Foothills Fire new VHF System

Well, today I learned that Foothills Fire has been in the process of building a 4-site Multicast VHF system. Evidently, it will be called "Limenet". It appears the frequencies are tied to their new license, WQXC431. It further appears the system is already online, although it's unclear how often it's used or what they're currently using it for. So, please start monitoring the freqs listed in WQXC431. The information I have indicates the system has have four sites, namely Rainbow Hills, Lookout, Idledale and Mt. Vernon Canyon. The freqs are as follows:

44.92
46.06
46.36
46.5
151.1675
151.235
159.0225
159.18
460.5 (likely RF link).

Update: On 151.235, 67.0 PL, I heard what appeared to be only the dispatch side of the Fairmount TG, it was kinda weird. I'll have to keep listening to verify this.

2nd update:
It looks like I've confirmed 3 sites for Limenet, as follows:

151.1675, 88.5 p.l. (DINOSAUR RIDGE)
151.235, 67.0 p.l. (Lookout)
159.0225, 77.0 p.l. (IDLEDALE)

I've also confirmed they are broadcasting all traffic from the dispatch-only side of the Foothills DTR talkroup (incidentally, they now use Clear Creek county for dispatching). I'm thinking this is so members can hear initial Tones and monitor traffic while en-route from their vhf Radio.

The interesting thing is, they ALSO use the Limenet channel for general operations traffic between members. So, it's sort of a dual-purpose channel. Dispatch doesn't talk directly on the frequency, units only communicate with dispatch on the DTR TG. Finally, it appears they also have 2 vhf simplex Tac frequencies which aren't included in the new license. We still need to identify those.

3rd Update: Apparently I'm the only one monitoring this system right now, but such is life. I've just confirmed a few more freqs:

159.18, 103.5 p.l., RAINBOW HILL FIRE STATION
It appears I'm also hearing 2-way traffic on 155.5575. 141.3 p.l. Based on the FCC license (which we know is always 100% accurate, lol), it seems like this should be the Rep INPUT freq. Indeed, all the documentation I've read indicates the system only has 4 sites, so I'm not sure what this freq is used for. From my monitoring location in Broomfield there's no possible way I could be hearing the Rep. Input freq, so I'm not sure what's going on with that frequency. It would be nice if someone could verify what Rep Input freq they are using.

Finally, I'm also hearing traffic on 46.06, 94.8 p.l. I'm not entirely sure if this is an rf link or regular frequency; I'll have to listen more, but it seems like this freq is not broadcasting all the traffic from the 4 main repeaters.


EDIT: I'm gonna have to setup a 2nd VHF radio to be sure, but after further listening I don't think I was hearing 2-way traffic on 155.5575. Now I'm thinking I'm hearing a base station radio with a strong signal on 155.5575.

natedawg1604 said:

3rd Update: Apparently I'm the only one monitoring this system right now, but such is life. I've just confirmed a few more freqs:

Click to expand...

Don't monitor a lot anymore but will check these out when I can.

Sometimes I search low band and never hear anything like years ago.

A couple hours ago Foothills had a call on I-70, and I heard something pretty odd. Specifically one Foothills unit was talking to another Foothills unit, but one unit was coming through on the 800 talkroup, and another unit was coming through on the new VHF channel. It almost seemed like one unit was transmitting on the DTR Radio but listening on the VHF radio, and the other unit did the opposite. However, other units had normal 2-way conversations on just the DTR talkroup, plus other units also had normal 2-way conversations on just vhf.

Notably, they do NOT have these 2 channels patched (plus it didn't sound like anything was patched, and analog -P25 patches always have a distinct sound).
Rather, as noted earlier the vhf channel broadcasts all traffic ONLY from the dispatch side of the DTR talkroup. So, when field units talk to each other on the DTR talkroup it doesn't come across the vhf side at all.

There were also a few units who seemed to be attempting to call dispatch on the vhf channel, but nobody answered them (Georgetown dispatch doesn't monitor the vhf channel). They did not switch to the DTR talkroup, they probably didn't have DTR radios and perhaps don't realize they can only hear dispatch on vhf, but they can't talk back.

Yet another update: apparently because I'm too addicted to this stuff, this afternoon I'm monitoring a Foothills call within simplex range. First, the Repeater input freq is definitely 155.5575. 141.3 p.l.

Second, it appears they do not have dedicated simplex freqs, presumably because vhf freqs are scarce these days. Simplex 1 (also called Fireground M) is just the repeater output freq (I.e. talkaround) of Dinosaur Ridge, namely 151.1675, 88.5 PL. Although I didn't hear them use Simplex 2, its safe to assume Simplex 2 is just another Repeater output in Talkaround mode as well.

natedawg1604 said:

Although I didn't hear them use Simplex 2, its safe to assume Simplex 2 is just another Repeater output in Talkaround mode as well.

Click to expand...

It's probably 151.235 MHz according to the license, and probably called "Fireground L" if they really call the other one "Fireground M". It's the only remaining frequency that is licensed for mobile operations, but hasn't been explicitly identified.

The remaining VHF low band frequencies should be linking the sites together. The links were originally supposed to be UHF, but I think they overestimated the RF performance with the terrain between the sites. Not sure what the UHF frequency is for since it would not make much sense if you needed low band one way, but UHF somehow works in the reverse direction.

Spitfire8520 said:

It's probably 151.235 MHz according to the license, and probably called "Fireground L" if they really call the other one "Fireground M". It's the only remaining frequency that is licensed for mobile operations, but hasn't been explicitly identified.

The remaining VHF low band frequencies should be linking the sites together. The links were originally supposed to be UHF, but I think they overestimated the RF performance with the terrain between the sites. Not sure what the UHF frequency is for since it would not make much sense if you needed low band one way, but UHF somehow works in the reverse direction.

Click to expand...

151.235 has definitely been identified, it's the Lookout Mountain Repeater output on 67.0 PL.

natedawg1604 said:

151.235 has definitely been identified, it's the Lookout Mountain Repeater output on 67.0 PL.

Click to expand...

It's the only remaining frequency that is licensed for mobile operations, but has not been explicitly identified being used while mobile.

You're sure that there's 2 simplex tactical channels. The FCC license had 3 frequencies licensed for MO. 1 has been identified as the repeater input and 1 has been identified as your first simplex tactical channel (which happens to be the same as a repeater output), so there's 1 outstanding frequency (which also happens to be the same as a repeater output) that has not been explicitly identified being used by MO units.

Does that clear up my previous reply? It might actually be possible that the FCC license is actually 100% accurate this time.