CODE 2, VOL 34, NO 33 : 30 july 2020

QFRS to transition back from GWN to wideband analogue ASAP

I am pleased to finally be able to officially report that the protracted negotiations between your union, QFRS and the state government have finally resulted in an agreement between your union and QFRS that for those working in GWN coverage, QFRS fireground communications will commence transitioning back to wideband analogue.

All fireground and emergency incident communications will again be able to operate on wideband analogue once QFRS purchase the bandwidth for that to happen (the purchasing process has commenced), and your radios are reprogrammed. This means there will be a period of transition and your union will work with QFRS to ensure the transition is done with minimisation of the associated risks to you and your colleagues.

Whilst we will be able to operate in an analogue environment on the fireground as the default in all regions, we will continue to collaborate, research and test alternatives until (if and when, and only when) a successful way of moving to digital can be found.

I thank the Commissioner for hearing clarity from the UFUQ through the noise coming from some who appear to believe your safety is less important than continuing with a radio system with multiple problems that puts you and those you are trying to assist at risk every day.

I also thank those from the UFUQ membership who continued to contribute valuable insight and subject matter expertise throughout this entire process.

I will provide updates on this transition work as it progresses, and I hope you do all you can to remain safe (including continuing to report problems with the GWN network).