BILL'S NOVA SCOTIA RADIO SITE

FIRE DEPARTMENTS ON THE SOUTH SHORE
LUNENBURG, QUEENS, SHELBURNE AND YARMOUTH COUNTIES

Last updated March 26, 2013, with thanks principally to Doug, with input from Nick and Al, and others.

April 2011:  This page has been consolidated from other pages and may be outdated or require other corrections.  Please email or post on ScanMaritimes any suggestions or changes based on actual observation.'

The fire departments in this region do not use any coordinated system with integrated frequency usage as is used in Hants and Colchester counties; however as in other areas there is mutual aid using the standard 153.83 MHz mutual aid frequency, and some departments have the frequencies of adjacent departments in their radios.  Many departments use the NS provincial IMRS repeater system which has the following sites in the  region: 

Some departments use IMRS as the primary means of communications or for paging.   For more information on the NS IMRS fire grid, click here.

In addition to any other frequencies listed here, all fire departments in Nova Scotia are thought to be capable of operating on the TMR (NS Trunked Mobile Radio System) with at least one or two seeded radios.   In general TMR, if used at all,  is used for administrative liaison with other departments, for use in inter-agency mutual aid situations, for MFR liaison with ambulance dispatch, and for backup contact with their own dispatch service.    For the most part these communications are on standard talk groups but some departments are known to have their own private use talk groups that are thought to be used in contact with their dispatch service or for communications between the holders of the TMR radios.  

Paging in this part  of Nova Scotia is almost entirely carried out by third party providers.  In Yarmouth County it is Yarmouth Control.   In Lunenburg, Queens and Shelburne it is mostly provided by Scotia Business Centre in Bridgewater.   Dispatch providers are indicated in the chart.

Paging and communications from and to the paging providers is done via different methods:

• Phone line dial-up to activate pager.  This is indicated on the charts as DUE (Dial up encoder)

• Direct VHF on-air via repeater, i.e. dispatch is like any other unit working through the repeater.  Dispatch centre is close enough for direct access.

• Indirect on-air repeater and/or pager access, i.e. there is an intervening VHF or UHF link. 

1. YARMOUTH COUNTY

Yarmouth County is made up of two rural municipalities as well as the independent town of Yarmouth.  It is thought that all or most of these departments are dispatched by Yarmouth Control, but it is possible that some are dispatched by Scotia Business Centre. 

This chart is tentative, both in completeness and accuracy, as it comes from two different sources, several years apart.  Corrections, confirmations and updates are needed.

3. QUEENS COUNTY       Queens County is entirely occupied by the Queens Regional Municipality which was an amalgamation of the Queens Rural Municipality and the independent towns lying within it.    Unlike the Cape Breton Regional Municipality and the Halifax Regional Municipality, the fire services in QRM have not yet been unified and therefore these departments operate as before, i.e. independently except in cases of mutual aid.    While the departments generally have their own operating frequencies, all can use the IMRS repeater system.   Most would access the Liverpool repeater on 152.030 MHz  but the northern (inland) areas might more normally use the Springfield repeater on 151.925 MHz.

AREA	AREA	COMMUNITY	FREQ	DISPATCH
Queens	Queens RM	Greenfield	154.620	VALLEY DISPATCH
Queens	Queens RM	Liverpool	154.310	VALLEY DISPATCH
Queens	Queens RM	North Queens	154.190	VALLEY DISPATCH
Queens	Queens RM	Mill Village	152.315	VALLEY DISPATCH
Queens	Queens RM	Charleston	155.520	???
Queens	Queens RM	Port Medway	153.785	VALLEY DISPATCH
Queens	Queens rm	*Queens First Responders (Port Mouton)	153.860	VALLEY DISPATCH

*This is a medical response team, not for firefighting

 

4. LUNENBURG COUNTY    Lunenburg County is made up of two separate rural municipalities:  Lunenburg and Chester, and as well contains a number of independent towns.     Fire departments in Lunenburg County do not yet have a unified communications and paging system, and are therefore essentially separate from each other, except when in mutual aid.    Departments can and in some cases regularly do use the IMRS repeater system, with most accessing the Sherwood repeater on 152.21 MHz, but some of the more southwesterly departments might more regularly use the Liverpool repeater.   There is a chance that inland (northwest) areas might access the Springfield repeater on 151.925 MHz.

