Updates and News Page

Last updated October 6, 2007
© 2007, MARITIMES SCANNING SITE, all rights reserved

My email as of Aug 31, 2006 is

marscan1@canada.com

This page will show you updated information that I have not had time to place in the appropriate page at the Maritimes Scanning Site, or is simply a notice that I have in fact changed something.   My apologies for not allowing direct linking to the pages from this update page.  Unfortunately you will have to go back to the opening page and find the right one for yourself!

Updates:

October 6, 2007:  Marscan.com back in business.     Also an update from Darryl, that Hubbards VFD, just over the boundary from HRM in Lunenburg County is now dispatched by the HRM system, using the 153.89 Queensland transmitter.   Actual operations haven to gone to the TMR, and are now mostly on 154.25 which was the former paging frequency.

September 12, 2007: 

From the CRTC:   Approval given for a CBC Radio 1 transmitter at Elmira, PEI on 92.3 MHz and 940 watts.  This will rebroadcast CBCT-FM Charlottetown.    Also, due to CBA in Moncton going to 106.1, the Christian low power station CITA-FM will move from 105.9 to 105.1, and change power from 50 watts to 880 watts.   CITA was an unprotected station and would have been swamped by CBA one channel up.   Finally, in NS, CJFX is adding a repeater at Pleasant Bay on 102.5 with 50 watts.

May 28, 2007:   From the CRTC website:    CBA, the CBC's 50,000 watt powerhouse in Moncton on 1070 kHz is heading to the FM band at 106.1 MHz with 69.5 kW ERP.   Apparently there were few objections, but interestingly enough there was one stating that this would deprive listeners in New England of their CBC service.  Of course the CRTC couldnt take that into account and granted the change.   CBA is the last AM station in the Moncton market.     Similarly, and subject to a few ownership concentrration questions, CFDR in Halifax, 790 kHz and operating as KIXX (go figure) has been approved to go to 88.9 MHz with 21 Kw, and a change from country to yet another rock oriented signal.  Can CJCH on 920, the last AM station in Halifax, be far behind?   Other changes in the Maritimes include CFMH in Saint John, an educational low power station, going from 92.5 to 107.3 and a power boost from 50 w to 250 watts.   Also SRC Premiere Chaine CBAF will get a new repeater in Bon Accord on 107.5 with 26.9 kW.

April 22, 2007:   A clarification on my own status.  I am currently not monitoring the TMR or any other trunked system.  For now only listening to Aero VHF, plus Marine and VHF Fire.  But I am still very much interested in receiving updates on the TMR and on aero, marine, police, fire, EMS, provincial and federal govt throughout the three provinces.  Please send them along and I will post them here.  Please indicate that I am allowed to do so, and whether or not you want your name or handle mentioned.

April 21:  Using a number of entries on the ScanMaritimes group, I have made a few updates to the List of Analog ID's in the NS TMR.  I have also inserted unknown talkgroups.  For example, if talk group 37112 is known and so is 37176, but 37144 is not, I have included 37144 with the entry "not yet noted".  This shows immediately where the gaps in knowledge or allocations are.   In cases where there are large sequences of unknowns or unallocated tg's, I have used the entry "gap of 3 or more talkgroups".  In some cases these gaps may be partly attributable to digital talkgroups that, as you know, I do not generally include in my list, even if I may happen to know them. 

April 17:   Thanks to a contribution from the area, I have posted the talkgroups for the Irving Oil refinery in Saint John.  Go to the Saint John page to see them.    http://members.accesswave.ca/~scan/NBSAINTJOHN.htm

December 24:  After a tip from Stephen and my own travel through St. Stephen, NB I have changed the CTCSS listing for RCMP on 155.94 in that area from 186.2 to 114.8.  I believe that this is the Greenlaw repeater; however I suppose it is in the realm of possibility that it is a new repeater in addition to Greenlaw.

November 23:   Updating the Lunenburg County fire page with the assistance of Doug.  Still need several paging frequencies or confirmation that the ops frequency is used for paging.  Likely will be further updates in the next few days.   Also, added a discussion page on the 800 MHz land mobile band and its structure, linking to the list of all 800 MHz assignments in the Maritimes.  This is a must see for all of you interested in 800 MHz scanning, and will also give you some insights into the 900 MHz bands.

