Government Radio Network (Australia)

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The Government Radio Network (or GRN)is the umbrella term used to refer to various systems in place in states and territories across Australia that enable state-wide trunked radio communication through interlinked sites for government and public services such as: police, ambulance, fire, roads authority etc which require such a system to function properly. The main aim of a GRN is to consolidate all resources into one network ensuring greater coverage and reliability than if each department had their own system in place.It also reduces the amount of governemnt money and resources needed to maintain communication between units of emergency and public service branches as well as allwoing effective inter-communication between these services in times of national or state emergency for coordination of wide-scale actions.

Contents 1 New South Wales GRN (NSWGRN) 2 Victoria StateNet Mobile Radio Network (SMR) 3 South Australia GRN (SAGRN) 4 References 5 External links

[edit] New South Wales GRN (NSWGRN)

The New South Wales government radio network is a series of approximately 130 interconnected towers linked via hard phone lines and, in more remote areas, microwave tower-tower links. The network covers an area of approximately 150,000 square kilometers^[1], and is used by a wide range of government department and resources including:^[2]

• Department of Corrective Services
• Energy Australia
• National Parks & Wildlife Service
• The NSW Department of Juvenile Justice
• NSW Maritime Authority
• Ambulance Service of NSW
• Sydney Ferries
• NSW Rural Fire Service
• The State Emergency Service
• Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority
• Sydney Water
• RailCorp Security Division

The Motorola UHF Type II SmartZone operates approximately between 405mHZ and 420mHZ^[3] with the lower frequency range(405-410mHZ) being allocated to transmition from portables/mobiles to local towers and the upper range (411-420mHZ) being the output from the GRN towers to radios of a particular talkgroup that have been allocated a frequency.The NSW-GRN is a mix of unencrypted analogue FM and digial Project 25 supporting encryption^[1] if required by the agency requesting it.It is planned to slowly phase out analogue and replace entirely with digital to both improve coverage and spectrum efficiency.^[4]

[edit] Victoria StateNet Mobile Radio Network (SMR)

[edit] South Australia GRN (SAGRN)

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It is a trunked radio network usually using Motorola SmartZone. In essence this is a system of interconnected (by microwave links) repeater sites, mobile (vehicle mounted), portable and static radio transceivers used within Australia for radio communications.

This system is used by almost all Australian emergency services (police, fire, ambulance) along with some private companies.

GRNs can be a mix of analog and digital. Eg. on the SAGRN, only Police (SAPOL) and Fisheries Dept use digital (and encrypted) radios while all other users use analog (unencrypted) radios.

Frequencies are allocated dynamically to each "talk group" (group of connected radios) as required and are only activated in areas ("cells") which contain radios belonging to that "talk group".

The frequencies used are licensed by the ACMA and are outside of the Citizen's band, and as such are relatively secure from casual interference, although of course they can be monitored by scanners.

The South Australian Country Fire Service, Metropolitan Fire Service, Ambulance Service, State Emergency Service, Department Of Fisheries, Volunteer Marine Rescue, Department Of Transport, St John Ambulance and several other government agencies use GRN radios. In addition, the NSW Rural Fire Service operates on the GRN in some areas.

the basis of the SAGRN is the sharing of frequencies, for example on a conventional scanner, you may hear a bus depot talking about a problem, next you may here an ambulance talking to a hospital. this is why to monitor the network, you will require a trunk or trunking scanner.

The network also has Multi-Agency talk groups which allow the different services to be able to talk to each other, at mass emergency's, major events, or whenever is needed. hence even those using digital and encryption can switch to a Multi Agency TG and the digital and encryption is disabled to allow them to talk to non digital users.

This is not Possible on other talk groups as each agency is supplied its on talk groups and channels.

The Current network equipment is supplied by Motorola, and consists of the following, Base Radios, Motorola mcs 2000 mk 2 and mk 3, Motorola xtl 2500, Motorola w7, Motorola w3 and Motorola rch3000 portables, Motorola mts 2000 mk3, Motorola xts3000 mk3 Motorola ats2500 mk3.

The GRN also has a Telephone inter-connect feature, where phone calls can be made, all services except SAPOL, can only dial certain numbers pre-programmed into their radios. SAPOL, have unlimited dialing and can dial any number they wish, this how ever is an expensive feature, as a 5min call is charged by airtime and connection, and number of times the PTT(Push to Talk) button is pressed. a 6min call will cost around 55$

The GRN also has a remote kill feature, where if a radio is lost or stolen, a kill signal can be sent to the radio, which if it is on will instantly kill the radio, or if the radio is off, waits until it is turned on then sends the signal, this turns a radio into an expensive paper weight, and can only be fixed by Motorola, and then questions will be asked where you got the radio, and why do you have this radio.

the GRN also has a state-wide paging network, where messages can be sent and received almost simultaneousness, allowing a rapid response of crews. the pagers are supplied by Samsung and are model SFA-170. they are enabled so even if the pager is in silent, or vibrate, and regardless of what tone settings the user has set if a pager receives a message containing *urgmsg* or *cfsres* the pager will activate on the alert tone 7 the loudest high pitch tone on the pager.

at this point in time the contract is due to expire between Motorola and Telstra in this year 2008, it is anticipated the new network will be in place and updated by around 2010/2012.

it is also unclear at this point in time, if Motorola will continue to supply the equipment. If Motorola will be no longer be supplying equipment, a new vendor will have to be found through a tender, for supply, and maintenance of the new voice and data equipment.

the Police SAPOL, also usea data network SAGRN 19.2 kbit/s RDLAP DATA NETWORK this is used by their in-vehicle MDT Mobile Data Terminal where it can run checks on people and cars, also have access to whereisit maps, and a whole range of other cool, and interesting features.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• South Australian Government Radio Network [1]
• list of SA-GRN Talk Groups* [2]
• link to more info on the SA-GRN* [3]