154.680

[SCPD]

A recent MVA in a remote area of Pisgah National Forest exposed an interop issue. The USFS ranger was needing to talk to a SHP unit. The USFS unit was in a area that had no cellphone coverage and no VIPER coverage(I don't know if USFS has VIPER anyway). They ended up using the county fire dispatch channel which was busy at the time. I got to thinking that would have been a perfect use for the 154.680 repeater on Clingman's Peak but the state decided to dismantle their high-band system with the coming of VIPER. So the way it is now Federal and SHP units have no way to communicate if they are out of simplex range without using a 3rd agency's repeater unless there's something that I don't know about. As far as I know BRP or USFS doesn't have VIPER at least they don't have any talkgroups. I think the 154.680 system would have made a good car-to-car interop system for non-VIPER agencies.

 

[kd8x]

A recent MVA in a remote area of Pisgah National Forest exposed an interop issue. The USFS ranger was needing to talk to a SHP unit. The USFS unit was in a area that had no cellphone coverage and no VIPER coverage(I don't know if USFS has VIPER anyway). They ended up using the county fire dispatch channel which was busy at the time. I got to thinking that would have been a perfect use for the 154.680 repeater on Clingman's Peak but the state decided to dismantle their high-band system with the coming of VIPER. So the way it is now Federal and SHP units have no way to communicate if they are out of simplex range without using a 3rd agency's repeater unless there's something that I don't know about. As far as I know BRP or USFS doesn't have VIPER at least they don't have any talkgroups. I think the 154.680 system would have made a good car-to-car interop system for non-VIPER agencies.

154.68 repeater still in use in H4 - H6 regions...I hear it everyday....

 

[SCPD]

They may still be up but the plan is/was to take them down. I don't think that State-owned high-band radios are being installed in SHP cars anymore. But I could be wrong.

 

[yardbird]

154.680 Mhz. on Crowders Mtn, Gaston Co. and UNC Channel 58 in Concord are very much active as well.

The frequency has been taken from Highway Patrol and is now being used as part of the new state interoperabilty radio plan.

The interoperabilty plan is listed in the RR database.

David

 

[KE4ZNR]

From the RR VIPER Database listing:

Marshall KE4ZNR

 

[mhodgson]

154.6800

A recent MVA in a remote area of Pisgah National Forest exposed an interop issue. The USFS ranger was needing to talk to a SHP unit. The USFS unit was in a area that had no cellphone coverage and no VIPER coverage(I don't know if USFS has VIPER anyway). They ended up using the county fire dispatch channel which was busy at the time. I got to thinking that would have been a perfect use for the 154.680 repeater on Clingman's Peak but the state decided to dismantle their high-band system with the coming of VIPER. So the way it is now Federal and SHP units have no way to communicate if they are out of simplex range without using a 3rd agency's repeater unless there's something that I don't know about. As far as I know BRP or USFS doesn't have VIPER at least they don't have any talkgroups. I think the 154.680 system would have made a good car-to-car interop system for non-VIPER agencies.

Stay tuned......we have a plan to do just that....unfortunately the VHF equipment that we had was unsupportable...ie: Aerotron's, Mastr Pro's, etc....we intend on recycling MSF5000's (few) and Quantar's from NC Wildlife for this very purpose....just too much to do and too little time to do it all at once....

Mike

 

[SCPD]

I knew they were old but not that old I was thinking more like MASTR II's. Can't remember where I heard that though maybe Ed Moore at Troop G shop. But that's reason I figured that the State considered doing away with the highband stuff is because the repeaters/base stations were so old and all would have to be replaced come 2013

 

[yardbird]

The narrowbanding of 2013 is going to force a lot of older equipment off the air.

I remember the old GE Master 2's in Salisbury when they were keyed up you could here the old servo motors kick in those were the days.

I miss the older radios and stuff, but I know everything has to change.

David

 

[SCPD]

The narrowbanding of 2013 is going to force a lot of older equipment off the air.

I remember the old GE Master 2's in Salisbury when they were keyed up you could here the old servo motors kick in those were the days.

I miss the older radios and stuff, but I know everything has to change.

David

I remember the Old Fort PD had an old GE base station with the microphone sitting right on top of it. When they keyed up you could hear the blower come on, sounded like a 747 revving up. Could be a windfall for hams though, some of them would still make great repeaters, especially in high RF environments. Particularly the CAP stations as I understand it they got some of the last MASTR II repeaters made, they were even in the MASTR III type cabinets

 

[SD70MAC]

Quantar's

Stay tuned......we have a plan to do just that....unfortunately the VHF equipment that we had was unsupportable...ie: Aerotron's, Mastr Pro's, etc....we intend on recycling MSF5000's (few) and Quantar's from NC Wildlife for this very purpose....just too much to do and too little time to do it all at once....

Mike

Man love to have one of the Quantar's ,those do P25 if you ad the P25 board. I would love to see a P25 VHF ham repeater here in NC.

 

[mikewazowski]

Man love to have one of the Quantar's ,those do P25 if you ad the P25 board

There is no board to add.

As long as your firmware is new enough, you just tell it to do P25.