Amateur Radio/Scanner & Linux blog

I got a call from one of our TRAMA members the other evening asking me if I noticed that Penn Hill Police had changed their unit numbering. I said that I had not since I listen to Penn Hill enough that I know when I hear them who it is so I mostly pay attention to street addresses and nature of calls. If they had indeed changed unit numbering my first guess would be that they have made a change at the dispatching center. This indeed turned out to be the case.

I noticed several weeks ago that when the routine Saturday tests were run for the Penn Hills Fire departments that the normal tests were run from the Penn Hill Police station as normal and then the Allegheny County Dispatch Center ran the same set of test. This lead me to believe that the fire department was getting ready to jump ship and take their dispatching needs to the county. Last week this was confirmed when they had a major structure fire during a week day and I noticed that all communications came from the county for the incident. Since that time Saturday tests have also come only from the county.

Well it now looks like the transition is complete. Penn Hills Police are now getting their calls from Allegheny County Center. I do not know at this time if they maintained their dispatch console at the main station on Frankstown Road or not. If they did keep it I don't know if it is still maned on a twenty four seven basis. It does appear though that if you dial 911 in Penn Hills now that your call ends in the City of Pittsburgh at the Allegheny County Main Dispatch Center. If I get additional details I will post them here.