minute delay, but it is better than buying a digital scanner.

 

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CFD to test digital radio system

Oct 13

Posted by bgshap in Fire Service News | 2 Comments

Subject: (CARMA) CHICAGO FIRE DIGITAL TEST

 

Chicago Fire Department
CFD CONDUCTS FULL SCALE TEST OF IMPROVED RADIO SYSTEM
On October 14th at 8 a.m., the Chicago Fire Department will switch its Fire and Rescue dispatch from the current analog VHF radio platform to the new UHF Digital radio system for a multi-day full scale test.
The infrastructure for the new system is already in operation for the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) division and is working well. During the test period, VHF channels traditionally used for North and South dispatch, (i.e. Main and Englewood) will be silent.
At the end of the test period, dispatch operations will revert to the analog system until the permanent switchover, before the end of the year.
Persons with interest in monitoring CFD communications should plan to replace analog radios with units designed for APCO P25 Digital UHF radio protocol as soon as possible. No VHF simulcast overlap operation will take place after the permanent switchover or during the interim test. When in Digital mode, “Main” will operate on 477.7875 MHz and “Englewood” will operate on 478.2125 MHz.
During the test period low power fireground operations will remain on VHF.

 

 

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New radio system for CFD

Sep 17

Posted by bgshap in Fire Service News | 1 Comment

Though many do not welcome the introduction of a new radio system for the CFD … the inevitable nears:

 In the next few weeks, the Chicago Fire Department expects to begin using a state of the art communications system that’s been years in development.

As WBBM Newsradio’s Bernie Tafoya reports, Fire Commissioner Jose Santiago describes the new system as the Cadillac of radios. He says the new $20 million-plus system addresses many of the problems that faced the New York City Fire Department on Sept. 11, 2001.

“For the first time, we’ll be able to talk to each other. For the first time, we’ll be able to talk to the police. For the first time, we’ll be able to talk to (the Office of Emergency Management and Communication.) We can even be talking to a crossing guard,” Santiago said.

And, for the first time, every Chicago firefighter will carry a two-way radio. A federal report concluded the lack of individual radios was a factor in the deaths of two Chicago firefighters – Edward Stringer and Corey Ankum – in a blaze at a South Side Laundromat in December 2010.

The entire CBS Chicago article can be found HERE.

thanks Chris

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Chicago FD begins transition to digital radios

Apr 17

Posted by bgshap in Fire Service News | 6 Comments

Chris Ranck submitted information about the frequencies for the new CFD digital radio system.

The frequencies are UHF digital, so a digital scanner is needed. (I have a Radio Shack PRO 106, which needs to be set as a P25 digital talkgroup). 

The frequencies are:

  • citywide fire 476.6875
  • CFD EMS main 477.5125
  • CFD fire main 477.78750
  • Chicago OEMC 477.9875
  • CFD fire Englewood 478. 2125
  • CFD EMS Englewood 478.4625

I read that one bank of the scanner should only have digital frequencies.

There are several analog UHF frequencies.

  • CFD admin 462.9750
  • CFD fireground 458.0250
  • CFD EMS command 458. 1750
  • CFD command 458.1250
  • CFD fire tac 470.1625
  • CFD ops 8 476.2875
  • CFD ops 9 479.2875
  • CFD ops 10 477.6625
  • CFD ops 11 480.6625
  • CFD utilities 458.0750
  • CFD events 1 478.5000
  • CFD events 2 481. 5000
  • CFD CTA fire 460.0625

There are some other general city frequencies which can be found on either wwwradioreference.com or wwwchichagocarma.com. I hope this helps.

 

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Chicago FD begins transition to digital radios

Apr 16

Posted by bgshap in Fire Service News | 4 Comments

An article on the CBS Chicago website mentions the CFD has begun the transition to digital radios, beginning with EMS.

After six years of testing – and spending more than $20 million – the Chicago Fire Department has finally started to go digital.

The switchover from analog to digital radios began Sunday at 8 a.m., with EMS paramedics getting the new radios.

“The fire department has been testing the system, along with OEMC (the Office of Emergency Management and Communications), and the Fire Department at this time is satisfied with the performance of the system, and we are ready to go live,” Langford said.

Langford says firefighters will start training with the digital radios in June and will switch to digital before the end of the year.

“Every person on the rig will have a radio,” Langford says. That will be a first for the Fire Department – where everyone has a radio.

Langford says the department will keep the option to switch back to analog, if necessary.

The article can be found HERE.

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