REACH air ambulance

[sp1989]

I have been trying to figure out where to listen to medical helicopters enroute to/from Riverside Community hospital. One is there today, it is a bright red Bell 407 marked 'REACH". I have seen red Eurocopters there recently as well, I assume the same company. RR has no listings for REACH, anyone have any ideas? I've never seen them around here until recently, I found they have a base in Upland, CA.

[cvrules90]

I have been trying to figure out where to listen to medical helicopters enroute to/from Riverside Community hospital. One is there today, it is a bright red Bell 407 marked 'REACH". I have seen red Eurocopters there recently as well, I assume the same company. RR has no listings for REACH, anyone have any ideas? I've never seen them around here until recently, I found they have a base in Upland, CA.

To my knownledge, almost every air-related frequency falls between 115 and 128 MHz. They are also in the AM band so you might want to restrict your scanner to that range and search. I've never heard of them either.

[zz0468]

REACH has a base in Upland, and one in Thermal. They also have a base in Imperial County.

To my knownledge, almost every air-related frequency falls between 115 and 128 MHz. They are also in the AM band so you might want to restrict your scanner to that range and search. I've never heard of them either.

Specialized aircraft such as Fire, Medical transport, and law enforcement aircraft typically have radios capable of communicating with the jurisdictions that they do business in. So don't be too surprised if things like REACH and Mercy Air come equipped with EDACS, Motorola 800, VHF, and UHF radios... whatever is needed to talk to the hospitals they transport to. There are frequency agile aircraft radios that can cover VHF,UHF, and radios capable of 700/800 MHz conventional and trunking certified and available for aircraft use.

[cvrules90]

Wow didn't know that.

[zz0468]

Wow didn't know that.

There are some really sophisticated radios available for aircraft. At least one manufacturer makes radios that use the boards from high end HT's. Imagine a radio using a dual band APX7000 chassis. It could be capable of 700/800 and VHF in a single box that fits in the cockpit of a helicopter or airplane. And it's not unusual to put two of those types of radios in a single aircraft. Another manufacturer makes field programmable radios where the pilot just selects the frequency he wants. Those come in multi-band versions as well. They're quite expensive, but pack a huge amount of capability in a very small package.

Want one for your radio shack at home? Available on ebay for a modest sum...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Global-Wulfsber ... 35bb379bf5

This is about 20 years old. Current technology aircraft FM radios are smaller and have multicolor lcd displays. Double the price, and then add a zero if you want to know about what they cost new.

What I don't know is what REACH Air actually is using on board their aircraft, but it's a reasonable assumption that they have something like this on board their aircraft. They would probably use the same frequencies to talk to the hospitals that the ambulances do, which in some cases may be by cellphone.

[markb]

Dispatch communications are mainly via satellite in the case of Mercy Air and Reach is reportedly on 129.275. Mercy does occasionally use 131.675, however.

On the medical side, most of the time the helicopter will not talk to the hospital. There really is no need, as patient reports are passed via cellphone prior to takeoff (usually by the medics treating the patient before they are transferred to the helicopter crew).
Most of the radio equipment on board is to communicate with personnel at the LZ

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[sp1989]

Thanks for the info. I guess technology as advanced a lot since I was assigned to the old RGH. They had a landing pad for helicopters out behind the hospital, and when an inbound medical flight was en route, we responded to the pad to open the gate, clear it of any debris and if at night, turn on the lights. An AMR ambulance would meet the helicopter at the pad and transport the patient the rest of the way to the ER, about a quarter mile. I'm pretty sure the helicopters would contact RGH ER on HEAR freq 155.400. I remember being in the ER while a helicopter was talking to a nurse giving a report on a patient, they had a special radio for that. The landing pad was pretty big, one time 3 Mercy Air helicopters were there at once. Another time a Marine CH-46 landed there with no problem. There had been a wreck off the Ortega Hwy. and an occupied vehicle went over the edge. The CH-46 was called in because it had a winch to bring up the victims from the ravine.

[zz0468]

...I'm pretty sure the helicopters would contact RGH ER on HEAR freq 155.400. I remember being in the ER while a helicopter was talking to a nurse giving a report on a patient, they had a special radio for that.

The RGH ER had two radios. One was the HEAR, and the other was the COR, or the Coronary Observation Radio. The COR was a UHF frequency, one of the 10 medical frequencies in the 460 MHz range. The radio was located on Box Springs, and connected via microwave. The VHF HEAR radio was located at the hospital itself.

HEAR was a simple VHF simplex system for voice only. COR was capable of transmitting EKG's, just like in the old TV show EMERGENCY. I'm not sure what the helicopters were capable of, but it's quite likely they had both VHF and UHF on board. Range on the UHF system was considerably farther then the VHF.

[zz0468]

Dispatch communications are mainly via satellite in the case of Mercy Air and Reach is reportedly on 129.275. Mercy does occasionally use 131.675, however.

"Dispatch" operations for the aircraft may be somewhat different than what typical scanner listeners think of. Medical helicopters don't go on patrol. A dispatch is most likely going to be via landline of some sort to the air base the helicopters park at. They start up and fly to the scene. Any sat coms or VHF air coms to the ships are most likely operational in nature, relating to the actual aircraft, less so any medical emergency traffic. I'm sure there are exceptions, though. A cancellation or reroute would probably take place via sat or VHF air.

On the medical side, most of the time the helicopter will not talk to the hospital. There really is no need, as patient reports are passed via cellphone prior to takeoff (usually by the medics treating the patient before they are transferred to the helicopter crew).
Most of the radio equipment on board is to communicate with personnel at the LZ.

I am aware of medical helicopters in the IE carrying both EDACS and Motorola trunked radios. I don't know what talk groups they come equipped with. I believe you are correct that they often use cellphones prior to takeoff, but I don't believe it would be acceptable to any public health agencies that there is NO communications with the helicopters in flight. They carry critical care patients, cared for by paramedics and nurses.

[sp1989]

Thank you zz0468 for the info. Much appreciated!