November 17:   Added a page on SATCOLT  (Satellite Cell Site on Light Truck).... a new initiative by Telus in Canada to provide emergency communications at major disaster scenes.... cell, trunk, conventional...... allowing interoperability amongst emergency service agencies.    Frequencies for the Maritimes are included on this page.

November 15:  re HRM fire page, fixed links to the set of maps showing which station and which backup station(s) are allocated to each area of HRM.  Added a page on the new 700 MHz band... this is accessed from the opening page.

November 12:  further changes to the Marine page.   Changed the route to access Marine, Aero, Ham and other pages, direct from the opening page.   Here is a new page listing all aircraft belonging to the RCMP.

November 10:  noticed today that yet another prominent AM broadcasting station in the Maritimes may be going to FM.  Newcap has applied to the CRTC to move CFDR Halifax from 780 kHz AM to 88.9 MHz with an average ERP of 21 kW, and also go from classic country with the KIXX slogan, to alternative rock format.  This would leave Halifax with just one remaining AM station (CJCH 920), and more than 15 FM stations.   When I came to Nova Scotia, CFDR was on 790 KHz, with antennas on the Montague Road, and definitely considered to be a Dartmouth station, hence the call letters.   Later the antennas moved to the Lakeside area of suburban Halifax, the broadcast pattern changed, and so did the frequency, to 680 kHz,  and then perhaps 15 years ago they went to 780 kHz.   It seems to me that I used to listen to Tony Beech and Paul Marr on CFDR when it was Halifax's easy listening station.  Now it will be one of many FM stations in Halifax playing music I don't like!

November 6:   Today I uploaded two new pages.  One is on the FRS, GMRS and MURS services. http://members.accesswave.ca/~amabaa/gmrs.htm   The other is something on what was around before our current cell phones.  It will tell you something about the old mobile telephone service operating all over North America on 152 MHz before the age of the cell phone, and did you know there still is some activity in New Brunswick on that old service.  Take a look at    http://members.accesswave.ca/~amabaa/prepcs.htm 

November 5: further NS fire frequency additions, especially in the Cape Breton and Guysborough areas.   More Marine page changes, including adding frequencies for Marine Atlantic ferries, VHF, UHF and HF.

November 2:  further NS fire frequency additions.  Also further changes to the Marine scanning page.  Some changes to the Fredericton trunk systems page.

November 1:  I am in the process of updating the NS fire frequency page (access via http://members.accesswave.ca/~scan/nsfire.htm ) . I had not myself checked this in quite a while and I realize that I am missing many many communities in the province.  I do not have any for Victoria County and very few in several others.  I am complete or pretty much so in Halifax, Hants, Colchester, Pictou, Kings, Lunenburg, but even there you may find deficiencies.   One problem with VFD frequencies in the official list (TAFL) is that there is no indication of use.  Many departments have the provincial fire repeater frequencies or perhaps frequencies of neighbouring departments, or even secondary frequencies.  The trick is to know which ones are normally used, and of these are there separate ones for paging and for ops.  Where I have listed the Provincial repeater frequency for a community, it is because I understand it to be in regular use for ops or for paging, or both.  

In addition to basic frequency information I would also like repeater input frequencies, CTCSS tones, paging provider names, and standard pager test times.  Anything you can do to help will be appreciated!   Please note that I do have a few areas on other webpages and am in the process of bringing that information over to the list, for example in Guysborough County and in the CBRM.    I expect to do another update to the list in the next week.   And hopefully with input from you, there will be several updates to come!    email me at marscan1@canada.com   

October 17:   for all you aero fans, I have added a map of the area surrounding Halifax International showing the 4 flight paths, 6 fix points, 2 NDB's and location of the VOR.  This is a regular map on which I have placed these items, and may be of interest to anyone in the Halifax area wishing to see the approach paths in relation to the community.   Also added is a great vertical air photo of the airport.  I suggest you go to my aero jumpoff page and then the local information aero page for commentary to accompany these two items.

October 13:  some minor updates to the Cape Breton Regional Municipality page, including dividing the fire service stations into groups., thanks to Ash.  More frequency information is needed.   

October 8:  Updated the NSTMRS pages.  No new id's but some rewritten descriptions and scanning guides.

