Updated 4/11/17

Introduction

Public safety agencies in the State of Wisconsin recognize that inter-discipline, inter-agency cooperation and coordination is vital to the rapid and efficient response to critical incidents that affect our citizens. The cornerstone of any response is the ability to communicate effectively.

Purpose

The purpose of this guidance to establish standards for channel names that is logical, understandable and consistent across jurisdictions and disciplines. These standards would bring uniformity to public safety radio systems at the agency and county shared channel levels and would be similar to the channel nomenclature that has been established at the regional, state and federal mutual aid levels.

A uniform format for channel names will promote improved understanding and usage of operable and interoperable communications pathways by enabling standardized training curriculums for first-line emergency responders; consistent tactical interoperable communication plan (TICP) development; facilitate the implementation of incident communication plans during large scale, multi-agency emergency situations; and promote the development of region-wide programming templates to inter – connect differing radio systems through various means such as patches, gateways and other emerging technologies.

Application

This guidance is recommended for adoption by all public safety radio users in the State of Wisconsin.

Implementation

The transition period to implement these radio channel naming standards will be an evolutionary process as agencies migrate to new radio systems or update their subscriber unit templates. It is anticipated that the vast majority of public safety agencies will implement these standards by 2020.

It is highly recommended that even if individual local agencies do not have immediate plans to implement these standards, agencies should develop future channel naming templates that would be made available to other agencies that are actively programming their radios to these standards.

Standard Channel Naming Format

Due to the wide variation of radio display size, for purposes of this guidance, the ten (10) character channel nomenclature will be the default standard display format. The channel naming structure would be adjusted for smaller radio displays first by shortening the APCO/NPSTC purpose codes, (if applicable), and then by eliminating the two-digit county code at the agency channel naming level.

Radios that have more than the ten (10) character display may include other information in the channel name provided the information is not inconsistent with the standards established by this guidance. This standard would be applied consistently across all public safety frequencies licensed by Wisconsin agencies and jurisdictions.

County Level Shared/Interoperable (Mutual Aid) Channel Naming Standards

Characters 1 – 2: Two letter county codes derived from the TIME System

Characters 3 – 10:  The channel use designators signify the primary purpose of operations on the channel as defined by APCO/NPSTC ANS 1.104.1-2010 and modified for use in Wisconsin.

Special Note – Call/Hailing Channel

Every county level radio system will designate a channel/talkgroup as a dedicated Calling (hailing) channel used to establish an initial point of contact for interagency/inter-discipline communications using the following format:

Examples:

Kenosha County would be: KECALL

Jackson County would be: JACALL

Individual agencies may also establish a distinct call/hailing channel/talkgroup due to its size, geographic location or other unique circumstances utilizing the following format:

Examples:

Milwaukee Police Department would be: MCMWPDCALL

Madison Police Department would be: DAMAPDCALL

Green Bay Police Department would be: BRGBPDCALL

Agency Level Radio Channel Naming Standard

Characters 1 – 2: Two letter county codes derived from the TIME System.

Characters 4 – 6: Two letter agency code followed by the two letter discipline type listed below.

• SO – Sheriff’s Office
• PD – Police Department
• FD – Fire Department
• PH – Public Health
• PW –Public Works Characters 7 -10
• HY – Highway Department
• EM – Emergency Management
• DA – District Attorney
• Any other discipline types should use commonly used abbreviations.

Characters 7 – 10:

• All agencies will identify their agency’s primary communications/dispatch channel either using the modifier “DISP” or “DIS” or by adding the number “1” after the agency identifier. Large agencies with multiple dispatching channels should add a number after the modifier as appropriate.
• The remaining characters will be used to indicate a channel number or other appropriate modifier.
• A “D” for Direct (or talk around) on a simplex (non-repeated) channel.
• A “DG” for a digital version of a convention channel, that also analog, if applicable.
• Other channel modifiers may include the repeater name/location or other unique identifiers based on specific local needs. Agencies may incorporate the APCO/NPSTC definitions as part of their local channel naming conventions.

Examples:

Cedarburg Police Department Dispatch Channel would be: OZCEPDDISP

Janesville Dept. of Public Works Channel 2 would be: ROJVPW2

Milwaukee Police Department Dispatch Channel 2 would be: MCMWPDDIS2

Wausau Fire Department Channel 3 talk-around would be: MNWSFD3D

Channel Configuration Recommendations

With the increasing channel capacity of mobile and portable radios that contain a multitude of zones or banks, careful consideration should be given to the logical grouping of channels by function or frequency of use by the primary first line users.

Recognizing the unique regional, function/discipline and individual agency communications requirements, along with the vast array of radio makes and models, it would be impossible to establish specific standards.

The following list is general bank/zone configuration considerations (prioritized):

1. Agency channels and high priority/frequently used/scanned non-agency channels
2. County/proprietary radio system interoperable channels and additional non-agency channels.
3. State of Wisconsin mutual aid channels that do not have a national counterpart.
4. National mutual aid channels.

For additional information on usage and implementation of state and national interoperable channels, refer to the current State of Wisconsin Plan for Mutual Aid Communications Frequencies, (as referred to as “Annex K”).

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These standards were developed by:

Gene Oldenburg
Southeast Regional SCIP Implementation Coordinator

Jim Westover
State Frequency Coordinator

Adopted by Interoperability Council: March 29, 2012
Updated by LMR Subcommittee: April 11, 2017

Appendix A – Programming Quick Reference Guide

• Prefix with 8 for 800 if needed to differentiate between the same WISCOM talkgroup in multi band radio.
• Suffix DG for digital
• ENC for Encrypted