Fallon Ambulance

[garys]

The ambulance company formerly known as Fallon appears to have migrated off of their VHF system. Over an hour of listening today, I heard only one call from dispatch to an ambulance and that was unanswered by the unit.

They have probably moved to a LTE system as opposed to the Bearcom/RDC system. The rest of Coastal may be following them, but as of now the trunk remains very active.

More listening is in order to be 100% sure that they are gone, but midweek a private ambulance service should be very busy with radio traffic.

[ecps92]

I would check your settings, just tuned in and there is VHF (former Fallon FCC License) activity

The ambulance company formerly known as Fallon appears to have migrated off of their VHF system. Over an hour of listening today, I heard only one call from dispatch to an ambulance and that was unanswered by the unit.

They have probably moved to a LTE system as opposed to the Bearcom/RDC system. The rest of Coastal may be following them, but as of now the trunk remains very active.

More listening is in order to be 100% sure that they are gone, but midweek a private ambulance service should be very busy with radio traffic.

[garys]

My settings are fine and haven't changed in 100 years. I'll sit on their Channel 1 for a while, but after all these years of listening to them I have a pretty good idea of their traffic volume during the day. Even their BLS transfer channel was dead.

Between Brookline, Dedham, and Newton they should be fairly busy unless they've moved them over to the RDC System. I'm going to listen there as well, but there would likely be coverage issues out in the western suburbs.

I would check your settings, just tuned in and there is VHF (former Fallon FCC License) activity

[ScanBoston]

I'm sure you know this but they are Costal now. The units for the city of newton are dispatched on Newton Fire.

[garys]

Yep, I know that. All of their contracts, Dedham, Milton, Brookline, Newton do that. That still doesn't explain no company traffic on the Fallon channels. 153.5750 is their "Emergency" channel. Mostly ALS dispatch for calls to contract facilities.

I've been running all of their channels at home for about two hours using Pro Scan with logging. Nothing at all. On a normal day, they'd be doing dialysis runs, returns from clinics, nursing home "emergency" calls. There would be some radio traffic.

I'm sure you know this but they are Costal now. The units for the city of newton are dispatched on Newton Fire.

[ScanBoston]

Understood. If I see any Newton units near the house here I'll try to inquire.

[garys]

The guy I know who works there is on medical leave and may not go back on a truck. Otherwise I'd ask him.

The other thing I'm going to do is listen on the Bearcom/RDC trunk and try to determine if traffic there is at normal volume.

Understood. If I see any Newton units near the house here I'll try to inquire.

[cuworc]

Transformative/Fallon ambulances had been operating in Worcester on 151.550R (110.9) as I reported here in 2022, but the Coastal ambulances that replaced them are not. As with garys, I heard one unanswered call this afternoon and no other traffic on the repeater. When it was in use there was plenty of local activity, and the dispatcher would often simulcast on 151.550R and 153.650R (151.4) in the Boston area.

[ecps92]

Fallon was not on 161.2200 for even close to 100 yrs

Again, I would check your settings, within a few minutes of your post, I went into VHF 150-162 Search and heard Dispatch as well as Units on 3 different former Fallon channels.
153.6500 R 151.4
153.1550 R 107.2
151.5500 R 110,9

My settings are fine and haven't changed in 100 years. I'll sit on their Channel 1 for a while, but after all these years of listening to them I have a pretty good idea of their traffic volume during the day. Even their BLS transfer channel was dead.

Between Brookline, Dedham, and Newton they should be fairly busy unless they've moved them over to the RDC System. I'm going to listen there as well, but there would likely be coverage issues out in the western suburbs.

[garys]

Pro scan logging shows a total of 17 seconds on 153.650 since 19:00 last night. I'll leave he 536HP on the Fallon frequencies through today and see what it picks up.

It should be very busy right now especially on the BLS and chair car channels.

Fallon was not on 161.2200 for even close to 100 yrs

Again, I would check your settings, within a few minutes of your post, I went into VHF 150-162 Search and heard Dispatch as well as Units on 3 different former Fallon channels.
153.6500 R 151.4
153.1550 R 107.2
151.5500 R 110,9

[garys]

As of today the only channel with traffic is 153.5750 PL 151.4 Channel 3 "Chair Cars." Every other channel continues to be silent.