October 1:  Updated the list of FM Broadcasting stations in the Maritimes to reflect the recent moves to FM from AM for a number of stations.  Also loaded a list of FM stations I regularly hear from my locale near Halifax (car radio, no special equipment)

September 29: More updates to the HRM Fire page, reinstating maps of the core area and rural zones, and generally simplifying the structure.   

September 29:  Belatedly I am acknowledging here that all references to Aliant Telecom and other Aliant divisions should be relabeled as Bell Canada divisions.   Bell has recently through restructuring become more closely linked to, or shall we say amalgamated with, its Atlantic Canada subsidiary.  While the name "Aliant" will remain on the landline services, it is likely that the Bell brand name will take over in the mobility and telecoms sphere.

September 24:  Updated the Marine Scanning page, accessed from the Maritimes wide jumpoff page.  Update includes new maps of three of the marine traffic zones in our area.    Also updated the HRM fire pages by redesigning the links to zone maps,  and added segment photos of HRFE's fire response map.... see which station gets called to where, and who is the backup.

September 23:  Updated Fredericton trunks, HRM Fire pages, NB RCMP (car numbering)

September 18.  Updated the Moncton Trunk page with info on the Lutes Mtn trunk system.  More info needed.  Also created a new page on the Confederation Bridge Trunk system.  Access this via the PEI jumpoff page.

September 18:  updated the aero call sign page.  This is the list of callsigns that go with various airlines and military squadrons that frequent our low level airspace.  For example Comet 102 indicates an aircraft belonging to Prince Edward Air Service...   Comet is therefore on my list... along with other obscure ones and the easy ones too, like "Air Canada" and I think you know what that one refers to.     Here is the URL to go straight there... something I will try to include on the updates when I can.   
     http://members.accesswave.ca/~amabaa/aerocalls.htm

September 15:  for those of you in the Halifax area without a control-channel mode trunktracker, wishing to follow the Maritime Centre site of the TMR, a new frequency has been added to the site: 858.6375 MHz

September 15:   I am in the middle of a campaign to update many of my pages.  I am however encountering difficulty in uploading the changes, with some uploads done today for example, not actually appearing for a day or two.  This may mean that an update I mention here might not actually appear immediately, or the update page itself might not load which means you wouldnt be reading this!!!   Three done today and accessed via the NS jumpoff page are:  Simple Guide to Scanning around Halifax  and the page on HRM systems (mostly these two take into account the demise of the HRM trunk), but bigger changes are to the HRM Fire page... showing the brand new set of tg's and frequencies in HRFE radios.

September 10:  Redrew the New Brunswick Fire frequency list, and made some minor changes.  There are likely other updates that some of you have sent me in the past year or two but I have set aside and not included.  Please resubmit and accept my apologies.   Also have made very minor changes to the NB and NS RCMP pages.

September 7:  Updated PEI  fire and PICS with a few minor changes.

September 3:  On the NB ambulance page I added the McAdam repeater, Channel 46 (simplex 45).  150.125 in, 148.195 out.    I require an update to my description of ambulance services in NB, as I undestand they are now unified.

September 2:  Further to the comment on August 12 re the old HRM trunk system going silent, I have been told since that this 2-site system has been dismantled and sold for use in Ontario. 

August 22:  I have received a report that the TMR control channel in Amherst is 860.3625, not the 861.3625 that I have listed.  I must say that I had actually heard the 861.3625 on more than one occasion and thought it odd, as this is the same frequency as the control channel in nearby Wharton.  I expected that if Wharton had the upper half of the frequencies in this group, that Amherst would have the low half.   Now with this report I am thinking that this is what has happened.  The standard cc for the lower half of this group is 860.1125, with a secondary of 860.3625.  Perhaps my contributor has heard the secondary.  If not, then the primary use of 860.3625 is an oddball in the TMR system.   Anyone in or passing through the Amherst area is requested to verify the control channel frequency and let me know at   marscan1@canada.com   Thanks.

August 21:  Updated the New Brunswick RCMP frequency list.  I am missing the Sackville Town 159.09 repeater input frequency and tone.  Someone did give these to me previously... but I cannot locate them..  Please check this list and send me any corrections.  Thanks.