The following maps are courtesy of Stephen.   Station numbers on the maps are also on the chart following.

The vast majority of departments in Lunenburg County are paged by Scotia Business Ctr in Bridgewater, through a variety of transmitters.   The exceptions are New Ross which is paged by Valley Dispatch in Kentville, and Bridgewater which pages itself. 

Scotia Business Ctr has a paging transmitter at Newcombville on 153.26 MHz, used by several departments and another listed for 167.1 at Oakhill.

In the chart below, in the frequency column if there is a pair separated by a slash, this indicates a repeater pair with the repeater output appearing first, unless there is a an asterisk which is intended to indicate that I do not know which of the two frequencies is the output, and which is the input.     Sx stands for simplex

#	Map	NAME	Page Time (can vary)	PAGE	frequency	CTCSS
01	S	BAKER’S SETTLEMENT	1847	153.260	151.760  Sx	100.0
02	East	BLANDFORD		153.260	153.620 Sx
03	East	BLOCKHOUSE	1820	153.800	153.800/158.880
04	S	BRIDGEWATER (see special note below)	1800	154.340	154.340 Sx 153.50/159.075 rptr at Oakhill
05	S	CHELSEA	1855	153.260	154.635 Sx	100.0
06	East	CHESTER	1802	153.440	153.440 Sx
07	East	CHESTER BASIN	1801	153.935	153.935 Sx
08	S	CONQUERALL BANK	2000	153.980	153.980 Sx	142.6
09	East	CORNWALL	1806	155.265	155.265 Sx
10	S	DAYSPRING	1815	153.26/154.325	154.325 Sx 154.055 Sx
11	S	HEBB’S CROSS	1750	153.260	151.325 Sx	100.0
12	S	HEBBVILLE	1731	154.430	154.430/151.835*	173.8
13	North	HEMFORD		153.200	153.200 Sx
14	East	HUBBARDS	1830	154.25	154.25/159.825
15	East	INDIAN POINT		?	159.135 Sx
16	S	ITALY CROSS/MIDDLEWOOD		153.425	153.425 Sx
17	S	LAHAVE	1745	153.770	153.770/151.385	114.8
18	S	LAPLAND	1825	153.260	150.950 Sx	100.0
19	S	LUNENBURG	1731	153.875	153.875/158.450 155.190 Sx, 157.455 Sx	71.9
20	East	MAHONE BAY	1730	154.710	154.710/159.330	123.0
21	East	MARTINS RIVER	1830	159.650	154.650 Sx
22	S	MIDVILLE BRANCH	1725	153.260	153.920 Sx	100.0
23	North	NEW GERMANY	1830	154.055	154.055 Sx 154.10 Sx??
24	East	NEW ROSS	1905	153.905?	152.330/157.905
25	S	NEWCOMBVILLE	1730/1846	153.260	155.295 Sx	100.0
26	S	NORTHFIELD	1820	151.145	151.145 Sx 155.610 Sx
27	North	OAKHILL	1831	167.100	151.295 Sx
28	S	PETITE RIVIERE	1900	153.200	152.705/158.280 153.200 Sx	DCS 023
29	S	PLEASANTVILLE	1835	151.490	151.490 Sx	100.0
30	S	RIVERPORT	1755	154.085	154.085 Sx	100.0
31	North	UNITED COMMUNITIES (Cherry Hill)	1810	151.07	151.145 Sx 151.07 Sx
32	East	WALDEN	1830	154.555	154.555 Sx
33	East	WESTERN SHORE	1840	154.700	154.770 Sx
34	S	WILEVILLE	1845	153.260	154.295 Sx	100.0

CTCSS/DCS tone information may be incomplete and additions to them, or any other corrections are invited.   Input frequencies are also requested.

This chart does not included Tancook Island First Responders.   Information is sought on this organization.

 Bridgewater FD is also reported to have in its radios:   152.27 (former McCarthy Towing), 169.425 Town Parks and Rec, 151.955 (Tac 2 and former Public Works), SCBA 154.57 simplex.