Ambulance and Emergency Medical Services Frequencies

 

A mixture of fire department, third service, private, and hospital based systems provides EMS in Massachusetts. There is no single "model" of EMS in Massachusetts at all. Some towns provide all levels of service, some just BLS, with ALS from private companies or hospital based paramedic intercept services, some provide only first response with private ALS and BLS or private BLS and hospital based ALS. Typically, private companies providing 9-1-1 contract service operate on the local police and/or fire department frequencies. For example, Boston operates it's own EMS system, with the Boston Fire Department,  providing first responder services. New Bedford also operates it's own ALS system, the New Bedford Fire Department provides first response. To complicate matters, the police on the New Bedford Police Department radio channels dispatch EMS. As the reader can readily see, monitoring EMS in Massachusetts can be a challenge. In the sections above, I have listed how EMS is provided for some of the bigger towns. Below, I am listing some of the private ambulance provider "company" frequencies. Typically, listeners will hear non emergency radio traffic on these frequencies, but there are exceptions.

 

Industrial Communications and Electronics operates a number of 900 Mhz trunk systems across New England. Several private ambulance services operate on these systems, so the frequencies for some of their towers are listed here. Users of these systems must manually switch from tower to tower as they travel, unlike public safety systems where affiliation is automatic. Refer to the sections for each of the private ambulance providers to see which towers they operate on.

 

NOTE: Much of the information regarding the 900Mhz Industrial sites comes from Steve Johnson’s excellent Eastern Mass Trunking System Information site, at http://users.adelphia.net/~kc1ho/ematrunk/.

 

This page contains information, used with permission from, www.firenews.org and www.scancapecod.us. Visitors  this site are encouraged to visit both sites frequently as they have much valuable information for fire buffs and scanner enthusiasts. My thanks to John Galla and Scott Halligan for allowing me to use their sites as references.

 

 

Industrial Communications and Electronics 900 Mhz Trunk Systems

 

Boston 

Bridgewater

 Falmouth

Foxboro

Fall River

Kingston

 Medford

Johnston, RI

936.4625

938.7500  

939.3750

935.6250*

939.3750

939.9375

939.9125

938.5125

936.4500

938.7125

938.5125

935.6125*

939.3625

939.4500

939.3750*

938.525

936.4375

938.7000

937.6250*

935.6000*

939.3500

935.0750

939.3625*

938.5375

936.4250

937.7000 

936.5125*

935.5875*

939.3375

935.0625*

939.3500*

938.550

935.8750*

937.6250

935.0125

935.5750

939.3250

935.0500*

939.3375*

938.5625

935.8625*

937.6125 

 

935.5625

939.3125

935.0375*

939.3250

938.575

935.8500*

937.6000

 

935.5500

939.3000

935.0250

939.3125

938.5875*

935.8375*

937.5875

 

935.5375

939.2875*

935.0125

939.3000

938.600 *

935.8250

937.5750

 

935.5250

939.2750*

 

939.2875

938.6125*

935.8125

937.5625*

 

935.5125

939.2625

 

939.2750

938.625*

935.8000

937.5500*

 

 

937.9375

 

939.2625

 

935.7875

937.5375*

 

 

937.9250

 

937.0000

 

935.7750

937.5250*

 

 

937.9125

 

936.4125

 

935.7625

937.5125

 

 

937.9000

 

936.3875

 

 

937.1500

 

 

937.8875

 

935.3125

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

935.3000

 

 

                               

Nobscot 1

Nobscot 2 

Quincy

Paxton

Rutland 

 Upton

Webster

939.1625*

937.5125

939.6875

937.4000

937.4625

938.7250

938.1250*

938.5125

937.525

939.6625

936.5000*

937.4500*

937.7375*

938.1125*

936.2000*

937.5375

938.6875

936.4875*

937.4375*

937.2500*

938.1000*

935.7500*

937.55

938.6625

936.4750*

937.4250

936.7000*

938.0875*

935.5375

937.5625

938.1875

936.3875

937.4125

936.6875

938.0750

935.5125

937.575

938.1500

 

 

 

 

935.2500

937.5875

937.6625

 

 

 

 

 

937.600

935.7375

 

 

 

 

 

937.6125

935.2125

 

 

 

 

 

937.625

935.1250*

 

 

 

 

 

 

935.1125*

 

 

 

 

 

 

935.1000*

 

 

 

 

 

 

935.0875*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Control Channels

If your scanner has Control Channel only capabilities, I’d recommend operating in that mode. ICE has been adding frequencies to their existing systems and all of them might not appear in the listings here.