August 20:  First item is that I have finally updated my PEI pages....but from information mostly received back in 2005 and not used.  Sorry about that to the contributors involved.  Now I must ask anyone with any knowledge of the PEI scene to check out what I have now posted... and let me know what needs further updating.  Thanks.       Second item is that part of the NS TMR went down on August 16 for a significant period of time.  I am not sure how wide an area was involved, but it did include the Eastern Shore area of HRM.  The HRM fire service was able to go immediately to its back conventional repeaters, but no other service, including the provincial government, EHS or RCMP is thought to have any backup other than cell phones.   The sites in the area fail-softed to site trunking but units were out of contact with their dispatchers.

August 12:  The old Halifax Regional Municipality 800 MHz hybrid trunk system has gone silent.  A knowledgeable acquaintance has reported that the two control channels are off the air.  The system had recently had no users as all of the HRM 800 MHz communications are now on the NS TMR.   My speculation that this system would go to commercial use was unfounded.

August 12:   New Brunswick RCMP:   A repeater reported in District 5 simulcast with others in the area, with output 155.745, input 154.875 and tone of 131.8.    Based on signal strength analysis, this repeater has been found to be located near St. Margarets.

Further to my comments re the demise of my favourite oldies broadcasting station.... thanks to the contributor who reminded me about satellite radio....   yes maybe I will think about getting it..... I said I never would, but well maybe..............!

August 1:  Further to my update of July 21, I see that even more  changes are coming for broadcasting.  CFCY 630 kHz in Charlottetown is also heading to the FM band.  CFCY-FM will be on 95.1 MHz with a power of 100 kW and a country format.   In addition, a new station owned by the Newcap group is coming to Charlottetown on 105.5 MHz with 33 kW and a slogan of "The Island".     Here closer to home the Bedford Baptist Church in the Halifax suburbs is approved for a 50 Watt station on 89.1 MHz.   I have already called the church to tell them that this frequency does not seem to be a good one, as within a kilometre or two of Bedford I often hear the CBC-1 station in Truro with a very good signal.

July 21:  Two more AM radio stations in the Maritimes are biting the dust.  In the past few weeks sister stations CHNS in Halifax and CHTN in Charlottetown (both owned by Maritime Broadcasting) have been test-broadcasting on FM with new formats.   For a while the AM transmitters were continuing on with their Oldies format but now the AM and FM are simulcast, and eventually the AM will cease transmission.   Oldies 96 (on 960 kHz) has gone to 89.9 MHz with what seems to be a classic rock format.   CHTN 720 kHz is now Ocean 100 on 100.3 MHz with the slogan "We Play Everything"!    For me personally this is traumatic as my favourite music is oldies (50's to early 70's) and now my main station is gone, and so is one of my backups!   This leaves for me CJCH 920 in Halifax, but it mixes oldies with talk during weekday mornings and also overnight, and has a weak nighttime signal in my direction... 25,000 Watts but a nighttime signal full of interference..... I estimate their signal in my direction is more like 250 Watts!  Lately I have been listening a lot to CFEP Seaside FM 94.7 MHz from Eastern Passage, NS (a Halifax suburb).  This is a 50 Watt community station that comes in surprisingly well here in Lower Sackville.  They are eclectic but do feature a mix of oldies and easy listening.   Other than that, I will have to get my fix of oldies music from dx stations in the USA, and of course only at night.    The other side of the coin is that I will be anxious to hear distant stations on 720 and 960 when these local stations are gone.   Still it is a shame to have one of the very oldest stations in the Maritimes (CHNS) gone from the AM airwaves. 
By the way, there are other changes in Halifax broadcast radio, with CKHZ (Zee 103... the Beat of Halifax) now on the air on 103.5 MHz with an urban contemporary format.   This station annoys me, not because of its music, but because they insist on the American "Zee" instead of Zed!      Also coming in Halifax is a Global station on 105.1 as well as a low power French language community station with a frequency yet to be determined.   This will make I think 15 FM stations in Halifax plus 4 others easily heard from Truro, Kentville and Bridgewater! You would think that one of them could have an oldies format, though rumour has it that Oldies is not allowed in Canada as an FM format....can this be true?!

