Welcome

Course ObjectivesUpon completing this course, you will know how to:Identify the differences between the two portable radio models used in MCFRS.Ensure your radio is ready for use before beginning your shift.Change to appropriate talkgroups for incident and non-incident activity.Declare and emergency by radio and clear an accidental activation.Use the radio in a variety of atypical scenarios.

Course OutlineWe will covering the following today:Hardware BasicsShift ChangeBLS ScenariosBox Alarm ScenarioEmergency ButtonRadio CustomizationWhat-If ScenariosAssessment Test

Hardware Basics

Hardware Basics7000:Unit OfficersHazMat PersonnelChiefsCommand Staff6000:Everyone Else

Hardware BasicsTalkgroup SelectorOn/Off/VolumeMicScreenMenu Selection buttonsHome Programming KeypadScroll

Hardware Basics

Hardware Basics

Speaker Mic

Shift Change

Radio Display

Shift ChangeTo See the Percentage:Find the Batt menu option.Press the button below the Batt menu.Press the button below the Exit menu when you have finished.

Battery Release

Shift Change

Radio Etiquette

Radio EtiquetteWhen calling Montgomery:Identify your unit first, then add to Montgomery.Wait for a response, then think about what youre going to say before you say it.Press and hold your Push-to-Talk (PTT) button, wait for the acknowledge tone and then say what you need to say.

I just transported you the other day. This unit is still not a taxi.!!Washington Post Test

Jurisdiction Identification: COG

ZoneJurisdiction0DC1Arlington2Alexandria3Airport Authority4Fairfax5Prince William6Loudon7Montgomery8PG9Frederick

BLS Scenarios

BLS: A Basic Call for a Sick Person(Listen to the dispatch.)

BLS: A Basic Call for a Sick Person

BLS: A Basic Call for a Sick PersonTo Change Zones:Click the button for the Zone menu.Click the up or down arrow button as needed (down, in this case).Click the button for Sel(ect).

BLS: A Basic Call for a Sick PersonShady Grove Adventist Hospital (SGAH)

BLS: A Basic Call for a Sick Person

BLS: A Basic Call for a Sick Person

BLS: A Basic Call for a Sick Person

BLS: Using EMRC(Listen to the dispatch.)

BLS: Using EMRC

BLS: Using EMRCEMRC: Emergency Medical Resource Center (Baltimore)

EMRC is used to:Arrange a consultDetermine hospital status Do not ask ECCReach hospital personnel who arent responding

BLS: Using EMRC

BLS: Using EMRCHeres what you would say:

EMRC, EMRC, this is Montgomery [unit name/number], requesting a consult with [hospital name].

Once you and hospital personnel are on the same talkgroup, say:

I have a priority [#] patient with no medic on board. The patient has taken three rounds of nitro, per protocol, but his pain relief is short and he still ahs chest pain. Hes registered a 7 of 10 on the pain scale and Im requesting to give him more nitro until the medic arrives.

BLS: Using EMRC

BLS: Using EMRC

BLS: Hospital Page

BLS: Hospital PageTo Page a Hospital:Go to the hospitals designated talkgroup.Find and press the button below the Page menu.Press your PTT and wait for a response.Dont page unless you have a critical patient and you need orders or need

BLS: Hospital Page

EMRCHospital ZoneGet ordersGet consultsBe recordedGive arrival time estimates

Box Alarm Scenario

Scenario 3: Box Alarm(Listen to the dispatch.)

Scenario 3: Box Alarm

Scenario 3: Box Alarm

Incident Commander 7FScenario 3: Box Alarm

Emergency Button

Scenario 4A: Accidental Emergency ActivationEmergency Key PressedJuly 11, 2011 13:08:02

Unit: A702

Current Event: Unit is not currently assigned to an event.OK

Scenario 4A: Accidental Emergency ActivationCorrect ProcedurePress and hold the Emergency button until you see the word Emergency disappear from the radio screen.Contact ECC to report your accidental activation.

