MARITIMES SCANNING SITE
FIRE DEPARTMENTS IN HANTS COUNTY, NOVA
SCOTIA
Last updated January 24,
2010
Information on this page comes from various sources but notably Stephen, Nick and Richard
Click here for map showing station locations, from Stephen
The geographical area known as Hants County actually encompasses four municipalities: the town of Hantsport, the town of Windsor, the rural municipality of West Hants, and the rural municipality of East Hants. There is no overall municipal organization taking in all of Hants County. Towns in Nova Scotia generally provide their own fire services directly while rural municipalities depend on volunteer departments who own and operate their own equipment.
It is most convenient to describe East and West Hants separately. The two towns lie within the boundaries of West Hants and therefore will be dealt with in the West Hants section.
A. West Hants (plus the towns of Hantsport and Windsor)
This description is basic, with no information available on channel lineups in radios. It is thought that, other than mutual aid arrangements, the four departments are separate in that there is as yet no integrated radio system as is now found in East Hants. It is expected that these four departments would utilize 153.83 MHz for mutual aid. Formerly extensive use was made of the Nova Scotia Fire Grid repeater at Willow Hill (151.745 output, 154.07 input, 82.5 CTCSS); however the grid is no longer maintained by the provincial government and in fact this repeater may not be still operable, but listeners may wish to include it in their scanners.
Dispatch for all four departments is via Valley Dispatch, on the frequencies listed.
Further information is requested on this area. Note that the Summerville and Brooklyn frequencies are included in the East Hants radios for dedicated mutual aid.
West Hants |
||
O
|
Summerville |
154.710 |
P
|
Hantsport (town) |
154.340/149.32 rptr out/in CTCSS 71.9 |
Q
|
Brooklyn |
154.620. simplex
|
R
|
Windsor (town) |
151.460/155.58 rptr out/in |
B. East Hants
1. Mount Uniacke Fire Department and Enfield Fire Department
These departments do not lie adjacent to each other and have no mutual connection but they have similarities. Both are dispatched by the HRM IES dispatch centre located in Dartmouth on the HRFES VHF page system and for operations use the 800 MHz Nova Scotia Trunked Mobile Radio System (TMR).
Mount Uniacke is paged on 154.415 MHz on a pager located in Middle Sackville. There is apparently an echo transmitter on the same frequency located closer to Mount Uniacke. This transmitter is not listed in TAFL but can be heard repeating the pages following a few seconds delay.
Enfield is paged on 154.28 MHz from a transmitter located in Shubenacadie.
In going into operation both departments then switch to the R (rural bank) TMR channels of the Halifax Fire and Emergency Service and are in constant contact with the HRM dispatch centre. Mt. Uniacke units are numbered in the 300 range. Enfield units are usually referred to as "Enfield _______ " such as "Enfield Rescue".
It should be expected that both of these departments would retain VHF radios for use in mutual aid with the surrounding departments in Hants County.
2. East Hants Integrated System
This system went into operation in mid-November 2009. It has evolved out of the former systems used in the eastern end of East Hants, and described for historical interest farther down the page.
East Hants Radio Channel Line-up
| Channel* | Display | Frequency | Rptr input or simplex | Usage | Comment |
| 1 | Page | may vary by dept. | receive only | Page | Departments may be still using existing frequencies for paging. Some of these frequencies also appear in the radio lineup for other purposes. |
| 2 | EHR1 | 153.77 | 158.805 | En route and initial ops | "East Hants Repeater", located in Rawdon and with wide area coverage. This repeater is located with the 150.125 repeater listed below and has similar coverage. It was formerly located at Vinegar Hill near Milford and therefore might still be referred to as "Vinegar Hill" by some users. |
| 3 | "Private" | varies by dept. | This will vary by department. See below. | ||
| 4 | Mutual Aid | 153.83 | simplex | Mutual aid | Backup for mutual aid |
| 5 | Ops 1 | 151.665 | simplex | Fire ground | |
| 6 | Ops 2 | 154.905 | simplex | Fire ground | |
| 7 | Ops 3 | 155.835 | simplex | Fire ground | Formerly the repeater output for the Gore/Nine Mile River/Rawdon group of departments. The repeater might still be operable but it is not apparently part of this lineup. |
| 8 | Ops 4 | 155.325 | simplex | Fire ground | This was the Maitland FD frequency. |
| 9 | Ops 5 | 151.745 | simplex | Fire ground | Former output frequency for Willow Hill fire grid repeater in West Hants. Unknown if the repeater is still in service (as of fall 2009 had not been heard in at least a year) |
| 10 | Ops 6 | 155.295 | simplex | Fire ground | |
| 11 | Ops 7 | 154.695 | simplex | Fire ground | |
| 12 | Ops 8 | 150.125 | 149.20 | Backup repeater | Former NS DOT repeater at Barr Settlement. CTCSS 82.5. Wide area coverage throughout Hants, HRM, Colchester and beyond. This repeater has been in service for many years but only very rarely used since approximately 2001 |
| 13 | Nuttby | 152.03 | 154.19 | Backup repeater | Nuttby Mtn fire grid rptr. CTCSS 82.5 with wide area coverage throughout East Hants and Colchester. This repeater was formerly in widespread use but now is strictly a backup. |
| 14 | Col Ops 1 | 150.275 | simplex | MA Fire ground | Colchester System Ops 1 for use in mutual aid when in Colchester |
| 15 | Col Ops 2 | 150.575 | simplex | MA Fire ground | Colchester System Ops 2 for use in mutual aid when in Colchester |
| 16 | Col Ops 3 | 150.665 | simplex | MA Fire ground | Colchester System Ops 3 for use in mutual aid when in Colchester |
| 17 | Brooklyn | 154.62 (likely replaced by 152.30 simplex in January 2010) |
simplex | MA Fire ground | Adjacent West Hants frequency for mutual aid use when in Brooklyn |
| 18 | Summerville | 154.71 | simplex | MA Fire ground | Adjacent West Hants frequency for mutual aid use when in Summerville |
* Channel numbers might not be utilized.
