Radiocommunication Field Handbook QUICK REFERENCE - WHERE TO GET HELP (More Appendix F) CONTACT * - Supervisor OFFICE Cell / Pager Radio Call Sign RADIO OPERATIONS - Victoria (343B Bay Street) [ Mail: V8W3E7 / Courier: V8T1P5 ] Barry Cowan 686-2436 686-2436 4W7 Vacant 387-6650 686-2435 4W3 Vacant 387-6650 686-2434 4W4 Jim Riddell 387-6650 686-2437 4W2 Dave Miller* 387-3500 881-6336 4W5 Dustin Boggs 387-6650 361-5042 4W6 Admin Assistant (Vacant) 387-6654 COAST FOREST REGION Nanaimo (2100 Labieux Road) Vacant* Glenn Allen* 751 7084 713-2723 32 Cezar Fador 751-7174 741-6334 32A Mike Pepin 751-7175 741-6333 32B NORTHERN INTERIOR FOREST REG - Prince George (3980-22nd Avenue) Vacant* Don Lewis* 565-8848 612-7823 Car41 Eric Arsenault 565-6028 613-8488 Car44 Smithers (3333 Tatlow Road) Harold Langille 847-6332 877-1132 Car42 Bill English 847-6333 877-2835 Car45 Charlie Lake (Dave Johnson Bldg. - Mile 52.2 Alaska Hwy.) Don Anderson 262-3331 262-8421 Car43 SOUTHERN INTERIOR FOREST REG - Kamloops (441 Columbia Street) Vacant* Vacant* 3RA15 April Sjodin 828-4560 571-4537 3RA14 Williams Lake (1010A Mackenzie Avenue North) Kevin Larsen 398-4460 267-2115 3RA12 Castlegar (845 Columbia Ave) Mark Tack 365-8634 304-8876 3RA95 Rowe Barnett 365-8635 608-0591 3RA10 Cranbrook (1902 Theatre Road) Dave Gaspar 426-1757 489-9787 3RA13 Vernon (2501 - 14th Ave) Gavin Henry 550-2200 260-0294 3RA11 Fire Camps Fire Camp 1: (AC: 403) 997-3369 Fire Camp 2: (AC: 403) 997-3366 Fire Camp 3: (AC: 403) 997-4494 Fire Camp 4: (AC: 403) 997-3368 Fire Camp 5: (AC: 403) 997-3362 Fire Camp 6: (AC: 403) 997-3367 Fire Camp 7: (AC: 403) Fire Camp 8: (AC: 403) PETUNIA: (AC: 403) 997-0547 IRIS: (AC:403) 997-2318 FS632 2010 2 BC Forest Service Radiocommunication Field Handbook CONTENTS QUICK REFERENCE - WHERE TO GET HELP (More Appendix F) 2 THE B.C. FOREST SERVICE RADIO SYSTEM 8 AUTHORIZATION - INDUSTRY CANADA 8 Licensing 8 Federal Regulations 8 VHF HANDHELD AND MOBILE RADIOS 8 Range 8 OPERATING PROCEDURES 9 Tone of Voice, Voice Loudness and Articulation 9 Do Not Shout 9 Squelch Control 9 Microphone 9 CTCSS (Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System) 9 District CTCSS Tones 10 LETTERS OF AUTHORITY 10 Check To See If You Have A Letter Of Authority 10 LOGGING ROADS 10 Entering and Working In an Active Logging Area 11 Road Channel Frequency Check 11 Prior to switching channels 11 Resource Road Channels 11 There are currently over 250 road safety channels in use throughout the province of BC and these are constantly changing. Industry Canada, the Forest Service, BC TruckSafe, WorkSafeBC and other interest groups have been working to establish a smaller number of “standard” road safety chan- nels for use province wide. Eleven frequencies are initially identified for road safety, using one of three tones effectively providing thirty-three chan- nels. Your radio display will show these new channels as “RR-XXY”. 11 EMERGENCY PROCEDURES AND REPORTING ACCIDENTS 12 Calling For Assistance 12 International Distress Calling / Answering Procedures 12 Refer to ‘APPENDIX H’ for emergency procedures and making distress calls. 12 Protection Program 12 Accident Response - Basic Rules 12 See ‘APPENDIX J’ for Wildfire Management Branch Accident Response Rules. 