Start Loading LE and IR Frequencies!

[SOFA_KING]

If you have not done so yet, start loading the NTIA federal interops Law Enforcement and Incident Response frequencies. I read Chris P,'s post on his MT Fed Files blog with the link to a DHS document outlining usage guidlines and thought it might be time to load these new NTIA frequency assignments into the scanner now that there is an "official" plan by DHS.

MT Fed Files: NIFOG Update

And it did not take long to get activity! Today I heard a new base ("D base" and some mobile traffic) in Indian River County FL testing coverage on a new installation. This was on 414.0375 PL 167.9 LE B Calling. They were happy with the coverage and stopped testing. Good thing I was listening! That might not become active "in use" for a while. I put a closer ear on the other LE's and did not hear anything. Listen up in your areas for new installations! It looks like a go on these.

Here is a quick breakdown of the plan (inputs ommited):

167.0875 PL 167.9 LE A / LE 1 Calling (analog)
167.2500 NAC $68F LE 2 / LE 6 (digital)
167.7500 NAC $68F LE 3 / LE 7 (digital)
168.1125 NAC $68F LE 4 / LE 8 (digital)
168.4625 NAC $68F LE 5 / LE 9 (digital)
414.0375 PL 167.9 LE B Calling (analog)
409.9875 PL 167.9 LE 10/ LE 16 (analog)
410.1875 NAC $68F LE 11 / LE 17 (digital)
410.1625 NAC $68F LE 12 / LE 18 (digital)
414.0625 NAC $68F LE 13 (digital)
414.3125 NAC $68F LE 14 (digital)
414.3375 NAC $68F LE 15 (digital)

169.5375 PL 167.9 IR NC1 CALL / IR 5 (analog)
170.0125 PL 167.9 IR 1 / IR 6 (analog)
170.4125 PL 167.9 IR 2 / IR 7 (analog)
170.6875 PL 167.9 IR 3 / IR 8 (analog)
173.0375 PL 167.9 IR 4 / IR 9 (anolog)
410.2375 PL 167.9 IR NC 2 CALL / IR 15 (analog)
410.4375 PL 167.9 IR 10 / IR 16 (analog)
410.6375 PL 167.9 IR 11 / IR 17 (analog)
410.8375 PL 167.9 IR 12 / IR 18 (analog)
413.1875 PL 167.9 IR 13 (analog)
413.2125 PL 167.9 IR 14 (analog)

NOTE: Channels listed with two designations are repeated and simplex direct (the later being simplex).
Use of PL is said to be optional, but what I heard today was all with PL.

My thanks to Chris P for a great find. Download that document for full details. I did not expect development on any of these for a while, but here it is. Take a listen in your area!

Phil

[SOFA_KING]

Has anybody heard anything on any of these?

Phil

[signal500]

Phil, I did hear testing on 414.0375 on December 10, 2008, but nothing since that time.

[wayne_h]

I rarely do.

[Audiodave1]

167.0875 has been copied here in the philly area. Analog, USCG just doing comms checks last fall.

[SOFA_KING]

Very interesting. I guess I am late and you all have been up on this. It could take some time to get everyone programmed up on these, but it looks like things are in the works. I just wonder why UHF first? Who is on UHF? More are on VHF, no? And why not do both at the same time?

Time will tell.

Phil

[W9NES]

Sofa King and Others.I did put in LE AND IR freqs in my Uniden 996T that I use for Federal use only.I will let you know what I hear from Indianapolis.Thanks for the listings.

[signal500]

Phil,

Most Sheriff's and Local Police are on UHF (450-460MHz) in northwest Florida. I would guess that is why I have heard testing on 414.0375 and not VHF. There is also a analog repeater on 866.0125 / 821.0125 in my area for law enforcement interoperability, but I have only heard testing on it also.

[SOFA_KING]

Originally Posted by signal500

Phil,

Most Sheriff's and Local Police are on UHF (450-460MHz) in northwest Florida. I would guess that is why I have heard testing on 414.0375 and not VHF. There is also a analog repeater on 866.0125 / 821.0125 in my area for law enforcement interoperability, but I have only heard testing on it also.

