Drill Manual - Communications Flashcards
Due to the large size of the City of San Diego, the fire communications center has divided the city into ____ distinct geographical zones.
four
_________ channels are not used by dispatchers to communicate with units in the field.
Tactical
The Kenwood TK-790 Mobile and Bendix King portable radios are examples of ___________ frequency, or VHF, communications systems
very high
The Motorola XTS 5000 is an 800 MHz frequency radio and thus falls into the ___ category?
UHF
The State of California, through FIRESCOPE, has made the ___ radio the industry standard�
VHF
VHF radios are ideal for communicating over _____________?
long distances
Direct” mode simply describes a signal transmitted directly from one radio to another, without the use of a _____?
repeater
A ___________ is an automatic radio-relay station, usually located on a mountain top, tall building, or radio tower,
repeater
____________ is a feature that allows the user to manually overide a channel that has been pre-programmed to use a repeater in order to use the direct mode
Talk around
_____________________ Mode has currently been disabled from the Bendix King GPH portable radio, but is available on the Kenwood Mobile Radio.
talk around / direct
A talk group consists of __ channels (__ channels in some newer radios) bundled to- gether, typically by organization or function
16 channels
20 channels in newer radios
channels in group __ are the most common VHF channels likely to be used by SDFD�
channel 1
Channels in group __ are the most common VHF chan- nels likely to be used during an initial attack on a strike team within San Diego County.
group 2
To prevent hearing unwanted radio traffic from another agency using the same frequency, _____ are used.
tones
_________ are a type of password to access a radio antenna repeater,
Tones
Channel Guard in the __ position may pre- vent you from hearing important radio transmissions�
ON
Channel guard is a feature on the radio which uses _____ to prevent unwanted radio transmissions from entering your radio?
tones
it is SDFD policy to not use __ on any Initial Attack period of a fire.
Channel Guard “CG”
VHF Radio Scanning
Individual users can program their own scan lists for any channel within a talk group (you cannot scan ________)?
multiple groups
Commonly Used VHF Channels?
SDFD Back-Up Channels
Air Guard - Emergency Channel
Air/Ground - Air to ground is used for communicating with aircraft
CESRS - Travel Channel
The most commonly used Bendix King portable radio has ___ different groups each with __ channels, for a total of __ channels, however, future radios may allot for additional groups and channels.
15 groups
16 channels
total of 240 channels
VHF - narrowband or wide band compatible?
narrowband
Bendix King
The regular antenna is the standard-issue antenna and provides up to ____ watts of transmission power�
three
Whip Antenna Connection
This accessory is issued to units that respond to wildland areas that need to communicate over greater distances. The whip antenna provides up to ____ watts of transmission power?
five watts
Transmit/Low Batter Indicator - Bendix
The Transmit/Low Battery Indicator features a ___ light that illuminates when transmitting and remains lit when the battery is low
red light
Scan Toggle - Bendix
The ON position is when the toggle is switched ________ the user? The OFF position is when the toggle is switched _____ the user?
away from “ON”
toward is “OFF”
What toggle is currently disabled on the bendix?
Hi / Low
What position are the toggles in on the Bendix if it is OFF/NORMAL?
all forward
Crews should monitor what channels with the Bendix while on a strike team?
- assigned division tactical channel (priority channel)
- Branch
- IC
- air to ground channels
To continue scanning the scan list without giving priority to any particular channel, simply ________________________?
turn the priority switch to off.
When programming the VHF radios, the Hi/Lo toggle, scan and priority toggles should be in the __ position away from the antenna and squelch
off
Bendix Radio:
Before starting normal operations it is critical to _____________ to prohibit inadvertently changing any of the selected groups or tones?
lock the keypad
To lock the key pad, simply turn the scan, priority or both features ___?
ON
The Priority LED is a light that illuminates when the priority function is __?
