PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
Provincial Integrated
Communication System
The Prince Edward Island Trunk System
Last updated March 19, 2010
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS ARTICLE FROM 2010 IS PRESENTED HERE TODAY AS AN HISTORICAL ARTIFACT. THE PICS SYSTEM WAS REPLACED BY THE PEI COMPONENT OF THE MARITIMES TRUNK RADIO SYSTEM, CALLED PICS2, AND INCORPORATING THE RCMP AS WELL AS THE PREVIOUS USERS OF PICS. THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN LEFT AS IS, IN TERMS OF TENSE USED. NOTE ALSO THAT PICS HAD 6 SITES, WHEREAS PICS2 HAS 15.
PICS is a Motorola SmartNet Type I, 800 MHz trunking
system that covers all of Prince Edward Island. It has been In service
since about 1986 and is a joint project of Aliant and PEI EMO. In
keeping with trends throughout North America favouring the newer Type II
sytems, there is speculation that the present PICS system will soon be replaced
with an extension of the Nova Scotia Trunked Mobile Radio System
("TMR"), which is already receivable in parts of the
province. Another reason to speculate is that although the coverage
of PICS is very good there are some areas where coverage to portables is not
sufficient.
PICS
is made up of 6 sites, using four groups of frequencies. It is
thought that each site regardless of location and traffic volume has 15
frequencies. These have been described as 1 dedicated control channel, 9
simulcast and 6 local voice channels. I am not clear on what this
means. It would seem to indicate that some talkgroups are
programmed to simulcast throughout the system and others are only local.
This doesn’t make sense to me, because in a trunk system anyone on a talkgroup
affiliated to a particular site will hear the traffic on that talkgroup,
wherever they are in the system.
Being
a Type I system, it is necessary for listeners to program in the fleetmap
information. If you do not you will still be able to listen but
will not be able to monitor a particular talkgroup, and when id's come up they
will not properly identify the talkgroup being heard. So, if you want to
properly listen to PICS you must first program the fleetmap:
|
b0 |
S-1?? |
|
b1 |
S-2 |
|
b2 |
S-7 |
|
b3 |
S-8 |
|
b4 |
S-1 |
|
b5 |
S-7 |
|
b6 |
S-8 |
|
b7 |
S-4 |
There
is a failsoft system whereby if trunking fails the system reverts to
conventional repeaters and a recurring beep to indicate the failure.
Users then revert to preassigned frequencies, as in a community repeater
system. I am speculating that the local frequencies mentioned above are the
conventional repeaters, but I could be wrong! It does seem odd that the
system reverts to conventional repeaters rather than to site trunking.
There are also simplex frequencies in the system, identified on radios by
numbers only. It is not known if there are only common-use simplex
frequencies, or also individual agency frequencies.l
Repeater
sites are connected by microwave. Sites are often co-located with other Aliant
facilities or perhaps other owners' facilities, but generally they have their
own tower. One exception is at Caledonia where the repeater is on the
Aliant Cell tower.
PICS
is shared by public service users and by commercial users. Every
emergency agency in PEI has at least one PICS radio but not all agencies use
PICS as their primary system. The RCMP utilizes its own 400 MHZ repeater
system, however dispatch does have access to PICS and patching may be
possible. The two municipal police forces in the province (Summerside and
Charlottetown) have full access to PICS but on an everyday basis use their own
conventional 800 MHz repeaters. These conventional channels are
integrated into PICS radios.
Several
fire departments use the PICS system as their primary means of
communications. See talkgroup list.
As
of 2006 the five private ambulance organizations in Prince Edward Island have
been superceded by Island EMS which now operates all ambulances (totalling
approximately 16 units). Island EMS is owned and operated by Medavie Blue
Cross which also operates EMC, the province-wide ambulance system in Nova
Scotia, and is about to do the same in New Brunswick. Island EMS is
operated separately from the Nova Scotia operation, with different logos and
equipment. For more information on the PEI
ambulance system, click here.
