With the current parameters, the distance between two consecutively reported locations will be under 400 meters most of the time. The location information is sent from the vehicle to the Toronto EMS Communications Centre using an Ericsson 800 MHz trunking radio system. The same radio system is used for the voice dispatch of the ambulance vehicles. The system has eight channels in operation from a single site, with a second site to be added in the near future. In the trunking system, data shares the same radio with voice and every repeater is equipped to handle both data and voice.
Voice messages have priority over data messages.
The data rate is set at 9600 bps. The system uses multiple host stations. The radio system processes up to 80,000 data calls daily, consisting of remote and host originated individual calls with an average duration of one second. The same radio system is used to transfer vehicle status messages. Status messages are transmitted on the control channel.