12 PRIORITY OF COMMUNICATIONS 13 BC FOREST SERVICE RADIOS 13 FS632 2010 3 BC Forest Service Radiocommunication Field Handbook Types and Models of Field Staff Radios 13 Handhelds Radios 13 Satellite Phones 13 Mobile Radios 13 Air-Band Handhelds 13 ICOM F30GT Instructions 14 ICOM F3 and F3S Instructions 16 Globalstar GSP-1600 Instructions 17 Globalstar GSP-1600 Quick Reference Guide 19 Iridium 9505A Satellite Phone 21 Kenwood TK-780 Instructions 23 Kenwood TK-7180 Instructions 24 For the Northern Interior Region 24 Kenwood TK-7180 Instructions 25 For Southern Interior and Coast Regions 25 ICOM A4 Operating Instructions 26 Troubleshooting / Maintenance and Repair 26 Handheld Radios 26 CALL SIGNS 27 Obtaining a Call-Sign 27 Regional and District Call-Signs 27 Branch and Headquarters Call-signs 27 Wildfire Management Branch Call-signs 28 RULES OF OPERATION 28 Ministry Use Policy 28 General Policy 28 Road Frequency Use Policy 28 Important Narrowband Policy Notice 29 Wildfire management BRANCH FIRE COMMUNICATIONS 29 OBTAINING And RETURNING A FOREST SERVICE HANDHELD RADIO 30 Radio Sign out Policy and Procedures 30 Obtaining or Returning a Radio (Non Fire Stock) 30 Failure to Return a Handheld Radio 30 Missing Radio Policy 30 Finding a Radio that does not belong to you 30 APPENDIX A - Call Sign Assignments 31 Northern Interior Forest Region - Base Call Signs 31 Southern Interior Forest Region – Base Call Signs 31 Coast Forest Region – Base Call Signs 31 Fire Centre - Call Signs 31 APPENDIX B - Safety Requirements for Field Staff 32 WorkSafeBC (Formerly WCB) Requirements 32 FS632 2010 4 BC Forest Service Radiocommunication Field Handbook WorkSafeBC: Accident Prevention Regulations: - Article 8.32 32 WorkSafeBC First Aid Regulations: - Article 33.5 (1) 32 APPENDIX C – BC Forest Service Frequencies 33 Standard Radio Channel Line-ups 33 ICOM F3/F3s and ICOM Mobiles Frequency Line-Up (Revised Nov 2010) 33 F30GT Handheld and Kenwood TK-780, TK-7180 (Revised: Feb 2010) 34 Incident Commanders and Fire Bosses Only 34 UHF Fire Repeater Frequencies 35 VHF AM Air Frequencies 35 CTCSS Tones 35 APPENDIX D – Standard Operating Procedures 36 General Information 36 Antenna location is important 36 District Radio Repeater Systems 36 Description and Operation 36 Selecting Tones 36 Propagation Characteristics 37 How a District Repeater System Works 38 To call the District Office back from the portable 39 In Summary 39 Exceptions 39 An example of difficult or marginal communications 39 Terminology 39 Simplex Frequency 39 Half-duplex Frequency 39 Full Duplex Frequency 39 DTMF “Dual Tone Multi Frequency” 40 VHF and UHF Frequencies 40 Standard Voice Phrases to Use on the Radio System 40 Reception Quality Assessment 41 Phonetic Alphabet 42 Sign In/Out (District Offices or Fire Control Centre) 42 District Office Staff 42 Protection Branch Staff 42 Regional Staff and Headquarters Branch Staff 42 Check-in Examples 43 No Response Example 44 APPENDIX E – Other Communications Equipment 45 Other Mobile Features 45 Telephone Interconnect 45 APPENDIX F – Where to Get Help 46 Regional Radio Electronic Shops 46 Radio Electronics Shops provide the following services 46 Where to find Contact Information and Support 46 Equipment kept at Radio Shops or at a Fire Equipment Depot 46 FS632 2010 5 BC Forest Service Radiocommunication Field Handbook PETUNIA and IRIS 47 Services Provided By Radio Operations - Victoria 48 APPENDIX G – Knowing More About Your Radio 49 Squelch Control 49 PTT (Push-To-Talk) Button 49 Monitor Button 49 Channel Selector or Key Pad 49 Antennas 49 Hi – Lo Power Switch 49 Batteries 50 Lithium Ion Batteries 50 Leaking Batteries 50 Vehicle Power Supplies 50 Trunk Mounted Units 51 APPENDIX H – Emergency Procedures 52 EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS 52 Levels of Distress 52 The Distress Signals 52 MAYDAY 52 PAN-PAN 52 SECURITY 52 A Distress Message 53 Radio Silence 53 APPENDIX I - Forest Region Map Supplement 54 Coast Forest Region Maps 55 Coast Forest Region 56 DCK - Chilliwack 58 DSQ - Squamish 59 DSC - Sunshine Coast 60 DSI - South Island 61 DCR - Campbell River 62 DNI - North Island Central Coast 63 DNC - North Coast 64 DHG - Haida Gwaii 65 Northern Interior Forest Region Maps 67 Northern Interior Forest Region 68 DKM - Kalum 70 DSS South - Skeena Stikine 71 DND - Nadina 72 DVA - Vanderhoof 73 DJA - Fort St James 74 DPG - Prince George 75 DMK - Mackenzie 76 DPC - Peace 77 DFN - Fort Nelson 78 FS632 2010 6 BC Forest Service Radiocommunication Field Handbook DSS North - Skeena Stikine 79 Southern Interior Forest Region Maps 81 Southern Interior Forest Region 82 DQU - Quesnel 84 DCH - Chilcotin 85 DCC - Central Cariboo 86 DMH - 100 Mile House 87 DHW - Headwaters 88 DCO - Columbia 89 DCS - Cascades 90 DKA - Kamloops 91 DOS - Okanagan Shuswap 92 DAB - Arrow Boundary 93 DKL - Kootenay Lake 94 DRM - Rocky Mountain 95 APPENDIX J – Wildfire management BRANCH Updates 97 FIRE COMMUNICATIONS – NEW 97 Man Power & Equipment Mobilization Plan 97 First-Contact Communications 97 Office of the Fire Commissioner 97 Ongoing Fire-Line Communications 97 Wildfire Management Fire Control Centre (PFCC - Fire Season Only) 98 Fire Communications and Issues (Fire Season Only) 98 WILDFIRE MANAGEMENT BRANCH - Accident Response Procedures 98 International Distress Calling Answering Procedures should be followed 98 Additional Protection Rules 98 Radio Sign Out Policy and Procedures 99 Obtaining or Returning a Handheld Radio 99 Failure to Return a Handheld Radio 99 Missing Radio Policy 99 Fire Centre Contact Information 100 Wildfier Management Branch Radio Requisition Process 101 APPENDIX K - Fire Centre Map Supplement 103 Cariboo 104 Coastal 106 Kamloops 108 North West 110 Prince George 112 South East 114 FS632 2010 7 BC Forest Service Radiocommunication Field Handbook THE B.C. FOREST SERVICE RADIO SYSTEM The Ministry of Forests and Range (MOFR) or British Columbia Forest Service (BCFS) radio system is comprised of twenty-nine separate district systems in three regions, weather monitoring stations and an aircraft location and management system. The BCFS system is one of the largest systems in Canada - it includes base stations, mountain top repeaters, mobile units for vehicles, aircraft, and marine vessels, and handheld portable units for individual communication needs. The focus of the radio system has been to provide reliable two-way radio service to personnel required to operate in the rural and remote locations of British Columbia, and to provide emergency radio communications where and when required. The BCFS radio system operates like a party line phone, ALWAYS ASSUME OTHERS ARE LISTENING. AUTHORIZATION - INDUSTRY CANADA Licensing All Ministry radios are licensed.