 

C-MED and Ambulance to Hospital Communications

Ambulance to hospital communications in  Massachusetts are controlled and facilitated by a number of regional communications centers referred to as "C-MEDs" C-MED stands for Central Medical Emergency Direction. When the plan was originally conceived in the mid 1970s the intent was to have central communications centers that could connect ambulance personnel to hospital emergency departments for medical control, notification, and consultation purposes. The FCC had set aside 10 frequency pairs to be used on a nationwide, shared basis. The plan called for C-MED systems to operate in full duplex mode. This would allow field units to send voice and telemetry and for the base units to able to "break  in" during a field unit's transmission. Motorola and General Electric made full duplex mobiles and Motorola also made a portable (not hand held) radio that was full duplex, had built in repeat and vox capabilities, and could send telemetry. As paramedics became better trained and systems became more sophisticated, telemetry fell out of favor and it is virtually unused today. The specialized mobile and portable radios, which were full duplex and could send telemetry were discontinued years ago, and very few are still in use.

The system today is composed of several regional systems, which maintain base stations on the eight UHF pairs and generally, two VHF channels. In addition there are several regional C-MED centers that control the base stations and through pretty sophisticated patching networks can connect the base stations to remotes installed  in hospital Emergency Departments. Units desiring to talk to a hospital call the regional C-MED and request a channel assignment and "patch" to the ED. The C-MED operator then assigns a channel and connects the hospital remote to the appropriate base station. The ambulance and hospital can then communicate directly.

For EMS purposes, the state is divided into five regions. These regions are responsible for setting up and operating the C-MEDs in their areas. Region 1 is Western MA, Region 2 is Central MA, Region 3 is Northeastern MA, Region 4 is Greater Boston, and Region 5 is Southeastern MA, the Cape and Islands.  Frequencies for all centers are the same, however each region has at least one unique PL that is used in the region only.

 

 

 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

C-MED in Region 2 is controlled from the Region 2 office in Holden MA.

C-MED in Region 3 is controlled by Northeast C-MED.

C-MED in Region 4 is controlled by Metro Boston C-MED, located at Boston EMS communications.

C-MED in Region 5 is controlled by C-MED centers in Plymouth County, Barnstable County, and Fall River. The Fall River CMED system went on line in late 2006.

C-MED Frequencies

Channel

Base/Hospital

Ambulance

Med 1

463.000

468.000

Med 2

463.025

468.025

Med 3

463.050

468.050

Med 4

463.075

463.075

Med 5

463.100

468.100

Med 6

463.125

468.125

Med 7

463.150

468.150

Med 8

463.175

468.175

Additionally Boston C-MED maintains bases on 155.280 and 155.340 for both disaster coordination and use by ambulances that do not have UHF med radios.

Med 4 is the statewide calling channel. All ambulances contact the appropriate C-Med on Med 4 for channel assignments. After being given a channel the ambulance shifts channels and waits for C-Med to bring the hospital on line. Med 4 is generally repeated so that units can hear each other and avoid covering each other. Except in Boston, the other channels are not repeated, so ambulances can only be heard if they are near to the listener. In Boston some of the Med channels are repeated.  All C-MEDs are capable of operating on all eight channels, however each region has primary and secondary channels that are used in order to avoid interference with adjoining systems.

PL Tones for regional C-MEDs.

Region 2                  186.2 

Region 3                 156.7 and 162.2

Region 4                 151.4

Region 5

  Plymouth C-MED             179.9

  Barnstable C-MED            173.8

  Fall River-New Bedford     156.7

All C-MEDs are required to be able to listen on Med 4 in CSQ mode. Some ambulances operate in multiple regions and are equipped with multiple PL capable radios so they can contact the appropriate C-MED.

Med 9 (462/467.950) is used for various purposes in different parts of the state. It is used as a dispatch channel for UMASS/Worcester EMS, and some companies in the Northeast part of the state. It is used as a tactical channel in Boston, although its use is being phased out for this purpose. It is used in Fall River and New Bedford both for hospital notifications and as a dispatch/calling channel.

There are still a few hospitals in Region 4 and maybe other regions that are not part of a C-MED, but maintain base stations on some of the UHF channels. Marlboro Hospital maintains a base with Med 1 and Med 7, using a PL of 167.9. This base allows contact by paramedics from Marlboro and Emerson Hospitals with their base stations.   Also, some ambulance companies are opting to use cellular phones for both medical control and hospital notification. Finally some ambulances and hospitals are equipped with VHF radios on 155.280 and 155.340.  Ambulances can call the hospitals directly on these frequencies. This is more common in rural areas of the state.  Metro-Boston C-MED also maintains 155.280 as the disaster channel for the Boston area. All Boston hospitals have base stations on 155.280 and can communicate with C-MED directly. The system is tested daily.

New CMED Channels.

The FCC is requiring better utilization of existing frequencies. As a result there will be several new channels added to the existing Med Channel system. Since 2000, all new radio systems licensed for mobile emergency medical services must be licensed for narrow band operation. This is currently the only service that has such a requirement, but it will be several years before the switchover will be complete.