Scenario 4B: Real EmergencySignal 3

Danger from other peopleMayday

Danger from environment

Scenario 4B: Real Emergency

Scenario 4B: Real Emergency

EmergencyScenario 4B: Real Emergency

Emer RcvdNo NotificationNotificationScenario 4B: Real Emergency

Scenario 4B: Real EmergencyDont touch!Emer Rcvd

Radio Customization

Customization: Keypad Lock

Customization: MuteTo Mute the Keypad Tones:Click the right arrow button to change menus.Click the button beneath the Mute menu.

ScanScan enables you to:Pick up radio traffic on other talkgroupsHear any radio traffic on FDTA within a close radius (safety net)

What-If Scenarios

FDTAOne Mile

FDTAThere are four major points to note for FDTA:Dont try to call Montgomery.Remember that theres no emergency button.Scan FDTA. Maintain proper radio procedures.

FailsoftFailsoft Rules:Keep quiet unless you have something vitally important to say.Stay on the same talkgroup.Turn scan feature off. (Remember to turn it back on when out of failsoft.)

VHF

VHF

Special Event

VRS

VRS

VRS

VRS

VRS

Alternate TalkgroupA705 to Montgomery, Id like to speak with the EMS Duty Officer on an alternate talkgroup, please.

Out of Range

Out of Range

Border Incident Radio Use

ZoneJurisdiction0DC1Arlington2Alexandria3Airport Authority4Fairfax5Prince William6Loudon8PG9FrederickCRCarrollHOHoward

Police ActivityZoneScan

Police ActivityWhen listening to the Police zone:Remember that you cannot transmit.Continue to listen to Alpha (Dispatch).Wait for the all clear from FRS ECC if youre staging.

Assessment Test

*Welcome to the class, youre here for 800 MHz Intro and today well be talking about portable radios. My name is (your name), Im assigned to (station/shift/LFRD name) and with me today is (adjuncts name) form (station/shift/LFRD name).

This is a scenario-based class, in which well go through all of the basics you need to know to use the portable radios in the field. Its import to note that you should practice in the stations with your training officer or someone whos been around for a while. Well remind you at the end of a couple things you should avoid doing when practicing, but otherwise you want to feel comfortable enough with them to use the radios when you need to in the field.*(Cover the course objectives on the slide.)*(Cover the list of scenarios.)**Before we get into the scenarios, you have to know some things about the hardware. Firstly, there are two models: APX 6000 (show on the right) and APX 7000 (shown on the left). Heres a simple breakdown for now, as to whos using them:

The 7000 is used by all officers and that includes the A2 position, so it will be coming up sooner for you than you may think and has a slightly bigger screen. There are several important details as to how this model differs from the 6000, but well cover them in scenarios.

The 6000 is used by every other riding position.

(Although the antennas arent shown on this slide, please point out the obvious difference between the 7000 and 6000 antennas to the class, using the radios you have in the room. You should also point out the logo differences above the screens so they can identify which is a 6000 and which is a 7000 right away.)**So, your radio is currently on. Note two icons on the screen:

Signal strengthBattery strength

The signal strength indicator and battery icon work just like they do on your cell phone: The stronger the signal, the more bars youll see. The stronger the battery, the more battery stripes youll see.

*Standard operating procedure calls for you to charge the battery if it drops to 30%. Lets take a look at what your current percentage is.

Press the button below Battery. (Guide students through the action; no one should just sit back and watch.)

As you can see, we get a percentage right on screen so theres not much interpretation needed. Were still above 30%, but lets talk about how to change the battery anyway. *Turn the radio off, using the power/volume button on top.

Press the release buttons on the left and right of the radio (where the arrows are on this screen), then pull to separate the radio from the battery.

Here you can see the two parts separated. You would charge the battery as needed (again, at 30% or lower).

To put the new battery on, you would just align the two parts and press firmly until you hear a click.

