Standardized Talkgroup Names

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.

Learn more about our Talkgroup Naming Standard.

See the list of abbreviations for political subdivisions / agencies.

The FIRE Talkgroups: 09 FIRE 05 – 09 FIRE 16

slides-FIREThere are twelve incident talkgroups on BRICS shared by all fire and EMS agencies.  Located in Zone A for fire and EMS users and labeled “09 FIRE” for Butler County Fire, these talkgroups are available for assignment by any dispatch center. They are sometimes referred to as “fireground” talkgroups.

Since these talkgroups are easily accessible and available to all fire/EMS agencies, they are the best place to assign any fire or medical response that could potentially expand to involve mutual aid companies.  Even a “routine” fire alarm response could expand to a structure fire requiring mutual aid.  It would be best to have the initial responding units on a talkgroup that will accommodate mutual aid, so they don’t have to switch later.

The odd-numbered FIRE talkgroups are normally assigned first by dispatch centers, leaving the corresponding even-numbered talkgroup available should the incident expand. A fire alarm response on 09 FIRE 05, for instance, that expands to a structure fire requiring a tanker shuttle operation, can be assigned 09 FIRE 06 for ease of switching.

These talkgroups are clear (not encrypted).

The LAW Talkgroups: 09 LAW 05 – 09 LAW 16

slides-LAWThere are twelve incident talkgroups on BRICS shared by all law enforcement agencies. Located in Zone A and labeled ’09 LAW’ for Butler County Law Enforcement, these talkgroups are encrypted and available for assignment by any dispatch center.

Since these talkgroups are easily accessible and available to all law enforcement agencies, they are the best place to assign any response that could potentially involve mutual aid from another agency. They’re also used for routine details involving a single agency.

At the request of the Butler County police chiefs, the sixteenth talkgroup will primarily be used first for emergencies like pursuits. Since these talkgroups are easily accessible and available to all law enforcement agencies, they are the best place to assign a law enforcement response that could potentially expand to involve mutual aid. Pursuits, for instance, are unpredictable and could quickly move towards any jurisdiction.  We recommend that local agencies develop policies that rapidly shift incidents like these to a common talkgroup.

The TAC Talkgroups: 09 TAC 05 – 09 TAC 16

slides-TACTwelve encrypted talkgroups on BRICS are shared by all public safety agencies – law enforcement, fire and EMS.  These talkgroups, labeled “09 TAC” for Tactical, are located in Zone B in all public safety templates. They are available for assignment by any dispatch center.

The TAC talkgroups are most easily accessible for interoperability between any public safety agency in Butler County. If a fire / EMS incident requires encryption, or if law enforcement needs to work with fire and EMS, the TAC talkgroups are an appropriate choice.

The “Mutual Aid” Talkgroups: 09 MA 05 – 09 MA 16

There are twelve system-wide talkgroups on BRICS, found in every Butler County radio.  They are labeled as ’09 MA’ for Butler County Mutual Aid.  They are located in Zone D for Public Safety, and Zone B for all other users; consult your radio template. These talkgroups are assigned by dispatch centers.

Since these talkgroups are available to all disciplines, they are the good place for pre-planned events involving multiple agencies and incidents with the potential for interaction with non-public-safety users.  Public works and non-governmental agencies using BRICS can join these talkgroups at the request of public safety, as assigned by a dispatch center.

These talkgroups are clear (not encrypted).

The Event Talkgroups: 09 EVNT 01 – 09 EVNT 04

slides-EVNTThere are four countywide “event” talkgroups found in every Butler County radio in Zone B.

The EVNT talkgroups are assigned as the “command post” level talkgroup for a large scale incident or event that requires multiple talkgroups. In such a situation, only one EVNT talkgroup is used, and all other functions are assigned to LAW, FIRE, TAC or MA talkgroups based on the need.

Typically, these are used as the top-level talkgroup for incidents using structured ICS or unified command, when an IAP with an ICS 205 Communications Plan has been established.

There are only four of these talkgroups because they are not for everyday events as the name might imply. There might be a severe weather “event” assigned to 09 EVNT 01, and the command post of a large hazardous materials spill on 09 EVNT 02. Meanwhile, a law enforcement perimeter might be coordinated on 09 TAC 05 while haz-mat technicians operate on 09 TAC 07 – both able to return to and reach the command post on EVNT 02.

