Equipment - Communications Equipment

South Australian Government Radio Networks

Radios

GRN Radios are used for long-distance communications between command sectors, for example, Aldgate 12 to Adelaide Fire on GRN124 to advise response to an incident, then Aldgate 12 to provide a SITREP to Aldgate Station on GRN136. The CFS currently uses fixed Motorola MCS 2000 and portable Motorola MTS 2000 analog radios. A digital upgrade is likely within the next few years, when the current Motorola/Telstra contract ends.
SAGRN operates on 132.550MHz state-wide, with computer "tunking" distributing calls to "talkgroups", which assigned to to different departments, from Adelaide Airport, SAPOL, SAAS, MFS/CFS and so on. Within the CFS talk-groups are referred to as "GRN136". They may also be referred to as "Talk-Group-136" or "TG136".

When responding to an incident, Adelaide Fire must be advised within four minutes, by phone or radio. The simplest method is to radio in as the appliance is mobile. To do so, on GRN124, radio "Adelaide Fire, Aldgate 12 responding to incident 052 over...". If there is no response after 30 seconds, repeat the message.

Talkgroups that Aldgate CFS may operate on:

• GRN108 - Mount Lofty Air Ops
• GRN124 - CFS Region 1 / Adelaide Fire (State HQ) - Used to advise response to an incident.
• GRN126 - East Torrens CFS Group (For comms with Piccadilly CFS, Upper Sturt CFS, etc.)
• GRN128 - Heysen CFS Group
• GRN134 - Mawson CFS Group
• GRN136 - Mt Lofty CFS Group
• GRN137 - Mt Lofty CFS Group (Secondary)

For training in the use of GRN, see Training: GRN. For more information on GRN, visit SA Scan.

Pagers

The MFS/CFS use direct GRN (148.8125MHz) InfoPaging. A pager is supplied to every member, allowing them to recieve alerts, which usually come from Adelaide Fire, but may also be generated from Aldgate Station, or from Info.

An example Adelaide Fire response message:

MFS: *CFSRES INC020 11/07/09 06:08, RESPOND Tree Down,STRATHALBYN RD,MYLOR MAP 158 F 16 TG136,P1- FRED 0412345678. TREE BLOCKING THE, RD 1/2 WAY BETWEEN MYLOR & ALDGATE,MTB020 MYLR00 ALDG00

MFS: - where the communications originated from. In this case, MFS: - Adelaide Fire. Can also be ALDG: - Aldgate Station, or missing - InfoPaging.
*CFSRES - required to set the pager to alert tone.
INC020 - Automatically generated daily incident number.
11/07/09 06:08 - Date and time page was generated.
RESPOND Tree Down - Type of incident.
STRATHALBYN RD,MYLOR - Location.
MAP 158 F 16 - UBD map reference.
TG136 - Initial GRN talk-group.
FRED 0412345678 - Caller details, if supplied.
TREE BLOCKING THE, RD 1/2 WAY BETWEEN MYLOR & ALDGATE - Any additional information.
MTB020 MYLR00 ALDG00 - Station codes for responding resources, the first CFS Brigade is the Primary Responder. In this case, MTB020 - Mt Barker SES, MYLR00 - Mylor Station, Primary Response, ALDG00 - Aldgate Station, Secondary Response.

SAGRN paging can be monitored by anyone with an appropriate scanner, and an online scan is available in Appendix: Paging (courtesy of SA Pager Monitoring).

Very High Frequency Radios

VHF Radios are used for short-distance communication within the Fireground, for example, appliance to appliance, appliance to/from OIC, firefighter to/from firefighter, and so on.
Mt Lofty Group operates on the channels VHF067 (Primary, 161.0250MHz), VHF068 (Secondary, 161.1625) and VHF069 (Tertiary, 161.2000). VHF channels may also be referred to as "Fireground" channels to emphasis their intended application. For example, "Fire-Ground-067" or "FG067".