Re Private Dept Frequencies: It is unclear what these might be as some of those in use up to now by depts in the past are now in the lineup above as Ops frequencies, so are unlikely to be also used as private frequencies. Additionally it does appear from TAFL that some departments do not have private frequencies at all.
Apparatus Numbering System (East Hants only)
Several of the departments now use a standardized unit call sign system with a station prefix number followed by these suffix numbers listed below. Thus, for example, the Elmsdale base radio has the call sign "200". This appears to be the same system as used in the nearby Colchester system and perhaps is also in wider use in Nova Scotia. It is not known if all departments shown actually conform to this plan. Comments from listeners are requested.
| Prefix | Department | Standard Numerical suffixes |
| 1 | Shubenacadie | 00
Station base radio 01 Chief 02 Deputy Chief 03 Assistant Deputy Chief 04 to 10 Other officers 11 to 19 Pumpers 21 to 29 Tankers 31 to 39 Rescue and Utility 41 to 49 Pumper-Tankers |
| 2 | Elmsdale | |
| 3 | Nine Mile River | |
| 4 | Lantz | |
| 5 | Maitland | |
| 6 | Milford | |
| 7 | Noel | |
| 8 | Rawdon | |
| 9 | Gore | |
| 10 | Kennetcook | |
| 11 | Enfield (assigned, not used) |
There is no indication that the more isolated department in Walton Shore is part of this system. The Mount Uniacke department uses call-signs in the 300 range.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION: this is the system used in East Hants throughout most of the 2000's until November 2009. These lists may provide clues regarding the "private" individual fire department frequencies mentioned in the new system as Chan
A |
Elmsdale |
153.770/158.805 rptr out/in Tone 100.0 |
C |
Gore |
155.835/153.62 rptr out/in Tone 100.0 |
D |
Indian Brook |
154.250 |
E |
Kennetcook |
154.265 |
F |
Lantz |
153.770/158.805 rptr out/in Tone 100.0 |
G |
Maitland |
Paged on 152.03 Nuttby Grid repeater. Ops generally stay on this frequency but they also have 155.325 |
H |
Milford |
153.770/158.805 rptr out/in Tone 100.0 |
I |
Nine Mile River plus Sub-Station |
155.835/153.62 rptr out/in Tone 100.0 |
J |
Noel |
152.015 |
K |
Rawdon |
155.835/153.62 rptr out/in Tone 100.0 |
L |
Shubenacadie |
153.770/158.805 rptr out/in Tone 100.0 |
N |
Walton Shore District |
154.68 |
Coordinated East Hants system beginning in December 2003 and used by Lantz, Milford, Shubenacadie and Elmsdale.
| Channel | Use | Frequency |
| 1 | Vinegar Hill Repeater | 153.770 rptr out/158.805 input (former Lantz frequency) Tone 100.0 |
| 2 | Mutual Aid |
153.830 |
| 3 | Operations 1 |
154.160 |
| 4 | Operations 2 | 154.650 |
| 5 | Operations 3 | 153.770 (former Milford frequency) simplex |
| 6 | Vinegar Hill Pager | 153.770 (dial-up system, operated from Colchester Dispatch in Truro)** |
| 7 | Nuttby Mountain Grid Repeater | 152.03 rptr out/154.19 input Tone 82.5 |
| 8 | Barr Settlement Repeater (former IMRS DOT repeater) | 150.125 rptr out/149.20 input Tone 82.5 (former highways repeater) |
| 9 | Rawdon Fire Repeater | 155.835 rptr out/153.62 input Tone 100.0 |