Exactly this. I spent decades as a FF/EMT and that's the way it was typically done.
I did however, often carry a Baofeng programmed with _all_ the services with which I was likely to interact as a backup: MedEvac, EMS, law enforcement and fire services. Yes, I am a licensed ham operator.
The problem is there is no national emergency interop frequency plan, each state, county and city does things differently.
DHS publishes the National Interoperability Field Operations Guide which includes a national channel plan for calling, simplex and deployable repeater operation.
Each state/county/etc. may have different licensing, but they are also encouraged to program the NIFOG channel plans when space is available on radios.
Comments
Exactly this. I spent decades as a FF/EMT and that's the way it was typically done.
I did however, often carry a Baofeng programmed with _all_ the services with which I was likely to interact as a backup: MedEvac, EMS, law enforcement and fire services. Yes, I am a licensed ham operator.
The problem is there is no national emergency interop frequency plan, each state, county and city does things differently.
DHS publishes the National Interoperability Field Operations Guide which includes a national channel plan for calling, simplex and deployable repeater operation.
Each state/county/etc. may have different licensing, but they are also encouraged to program the NIFOG channel plans when space is available on radios.