Please click the battery to continue.

*Turn the radio back on (again, click the power button on the screen).

Ensure that your screen says 72A (you will use 7A for suppression units and 72A for EMS units). It does, so were ready for the first call of the day. Youll learn much more about the letter-number combinations and what they mean throughout the course.

One thing before we move on, though: MCFRS uses the International Phonetic Alphabet. (Distribute the Phonetic Alphabet handouts.)

Learn this on the radio, B sounds a lot like D, E, G and T (among others). Its important that we communicate effectively and that begins with only having to say something once.

(Poll the class see if anyone already knows the alphabet by heart and can spell fire or your first name using the phonetic alphabet. This interaction helps keep them interested.)*Before we move on, lets talk about how to talk on the radio.*(Highlight the bullets above and provide a few examples. It may be worth getting a few participants to practice without the radio or on FDTA just to get comfortable with knowing what to say in various common scenarios.)*Before we go on, theres one important thing you must remember and we call it the Washington Post Test. Never say anything on the radio that you wouldnt want to be quoted with your name in the Washington Post.

Examples range from patient confidentiality to inappropriate language.*MCFRS is part of the DC Council of Governments (COG).

Each jurisdiction has a specific number and each organizations apparatus uses the number for both radio use and units. Well talk more about this later, but heres a breakdown of the COG numbers.

**For our first call, we have a basic sick person.

We dispatch on Alpha and respond on Bravo. Time to change modes to Bravo.

Turn the mode selector one step to Bravo, located at the second position. Theres a mode selector on the radio base, too, but well leave that where it is. Best practice will call for you to use one or the other, not both. For this course, just click the mode selector the dial next to the arrow.

Another course youll take soon is called MDC its for the Mobile Data Computer on board the units. We use the MDC to tell ECC, the 911 center, when we arrive onscene and other statuses. If the MDC isnt working, then we tell ECC on Bravo.

Note that were using zone 7 here this refers to our COG designation, as we covered earlier.*You pick up the patient and now its time to go to Shade Grove Adventist Hospital. We need to tell hospital staff that were on the way. They have their own place on the radio. Heres the fleetmap the location of different frequencies we use in MCFRS.

The rows are called Zones and the columns are called Modes. The intersection of the two is called a Talkgroup. Shady Groves talkgroup is located at 79D.

Also, ignore the colors on the fleetmap theyre there for a reason but well talk about that later, too.

Please click the Shady Grove Hospital talkgroup 79 Delta to continue.

*First, we change to Zone 79, the hospital zone

Click the button below the Zone menu and then click the down arrow until you reach 79.Click the Sel(ect) button.*As you can see by this chart, Shady Grove (abbreviated S-G-A-H) is on the mode called Delta.*Before we go much farther, we still need to switch modes to Delta from Alpha.

Everyone, move to Delta and youll see Shady Grove on the screen.*The MDC is still working and we can tell ECC were Available on Radio that way, so well just manually switch back without saying anything on the air. Return first to Alpha, then change zones to 72*So, to recap, look what you just did:

You received the dispatch on 72 Alpha, went to Bravo for any necessary communication during the call. Once you picked up the patient, you needed to tell Shady Grove youre on the way, so you switched to the Hospital Zone on 79. From there, you moved over to Delta for Shady Grove.

Remember and this goes for all calls: When you clear from a call, youll do it on your operations talkgroup (Bravo, for example) and silently go back to Alpha. Do not contact ECC on Alpha to say youre available.

*Lets try another EMS scenario. Youve been dispatched for a sick person with chest pains and told to respond on Bravo. Everyone, switch to Bravo.