[astro]

Fallon was acquired by Transformative and then Transformative sold their EMS division to Coastal Medical Transport Services (CMTS). CMTS is using a lot of PoC LTE radios for communications it seems so I wouldn't be shocked if they are transitioning. You may also want to see if any Coastal channels from the south shore are active up here as well. Almost every city/town that has an EMS contract with an EMS provider typically dispatches their contractor via their public safety channels. There are some exceptions (as always) but for the most part I have found that the contracted ambulances are more often than not dispatched by the entity that contracted w/them.

[garys]

For Fallon/Coastal the only VHF channel active was the Chair Car channel. There were a couple of random calls on other channels by dispatch, but those appear to be someone who forgot to use the new system. At the same time I was running the Brockton site of the Bearcom/RDC UHF NXDN trunk where Coastal has operated pretty much from the start. The only activity was "Dispatch 2" talking with a variety of "Transit xx" units. None of the ambulances were active, only what I am guessing are chair cars.

Both of those changes seem to have taken place in the past several days. I expect that the chair cars will move over at some point, but the ambulances are more of a priority.

It seems that the days of dispatchers for contract agencies calling the private service on the phone and then the private service dispatching the ambulance are waning. Brockton FD pretty much treats Brewster units in the city as FD units. I think Quincy PD does the same. Not sure about Milton or Dedham and I'll have to listen a bit more closely when I'm out in the Metro West area to see what Brookline and Newton are doing.

Fallon was acquired by Transformative and then Transformative sold their EMS division to Coastal Medical Transport Services (CMTS). CMTS is using a lot of PoC LTE radios for communications it seems so I wouldn't be shocked if they are transitioning. You may also want to see if any Coastal channels from the south shore are active up here as well. Almost every city/town that has an EMS contract with an EMS provider typically dispatches their contractor via their public safety channels. There are some exceptions (as always) but for the most part I have found that the contracted ambulances are more often than not dispatched by the entity that contracted w/them.

[Citywide 173]

Yes, the contract cities usually dispatch them, but the long standing practice is for the responding unit to notify their dispatch of where they are going. NEMSIS/MATRIS tracking through the ePCR software would have to be entered through the company CAD and I don't see the cities and towns willing to take on that responsibility.

My guess would be PoC as well. I snuck a peek inside a Brewster truck the other day and confirmed both a UHF and PoC unit mounted in the front. With the availability and near-unlimited coverage range, it would make sense. I have noticed a lot of in-vehicle wi-fi units passing by my office, so if the network is already there, using the PoC radio on the already existing wi-fi would make it very cost effective.

Fallon was acquired by Transformative and then Transformative sold their EMS division to Coastal Medical Transport Services (CMTS). CMTS is using a lot of PoC LTE radios for communications it seems so I wouldn't be shocked if they are transitioning. You may also want to see if any Coastal channels from the south shore are active up here as well. Almost every city/town that has an EMS contract with an EMS provider typically dispatches their contractor via their public safety channels. There are some exceptions (as always) but for the most part I have found that the contracted ambulances are more often than not dispatched by the entity that contracted w/them.

[ScanBoston]

I think the other thing that folks outside these Cities and Town's might not realize is these are not the same trucks that are used for transports. These units are all say "Newton Paramedic 6" and Serving the City of Newton. They park in the Fire stations etc. Same for Waltham, Medford etc. These trucks are dedicated to those communities and labeled as such even though they also show the private companies labeling. So it's not like they' are used for other chores by these companies.

[garys]

Some departments are starting to use a unified package which includes ePCR, NFIRS, and CAD. ESO makes a combination system which I think also includes EMD software. Two of my clients are in the process of transitioning from Zoll to ESO.

As you know ambulances still have to have UHF CMED radios. Well, unless our friends in Marlboro have changed that.

Brewster and some other services use the Twiage app to do hospital notifications. There's another app, but I can't think of the name right now.

As for Coastal, I continue to see only "TransitXX" units on Bearcom/RDC. Except for one unit with the call sign "Rosary" which was one throughout the day. I wasn't home to monitor, so I don't know that is.

Yes, the contract cities usually dispatch them, but the long standing practice is for the responding unit to notify their dispatch of where they are going. NEMSIS/MATRIS tracking through the ePCR software would have to be entered through the company CAD and I don't see the cities and towns willing to take on that responsibility.

My guess would be PoC as well. I snuck a peek inside a Brewster truck the other day and confirmed both a UHF and PoC unit mounted in the front. With the availability and near-unlimited coverage range, it would make sense. I have noticed a lot of in-vehicle wi-fi units passing by my office, so if the network is already there, using the PoC radio on the already existing wi-fi would make it very cost effective.