Large Grass Fire-Palo Pinto County

[sportsfan7700]

Very large grass fire west of Ft Worth right now. Burning approximately 3000 acres so far. Audio: Palo Pinto County Public Safety Live Scanner Audio Feed

[Alliance01TX]

Howdy

Thanks for the heads up....what freq's (Tx Fire or ?) are they on please and any Tx Air assets on stations/freq's? In Tarrant County and will try to pick up signal.

Thx

Bill

[nd5y]

Air assets are on 125.375 (Zone 2 Primary) fixed wing and 123.150 rotor wing.
Air-to-ground is 159.300 PL 127.3 (Air-to-Ground Primary)
Lots of activity on TFS Whitt Repeater 159.420 PL 225.7

Other stuff can be found on the TFS database and wiki pages.
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?aid=87
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index...st_Service_(TX)

I saw a TFS task force driving throught Mineral Wells and talking on 159.285 (TFS COMPACT)
and two BLM hotshot buggies were talking on 163.7125 which is one of the government-wide channels listed at National Incident Radio Support Cache - The RadioReference Wiki

I heard another unknown agency convoy going code 3 through Mineral Wells on 151.1375 (VTAC11)
I'm too far to hear any other ground traffic but I imagine Texas Fire 1, 2, and 3 and the TFS TAC channels are also being used.

[Alliance01TX]

Thanks for the specifics!

Bill

[DMBFireman]

My feed has the TFS frequencies and I'm hearing activity on the air to air channels as well as talking back to the TFS base in Granbury on the Whitt Repeater. Air to Ground is not coming through very often probably due to my distance from the fire (I am in Denton County). Nevertheless there are some good reports being passed back here about the fire.

North Central Texas Rural Fire and EMS Live Scanner Audio Feed

Brandon

[sportsfan7700]

Update: 20 homes are destroyed, fire still burning.

[letarotor]

Two other good freqs to keep in your scanner are BLM/USFS Flight Following: 168.650 110.9, and Air Guard: 168.625 110.9. The air tankers use these to update their positions with dispatch.

[nd5y]

Three CL-215 "scooper" tankers are headed to PK. They should be there about 7 pm. They will be based in Abilene.

Canadair CL-215 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[nd5y]

Originally Posted by letarotor

Two other good freqs to keep in your scanner are BLM/USFS Flight Following: 168.650 110.9, and Air Guard: 168.625 110.9. The air tankers use these to update their positions with dispatch.

They mainly communicate with Abilene and Grandbury dispatch on the TFS regional repeaters. A couple weeks ago I heard Granbury say they didn't have National Flight Following (168.650) but the other day I heard an aircraft talking to them on it so they must have set up another radio recently.

[motorola_otaku]

A crew from Galveston with a brush truck was requested for assistance:
Island firefighters called to battle wildfires

Someone on the HoustonScan mailing list reported hearing them talking back home from Palo Pinto on Galveston Fireground 1 (52720) on the analog TxWARN 2318 system. Anyone close enough to listen might want to look for a "new" 800 system which would probably be a site-on-wheels, or for talkgroup 3295 (the SmartX equivalent of the analog talkgroup) on the Parker County system.

[hiegtx]

Originally Posted by motorola_otaku

A crew from Galveston with a brush truck was requested for assistance:
Island firefighters called to battle wildfires

Someone on the HoustonScan mailing list reported hearing them talking back home from Palo Pinto on Galveston Fireground 1 (52720) on the analog TxWARN 2318 system. Anyone close enough to listen might want to look for a "new" 800 system which would probably be a site-on-wheels, or for talkgroup 3295 (the SmartX equivalent of the analog talkgroup) on the Parker County system.

I'll try that talkgroup (3295). I'll be down in the area (actually just west of the fire area) most of the day Saturday, and the Parker County system comes in very well. I do see a couple of talkgroups on the TXWARN P25 (1A7) listed as TxWARN-Parker County 1 (2228) and TxWARN-Parker County 2 (2229). I plan on taking several scanners, including the HP-1, and probably my laptop.

I'll also see if I get hits on a "new" (site on wheels) site. Depending on where it's at (if one exists), it could be just out of range, behind a ridge from where I'll be most of the time.

[nd5y]

I don't hear any control channels on 700 or 800 MHz or the ICP on VHF. I don't know exactly where they have the ICP set up but that area is 30 miles from me and behind a lot of hills. If they are just using a 50' telecoping mast or something I doubt I could hear it from here.

Hey hiegtx just a few minutes ago I heard a weak mobile P25 signal on the BRA channel 155.040 followed by probably the same guy on analog with 162.2 PL. I'm not sure if it was BRA or not. Could have been somebody from someplace else using their own frequency.

[hiegtx]

Originally Posted by nd5y

I don't hear any control channels on 700 or 800 MHz or the ICP on VHF. I don't know exactly where they have the ICP set up but that area is 30 miles from me and behind a lot of hills. If they are just using a 50' telecoping mast or something I doubt I could hear it from here.

Hey hiegtx just a few minutes ago I heard a weak mobile P25 signal on the BRA channel 155.040 followed by probably the same guy on analog with 162.2 PL. I'm not sure if it was BRA or not. Could have been somebody from someplace else using their own frequency.

Tom,
I'll add a "digital search" line for the BRA channel (155.040) and see if I can hear it, maybe catch the NAC. I'll be just down the road from the old "La Casa" community, if you're familiar with that part of Stephens county. So I'll be on the other side of the incident from you there in Mineral Wells. Last time I was out there, Stephens was still using mixed mode. The deputies were P25, but the dispatch, and the VFD's dispatched off of the S.O. channel, were still analog.

