CDM1550 and HT1250 Emergency Question

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oldredtoyota
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CDM1550 and HT1250 Emergency Question

Post by oldredtoyota »

Hello Everyone!

Alright, so my department was fortunate enough to be donated several CDM1550LS and HT1250LS radios. I know these are older, but due to funding and size of the department this is perfect! I'm new to the CPS programming, but I've had luck through the internet with answering most of my questions. I know these are old radios, but they're new to us and what we could afford.

A problem that I'm facing is the emergency button on the HTs. My goal is to have the emergency button be pressed and the CDM decode it and show radio XYZ is in alarm. I somewhat have what I'm looking for, but believe I'm missing a key part as well. Basically right now on CDM I have scan list of normal com channel (CH1) and a secondary on emergency channel (CH2) . Emergency channel is strictly "listening" for emergency button activation. I have CH2 set to priority 1 scan.

HTs go into emergency mode fine and the CDM picks it up fine, but my problem arises if there's other traffic on CH1 while emergency is pushed. If CH1 is active the scan doesn't seem to pick up CH2 until CH1 traffic has stopped. I have played with the impolite and polite tries, but what I don't like about this is that the entire time the HT is trying, if the PTT button is pressed the tries stop. Also, if the tries stop but CH2 on CDM never got scanned the emergency could go missed.

My question is, is there some programming that needs to be done on either the CDM or HT that confirms the CDM received and decoded the alarm so the HT does not need to continue with the polite and impolite trying? Currently the HT will go through all it's tries regardless if there's traffic on the CDM and even after the CDM displays and alerts of an emergency on it's screen.

A second question I have is with the HT during an emergency. Is there a setting or something that lets the HT user know they activated the alert besides the initial little "beep" and screen showing. My only though is in a low light/loud environment will the user know if the emergency button was activated easily?
Karl NVW
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Re: CDM1550 and HT1250 Emergency Question

Post by Karl NVW »

The Emergency Button was not designed to function as a peer-to-peer portable or mobile alerting system.
If you are sending the alarms to an MDC "H-box" alert console or to a full dispatch console, that console will sound its internal alarm and transmit an acknowledgement burst back to the sending radio on the same channel. Subscriber units do not have that capability built in.
For what you have cobbled together right now, the best method is to have the MDC emergency signalling take place on the normal comms Ch 1 (don't scan at all). If you think must scan, then set Ch2 Emergency as the priority channel and rethink your alarm response plan.
Karl - WA8NVW AFA5VB
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oldredtoyota
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Re: CDM1550 and HT1250 Emergency Question

Post by oldredtoyota »

Thanks for your response, but the goal was to utilize the CDM1550 as an alert console. The goal is not to do a peer-to-peer alert, but to have multiple HT on scene and if one goes into an emergency, to be able to determine easily which HT went into alert.

Currently half this battle seems to be complete because the CDM does decode which HT is in an emergency. However, the CDM does not appear to send an acknowledgment signal to the HT so it can stop with it's retries. This is where I am looking for assistance.
oldredtoyota
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Re: CDM1550 and HT1250 Emergency Question

Post by oldredtoyota »

We weren't planning on using the emergency button as a peer-to-peer message alert system. The goal was to have 1 CDM on scene and with one of the HTs had an emergency then the CDM would be able to decode and acknowledge the alert.

Currently I believe I have half this problem figured out. The CDM does decode and display which HT is in alert mode. Unfortunately it appears as if the CDM is not acknowledging the alarm, as the HT keeps with it's retries.

I guess my main question is, to your knowledge, can the CDM1550 acknowledge HT emergency alerts?

If so, any help with the programming aspect would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Matt
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escomm
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Re: CDM1550 and HT1250 Emergency Question

Post by escomm »

No, he just got done telling you the subscribers don't acknowledge alerts.
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escomm
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Re: CDM1550 and HT1250 Emergency Question

Post by escomm »

And just because you put the CDM on a power supply doesn't make it a console :(
Karl NVW
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Re: CDM1550 and HT1250 Emergency Question

Post by Karl NVW »

Escomm has correctly restated my response to your original first question. Those portable and mobile units can decode and display the incoming emergency IDs, but they do not include hardware or software to send an acknowledgement message back to the unit which declared an emergency to stop alarm transmissions.
Your second original question asked about a local indication that the emergency alarm has been triggered, and I didn't give you a response. The default setup for that feature included an audible alarm from the radio speaker when the orange button is depressed. It is LOUD!! Not for use with earphones. If you aren't hearing it, look in the radio-wide options list for something called "Silent Alarm", "Emergency Alert Inhibit", or similar and undo it. Radios used for police surveillance usually had their alarm alert silenced, but fire departments always want it enabled.
Karl - WA8NVW AFA5VB
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