*You pick up the patient and start treatment. Things seem to get beyond your scope of knowledge and you have called for a medic unit. As youre prepping the patient for transport, he tells you that he has already taken two rounds of nitro and you give him a third. He seems better but it only lasts about five minutes. (Youll learn about this in your EMT class.) You need to know what to do from here. For that, we use EMRC.*EMRC stands for the Emergency Medical Resource Center in Baltimore. We contact them for the following:

Arrange a consult with a doctor at the hospital where youre currently headed, to discuss patient treatment Determine the availability/status of a hospitalReach hospital personnel who may not be responding to requests on 79

Note: Everything said on EMRC talkgroups is recorded and nothing is secure.*To do so, well stay on 72 but you should switch to Charlie.*Heres the breakdown of what you would say.

Notice that we say EMRC twice (and begin with it, as opposed to when we call Montgomery).*Change talkgroups once again, using the mode selector, and switch to 72D for the Consult 1 Talkgroup.*

OK, so were done with the call and now we go back to Alpha.*We have one more scenario and well talk about paging a hospital.

This time, youre dispatched and you pick up your patient. Hes in excruciating pain with the worst hangnail of his life and insists you take him to the hospital. Holy Cross is only a few miles away.

Switch to the Holy Cross talkgroup at 79 Alpha so you can contact hospital personnel to say youre on the way. *(Direct all students to put their radios down and remind them that, since the radios are live, that you will only talk about this.)

Note the directions on screen for paging a hospital.*We dont give out patient data on the hospital talkgroups thats reserved for consults via EMRC. Since EMRC is not secure, though, we dont want to say anything that could be tied back to patient identification.

No names, no specific addresses.

You may use important patient data vital signs, symptoms, etc. Again, though, only on consults never give patient data on the hospital zone.

OK, thats the end of this scenario.**Youre dispatched on a box alarm.

The first thing to note is that you should switch to the proper talkgroup where ECC tells you to go. *For this fire, ECC says you should respond on 7C.

Heres a breakdown of the various talkgroups used for Montgomery County incidents. EMS units start on zone 72 (the EMS zone) while Fire units start on zone 7. Notice that Charlie isnt the same on all three zones its an incident talkgroup on 7, a different incident talkgroup on 71 and EMRC on 72. The pink and purple colored bands represent different talkgroup blocks for different simultaneous incidents.

Although you can use Alpha, Bravo and a few other talkgroups as needed on any of the three zones, its important that you go to the appropriate talkgroup as directed. *Once youre there, the incident commander has three talkgroups to use to manage the incident. He or she will direct you where to go. As you can see, theyre all in the same colored band.

At the end of the colored band is the VRS channel for that talkgroup.

*Only the IC has the ability to announce to all talkgroups on an incident on 7F. This announcement will be broadcast over all zones in the talkblock.

*In the worst scenarios, the emergency button can be your lifeline.

There are two emergency buttons one on the radio base and one on the speaker mic. They both do the same thing.

There are two scenarios we should discuss:Accidental ActivationsEmergencies, covering both Signal 3 and Mayday

*Heres what appears on every monitor at ECC. As you can see, youll get some attention if you press the emergency button. In this case, we had an accidental activation.

*Dont touch the emergency button unless you really mean it. The EB is a serious thing.

(Call ECC by cell or land line 240.683.6520 and ask the supervisor to give you a talkgroup block for the next fifteen minutes so you can demonstrate use of the emergency button. Tell him/her that theres no need to do anything from the ECC side and that youll take care of everything, then call ECC back to say when youre finished.)

(Assign different people in the class to different talkgroups in your TG block. Pick a volunteer do press the EB and you should guide the student through the process from that point.)

Lets say this was an accidental activation. Heres how you deactivate the emergency:

Press and hold the button again for a few seconds until the word Emergency disappears from your screen.

Notify ECC to tell them you made an accidental activation. It happens from time to time and not many people will notice. If you had reversed the order, and contacted ECC before pressing the button, you would have sent emergency messages to every radio on the current talkgroup. That could be slightly embarrassing for you.

