Dispatch communication testing may be automated by actuating an electrically-controlled switch coupled to an initiating dispatch device to automatically generate dispatch test events. In one embodiment, user-defined test parameters may be used to determine exactly when the switch is to be actuated. The resulting test events may then be recorded and compared to corresponding recognized dispatch events, where the recognized dispatch events are those dispatch activities that were actually carried out by either the initiating dispatch device or a target dispatch device. One or more performance characteristic for the initiating dispatch device and/or the dispatch communication network may then be determined based on a result of the comparison.