Background to the RFS Radio System

Background to the RFS Radio System.

Return

Why Rural Brigades exists:

The basic reason for existence of a rural brigade is that the people in the Rural Areas do not appreciate uncontrolled fires that burn their grass (read - stock feed) and that may also burn their homes and equipment sheds.

Therefore they form a `volunteer' local brigade to deal with such threats. Their prime occupation remains as farmers, laborers, shop assistants; etc. Firefighting is thus done as a volunteer service to the community.

Communications Requirement:

Their requirement is relatively straightforward.

They require a transceiver in the Firetruck to –

----# Communicate - to/from their base.
----# Communicate - to/from the bloke (with a handheld) at the end of the hose.: ----(he could be 50 metres down the hill in thick vegetation).
----# Communicate - to/from Firecom.

Brigade Channels.

Each brigade is allocated a simplex fireground channel. There are 12 channels in the bandplan and these were allocated such that others using the same channel are approximately 30 Km or more away.
Although this appears a relatively small number of channels, the fact is that not all brigades have a fire at the same time and thus the interference is minimal.
If brigades are observing proper radio procedures e.g. using callsigns such as Maleny base, Maleny 2 etc. then there should not be any problems.
Additionally, brigades not currently attending a fire, should not be using a fireground channel – they should be conducting their liaison or chatter on the local repeater or consider using one of the channels 1 to 8 on a simplex basis.
(Note that Ch.1 to 8 are emergency repeater channels that are to be used in a major fire; thus at other times they may be used, in the simplex mode, for brigade and group liaison.)(refer to the tech. section on how to change the channel to simplex)

Firecom Repeaters & Links.

The QFRA have established centres to provide a central communications facility in each region. Their major purpose in life is to receive ‘000’ calls and dispatch a Fire Appliance to the incident. The rural brigades are usually notified by pager or telephone.
Some of a Firecom’s other duties are to keep track of the whereabouts and activity of both Urban & Rural Appliances, and to summon extra help when brigades, at a fire, request such.

To enable the above, QFRA have established a number of repeaters throughout their regions & these are linked back to the Firecom centre. Many of these repeater/link sites have both UHF (for the red trucks) and VHF (for the yellow trucks).

Some of the rural trucks do have UHF radios as well as their VHF radio and some of the urban vehicles, in the rural areas, are also fitted with VHF radios. This is great for intercommunication when both are at the same fire.

NB: Note that our reference to UHF means the Commercial UHF band 450 MHz to 470 MHz and not the UHF CB band. However, some of the UHF transceivers do have a few of the UHF CB channels plus the SES channels programmed; BUT, we do not normally listen there unless we are aware that vehicles so fitted are assisting by carrying out a non-combatant role.

Area Repeaters.

The RFS have recently established repeaters that are NOT linked to Firecom.
These should be used for liaison between brigades, group/brigade liaison and as communication in a large fire from the IMT to sector leaders.
They should not be used as fireground channels unless the topography is such as to prevent communication between units and base.

Why VHF ?

The RFS use frequencies in what is normally called mid-band VHF, being the commercial band 70 to 85 MHz.
The VHF frequencies were chosen many years ago, when VHF frequencies were easy to obtain and UHF was little used.
The choice has proven to be the best for the enviroment in which the RFS operates.

UHF tends to be absorbed by foliage, thus the VHF which penetrates further is more suited to RFS usage.
In mountainous country, the VHF usually gives a more reliable signal than UHF.
The Forestry and NPWS, who have a common interest with us in controlling bushfires, use frequencies in the same band, thus inter-communication with them is easily achieved by us placing some of their frequencies in our transceivers and they placing some of our frequencies in their transceivers.

Thus the RFS is well served by using VHF frequencies.