Emergency Medical Services Radio

VHF Frequencies

150.7750   EMS (simplex)
150.7900   EMS (simplex)
152.0075   EMS (paging)
155.1600   EMS (also a common SAR frequency)
155.1750   EMS
155.2050   EMS
155.2200   EMS
155.2350   EMS
155.2650   EMS
155.2800   EMS
155.2950   EMS
155.3250   EMS 
155.3400   EMS to Hospital (HEAR)
155.3550   EMS
155.3850   EMS
155.4000   EMS
163.2500   EMS (paging)

UHF Frequencies

The UHF "Med" channels (some regions use different names, such as "Mednet") are used by Emergency Medical Technicians to communicate with the hospital. Information transmitted may be as little as the patient's age, sex, and general condition or as extensive as a full diagnostic workup.

In some areas, Paramedics are only able to give certain treatments under authority of an MD or specially-trained RN. This type of traffic is on the decline as well as Paramedics are given more independent treatment authority.

Analog transmission of electrocardiograms was quite common in the early days of modern EMS, but these modulated 1000 Hz tones are heard less and less as more and more EMS medical traffic is handled via cell phone.

The UHF frequencies are assigned in pairs. In semi-duplex mode the higher frequency of the pair is usually used by the mobile while the lower frequency is used by the base (usually a hospital). Some EMS systems have the system configured for full-duplex where both parties can transmit and recieve at the same time.

Med  1 - 463.0000 - 468.0000
Med  2 - 463.0250 - 468.0250
Med  3 - 463.0500 - 468.0500
Med  4 - 463.0750 - 468.0750
Med  5 - 463.1000 - 468.1000
Med  6 - 463.1250 - 468.1250
Med  7 - 463.1500 - 468.1500
Med  8 - 463.1750 - 468.1750

Med  9 - 462.9500 - 467.9500
Med 10 - 462.9750 - 467.9750

Early on, there were four other frequencies, another 5 MHz below Meds 2, 4, 6, and 8 (458.02500, 458.0750, 458.1250, 458.1750). These were used by Paramedics to relay medical and telemetry traffic from the patient's location to the ambulance or rescue vehicle and then again to the hospital or other medical control. Like the Med channels themselves, they are now all in the public safety frequency pool.