MDC emergency button - can it be decoded?

motor59 · Post by **motor59** » Wed Jan 28, 2004 9:37 pm

This question was posed to me by a member of the local VFD. I don't know the answer, but I'm guessing someone on the board does...

This department uses uhf conventional radios, and their portables are equipped with a functional emergency button. When pressed, it signals the base station radio. They'd like it to also signal the mobile radios in the Chief and Deputy Chief's vehicles, so that on-scene personnel would know there was a problem, without depending on the dispatcher to relay it.

I deal primarily with trunking, and on our systems the emergency button works very differently. By default, once that button is pushed, EVERYBODY knows it.

Also, FWIW, these guys have a variety of radios in the three vehicles. There's a spectra w/ an A9 head, an MCS2000 model III and a CDM1550 in use.

Somebody care to give me the 5 minute block of instruction on MDC emergency decoding?

Thanks!

John

Sundown · Post by **Sundown** » Thu Jan 29, 2004 1:42 am

The CDM1550 will decode non-trunking MDC emergency. But do you want it to?

The CDM will also generate the Emergency ACK packet (normally a good thing) if you program it to decode emergency, which means that if you have more than one device decoding emergency, there will be lots of ACKs flying around the place. It's also possible that the CDM in the truck will ACK the portable, stopping the portable's retransmission of the emergency data packet, and the dispatcher might not receive one at all if it missed the first.

So if you don't mind that, then go for it

Should be a case of just enabling Emergency Decode in the MDC System configuration in the CPS.

fubb26 · Post by **fubb26** » Thu Jan 29, 2004 9:33 am

i had the same question a few weeks ago and humhead was able to point me in the right direction here is the post
http://batboard.batlabs.com/viewtopic.p ... highlight=

motor59 · Post by **motor59** » Thu Jan 29, 2004 1:38 pm

Sundown wrote:The CDM1550 will decode non-trunking MDC emergency. But do you want it to?

The CDM will also generate the Emergency ACK packet (normally a good thing) if you program it to decode emergency, which means that if you have more than one device decoding emergency, there will be lots of ACKs flying around the place. It's also possible that the CDM in the truck will ACK the portable, stopping the portable's retransmission of the emergency data packet, and the dispatcher might not receive one at all if it missed the first.

So if you don't mind that, then go for it Should be a case of just enabling Emergency Decode in the MDC System configuration in the CPS.

I actually don't want it to ACK the emergency, just decode and display it.

I'm going to continue this in the thread that fubb26 referenced above. There seems to be part of the answer I'm looking for there. So if you'd like to comment or add an opinion, please do it there.

cfdeng3 · Post by **cfdeng3** » Thu Jan 29, 2004 3:43 pm

How do i set up my CDM 1550 to receive the emergency but not send back an ACK? I don't want to have the radio not get through ti FAO in an actual emergency. Currently it shows when people hit there emergency button.

Sundown · Post by **Sundown** » Fri Jan 30, 2004 8:18 am

I don't believe you can decode/display emergency status and not send the ACK with the CDMs...