Communications
In late 2009 Gilpin Ambulance, Inc. filled paper work with the state for inclusion into the state 800mhz radio system requesting a talk group, or channel for Gilpin Ambulance. In 2010 we were granted access to the system and were the only mountain agency given a talk group. We named the talk group Mountain Tac and invited other neighboring entities including Clear Creek, Summit, Grand and I70 corridor agencies to participate and utilize the group.
In June of 2010 Douglas County donated 50 hand held 800 radios to Gilpin County. These Radios were reprogrammed with the new talk group and all county emergency response department chiefs were trained in their use. Gilpin Ambulance received 6 of the 50 portable radios. The county also purchased 50 in car chargers and we received 6 of those as well. All of our primary Ambulances (102, 103 and 108) and truck 100 have these radios installed. This will allow us to communicate easily with other agencies should a large scale emergency occur anywhere in the state in which we may be asked to respond. These are not primary use radios and Gilpin county does not intend to go to 800Mhz radios.
This year all Gilpin Ambulance and Black Hawk Fire radio traffic will be moved onto the “Green Channel.” The Green Channel was formally owned and operated by Gilpin Ambulance, Inc. which had been donated to the county dispatch center for use as another emergency channel. This Channel has been under utilized so moving all Black Hawk Fire, and Gilpin Ambulance traffic to this channel will free up Black Hawk’s channel for PD usage. This move will also result in all ambulance calls being dispatched on one channel for both dispatch centers. This will eliminate the possibility of missing a tone (call) due to calls being toned on multiple channels. We are also looking forward to the completion of 2 more repeater sites being built in the county which will improve overall communications.