Conditions here in the UK...

[fires999]

Morning Forum,
Hope everyone is well - was just wondering ( selfishly) about low band skip conditions here in the UK from the US ?
What I mean is I remember back in mid 1980's conditions were in the good part of the cycle and would often here Police or Fire Depts clear as a bell in the UK afternoon.
Now I know many Emergency Services have either moved to digital and/or moved frequencies from low band below 88mhz where public radio stations start to vhf or uhf.
So anyone from UK reading this or even from the US has any knowledge of how good conditions are currently ( real time) July 2024 ? And also where to listen ?
To be honest if I had the spare time I would systematically start above 29mhz and pick segments in 5mhz and monitor for few hours, then move on.
Thanks in advance and if I do discover anything of note do you think it appropriate to post on the forum?
Take care
Kev ( USAF Mildenhall Fire Department- UK Firefighter attached to the US Airforce here in East England 10 + years)

 

[marvinsuggs]

Morning Forum,
Hope everyone is well - was just wondering ( selfishly) about low band skip conditions here in the UK from the US ?
What I mean is I remember back in mid 1980's conditions were in the good part of the cycle and would often here Police or Fire Depts clear as a bell in the UK afternoon.
Now I know many Emergency Services have either moved to digital and/or moved frequencies from low band below 88mhz where public radio stations start to vhf or uhf.
So anyone from UK reading this or even from the US has any knowledge of how good conditions are currently ( real time) July 2024 ? And also where to listen ?
To be honest if I had the spare time I would systematically start above 29mhz and pick segments in 5mhz and monitor for few hours, then move on.
Thanks in advance and if I do discover anything of note do you think it appropriate to post on the forum?
Take care
Kev ( USAF Mildenhall Fire Department- UK Firefighter attached to the US Airforce here in East England 10 + years)

Hi sir
33-34 mhz, 42-43, 46-46.5 and 47-47.6 are still active in the US.

 

[fires999]

Richard,
Thankyou so much for the frequency ranges. Think you have probably saved me hours of listening to inactive areas of the spectrum - at least I now have a good starting point.
Really appreciate it, however today might not be a good day as very humid and hot weather here in the East of England has forecasters issuing weather warnings for severe thunder storms !!!
So masts and antennas down and wait for the rain !!!
Thanks again Richard and to anyone else who has taking the time to read my post.
Be safe,
Kevin

 

[marvinsuggs]

Richard,
Thankyou so much for the frequency ranges. Think you have probably saved me hours of listening to inactive areas of the spectrum - at least I now have a good starting point.
Really appreciate it, however today might not be a good day as very humid and hot weather here in the East of England has forecasters issuing weather warnings for severe thunder storms !!!
So masts and antennas down and wait for the rain !!!
Thanks again Richard and to anyone else who has taking the time to read my post.
Be safe,
Kevin

Hey Kevin
Thanks for writing. 33-34 mhz will give you fire depts in Massachusetts and Connecticut. 42-43 is usually California and Missouri highway patrol. 46-46.50 is Maryland west Virginia and Florida. 47-47.60 is mainly Florida. My location is Richmond, TX
Take care
Marvin

 

[fires999]

Marvin
You're a star ! Half the battle is once hearing a user, trying to I.d them !
Info is invaluable..if I do manage to hear any low band users from US , would it be appropriate to share on this forum ? Or is it mainly Skip from US State to US State?
Thanks, Kevin

 

[ecps92]

Morning Forum,
Hope everyone is well - was just wondering ( selfishly) about low band skip conditions here in the UK from the US ?
What I mean is I remember back in mid 1980's conditions were in the good part of the cycle and would often here Police or Fire Depts clear as a bell in the UK afternoon.
Now I know many Emergency Services have either moved to digital and/or moved frequencies from low band below 88mhz where public radio stations start to vhf or uhf.
So anyone from UK reading this or even from the US has any knowledge of how good conditions are currently ( real time) July 2024 ? And also where to listen ?
To be honest if I had the spare time I would systematically start above 29mhz and pick segments in 5mhz and monitor for few hours, then move on.
Thanks in advance and if I do discover anything of note do you think it appropriate to post on the forum?
Take care
Kev ( USAF Mildenhall Fire Department- UK Firefighter attached to the US Airforce here in East England 10 + years)