This time, I do plan to drive out through Weatherford & MW, in case there's any new equipment to take a quick picture of. Back in the spring, I went out I-20, and only got a shot of the DPS mobile command that was parked in Strawn.

[nd5y]

I haven't heard of a CP here in town but you can probably get some good fire truck pictures at any of the hotels on the E side of town and aircraft at the MW airport.

[hiegtx]

Originally Posted by nd5y

I haven't heard of a CP here in town but you can probably get some good fire truck pictures at any of the hotels on the E side of town and aircraft at the MW airport.

Thanks for the tip, Tom.

I've got a couple of digitals with long optical zooms (one is 20x, the other 12). So, we'll see what pops up. With the hills and road closures, I doubt there's much chance to shoot any quick video of air drops. Last thing I'd want to do is get in the way.

[hiegtx]

Originally Posted by motorola_otaku

A crew from Galveston with a brush truck was requested for assistance:
Island firefighters called to battle wildfires

Someone on the HoustonScan mailing list reported hearing them talking back home from Palo Pinto on Galveston Fireground 1 (52720) on the analog TxWARN 2318 system. Anyone close enough to listen might want to look for a "new" 800 system which would probably be a site-on-wheels, or for talkgroup 3295 (the SmartX equivalent of the analog talkgroup) on the Parker County system.

I believe that the 'site on wheels', or a temporary site, possibly part of the command vehicle, is in play.

Originally Posted by nd5y

Hey hiegtx just a few minutes ago I heard a weak mobile P25 signal on the BRA channel 155.040 followed by probably the same guy on analog with 162.2 PL. I'm not sure if it was BRA or not. Could have been somebody from someplace else using their own frequency.

I did not get any digital hits (that I noticed) on the BRA frequency, however, I set the Home Patrol to record the entire trip, and may have something there, when I was away from the scanner. I'll look that over tomorrow, and see if there are any new finds there (I imbedded a few other searches as well).

Originally Posted by nd5y

I don't hear any control channels on 700 or 800 MHz or the ICP on VHF. I don't know exactly where they have the ICP set up but that area is 30 miles from me and behind a lot of hills. If they are just using a 50' telescoping mast or something I doubt I could hear it from here.

I believe you have a winner, Tom.
I set up one of the XT's with control channel only- custom searches. One for 800Mhz and one for the 700Mhz band. I had them set so that I could choose which one to run. I ran the 800Mhz search from Mineral Wells to the town square in Palo Pinto. Nada, searching 851->860.

I then changed to the 700Mhz search. I had run that from Weatherford to Mineral Wells, and the only hit, when I first cranked the search up, was the CC from the Fort Worth site on the DFW Airport P25 / NCTCOG system.The second 700Mhz session started near the Palo Pinto courthouse, As soon as I neared the top of the hill west of town, on Hwy 180, I got a new control channel hit:
SID- 01A7H-0105
769.70625
4 bars on the XT, using a RH77CA inside the truck. Signal strength got stronger as I went farther west, so I pulled over & created a quick P25 system in the other XT, in ID Search mode (It was on an external antenna, roof top mag mount).

I never did get any voice traffic, or see any talkgroups. Just about all the traffic I heard was related to air drops, so possibly some of the agencies, such as Galveston, Frisco, Coppell, and others, that use trunked systems "back home" have already left, and were not using the temp site. Also possible it was just quiet right then.

Signal strength was up to 5 bars by the time I hit FM-919, and stayed fairly strong for a couple of miles, but disappeared by the time I hit Metcalf Gap. From the maps on the news sites, the ICP appears to have been placed well up Hwy 16, back in the hills, so if it was on a telesoping mast (probable), the signal path would easily be blocked by the rolling terrain. I had no reception at all farther along 180. I spot checked at several 'high' spots, with no success. And when I got to my friends' place over in Stephens County, I was over 20 miles away.

I did not take my laptop, so no opportunity to run Unitrunker or Pro96.com on the temp site.

[nd5y]

I build a little moxon rectangle antenna for 700 MHz and I can hear that at home if I move the antenna around to a good spot but it is still way to weak to decode anything.

I looked up 769.70625 in CAPRAD. It is a State License channel that isn't alllocated to anybody in region 40 (DFW area) or region 51 (Houston area). I don't know if that means anything except maybe they have certain frequencies for COW use either regional or statewide that are not listed.

[nd5y]

I went outside and found one spot where it would decode.
I can confirm SID: 01A7h-0105 WACN:BEE00
Too bad I can't leave it where I can monitor.

[hiegtx]

Originally Posted by nd5y

I went outside and found one spot where it would decode.
I can confirm SID: 01A7h-0105 WACN:BEE00
Too bad I can't leave it where I can monitor.

Tom,
I recognized that SID yesterday.
It's the same as the TxWARN P25. Same connect as well.

Parker County also uses the same info, since it's more or less a related system to TxWARN. So, without driving up Hwy 16 , or whatever, in search of a temp site, I'm reasonably convinced that's what it is, and that is part of TxWARN P25.

[hiegtx]

Originally Posted by hiegtx

Tom,
I recognized that SID yesterday.
It's the same as the TxWARN P25. Same connect as well.

Parker County also uses the same info, since it's more or less a related system to TxWARN. So, without driving up Hwy 16 , or whatever, in search of a temp site, I'm reasonably convinced that's what it is, and that is part of TxWARN P25.

I have now done, what I should have done yesterday-
Created a quick P25 system in the HP-1. Not sure I'll get back out there before this incident is closed, but at least I have something to work with, and get a little more data on a temp system, even if I don't have the laptop in the truck.