Local Talkgroups for Dispatch Centers

With # replaced by the dispatch center’s number, the top three are:

09-#L MAIN – the primary law enforcement talkgroup for a particular dispatch center.
The L is for Law Enforcement. Example: 09-3L MAIN, main LE talkgroup at 3COM (Fairfield).

09-#F MAIN – the primary fire and EMS talkgroup for a particular dispatch center.
The F is for Fire / EMS. Example: 09-7F MAIN, main fire talkgroup at 7COM (West Chester).

09-# CALL – the calling channel used by public works and other non public safety users to reach their dispatch center.

At the 9COM dispatch center, which has additional main dispatching talkgroups:

09-9 ALPHA and 09-9 BRAVO are primary fire / EMS dispatching talkgroups.

09-9 ECHO, 09-9 TANGO and 09-9 ZULU are primary law enforcement talkgroups.

09-9L INQR is a law enforcement inquiry talkgroup.

Secondary, encrypted dispatch center level talkgroups:

09-#L OPS2 and 09-#L OPS3 are secondary law enforcement talkgroups.

09-#F OPS2 and 09-#F OPS3 are secondary fire / EMS talkgroups.

09-#P OPS4 is a secondary public safety (law, fire, EMS) talkgroup.

Travel (TRVL) Talkgroups

slides-TRVLEach dispatch center has a travel talkgroup available to all users they dispatch, located in Zone C-3 of their templates. This talkgroup is able to roam onto any tower in the state due to our interconnection with the Ohio MARCS radio system. Its purpose is to allow users traveling on official business outside their normal area to stay in contact with their dispatch center.

In the case of public safety, it gives them the option of a working emergency button where they previously had no radio coverage. Public safety users should keep in mind, however, that they will need to vocalize emergencies following the alarm if at all possible, because the radio does not provide location information.

You will not hear your day to day talkgroups or radio traffic while tuned to the TRVL talkgroup. Once you’ve roamed away from our towers, you will no longer hear anything other than what occurs on that talkgroup. The TRVL talkgroup may not be patched to local or incident talkgroups for the purpose of monitoring local traffic while traveling. Our local traffic is restricted to our tower sites to prevent overloading of other sites in the state, and the TRVL talkgroup is not a means to circumvent that restriction.

Other Talkgroups

09 CALL and 09 HELP are the system-wide calling talkgroups. CALL appears in public safety templates in Zone C-1, and HELP appears in all other templates. They are used to hail dispatch centers you don’t normally interact with, i.e. a Hamilton user calling Fairfield’s dispatch center.

09 TALK is for system-wide talk or “car to car”.  After a user hails a center on 09 CALL or 09 HELP, their conversation may be assigned to 09 TALK to keep the calling channel clear. It is not monitored by dispatch centers. Use is first come, first serve, as anyone may switch here and talk.

09 LE INFO is for all-county law enforcement broadcasts. 09 FD INFO is for all-county fire and EMS broadcasts.  Learn more.

09 FD talkgroups, followed by an agency number, provide a pager-like talkgroup that receives only the fire and EMS dispatches for a particular agency. 09 FD 20, for example, is where a Hamilton fire unit could listen to dispatched calls only for their agency, without hearing status changes and other radio traffic.

09 J-CALL allows any law enforcement user to call the Butler County Jail control room about prisoner transports.

09-# WIDE talkgroups are common within a local government or organization. WIDE, as in “citywide” or “township-wide”. They are shared by the law enforcement, fire, EMS, public works and administration users within a political subdivision.  The name of the WIDE talkgroup will be preceded by the numerical designation of the government (which normally corresponds to the fire station numbering plan). The 09-8 WIDE talkgroup, for instance, is a place where any Middletown users can communicate.

09 IPSAP or “Inter-PSAP” is a dispatch center to center talkgroup used for system coordination and mutual aid. It is not used by field users.

09 IPSAP-B or “Inter-PSAP Backup” is a dispatch center to center talkgroup used for coordination between radio system administrators and centers during a console equipment failure.

Hospital talkgroups are used for EMS to hospital emergency department communications.  Each hospital has their own.  ’09 ATRIUM’, for instance, is where an ambulance would call patient reports and seek medical control from Atrium Medical Center.  Learn more.