Louisiana Inquiry - Low Band

[RevGary]

We are at a temporary assignment location near the Wisconsin - Michigan border and we were getting some 'skip' here on 39.580 Mhz - low band VHF on Friday evening. Sounded kind of familiar but was unable to determine an exact location in Louisiana. Can anyone provide info regarding ANY low band systems still in use by city or Parish jurisdictions? (Licensed or not) - the database here is inconclusive. We'll be back in 'Bama and Florida by early March, but we would like to listen to "near home" if skip conditions are favorable. Thanks much!!

[LarrySC]

The state used to be on low band 30 years ago. Some city may still be there. To figure out which one would only come from a direct post from that area or catching that info in radio traffic if band opens back up. The FCC database may not be accurate on that issue. Good Luck

[Radio_Bob]

FCC ULS page results (sorry, formatting doesn't copy well):

Call Sign Licensee Name FRN Radio Service Status Expiration Date
1 KFG688 NEW LLANO, CITY OF 0001712041 PW Active 11/07/2014
2 KKP893 DEQUINCY, CITY OF 0005784822 PW Active 08/03/2011
3 KNGV205 WILSON, CITY OF 0007787211 PW Active 06/03/2013
4 KRT672 Morganza, Village of 0001704774 PW Active 05/18/2014
5 WNFX938 IBERIA, PARISH OF 0009931627 PW Active 07/28/2015
6 WNPC344 GAS UTILITY DISTRICT 1 0001712306 PW Active 04/25/2014

While Larry's right that the FCC list may not reflect reality, most of the expiration dates are far enough down the road as to indicate they may well be in use. At least this list is a start for determining which department you heard.

Also, quite a few local sheriff's offices and local (mostly rural) PD's still use the former statewide freq. on 39.5. There's still something to be said for the simplicity of a plain ol' radio system!

All the best for 2006,

[RevGary]

Bob - Thanks for the info. I will set the search/scan to a range of 39.020 to 39.980 and see what happenes the next time the band opens up. VHF low band was an excellent format. With two stage CTCSS PL tones, 'skip' was never an issue, but the large communications companies had a 'better' idea. The 800 systems these days are so complex that a special municipality budget for system maintenanace and repairs are burdening the taxpayers and they don't even realize it. The only issue that we used to face was a 17 inch rubber duck antenna on the portables...LOL, but there were NO dead spots. A 100 watt mobile could go 90 to 110 miles simplex with no problem. Try that one with an 800 unit. Again - Thanks for the info and Happy New Year

[milf]

39.5000 Is still used by a few EOC's, and smaller town's PD's. Very few SO's will run on it unless thier other systems are down. It is still in the lineup statewide as an EMA freq,.... but is seeing less and less usage as the agencies move on up to high band, UHF, and TRS's.. and will see even les use as LATIE fully comes online during the next few years. The only State LEA using it is LSP when they interop with MHP and don't use high band.

[Thunderbolt]

I use to hear a lot of activity on 39.50 MHz around 10-20 years ago. One time I heard one of the SO's on there using analog voice inversion scrambling. I wonder how common this type of encryption is in the state of Louisiana and if anyone still uses it?

73's

Ron

[RevGary]

Ron - you would be surprised at the number of low band and even VHF hi-band departments that use the analog scramblers. I built numerous decoders back in the early 80's for about 12 dollars each and still use a couple periodically. Old technology, but it is being reborn because no one that I know of is making the decoders commercially any longer and it is a 'cheap' way for small departments to disallow MOST scanner listeners to hear what's going on these days.

[milf]

Most of the Parishes using VHF use inversion to a degree, but the ones that REALLY use it a lot include Concordia SO, Tangipahoa SO, and St. Joseph SO. At one point Vidalia PD was using it a lot, but they seem to have quit unless its a MAGOR Tac event. The agencies using the UHF sometimes use inversion, but more often have begun to use more encryption than inversion..... For anyone traveling up into MS from LA: Pike County SO will be the first you run into that uses a LOT of inversion, especially when interopping with MBN.

[loamlandfire]

Concordia, Tensas and Franklin Parish do use the old inversion scrabblers to a large degree. Be suprised at some of the topics covered when they go to code. ....ie...." yeah, when you stop by the store bring me back an ice cream and a bag of chips." Of course I have heard a few better conversation using code, but for the most part , usually aint much. As for as the old 39 equipment. there is still some of it around--not used much but it sometimes is used. Several of the small PD's use it to com with their town halls, but most of the PD's are dispatched through the sheriff's offices.