Government Radio Network (Australia)
Encyclopedia
The Government Radio Network (GRN) is the umbrella term used to refer to various systems in place across Australia that enable state-wide trunked
radio communication. The network operates through inter-linked sites for government and public services such as police, ambulance, fire, or roads authorities which require such a system to function properly. The main aim of the GRN is to consolidate all resources into one network, ensuring greater coverage and reliability than if each department had its own independent communication system. The existence of the GRN also reduces the amount of government money and resources needed to maintain communication between units of emergency and public service branches. Last, it allows effective intercommunication among these services in times of national or state emergency for coordination of wide-scale actions.
operating in the state of New South Wales
, Australia
. Established in 1993, the network was the first trunked government radio network in Australia
and is currently one of the largest in the world. The network covers approximately one-third of New South Wales
and the majority of the Australian Capital Territory
, equating a coverage area of approximately 226,000 square kilometres. Currently, the network is owned by the Government of New South Wales
through the Department of Services Technology and Administration. Its staff are employed by the Government Chief Information Office, and the network’s operations are managed under contract.
The network is also used by other government departments and discrete law enforcement agencies.
or APCO-25) Phase 1 trunked radio system
operating in the UHF band between 403 MHz and 420 MHz in 12.5 kHz steps. End user equipment is currently supplied by Motorola
and consists almost exclusively of the XTL-5000 (mobile) and XTS-5000 (hand-held) two-way radios. Encryption
is supported and used by some agencies on the network.
It consists of 101 base sites which are interconnected with other GRN networks around Australia allowing virtual communication with users either within the same state or across the country. In addition to this, telephone calls are possible to landline or mobile phones, however they are expensive.
Frequency allocation for this network start at 163.0625 MHz to 165.6875Mhz (channel spacing of 12.5 kHz).
Users of this network include:
The system remained analogue based during a recent upgrade.
Scanning of MPT1327 networks is possible using freely available software and a compatible scanner.
SmartZone. In essence this is a system of interconnected repeater sites, mobile (vehicle mounted), portable and static radio transceiver
s used within Australia for radio communications.
The system is employed in South Australian by Country Fire Service
, Metropolitan Fire Service
, Ambulance Service
, State Emergency Service
, Department Of Fisheries, Volunteer Marine Rescue, Department Of Transport
, St John Ambulance. It is in use in several other government agencies, as well as some private companies.
The SAGRN provides both analogue and digital voice radio communications. The South Australian Police department (SAPOL) and South Australian Department of Fisheries use encrypted digital radios while all other users use unencrypted analogue radios. Frequencies are allocated dynamically to each TalkGroup (a group of authorised, connected radios) as required and are only activated in areas which contain radios belonging to that TalkGroup. The network also has Multi-Agency TalkGroups that allow the different services to be able to talk to each other during mass emergencies, major events or whenever is needed. These operate on analogue, without encryption. The SAGRN data network is also used by the South Australian Police for their in-vehicle mobile data terminal
s.
All radio communications frequencies are subject to licensing by the ACMA
. Those licensed to the GRN are outside of the Citizen's band
, and as such are relatively secure from casual interference, although they can be monitored by scanners (requiring a trunk or trunking scanner).
The SAGRN has a telephone interconnect feature which makes it possible for phone calls to be made on SAGRN radios. Agencies other than SAPOL can only dial certain numbers pre-programmed into their radios. SAPOL have unlimited dialling and can dial any number they wish. This however, is an expensive feature as calls are charged by airtime and connection and the number of times the PTT (Push to Talk) button is pressed; a 6-minute call could cost around $55.
It is possible to disable a lost or stolen radio remotely through an 'inhibit' feature. If the radio is on, the inhibit command will block the radio's use. Only Motorola, the vendor, can re-enable.
The SAGRN also has a state-wide paging network. Many supplied pagers are Samsung model SFA-170.
In 2010, Motorola entered into a contract with the South Australian Government to support the SAGRN. Prior to this, Telstra
was the primary on the SAGRN support contract, with Motorola assisting with Voice and Data network support.