ON
In order to properly set the squelch, turn the squelch knob on _________ until it reaches the point at which white noise is heard?
clockwise
In order to utilize this function, push the PPT button, wait ___ second, then relay the necessary radio traffic
one
The Transmitter Indicator glows ___ when the PTT button engages the trans- mitter.
red
Priority/Busy/Low Battery Indicator, _____________ when the battery is low, or is ______________ if the radio is receiving a signal (either on the selected channel or on the priority channel)�
Flashes yellow
Steady yellow
Crews should rotate the batteries every _____ when not in continuous use.
month
To remove the clamshell, turn the radio off, press the metal tab on the side, twist the battery ___ turn in either direction, and remove the clamshell
1/4 inch
Bendix Radio:
Do not remove the installed ____ as it will over-volt and damage the radio.
Spacer
The spacer is there to ensure the radio operates at 12 volts , __ “AA” batteries together add up to 12 volts�
9 “AA” batteries
True or False:
An increase of channels in the scan list results in a decrease of battery life?
True
To confirm that the correct group was entered on the radio?
turn off and then back on. it will be displayed within the first second
Kenwood
this radio is capable of scanning up to __ channels at one time, however it’s not able to _______________.
16
Can’t scan across multiple groups
Kenwood:
This radio has the capability of ___ levels of Priority Scanning
two
800 MHz Radios:
The City of San Diego uses ________________ radios as the primary means of 2-way radio communication on
UHF
What’s the difference between “talk groups” and “groups”?
Talk Groups = 800 MHz Radios
Groups = VHF System
Because the 800 MHz system is _________, “ADMIN 7A” will actually be any available frequency the computer selects between 856 and 862 MHz?
trunked
Motorola XTL 5000 – Mobile Radio
It can scan up to __ channels at a time within each 800 MHz system�
16
Radio Traffic (Message) Modes
Administrative traffic
Incident traffic
Priority traffic
Emergency traffic
Each employee is required to maintain a personal telephone. Any change of address or telephone number must be _____________to payroll and changed in the Staff Management section of their Telestaff account within 24 hours following the change.
faxed on a FD-7
Horn Signals:
3 Long & continuous horn blasts
IMMEDIATELY EVACUATE THE STRUCTURE OR IDLH AREA
OATH (Signals)
O = OK
1 Tug/Flash/Tap indicates all is OK
A = Advance
2 Tugs/Flashes/Taps tells the other person to advance the retrieval line
T = Take Up
3 Tugs/Flashes/Taps tells the other person that the line needs to be taken up
H = Help
4 Tugs/Flashes/Taps tells the other person they they need help
What’s a PSAP?
Public Safety Answering Point
- when someone dials 911 its the first Point Of Contact they have. All Law Enforcement agencies are PSAP
If the transmit LED does not glow and a tone is heard, the channel selected is “_______ only” and the user cannot transmit messages out on this channel.
receive
Typically, when a fire crew responds to a multi-agency wildland fire, the crew will have to program, or clone their VHF portable radios to the communications plan of that incident. Group __ is reserved for this purpose in the Bendix King.
15
Kenwood TK-790 Radio Display Features:
© means what?
Shows Command group is currently selected
Kenwood TK-790 Radio Display Features:
OST means what?
Indicates that an Operator Selected Tone has been inputted
Kenwood TK-790 Radio Display Features
How can you tell what “tone” you are using?
top upper left corner
The Kenwood Model TK-790:
How many channels?
254 channels
Kenwood TK-790 Moble radio:
How many repeater tones are there?
16 repeater tones
Kenwood TK-790 Moble Radio:
The 254 channels are divided into how many groups?
20 plus groups
Kenwood TK-790 Moble Radio:
How many different groups does this radio contain?
20 plus groups and (1) command group
What’s the RCIP?
Regional CAD Inoperability Program
- it allows all the communication centers to share information such as “AVL” and data
How many “beeps” are heard when a structure fire is being dispatched?
three
_______ is an electric circuit built into the radio that enables the user to control thesensitivityoftheradio’sreceiver
Squelch