True, but if I read this right there is a different frequency for non-federal use. UTAC 43 (453.8625 PL 156.7) has been designated for federal to non-federal law enforcement interops. There are other UTAC freqs for non-fed use as well. So LE B (which they said was channel 83 on the radio...interesting) is for federal use. IR12 (410.8375 PL 167.9) is the federal to non-federal incident response channel.

If most major agencies are on VHF, why put this UHF system up first? DEA and USPS PI plus DSS only? I doubt it. You have to have a UHF radio to use it. Or is there a cache of UHF radios for a federal emergency waiting to be deployed somewhere. This may be the case! Maybe we are hearing the local bases going up across the country to support areas of operation. I think the UHF band was an interesting choice. There would seem to be a grand plan here and one worth listening to. It could also make sense to have a different band radio to use in such instance so your main radio is still operational on your main channels. Throw in some medium power mobiles with mag mount antennas, and some portables out for such an emergency and you have instant interops comms that can be up and running as soon as a command post is set up. This could be the new DHS/FEMA plan and the place to listen given a federal emergency. (I bet Chris has some ideas on this. )

We know the government has been demanding this interops stuff for a while now. The 700 MHz trunked stuff idea failed. They did not understand that not everyone has the same band radio in the car, and when in trunking you are "locked into" a world you can't get out of without loosing contact (a big no-no). That was a dumb idea. The LMR industry "sold" that stupid idea to congress just to sell more expensive trunked radio systems.

Phil

[MOTOROLANUT]

FPS is on UHF too....Also the new DOD trunked uhf systems are using Motorola XTS 5000's and XTL's; the Motorola 380- 470 UHF programmable spread will cover that portion of the Interop spectrum as well. Just a thought....

[ChrisP]

Originally Posted by SOFA_KING

If most major agencies are on VHF, why put this UHF system up first? DEA and USPS PI plus DSS only? I doubt it. You have to have a UHF radio to use it. Or is there a cache of UHF radios for a federal emergency waiting to be deployed somewhere.

Don't forget that FEMA is now a major UHF user. All of the groups around FEMA, such as DMAT, NDMS, NMRS, USAR are all using UHF frequencies. And there are caches of UHF radios that get handed out at these big interop events.

- Chris

[bonus1331]

With these being both conventional and P25 conventional, how would these be programmed into a 396XT?
Can they be in the same system, or are the conventional freq's programmed under Conv. and the P25 programmed as Conv. P25?
Thanks

[SOFA_KING]

Originally Posted by ChrisP

Don't forget that FEMA is now a major UHF user. All of the groups around FEMA, such as DMAT, NDMS, NMRS, USAR are all using UHF frequencies. And there are caches of UHF radios that get handed out at these big interop events.

- Chris

I knew you would know, Chris.


Bonus1331,

I would just put 'em in as I listed them. The document did say that they could all be programmed as analog and digital if there was space in the radio, but I think that is a bad idea. Stick to the plan is what I say, but who am I?

Phil

[hiegtx]

Originally Posted by bonus1331

With these being both conventional and P25 conventional, how would these be programmed into a 396XT?
Can they be in the same system, or are the conventional freq's programmed under Conv. and the P25 programmed as Conv. P25?
Thanks

David,
You can mix and match within the same conventional system. I have the same situation with several of the outlying counties in this area. They are using one or more of their assigned channel frequencies both in P25 and analog modes. I enter the frequency twice, in their system. One entry is set for digital voice, with the NAC, if known; if not known, it's set digital, NAC Search. The second entry is set for analog audio, with the PL/CTCSS or DCS code (or search if known to be some analog usage at times, but unsure of tone/code).

As some of the local federal agencies seem to be very early in the transition from analog to digital (I'm seeing a few scattered reports either way), I'm entering most of the locals, currently shown as analog, a second time as digital. At least with the XT, you have more than sufficient channel capacity if you want to 'double up' a larger list. You could also go so far as to 'tag' the entries with different color patterns, using one for the confirmed frequencies, a different color for the unconfirmed/search or trial frequencies.

