How to listen to Death Valley Nat'l Park frequency?

I don't currently own a scanner, but I think getting one might help me during my travels in/near Death Valley National Park (DVNP).

There is a daily broadcast at 0900 of the “Morning Report” over DVNP’s radio frequency. This broadcast includes a general weather forecast for DVNP. Now that I’m retired, I can make extended visits to the backcountry, namely the Saline and Eureka Valleys. So it would be great if I could tune in and hear this.

I saw in another thread on this forum that 170.100 Mhz is DVNP’s frequency. However, there are also a lot of repeaters in use to reach various far-flung areas. Do I simply need to tune the scanner to 170.100 to hear the broadcast? Or do I need to tune to some other frequency depending on which of their many repeaters I'm receiving from?

For the foreseeable future, would an inexpensive, basic scanner be able to do what I'm looking for? Or is DVNP currently using digital/encrypted or any sort of trunked system? If not, are they likely to change any time soon? As I understand it, receiving encrypted and/or trunked frequencies requires higher-priced equipment.

Thanks in advance, perhaps once I get out there and start listening, I can contribute a bit!


P.S. Here's the other thread I referenced: http://forums.radioreference.com/california-radio-discussion-forum/33428-death-valley-freqs.html

Death Valley NP

When I was last there I had a lot of frequencies programmed, but most, if not all, park traffic was on that one frequency. I did also monitor CHP on the CA side and NV traffic on the NV side.

I haven't been on the NPS part of Death Valley in a couple of years, but I frequent areas just outside the park boundaries. 170.1000 seems to have the bulk of the traffic, including the Morning Report. There are a couple of other ranger tac frequencies, but these are radio-to-radio frequencies, and don't go through the repeater system.

Death Valley is a very big place and doesn't generate a lot of radio traffic. It spans two states and multiple jurisdictions. Use the Radio Reference pages for adjacent areas to find frequencies, including amateur radio repeaters. Here's a Park map: https://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/national_parks/death_valley_park97.pdf

You can hear everything on 170.10 (pL: 141.3)

When traveling in the area, I can hear that frequency as far away as Newberry Springs to the south, and all along SR-127 from Baker through Pahrump.

Other frequencies to listen to while in Death Valley National Park include:

Southern Inyo Fire Protection District/Inyo County Sheriff on 154.725 (pl: 85.4) (or without a pL tone to also hear Inyo County Sheriff)

CHP Bishop: 42.12/42.20 (pL 118.8)

BLM Central Desert District: 166.375

Mercy Air UHF: 453.875 (pL 179.9)

LZJSR said:

You can hear everything on 170.10 (pL: 141.3)

When traveling in the area, I can hear that frequency as far away as Newberry Springs to the south, and all along SR-127 from Baker through Pahrump.

Other frequencies to listen to while in Death Valley National Park include:

Southern Inyo Fire Protection District/Inyo County Sheriff on 154.725 (pl: 85.4) (or without a pL tone to also hear Inyo County Sheriff)

CHP Bishop: 42.12/42.20 (pL 118.8)

BLM Central Desert District: 166.375

Mercy Air UHF: 453.875 (pL 179.9)

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, but being a rookie I don't understand what the "pL" means!

702Jeeper said:

Thanks for the info, but being a rookie I don't understand what the "pL" means!

Click to expand...

PL is motorolas version of CTCSS, or the use of subaudible tones transmitted on the frequency. It is used when the frequency might interfere with another service on the same frequency.
Larry

702Jeeper said:

Thanks for the info, but being a rookie I don't understand what the "pL" means!

Click to expand...

PL means Private Line, which is a trademarked definition for CT. CT is short for CTCSS.

Neat stuff, and I myself worked at Furnace Creek Inn and Ranch Resort for nearly 5 years a while back, loved being out there actually. Peaceful and quiet, especially at night and a great place to be in spite of the conditions during summertime, the fall/winter and early spring temps are absolutely fantastic.

I used to monitor whatever I could out there which really wasn't much but one thing I did love was at night we'd catch broadcast band AM skip transmissions from as far away as Seattle almost like it was next door, pretty amazing how that ducting happens and makes such long distance monitoring possible.

Obviously I played it smart after being there a short period of time and chose to work nights so I could sleep in my air conditioned room during the daytime in summer months, it worked out pretty well in the time I was out there. I miss the place, actually, and even though I'm in Las Vegas now it's just 2 hours away. Might have to drop in and see how many people I worked with are still there, probably a few.

Thanks for the explanation.

I'm still trying to determine if DVNP, or any of the other nearby agencies that LZJSR listed are using trunked, etc. systems. Or if a basic scanner can pick them up. I tried looking in the database under both Inyo and San Bernardino Counties, and even Esmerelda and Nye Counties, no luck.

702Jeeper said:

Thanks for the explanation.

I'm still trying to determine if DVNP, or any of the other nearby agencies that LZJSR listed are using trunked, etc. systems. Or if a basic scanner can pick them up. I tried looking in the database under both Inyo and San Bernardino Counties, and even Esmerelda and Nye Counties, no luck.

Click to expand...

The frequencies are conventional and analog. The frequencies in the other counties are the same. With the exception of Nye, which has TGID's on the P-25 Phase I system an analog scanner will be able to monitor those frequencies.
Larry

N8IAA said:

The frequencies are conventional and analog. The frequencies in the other counties are the same. With the exception of Nye, which has TGID's on the P-25 Phase I system an analog scanner will be able to monitor those frequencies.
Larry

Click to expand...

Great, thanks for the confirmation. Time to shop online (I'm sure not going to a store over the next few days!)

The Uniden BC125AT looks like it would be plenty adequate for me. I like the alphanumeric feature, so I don't have to remember which frequency is what. And it's $88 on Amazon right now...

Stop me if that scanner is actually total junk!

I will definitely add the NOAA All Hazards channels to this. Then I can stop carrying the radio I have in my jeep solely to listen to them. It's a handheld marine VHF radio I used to carry while kayaking in the SF Bay area.

I also just realized that I can take this to the races and listen to the driver-to-crew comm's, instead of renting a scanner at the track, LOL.

Yea, for DVNP any old scanner will work. Don't worry about "PL", just plug in the frequency and listen. In the southern areas of the park you'll hear another jurisdiction but not sure who they are. DV has three repeaters, Rodgers peak west of Furnace Creek and has the most traffic, Grapevine Peak up near Scottys Castle, and Dry Mt in the northwest that covers Eureka and Saline valleys.

One of my favorite places to four wheel!

ramal121 said:

One of my favorite places to four wheel!

Click to expand...

Yeah, I just got back from several days in the Saline Valley...and right before that I was out there for six days!

Will be nice to get updated weather forecasts while way out there. Especially given that the roads in and out of the SV don't get any winter maintenance. After a big snow they may be impassable no matter what you're driving. And two of those roads are basically jeep trails, one that receives minimal maintenance (Lippencott Road) and another that receives no official maintenance (Steele Pass-Dedeckera Canyon).