Trunked radio system
A trunked radio system is a complex type of computer-controlled radio system. Trunked systems use a few channels , and can have virtually unlimited talkgroups. The control channel computer sends packets of data to enable one talkgroup to talk together, regardless of frequency...
radio communication. The network operates through inter-linked sites for government and public services such as police, ambulance, fire, or roads authorities which require such a system to function properly. The main aim of the GRN is to consolidate all resources into one network, ensuring greater coverage and reliability than if each department had its own independent communication system. The existence of the GRN also reduces the amount of government money and resources needed to maintain communication between units of emergency and public service branches. Last, it allows effective intercommunication among these services in times of national or state emergency for coordination of wide-scale actions.
Overview
The New South Wales Government Radio Network (commonly referred to as the NSW GRN) is a trunked radio systemTrunked radio system
A trunked radio system is a complex type of computer-controlled radio system. Trunked systems use a few channels , and can have virtually unlimited talkgroups. The control channel computer sends packets of data to enable one talkgroup to talk together, regardless of frequency...
operating in the state of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Established in 1993, the network was the first trunked government radio network in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and is currently one of the largest in the world. The network covers approximately one-third of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
and the majority of the Australian Capital Territory
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...
, equating a coverage area of approximately 226,000 square kilometres. Currently, the network is owned by the Government of New South Wales
Government of New South Wales
The form of the Government of New South Wales is prescribed in its Constitution, which dates from 1856, although it has been amended many times since then...
through the Department of Services Technology and Administration. Its staff are employed by the Government Chief Information Office, and the network’s operations are managed under contract.
Network Users
The network is used by 5 of the 6 large NSW and ACT emergency services (the exception being the NSW Police Force) along with 29 other agencies, departments, services, and non-government organisations, including:- Ambulance Service of NSWAmbulance Service of New South WalesThe Ambulance Service of New South Wales , an agency of the Department of Health of the New South Wales Government, is the main provider of pre-hospital emergency care and ambulance services in the state of New South Wales, Australia....
- Fire and Rescue NSW
- NSW Rural Fire Service
- NSW State Emergency ServiceNew South Wales State Emergency ServiceThe New South Wales State Emergency Service is an emergency and rescue service dedicated to assisting the community. It is made up almost entirely of volunteers, with 228 units located throughout New South Wales. The units are composed of some 10,000 volunteer members, who are easily identified by...
- ACT Emergency ServicesAustralian Capital Territory Emergency Services AgencyThe Australian Capital Territory Emergency Services Agency was established by the Emergencies Act 2004 , which came into effect on 1 July 2004...
- Department of Attorney General and Justice
- RailCorp
- Roads and Maritime ServicesRoads and Maritime ServicesRoads and Maritime Services is an agency of the New South Wales Government responsible for building and maintaining road infrastructure and managing the day-to-day compliance and safety for roads and waterways....
(formally Roads & Traffic Authority and NSW Maritime) - Sydney FerriesSydney FerriesSydney Ferries is an agency of the New South Wales Government Department of Transport, providing ferry services on Sydney Harbour and the Parramatta River in Sydney, Australia....
- Department of Corrective ServicesDepartment of Corrective ServicesCorrective Services NSW is an agency of the Government of New South Wales that provides custodial and community-based services as an important element of the criminal justice system...
- NSW Department of Juvenile JusticeNew South Wales Department of Juvenile JusticeJuvenile Justice NSW is a division within the NSW Department of Attorney General & Justice. Juvenile Justice NSW is responsible for the supervision of young people on community-based orders and custodial orders issued by the courts. The agency is also responsible for the administration of youth...
- National Parks and Wildlife ServiceNational Parks and Wildlife Service (New South Wales)The National Parks and Wildlife Service is part of the Office of Environment and Heritage - the main government conservation agency in New South Wales, Australia....
- AusgridAusgridAusgrid is a state owned electricity infastructure company which owns, maintains and operates the electrical distribution networks to 1.6 million customers in Sydney, Central Coast, Hunter Valley and Newcastle areas of New South Wales....
