Talkgroups on our system are limited to ten characters by the size of the portable radio display.  A naming standard was developed to make things consistent and understandable.  With the number of agencies and users on this system, our goal was to standardize names so that you could easily determine a talkgroup’s purpose even if you don’t normally use it.

In general, our talkgroup names consist of the following parts:

  • COUNTY: All talkgroups must have an 09 prefix
  • WHO:  Who it belongs to (political subdivision, agency or dispatch center)
  • DISCIPLINE:  Specific discipline, if any (like law enforcement or fire)
  • TYPE:  Type of talkgroup (like a main talkgroup, operations talkgroup, etc)
  • NUMBER:  The number of the talkgroup, corresponding to its position in the zone

So a talkgroup may look like:

09 [WHO] [DISCIPLINE] [TYPE] [NUMBER] for a local talkgroup, or
09 [TYPE] [NUMBER] for a shared talkgroup

Examples:

09-7L OPS3 is a West Chester law enforcement talkgroup in position 3.
The 09-7 indicates that it belongs to the West Chester dispatch center, 7COM.
The 7L indicates that it is a 7COM law enforcement talkgroup.

09-1F OPS2 is an Oxford fire operational talkgroup in position 2.
The 09-1 indicates that it belongs to the Oxford dispatch center, 1COM.
The 1F indicates that it is a 1COM fire and EMS talkgroup.

09 FIRE 11 is a Butler county-wide fireground talkgroup in position 11.

WHO – Dispatch Center, Political Subdivision or Agency

Every political subdivision (and some specific agencies) have a numerical code and two-letter abbreviation (see: list) used on all talkgroup names, radio aliases and dispatch consoles.

Political Subdivision Abbreviations

In talkgroup names, in most cases, the numerical code is used, which corresponds with dispatch center and fire station numbering. An 09-11 talkgroup is Liberty Township, or instance. An 09-1 talkgroup is Oxford.

DISCIPLINE

This code tells you if the talkgroup is specific to any particular discipline.

L  Law Enforcement
F  Fire and EMS
P  Public Safety (Law Enforcement, fire and EMS)

TALKGROUP TYPE

This code tells you what kind of talkgroup it is.

MAIN  Primary dispatch talkgroup
OPS   Operational talkgroup
WIDE  Common talkgroup for all users within a political subdivision
TALK  Non-incident user-to-user talk, not monitored by dispatch center
CALL  Used to reach a dispatch center or dispatch centers
HELP  Used to call a dispatch center for help
TRVL  Used to travel elsewhere in Ohio and reach your dispatch center

There are a few different sets of talkgroups used for interoperability with unique names.  They are tracked and assigned by dispatch centers only.

LAW   Law talkgroups are common to all law enforcement users (encrypted).
FIRE  Fire talkgroups are common to all fire and EMS users.
TAC   Tac talkgroups are common to all public safety users (encrypted).
MA    Mutual Aid talkgroups are common to every radio on the Butler system.

NUMBER

If a BRICS talkgroup name includes a number, that number indicates the position in the zone of subscriber radios. As a general rule, if a talkgroup appears in multiple templates (e.g. in a West Chester fire radios and a Hamilton fire radio), it will be located in the same place in both templates.

For example:

09 EVNT 03 is located in Zone B, Position 3