Yellowstone National Park Frequencies

[jeff123]

Hello,
We are planning a trip to Yellowstone National Park this fall. I’m a hobbyist photographer and would love to get some pictures of the wolves in Yellowstone.
Does anyone know the freq. used inside the park by the Rangers?

Also I’m interested in any freq. that the wolf watchers may be using. I know the Yellowstone Institute has some HT’s they use while in the field. Also there is a group of folks that use radio’s to keep up with where there is a wolf sighting. I don’t know if they are using FRS, business band or what.

If anyone has any info it would be greatly appreciated.
We’re only there for about a week and I would like to make the most of the time we have.
I would not be harassing the animals only trying to help the odds of being in the right place at the right time for some good photos.

Thanks,
Jeff

[icom1020]

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/9952/nps.htm

most of it is 2-3 years old, but unless your park has gone digital, the freqs listed may still work


quote "! ! The Park Service has been mandated to move all radio traffic to APCO25 Digital, and law enforcement is required to be equiped with encryption. The days of monitoring the park service may be limited. So far only a few parks have been noted being on digital. Please let us know of parks you hear operating digital. ! !"

I know Mt Rainier is still in the clear for now

[skipshark773]

The only park in the NPS system that I have heard of using APCO-25 is Assateague Nat'l Seashore (in Maryland). All of the other NPS parks in MD (C&O Canal, Anteatam Natl Battlefield, Ft. McHenry, Catoctin Mtn, and even the USPP Captial Region) have not been noted using APCO-25 digital yet. I also understand that Rocky Mt NP is not on APCO digital yet, and since they (Rocky Mtn and Yellowstone NP) are in the same region (Intermountain) I would assume they have not gone digital.

[shglad]

Does anyone have updated information regarding going digital? I hear mostly analog and an infrequent digital transmission. But I don't hear as much traffic as I used to, especially the Mammoth, Tower Ranger districts.

[aprswatcher]

These might be old but worth a try:
North/West 166.375
East/South 165.5875
Operations 167.15
As a few others have said some Nat'l Parks have gone to the P25 encryted radios some haven't.
I used to live in Southern Montana near Big Horn Nat'l Recreation area and they went digital almost 2 years ago, everything was encrypted, not sure why since it does not get the traffic (usage) as other Nat'l Parks.
I now live in NE Colorado and monitor Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park and they are in the clear and still using the same old freqs.
73, Rex.

[akuter]

Have the new Montana Statewide Digital system plugged in. Last year on a Yahoo group someone reported comms there. A lot of South and West comms are analog.

[icom1020]

I plan on going there at the end of Sept. Will advise what I find. This is from the now defunct scanning the Natl. Parks website circa 2000

It appears the park service radio channels are numbered as follows: (as of summer 2000)
Group 1 - Primary
Mobile Rx Tx CTCSS
Channel 1 166.375 166.375 cs North area simplex
Channel 2 166.375 166.975 cs North area repeater
Channel 3 165.5875 165.5875 cs South areas simplex
Channel 4 165.5875 164.800 cs South areas repeater
Channel 5 167.150 167.150 cs Special (Scene of Action)
Channel 6 167.150 163.125 cs SOA Repeater
Channel 7 166.875 166.875 136.5 West Simplex
Channel 8 166.875 169.400 136.5 Fire Hole Repeater
Channel 9 166.875 169.400 123.0 West Repeater (136.5 Out)
Channel 10 172.500 172.500 CS Fire Cache
Channel 11 171.675 171.675 CS Grand Teton Ch 1
Channel 12 171.675 172.425 CS Grand Teton Ch 2
Channel 13 164.825 164.125 167.9 Gallatin National Forest
Channel 14 168.350 168.350 CS Common
166.375 167.025? ?Listed as W Yellowstone DOI'95
168.650 168.650 cs Air Net

[shglad]

I've been in the area most of the summer and will be here until late Sept. Most traffic is on 166.325 North rpeater, 166.875 West and Holmes repeaters, 165.5875 South repeater, and 172.500 Fire dispatch. Every once in a while a transmission will be digital.

[W0JJK]

I know the park rangers carry Thales RACAL P25 radios. I was just there a couple weeks ago and had Close Call Running and found a 166.XXX using what sounded like P25. But since I have a BC-330T I couldn't listen.

FRS is also active and Channel 4 FRS is used for the geyser information at the main Geyser Basin.

W0JJK

[tuttleje]

The Colonial National Parkway (CNP) running from Jamestown Va to Yorktown Va has converted to P25. Also, they have a talkgroup (1254) on the local P25 system (York County, James City, Williamsburg). Although the transmissions on CNP's 167.150 MHz are digital, they are not encrypted.

[zerg901]

shglad - Is North 166.325 or 166.375? Any chance you can get a list of their fire trucks and ambulances? I had a list from 1991 or thereabouts - maybe a dozen pumpers and maybe 6 ambulances. Peter Sz

[shglad]

I have both 166.325 and 166.375 in my scanner but I don't recall ever hearing any traffic on the latter.

I've figured out many of the unit identifiers but don't particularly pay much attention to the fire fighting apparatus. Many rangers double as fire fighters, medics, ambulance drivers.
The fire comm center is on 172.500 "700 Fox" and individual fire fighters use "nFnn" identifiers such as "4Fox50". Aircraft use tailsign IDs. Fire Ops 169.150.

99% of traffic is analog. Infrequently you will hear digital and sometimes they are encrypted. I've been told by a radio tech in Bozeman that the digital repeaters do not have as much range as the analog ones and that is why it is used sparingly. I do not know if that statement is true.

The ambulances are "MSnn" e.g., "MS20."

[zerg901]

shglad -

The 172.50 freq is for the wildfire units, not the structural fire units, right?

Do they run paging systems on the repeaters? Or do you think they primarily use telephones to dispatch people late at night?

Peter sz

[zerg901]

I forgot the big question - did you ever scan between 406 Mhz and 420 Mhz to see if any links were in use?

Here is the info I had from 1992 - 417.375 and 411.675 for north links - 411.775 and 417.475 for south links.

I also show 169.725 KOF726 on Bunsen Peak - it was listed as a 50 watt link to Monmouth KOF700.

Peter Sz

[shglad]

172.5 is the wildland/air fire dispatch channel.

I do hear paging for non wildland fires within the park.

I have been told that the uhf links are still in use but only can be heard in the northern part of park. I do not scan them.

[zerg901]

shglad - thanks a million for your help. Peter Sz

[icom1020]

The West rprt, 166.875/169.400 has a tone of 146.2, least that is what the list I have says as being 'west' I'm still here in the park if anyone wants anything else.

[FlashP]

Maybe confirm the input to the North repeater?

Thanks,
Flash

[icom1020]

I have North input listed as 166.975? North was down yesterday and today, they were using "west" so can't confirm yet.


something else to ponder, no readable NOAA weather radio signal here in W Yellowstone. 162.45 barely comes in.

West also has another tone on 136.5

[jvdet]

Well for the Yellowstone Park that is in Wyoming ; Mommouth Dispatch tones out EMS on the PArk channel and They will respond into 'Montana' if the local crew is not avaiable and can also tone-page the local ems crews on park channels- north