You may want to review the 2024 forum of

2024 VHF Low Band Logs

New Year, new thread. Knock yourself out...

forums.radioreference.com

 

[fires999]

ECPS92,
Thankyou in advance for the advice and link. To be honest I was only thinking about the UK side of skip and low band.
Didnt even click that users may already be listed and really the UK in radio skip/ducting terms in another US State but a little further to the East !!!
Back in early 90s when my firefighting career had just started with County Fire Service ( before being attached to USAF) i used to plug my radio shack scanner into the antenna located on Fire Drill Tower ( it was a back up antenna for 70mhz) and US fire and Police sometimes with a clearer signal then a uk fire service 50 miles away !!!!
Kev ( 15 miles East of Cambridge)

 

[marvinsuggs]

Marvin
You're a star ! Half the battle is once hearing a user, trying to I.d them !
Info is invaluable..if I do manage to hear any low band users from US , would it be appropriate to share on this forum ? Or is it mainly Skip from US State to US State?
Thanks, Kevin

Ah thanks Kevin. There's a guy in Ireland that posts quite often to the 2024 log forum. There's lots of military, school busses, construction and concrete companies scattered on low band. There's also alot of tones coming from France transporting beacons that we hear in the US.
Take care
Marvin

 

[Ubbe]

Those couple of summers in the 90's where great for monitoring some US east coast stations. I haven't heard anything since then. Maybe climate changes have affected how those sporadic layers are working today.

/Ubbe

 

[scanlist]

Add 39.02 to 39.980 MHz to the mix as California Highway Patrol is within this range as well.

37.020 to 37.500 is a range that historically had local government and still has some utility companies from 37.500 to 37.980.

.

 

[nd5y]

US Military can be found almost anywhere between 30-88 MHz on 25 kHz steps. That might also be true for all of NATO.

 

[misterpaul71]

Kev if it's Fire / EMS stuff you are after the easiest bunch are on 33 mhz - scan 33 - 33.98 in 20 khz stps NFM. I'm in the north of Ireland and hearing fire traffic today from MA, CT, PA, NH. First time (and very early) this F2 season (which runs from now until nexy March or early april) - I'm using a Uniden scanner and a decent antenna- its a loop 5 feet wide by ten high - supported on a fishing pole with bamboo canes - you split the wire in the bottom centre and feed with coax. Hope you have fun with these - it's early days yet - by late October things will be swinging.

 

[fires999]

Mister Paul,
Thanks so much for the reply. Appreciate you taking the time and especially the info on range and steps, perfect.
I have quite an array of antennas here at home from discone, dipole, log periodic s on masts...your loop antenna sounds interesting, will definitely look into that.
Thanks again, please stay in touch
Kev

 

[fires999]

Hi Forum/MisterPaul71,
Forgot to ask..what's the best time of day ( UK time) for listening?
Thanks
Kev ( USAF MILDENHALL Fire Department, Suffolk, England)

 

[misterpaul71]

Hi Forum/MisterPaul71,
Forgot to ask..what's the best time of day ( UK time) for listening?
Thanks
Kev ( USAF MILDENHALL Fire Department, Suffolk, England)

Any time from about 1 pm on - conditions vary daily obviously - today doesn't look to be as good as yesterday I've had nothing on 33 mhz @ 1:45 pm. Yesterday same time I had already had a few bits and pieces. You'll often see a surge of signals as they fade in around this time and then it can fall back a bit also you see the same thing before local sunset. It's very early days, there will be a peak around the end of October / Early November and another (hopefully) in the spring.

 

[RichardKramer]

You may want to try listening for skip on USA CB channel 6 (27.025MHz AM mode); there's a good chance you'll hear something in the 30 to 50MHz range from the States when the skip is in.

 

[Ubbe]

My experience are that skip are very frequency dependent. Depending of at what altitude the frequency skip will happen will also determine where it will land. Where I live I never heard any skip outside of the 35MHz +/-2MHz range and only from the US eastcoast.

/Ubbe