CHANNEL

USE

Base

Mobile

MED-1

Medical Voice & Telemetry

463.0000

468.0000

MED-12

Medical Voice & Telemetry

463.0125

468.0125

MED-2

Medical Voice & Telemetry

463.0250

468.0250

MED-22

Medical Voice & Telemetry

463.0375

468.0375

MED-3

Medical Voice & Telemetry

463.0500

468.0500

MED-32

Medical Voice & Telemetry

463.0625

468.0625

MED-4

Medical Voice & Telemetry

463.0750

468.0750

MED-42

Medical Voice & Telemetry

463.0875

468.0875

MED-5

Medical Voice & Telemetry

463.1000

468.1000

MED-52

Medical Voice & Telemetry

463.1125

468.1125

MED-6

Medical Voice & Telemetry

463.1250

468.1250

MED-62

Medical Voice & Telemetry

463.1375

468.1375

MED-7

Medical Voice & Telemetry

463.1500

468.1500

MED-72

Medical Voice & Telemetry

463.1625

468.1625

MED-8

Medical Voice & Telemetry

463.1750

468.1750

MED-82

Medical Voice & Telemetry

463.1875

468.1875

MED-9

Dispatch & Mutual Assistance

462.9500

467.9500

MED-92

Dispatch & Mutual Assistance

462.9625

467.9625

MED-10

Dispatch & Mutual Assistance

462.9750

467.9750

MED-102

Dispatch & Mutual Assistance

462.9875

467.9875

 

 

Action Ambulance

 

Action is based in Wakefield. They provide ALS for Lynn.

 

453.125     PL 136.5               Dispatch Frequency

463.475   PL ??                      Call sign is WPJJ605  Use unknown

463.700   PL ??                      Call sign is WPJJ605  Use unknown

462.950   PL 136.5                 Use unknown, formerly dispatch

461.200   PL 107.2             “North Ops

 

Action Ambulance has the following 9-1-1 contracts.

 

Wakefield Primary ALS (P51) 24 hrs with Back up BLS.

Melrose Primary ALS (P47) 24 hrs  with Back up BLS. (Ends 6/30/2008)

Stoneham Primary ALS  (P25 on PD radio).

Swampscott (P20) Primary provider ALS. Operating out of fire station.

Lynnfield ALS provider. Lynnfield Runs a BLS as 1st responder.

Action Has Taken Over Numerous Towns in the 128 belt as ALS provider they are as follows. Burlington, Bedford, Lexington, North Reading, Reading, Winchester, Woburn.  You can hear them on their channel as P25 and P30.

Ipswich  9-1-1 provider.

Winthrop Took over from Cataldo Ambulance as of 7/1/08

 

 

Alert Ambulance

 

Alert Ambulance operates out of the New Bedford and Fall River areas. Alert  has a contract with the West Roxbury and Jamaica Plain Veterans Administration hospitals to provide transport. They recently opened an office in West Roxbury. Alert provides back up to Boston EMS.

 

Alert  operates on the ICE systems as follows;

 

12880                      Foxboro Channel 1

13968                      Foxboro Channel 2  (mostly chair cars)

2896                        Fall River

5264                        Johnston, RI

 

American Medical Response (AMR)

 

AMR provides emergency and non emergency service in much of the greater Boston area. Most 9-1-1 calls are dispatched on the police and/or fire frequencies of the cities and towns where AMR has contracts, so you won’t hear that much on the “company” frequencies. AMR provides 9-1-1 service to Newton, Wellesley, Framingham,  Brockton, Taunton, and Plymouth among others. See the information for those towns for more information.

 

AMR uses a combination of repeater and simplex frequencies on VHF.  9-1-1 trucks have the VHF radios in addition to radios for the city or town that they are providing service for.

 

Brockton
Call Sign: CA (Contract Ambulance)
CA 1- ALS 24hrs stationed at East Ashland St at North Main St.
CA 2- ALS 24hrs stationed at East Ashland St at North Main St.
CA 3- ALS 24hrs stationed at East Ashland St at North Main St.
Ambulance 95- ALS M-F 0800-2200 stationed at East Ashland St at North Main St.

 

Framingham
A1- 24hr ALS from FD Station 5 (Concord St.)
A2- 24hr ALS from FD Station 8 (Main St.)
A3- Day only (FD HQ)

 

Middleboro
1 ALS truck "Middleboro Rescue" at 125 North Main St.

 

Milford
1 BLS from 74 Sumner Street and 1 ALS non-trans from Milford Hospital

 

Newburyport
Paramedic 1 M-F 10:00-18:00 primary ALS
Paramedic 2 as back up for the day, and primary on the overnights.

 

Newton

Medic 1- 24hr ALS from FD Sta