July 20: from a contributor re Keswick Fire in New Brunswick: 
Main simplex is 410.6625 which is also the rptr output
main simplex (Fire Ground)
413.6625 is a emo simplex which is used for water Shuttles with Keswick Valley
also Use 412.4375 as a traffic control freq. (which is also Oromocto rptr output).

June 1: modified NS TMR id list... with some updates.  Still doesn't include digital, except for a few... sorry everyone!  I am always looking for new tg's to add to the list.  I have not personally been keeping track of commercial id's but now do wish to update those as well.  Please send me any that you have encountered, even if you do not have an identification.

May 30:  Frequency and talkgroup info updated again on the NS Ambulance page.   Includes the new digital tg's as well as simplex frequencies associated with EHS.  

May 20: Nova Scotia EHS units have received new portable radios and yes, there are digital talkgroups on them.  But do not despair, only two talkgroups are digital and these are not being used as yet.  Their purpose is unknown, and may be designed for more private conversations if necessary.  The following is the channel lineup on the portables.    There is a continuous tuning arrangement, so that this list could start with any of the tg's.   It is like an endless loop.   Most of the tg's are hospitals.  If you do not understand what the designations are, check my NS Ambulance/Hospital page, and they will likely make sense.   Note that the talkgroups are regionalized on the dial.... I have divided the list to show you.  Halifax area shown first, then the North, starting with Northeast, then Northwest, with the shared Tac 2 in the middle.  Then comes the south, with the Annapolis Valley followed by the South Shore, with shared Tac 3 in the middle.  Then comes Cape Breton, starting with rural, and ending with the Sydney area, with Tac 4 in the middle.   Finally come all the common channels, including the two simplex channels.  Please note that supervisors and support personnel have other tg's such as maintenance and more liaison talkgroups.   Mobile radios, as opposed to the new portables, do not have the digital talkgroups, and may not have as many MA tg's. I have also updated the NS ambulance/hospital page with this info.    This update information is thanks to Shaun.     Also I have heard that some or all hospitals have their own tg's for use between hospitals or for internal staff use.  Please let me know if you have any info to share.

> CENTRAL 2 
> TAC 1 
> CENTRAL 1 
> QE2 ER 
> DGH ER 
> CEC ER 
> IWK ER 
> GRACE LD 

> ESHORMEM 
> STMARGUY 
> EAST MEM 
> TWIN MUS 
> STMARTHA 
> NORTH 2 
> TAC 2 
> NORTH 1 
> COLCHREG 
> ABERDEEN 
> MONCTON --- New Brunswick TG Not used as of yet 
> GEO DMNT --- New Brunswick TG Not used as of yet
> LILLIAN 
> HIGHLAND 
> ALLSAINT 
> NCUMBIND 
> SCMBAYVW 
> NRTHWEST --- thought to be reserved for use in the Moncton/Amherst area

> DIGBY 
> ANAPOLIS 
> HANTS 
> WKINDSOL 
> VALYREG 
> WEST 1 
> TAC 3 
> WEST 2 
> YAR REG 
> S S REG 
> ROSEWAY 
> QUEENS 
> FISHMAN 

> BUCHANON 
> CHETICAM 
> INVRNESS 
> VCMH 
> STRICHAN 
> CB 2 
> TAC 4 
> CB 1 
> CBRM REG 
> GLACE BAY 
> NEWWATER 
> N SIDE 

> SIMEHS 
> DISASTER 
> EHS DIG1 
> EHS DIG2 
> MA 1 
> MA 2 
> MA 3 
> MA 4 
> MA 5 
> MA 6 
AMTAIR

See the comments re HRM below.   It is now clear that Transit, Works and Property Services are all on the same radios, but with Transit being dispatched separately.   Works and Property have the same dispatch but separate working talkgroups.   The list below is tentative and will be updated as more becomes known.   It is definite that Transit has retained its 400 MHz in-bus radios, but otherwise all communications amongst supervisors and maintenance are on the new tmr talkgroups,with patching to buses available through transit dispatch.   Some non-transit services are "up-in-the-air" at this point as reorganization of HRM departments continues.  Specifically, all by-law enforcement services are being transferred to Police Department control (and possibly be realigned) and perhaps will migrate to the police dispatch system and talkgroups.  This includes Park Patrol, Animal Control, Taxi Licencing and Inspection, Unsightly Premises, and perhaps others.  Here are the tg's as known, with individual descriptions yet to come:

April 2006: 

April 30: updated the NB RCMP page, with some new information re frequencies and simulcasting.   It is still unclear as to whether 155.415 has replaced 155.88 province wide, or just in some areas.   Appears to be replaced at Melrose, but both are present in the Sussex area, with 155.415 apparently replacing the local area extender repeater that was on 148 MHz and later reported to have been replaced by UHF.  And what about all the other areas with 155.88?   Please email me if you can add some data!