*Throughout your time with MCFRS, there may be times when you need to declare an emergency. There are two types of emergencies:Signal 3Mayday

A Signal 3 emergency reflects danger from external sources when you need to be secretive, such as when someone may have a gun nearby, a Mayday reflects danger in your environment such as the ceiling caving in around you. Please refer to the Mayday policy for more information. Here, though, lets talk about what happens within the technology.*Lets say youre on a call and its a pretty big one. ECC dispatched all units to 7C.

As you should infer from the pink band, Charlie through Foxtrot are all connected to the incident. ECC told you to go to Charlie but the incident commander can move you around from one talkgroup to another within the colored band while youre on the call.

For the purposes of our scenario, the incident commander told your unit to switch to Delta.*OK, so youve launched an emergency for one reason or another. Note the orange band on the radio screen.*ECC only monitors the first talkgroup in the colored band (in this case, 7C), so youll automatically switch over to Charlie. The Incident commander should tell other personnel who were on Charlie to go to another talkgroup.

When you press your PTT to talk with the Incident Commander and tell him/her what resources you need to survive, a message is sent automatically to everyone who was on your talkgroup (7D).

*Heres what some of the other radios look like on-scene.*This is a good time to tell you: If you ever see Emergency Received on your radio, dont think you accidentally launched an emergency and try to clear it. That would only launch another round of emergency notifications. When you see Emergency Received, you did nothing wrong. More importantly, you should not do anything regarding the emergency. Do whatever it is onscene youre supposed to be doing.

Those are the basics. Again, this is just the technology side of the equation. Consult your Essentials and EMT-B notes, as well as the Mayday policy, for the rest of the story. **If youre concerned you may accidentally change zones or press another navigation button, simply lock your keypad. To do so, youll slide the keypad lock left to right.

Once your keypad is locked, youll hear a tone anytime you try to push one of the navigation buttons.

(Have students lock their keypads and try to press buttons, then have student unlock their keypads again.)*You also have the ability to mute the tones that come from pressing buttons. Press the arrow button to change menus until you find Mute.

Click the button below the word Mute.

I wouldnt recommend muting your tones, though, because you want to know if you have accidentally started changing zones.*(Explain scanning and how to turn it on/off. Note the Z icon on the screen as you do.)

(Cover the bullet items.)

(Finally, explain that MCFRS SOP is to keep scan on for safetys sake, but there are times when we need to turn scan off: Failsoft, Howard County calls, etc.)*Now that youve learned some of the basics, there are several What-If scenarios to consider.

FDTA, or Fire Department Talk-AroundFailsoftVHF for use of the dual band frequenciesSpecial EventsVRS, or Vehicular Repeater SystemAlternate TalkgroupOut of RangeBorder radio usePolice activity*Although the radios have great range, the signal strength drops considerably in high rises, basements and anywhere near the Potomac river. There will be times you need to communicate with your partner and other personnel onscene even when you cannot reach the tower. For this, we have Fire Department Talk-Around (FDTA). The specific location is Oscar on 7, 71 and 72.

(Advise students that theyre all the same, so it doesnt matter which of the three zones they choose.)

FDTA is line-of-sight and covers about a mile on flat land. If one of you is below ground and another several levels up, the distance drops a bit. Consider your radio a very expensive walkie-talkie at this point.*There are four major points to note for FDTA.

(Cover the info on the slide.)*In the event that we have major computer problems with the radio system, but the whole system doesnt go down, well go into Failsoft mode. For those of you who are technophiles, this is very similar to Windows Safe Mode.

Youll know were in Failsoft mode if you see the word Failsoft on your radio screen. When we go into Failsoft, we revert to a fairly simple system with fairly simple rules:

There are only a handful of channels, so people could easily talk over one another. Unless you have something vitally important to say, keep quiet.

Dont change to another talkgroup. If you are on an incident and we recover the system, no one will know where you are on the radio fleetmap if you have changed talkgroups.

In short, treat failsoft like condition red.