FREQUENCIES & SITES
|
Frequency Usage |
Frequency # |
Alma (Site 1) & Caledonia (Site 5) |
Urbanville (Site 2) & Harmony Jct (Site 6) |
Glen Valley (Site 3) |
Pisquid (Site 4) |
|
Local/Site Trunking |
1 |
853.2875 |
853.3125 |
853.2625 |
853.3375 |
|
Local/Site Trunking |
2 |
853.5875 |
853.5625* |
853.5125 |
853.5875** |
|
Island Wide/Simulcast |
3 |
853.7875 |
853.8125 |
853.7625 |
853.8375 |
|
Island Wide/Simulcast |
4 |
854.0375 |
854.0625 |
854.0125 |
854.0875 |
|
Island Wide/Simulcast |
5 |
855.0375 |
855.0625 |
855.0125 |
855.0875 |
|
Island Wide/Simulcast |
6 |
856.0375 |
856.0625 |
856.0125 |
856.0875 |
|
Local/Site Trunking |
7 |
856.2875 |
856.3125 |
856.2625 |
856.3375 |
|
Local/Site Trunking |
8 |
856.5375 |
856.5625 |
856.5125 |
856.5875 |
|
Local/Site Trunking |
9 |
856.7875 |
856.8125 |
856.7625 |
856.8375 |
|
Island Wide/Simulcast |
10 |
857.0375 |
857.0625 |
857.0125 |
857.0875 |
|
Primary Control Channel. |
11 |
858.0375 |
858.0625 |
858.0125 |
858.0875 |
|
Island Wide/Simulcast |
12 |
858.2875 |
858.3125 |
858.2625 |
858.3375 |
|
Island Wide/Phone/Simulcast |
13 |
858.5375 |
858.5625 |
858.5125 |
858.5875 |
|
Island Wide/Phone/Simulcast |
14 |
858.7875 |
858.8125 |
858.7625 |
858.8375 |
|
Island Wide/Simulcast |
15 |
859.0375 |
859.0625 |
859.0125 |
859.0875 |
*
At the Urbanville site, this frequency is a conventional repeater for use by
the Summerside Police Department.
**
This frequency is a conventional repeater for use by Charlottetown Police
Department
Note in March 2010: This list is meant to include all public service talk groups and omit others that are commercial in nature. There are a few listed here that are thought to be obsolete and I am looking for that type of correction if indeed the tg has actually been abandoned. Also there are a few discrepancies, as indicated by more than one tg id being shown. I am looking for confirmation of what is actually correct.
|
USER |
ID |
|
Mutual
Aid - Area # 1 |
518-1 |
|
Mutual
Aid - Area # 2 |
516-1 |
|
Mutual
Aid - Area # 3 |
520-1 |
|
Mutual
Aid - Area # 4 |
522-1 |
|
Mutual
Aid - Area # 5 |
524-1 |
|
Mutual
Aid - Island Wide |
700-1 |
|
Canada?:DFO |
608-1 |
|
Canada?:DFO |
512-2 |
|
Canada?: DFO |
512-3 |
|
Charlottetown
Parks & Recreation |
511-1 |
|
Charlottetown
Public Works |
511-0 |
|
Island
Tel Mobile |
480-1 |
|
Province: Highway Safety |
438-1 |
|
Province: DOT
Central |
100-2 |
|
Province: DOT
East |
100-3 |
|
Province: DOT
Lab |
101-1 |
|
Province: DOT
West |
100-1 |
|
Province: DOH
survey/paint/ |
101-0 |
|
Province: Department
of Justice |
116-1 |
|
Province:
Department of Forestry Central District |
606-1 |
|
Province:
Department of Forestry Eastern District |
606-2 |
|
Province:
Department of Forestry Western District |
606-3 |
|
Province: EMO |
427-2 |
|
Province: EMO |
427-1 |
|
Province:
Fish & Wildlife/Dept of Environment |
302-3 |
|
Province: Fish & Wildlife/Dept of Environment |
302-1 |
| Summerside: Works Dept | 115-4 |
|
PEI
Western School Board |
504-1 |
|
PEI
Western School Board |
502-1 |
|
PEI
Western School Board |
503-1 |
|
PEI
Western School Board |
504-3 |
|
PEI
Western School Board |
506-1 |
|
PEI
Eastern School Board |
222-1 |
|
Island
EMS Dispatch |
452-1 |
|
Island EMS Talk Channel (2A) |
405-1 |
| Island EMS Mutual Aid (3A) | 700-1 |
|
Island EMS
comms with hospitals (4A) |
514-1 |
| Island EMS Backup (6A) | 507-2/505-1/505-5? |
| Island EMS Backup (5A) | 424-1 |
|
Police
Common |
600-1 |
|
Police:
RCMP
Liaison |
602-1 |
|
Police: Borden Carleton/Kensington |
438-2 |
|
Police: Charlottetown |
510-1 |
|
Fire: North
River
(dispatched on 156.03) |
448-1 |
|
Fire: Crapaud |
440-1 |
|
Fire: Borden Carleton |
435-1 |
|
Fire: PEI
Fire Marshal’s Office |
450-2 |
|
Fire:
Georgetown (linked to VHF) |
458-1 |
|
Fire: East River |
451-2 |
|
Fire:
|
434-1 |