Clarified information re Miramichi NB Police and Fire (info courtesy of Jeff) [this has been updated on the page]

Talkgroups associated with the move of Halifax Works and Transit to the TMR:   the following are some tg id's and designations that are confirmed or suspected to be part of the the new fleetmaps.  These are courtesy of two knowledgeable listeners, whose observations and SPECULATIONS are combined here:

19152 Transit Ops 1 
19154 Transit Ops 2
19216 Transit Ops 3 (patches to bus 400 MHz radios, including from Maintenance)
19248 Transit Special Projects
19280 Transit Ferry Supvr
19312 Transit Fleet Maintenance (traffic with service trucks, and from Dispatch)
19344 unknown
19376 Works dispatch (mobile calls to dispatch)
19408 Works Ops 2 (inter-unit, and calls from dispatch)
19440 Works Ops 3 (inter-unit, and calls from dispatch)
19472 Works Ops 4 (inter-unit, and calls from dispatch)
19504 Works Ops 5 (inter-unit, and calls from dispatch)

Newly heard TMR tg's in Halifax:  20208, 20240, 20304 supporting the Juno Awards and similar traffic.  20272 not yet heard may be expected to be part of this group as well.  User agency is unknown.

Re: rebanding.  A number of you have reported that there are no plans for rebanding in Canada, and that our present scanners will be fine at least for now.   Makes me wonder how future scanners for the US market will work in Canada, or am I seeing potential problems that will not exist?

March 2006:  Newly heard TMR tg in Halifax area:  20080 has been heard with movie set production traffic.

From a listener on the spot re SW NB fire updates:   Bonny River Fire is 154.650 (input 155.28), same as St. George.  This freq also used by St George Works secondary.   St George frequencies:  Ch 1 is the above pair.  Ch 2 is simplex 154.650.  Ch 3 is simplex 154.355 which is the main Works freq but used as secondary by fire.

Also in NB, a listener nr Sussex reports RCMP 155.88 up but scratchy, but the new freq 155.415 is loud and clear.

January 2006:  revised the page outlining the NS Trunk, including frequencies and system description.

December 2005:  Added a new page regarding the Nova Scotia Power Corporation.  Go to the Nova Scotia jumpoff page to access this new one, which by the way just gives for now the frequencies possibly in use around the Halifax area, and needs your input.

The previous report regarding a new TMR site in Cape Breton appears to have been in error.    In my update I totally forgot that the Glace Bay site is also Group 6, with a CC of 860.1375, and that 860.3875 if heard in that area MUST be Glace Bay's alternate CC.   It is an unvarying pattern that the alternate CC of any site is 0.2500 higher than the primary CC.   Here in the Halifax area it is very common for the sites to go to the alternate, but this is likely not nearly as common for sites elsewhere, and hence the reporter in the area was unfamiliar with alternate CC's.    My apologies to all for my lack of analysis before posting that update, which is now withdrawn.   At this point the only site new to the system since its original establishment is the one at Chaswood (see June update below).

November 2005:    On November 22 the Halifax Regional Municipality inaugurated its new dispatch centre.   This state of the art facility is located in the Eric Spicer Municipal Building on the Dartmouth side of the harbour.  The dispatch room consists of a 911 call-taking area, a police dispatch area and a similar fire dispatch area.  The police section has six TMR consoles, each capable of operating on upwards of 50 talkgroups, but designated normally for use on one or more of the 5 major zone talkgroups in use on a daily basis by patrol units.    As was begun earlier this year, this centre dispatches both the HRM Police itself and the Halifax detachment of the RCMP, as well as the HRM Park Patrol and the local units of CN Police.   The fire component dispatches the equally far-flung operations of Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency Service.  It is thought that no actual changes in channels or operations result from the establishment of this integrated centre which replaces a stop-gap but similar one that is located at Fire Station 8 in Bedford.    The Bedford site will become the backup to this new centre.  It should be noted that the other major emergency service provider in the region, Emergency Health Services (EHS), has its dispatch centre in Burnside a few kilometres north of the Eric Spicer Building.   Readers may be interested to know that the Eric Spicer Building also houses the East Zone offices of the Halifax Regional Police, as well as the HRM and NS Provincial Emergency Operations Centres (EMO), and the offices of the federal government's Emergency Readiness organization, and last but not least, the club centre for the Dartmouth Amateur Radio Club.