[W9NES]

If you have a Uniden 396 T or a Uniden 996T just program them in and select on the modulation set it up for all.That way you will be ready if they use analog or digital.

[AlabamaRS]

Originally Posted by SOFA_KING

If you have not done so yet, start loading the NTIA federal interops Law Enforcement and Incident Response frequencies. I read Chris P,'s post on his MT Fed Files blog with the link to a DHS document outlining usage guidlines and thought it might be time to load these new NTIA frequency assignments into the scanner now that there is an "official" plan by DHS.

MT Fed Files: NIFOG Update

And it did not take long to get activity! Today I heard a new base ("D base" and some mobile traffic) in Indian River County FL testing coverage on a new installation. This was on 414.0375 PL 167.9 LE B Calling. They were happy with the coverage and stopped testing. Good thing I was listening! That might not become active "in use" for a while. I put a closer ear on the other LE's and did not hear anything. Listen up in your areas for new installations! It looks like a go on these.

Here is a quick breakdown of the plan (inputs ommited):

167.0875 PL 167.9 LE A / LE 1 Calling (analog)
167.2500 NAC $68F LE 2 / LE 6 (digital)
167.7500 NAC $68F LE 3 / LE 7 (digital)
168.1125 NAC $68F LE 4 / LE 8 (digital)
168.4625 NAC $68F LE 5 / LE 9 (digital)
414.0375 PL 167.9 LE B Calling (analog)
409.9875 PL 167.9 LE 10/ LE 16 (analog)
410.1875 NAC $68F LE 11 / LE 17 (digital)
410.1625 NAC $68F LE 12 / LE 18 (digital)
414.0625 NAC $68F LE 13 (digital)
414.3125 NAC $68F LE 14 (digital)
414.3375 NAC $68F LE 15 (digital)

169.5375 PL 167.9 IR NC1 CALL / IR 5 (analog)
170.0125 PL 167.9 IR 1 / IR 6 (analog)
170.4125 PL 167.9 IR 2 / IR 7 (analog)
170.6875 PL 167.9 IR 3 / IR 8 (analog)
173.0375 PL 167.9 IR 4 / IR 9 (anolog)
410.2375 PL 167.9 IR NC 2 CALL / IR 15 (analog)
410.4375 PL 167.9 IR 10 / IR 16 (analog)
410.6375 PL 167.9 IR 11 / IR 17 (analog)
410.8375 PL 167.9 IR 12 / IR 18 (analog)
413.1875 PL 167.9 IR 13 (analog)
413.2125 PL 167.9 IR 14 (analog)

NOTE: Channels listed with two designations are repeated and simplex direct (the later being simplex).
Use of PL is said to be optional, but what I heard today was all with PL.

My thanks to Chris P for a great find. Download that document for full details. I did not expect development on any of these for a while, but here it is. Take a listen in your area!

Phil

will ths be all I need??. this list? was reading the document... Information overload ahahah
Am going to start programming now with this list

[JoeH]

I would also consider programming the following in analog and P25 modes. I hear that they are being programmed on fed radios.

VLAW31 155.475
VLAW32 155.4825
VCALL10 155.7525
VTAC11 151.375
VTAC12 154.4525
VTAC13 158.7375
VTAC14 159.4725

[SOFA_KING]

Originally Posted by JoeH

I would also consider programming the following in analog and P25 modes. I hear that they are being programmed on fed radios.

VLAW31 155.475
VLAW32 155.4825
VCALL10 155.7525
VTAC11 151.375
VTAC12 154.4525
VTAC13 158.7375
VTAC14 159.4725

Roger that ~ I had 'em all in and then some.

Phil

[W9NES]

Thanks for the posting of the VLAW freqs.I will put them in my Uniden 996T set up for Federal Freqs and will see what I hear here in Indianapolis,In.Question---Has anyone heard any testing on these freqs?

[trainman111]

I've heard testing and usage on the V-Law frequencies. They're mainly used when a big incident occurs that requires mutual aid from more than one local state or federal agency.