- Endeavour EnergyEndeavour EnergyEndeavour Energy is a state owned electricity infrastructure company which owns, maintains and operates the electrical distribution networks for western Sydney and the Illawarra region of NSW, Australia....
- Hunter Water Corporation
- Sydney WaterSydney WaterSydney Water is a New South Wales government owned corporation that provides drinking water, wastewater and some stormwater services to Sydney, Illawarra and the Blue Mountains, in Australia...
- Sydney Catchment AuthoritySydney Catchment AuthorityThe Sydney Catchment Authority is a New South Wales, Australia Government agency created in 1999. The SCA manages and protects Sydney's drinking water catchments and catchment infrastructure, and supplies bulk water to its customers, including Sydney Water and a number of local councils.The SCA's...
- Sydney Ports Authority
- Central Tablelands County Councils
- Sutherland Shire Council
- Child FlightChild FlightChild Flight is an Australian helicopter service dedicated to the emergency transport of sick children. It operates two twin-engined instrument-flight rated helicopters...
- Australian Broadcasting CorporationAustralian Broadcasting CorporationThe Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
- Chevra HatzolahHatzolahHatzolah/Hatzalah is a volunteer Emergency Medical Service organization serving mostly Jewish communities around the world. Most local branches operate independently of each other, but use the common name...
(Jewish Community sponsored and staffed medical response)
The network is also used by other government departments and discrete law enforcement agencies.
Network Information
The network is a digital 9600 bps Project 25 (commonly referred to as P25P25
Project 25 is a suite of standards for digital radio communications for use by federal, state/province and local public safety agencies in North America to enable them to communicate with other agencies and mutual aid response teams in emergencies...
or APCO-25) Phase 1 trunked radio system
Trunked radio system
A trunked radio system is a complex type of computer-controlled radio system. Trunked systems use a few channels , and can have virtually unlimited talkgroups. The control channel computer sends packets of data to enable one talkgroup to talk together, regardless of frequency...
operating in the UHF band between 403 MHz and 420 MHz in 12.5 kHz steps. End user equipment is currently supplied by Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
and consists almost exclusively of the XTL-5000 (mobile) and XTS-5000 (hand-held) two-way radios. Encryption
Encryption
In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information...
is supported and used by some agencies on the network.
External links
Victoria StateNet Mobile Radio Network (SMR)
The Victorian StateNet Mobile Radio network is a MPT1327 trunked radio system owned by the Victorian Government and managed by Telstra Corporation.It consists of 101 base sites which are interconnected with other GRN networks around Australia allowing virtual communication with users either within the same state or across the country. In addition to this, telephone calls are possible to landline or mobile phones, however they are expensive.
Frequency allocation for this network start at 163.0625 MHz to 165.6875Mhz (channel spacing of 12.5 kHz).
Users of this network include:
- All State and Government Departments
- Telstra
- Parks Victoria
- Yarra Valley Water
- City West Water
- V/Line
- Sheriff's Office
- Department of Sustainability and Environment
- VicRoads
The system remained analogue based during a recent upgrade.
Scanning of MPT1327 networks is possible using freely available software and a compatible scanner.
South Australia GRN (SAGRN)
The South Australian Government Radio Network is a trunked radio network usually using MotorolaMotorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
SmartZone. In essence this is a system of interconnected repeater sites, mobile (vehicle mounted), portable and static radio transceiver
Transceiver
A transceiver is a device comprising both a transmitter and a receiver which are combined and share common circuitry or a single housing. When no circuitry is common between transmit and receive functions, the device is a transmitter-receiver. The term originated in the early 1920s...
s used within Australia for radio communications.
The system is employed in South Australian by Country Fire Service
Country Fire Service
The SA Country Fire Service is a volunteer based fire service in the state of South Australia in Australia. Many parts of Australia are sparsely populated whilst at the same time they are under significant risk of bushfire. Due to economics, it is prohibitively expensive for each Australian town...