For those who are interested, the new pages on listening to the AM radio band are now up, and accessible from the opening page.

The Aeronautical pages on this site are slowly coming back on line.  From the opening page click on Maritimes wide and then on Aeronautical... and from that page click on Maritimes for local info including a discussion of the local situation, plus an extensive list of aero frequencies in our region, plus airline call signs... Still trying to figure out how to get the airspace maps back on line...

Brian J reports hearing the new 155.415 RCMP frequency near Sussex,  simulcast with 155.88 and using the same tone, 186.2.  Still no info re input frequency.    Also tentatively reporting 155.745 tone 131.8 poss simulcast with District 5 repeaters.

October 2005:  NB Fire updates:  Edmundston/St-Basile/St-Jacques fire: dispatch   165.585, ground 152.285
Lac-baker fire simplex      156.950      Tnx Brenda!

NSTMR pages updated.  List of sites moved to its own page for easier printing.  Site numbers updated. Status of the three Fredericton sites clarified as being part of Zone 2. 

Update on HRP and RCMP joint dispatch:  Apparently going along with only a few hitches, with RCMP members adapting to the HRP ways.   Callsigns of RCMP cars for the most part are the two letter prefix of their individual office area (LS, TA, CH, MH, SH) followed by two digits.  Special use vehicles including Metro Traffic Services and overall Hfx detachment supervisors are still using the old format such as 22B1 and 61C5.   As of early October the HRP has reinstituted a dedicated traffic department which apparently also includes RCMP members (unconfirmed), with the RCMP Metro Traffic Services still in place and patrolling mostly the 100 series highways.  It is thought that the new traffic unit will concentrate on trouble spots not on the major highways, and is known to be making use of the motorcycles that have been in storage when not brought out for parade duty. 

September 2005:   Re New Brunswick RCMP:  It is reported that there are two RCMP VHF repeaters heard in the Fredericton area on previously unlisted frequencies:      1) 152.285, input 153.605  Tone 123 in and out.   2) 151.7, input 152.405, also with 123 in and out.   The nature of these is not known, and it is unclear when these were last heard.   Also, my page on the NB RCMP may still refer to 155.97 being used in Southwest NB, possibly in the Fredericton area, but it is now thought that this, when heard, was actually the Woodstock PD which is dispatched by the Fredericton City PSAP.   Keep in mind also that the NB VHF network is linked by 400 MHz point to point frequencies.  These frequencies are not the ones listed as national RCMP communications channels.

Also re the RCMP in NB: Melrose RCMP repeater on 155.88 serving the Confederation Bridge area is reported to now be transmitting on 155.415 with tone 173.8.  (info from Brian).  Any listener with input frequency information is requested to email me with this info.  Also since this has happened perhaps it is time to check the whole NB RCMP list and let me know if you see any needed changes.   "Mac", who is the expert on the RCMP in NB, is requested to contact me.  I miss your emails full of great information!!!  Please note that I updated the NB RCMP page on September 13 and the information above is included.

July 2005: The NS IMRS (the VHF ancestor of the TMR) is confirmed to still be up and running on both the fire and GSS networks.  It is reported that the provincial government will however discontinue the linking system associated with this network and monitoring by Shubie Radio, but  allow the individual sites to remain as stand-alone repeaters for local area use until such time as maintenance costs make even this impossible.

June 2005:  New site in NSTMRS operational at Chaswood, just east of Shubenacadie, NS.  Control Channel is 860.0375 and alternate 860.2875 which makes it a group 2A site, except that its channels 3 and 4 are frequencies drawn from the otherwise unused Group 9.