*If Failsoft is similar to Windows Safe Mode, VHF is like going back to walkie talkies.

The model 7000 has a dual-band setup with both 800 MHz and VHF so that we have a functional safety net in the unlikely circumstance that the whole system could die on us. It takes us back to a setup similar to what we used before 2003, but it still works.

*Heres how it would work:

Anyone with a Model 7000 radio would change zones to 7V (the VHF Zone). Anyone with a Model 6000 radio would switch to FDTA on Oscar.A dispatch would come to the Model 7000 on Alpha. The officer would respond on Bravo and then relay information on Oscar.

Because Papa is also an Operations channel in VHF, the officer would relay info back and forth between Oscar (to personnel onscene) and Papa (to ECC).*We have a few special events throughout the year, such as the golf tournament and the fair.

If youre dispatched to a special event, youll likely use one of several dedicated special event talkgroups. These are found on Zone *J Alpha through Foxtrot.

On the screen, youll see that theres also an announce talkgroup on Golf to cover all six talkgroups in case of a major announcement. *You have been dispatched on a box alarm and are currently out of range, unable to hit the tower and communicate on the incident talkgroup, 7C. Once you discovered your inability to communicate, you switched to 7O, Fire Department Talk-Around.

When the Battalion Chief arrived, he announced on Oscar that all personnel on Oscar could switch to Foxtrot or November. *Heres what happened:

Again, the incident was dispatched on Charlie. When you were on Oscar, the people on Charlie could hear you (because they were scanning Oscar) but you couldnt hear them on Charlie. When you moved to Foxtrot or November, you began using whats called the Vehicular Repeater System, or VRS.*The way the VRS works is this: When you cant reach the tower, the Battalion Chief brings the tower to you. Theres a repeater in the battalion buggy, which effectively relays the information to the tower from your conventional channel.*With the VRS is play, youre pretending to be on the main incident talkgroup via the battalion buggy. In contrast to when you were on Oscar, now you can talk with the others on the main incident talkgroup.

*One thing to note: Since youre relaying to the tower via the battalion buggy, the same would happen if you pressed your emergency button. If you press the emergency button while on the VRS, ECC will know that it has been pressed, except the folks there will think its coming from the battalion buggy. The Battalion Chief will check the ID on the VRS and see your radio ID.

*There will be times when you need to speak with the Battalion Chief, the EMS Duty Officer or personnel on another unit. For these occasions, we have what are commonly called the Alternate Talkgroups.

Step 1: Contact ECC and ask for an alternative talkgroup to speak with the EMS Duty Officer. Step 2: Wait for ECC to tell you which talkgroup to use, then go where youre directed. Step 3: Announce your unit when you get to the talkgroup, in case the other person is waiting for you.

*Despite the presence of several towers around the county, there are times you just cant reach the tower. Your radio wont work and you learned about this when you learned about Oscar for Fire Department Talk Around.

What you havent heard yet, though, is how the radio responds. Lets say youre in Cabin John and you are playing with the radio, wanting to hear about activity on a Howard County Operations talkgroup.

(Direct all students to switch to Howard County Ops. It should be out of range. Otherwise, pick a talkgroup that you know is out of range.)*Notice the red band. Theres also a faint red glow behind the buttons and on the smaller screens.

To stop the tone, simply change zones. *As you can see from the fleetmap below, we have separate zones for individual counties.

Were only showing Alpha through Charlie here, but most have talkgroups all the way out to Papa.*Its Saturday night and the Montgomery County Procrastinators Club is having its weekly Tuesday down the street from Station 3 in Rockville. As you and your partner theorize about the how exactly that works, you hear gunshots from that general direction.

Nothing is coming over the radio, so you decide to listen to police activity to be prepared in case a call is coming your way.

Using the radio on screen, switch to zone P7.

(Advise students to remember P is for Police).*Rockville (district 1) is on Alpha, so youre good to go. There are three important things to remember about listening to the police zone.*