, Metropolitan Fire Service
Metropolitan Fire Service
The South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service is South Australia's government-funded fire service.The South Australian Fire Brigade was formed in 1882, following passing of the Fire Brigades Act.In 1981 the service was renamed to SAMFS when it became government funded.The MFS has 35 fire stations...
, Ambulance Service
South Australian Ambulance Service
SA Ambulance Service is a Government agency under SA Health, that is the sole provider of emergency ambulance transport, clinical care and patient transport services to over 1.5 million people, distributed across an area of 1,043,514 square kilometres in South Australia, Australia.The service...
, State Emergency Service
State Emergency Service
A State Emergency Service is an Australian volunteer organisation that provides emergency help during and after declared disasters. The SES is also the primary or secondary agency for emergencies, such as storm damage,flood damage, building damage, traffic hazards and road crash rescue...
, Department Of Fisheries, Volunteer Marine Rescue, Department Of Transport
Transport in Australia
-Roads:Australia has the second highest level of car ownership in the world. It has three to four times more road per capita than Europe and seven to nine times more than Asia. Australia also has the third highest per capita rate of fuel consumption in the world. Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane are...
, St John Ambulance. It is in use in several other government agencies, as well as some private companies.
The SAGRN provides both analogue and digital voice radio communications. The South Australian Police department (SAPOL) and South Australian Department of Fisheries use encrypted digital radios while all other users use unencrypted analogue radios. Frequencies are allocated dynamically to each TalkGroup (a group of authorised, connected radios) as required and are only activated in areas which contain radios belonging to that TalkGroup. The network also has Multi-Agency TalkGroups that allow the different services to be able to talk to each other during mass emergencies, major events or whenever is needed. These operate on analogue, without encryption. The SAGRN data network is also used by the South Australian Police for their in-vehicle mobile data terminal
Mobile data terminal
A mobile data terminal is a computerized device used in public transit vehicles, taxicabs, courier vehicles, service trucks, commercial trucking fleets, military logistics, fishing fleets, warehouse inventory control, and emergency vehicles to communicate with a central dispatch office...
s.
All radio communications frequencies are subject to licensing by the ACMA
Australian Communications and Media Authority
The Australian Communications and Media Authority is an Australian government statutory authority within the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy portfolio...
. Those licensed to the GRN are outside of the Citizen's band
Citizens' band radio
Citizens' Band radio is, in many countries, a system of short-distance radio communications between individuals on a selection of 40 channels within the 27-MHz band. Citizens' Band is distinct from the FRS, GMRS, MURS and amateur radio...
, and as such are relatively secure from casual interference, although they can be monitored by scanners (requiring a trunk or trunking scanner).
Equipment and features
The current voice equipment is supplied by Motorola, and consists of the following: Base Radios: Motorola MCS 2000 Model 2 and 3, Motorola ASTRO XTL 2500. Portables: Motorola W7, Motorola W3, Motorola RCH 3000, Motorola MTS 2000 Model 3, Motorola XTS 3000 Model 3, and Motorola ATS 2500 Model 3.The SAGRN has a telephone interconnect feature which makes it possible for phone calls to be made on SAGRN radios. Agencies other than SAPOL can only dial certain numbers pre-programmed into their radios. SAPOL have unlimited dialling and can dial any number they wish. This however, is an expensive feature as calls are charged by airtime and connection and the number of times the PTT (Push to Talk) button is pressed; a 6-minute call could cost around $55.
It is possible to disable a lost or stolen radio remotely through an 'inhibit' feature. If the radio is on, the inhibit command will block the radio's use. Only Motorola, the vendor, can re-enable.
The SAGRN also has a state-wide paging network. Many supplied pagers are Samsung model SFA-170.
In 2010, Motorola entered into a contract with the South Australian Government to support the SAGRN. Prior to this, Telstra
Telstra
Telstra Corporation Limited is an Australian telecommunications and media company, building and operating telecommunications networks and marketing voice, mobile, internet access and pay television products and services....
was the primary on the SAGRN support contract, with Motorola assisting with Voice and Data network support.