Lake Havasu Information

[frodin1]

I was looking for some information pertaining to the actual Lake operation frequencies. I'm wondering if they use marine frequencies, police, or coast guard, or all three? All have been out here on big weekends, and I'd like to be able to listen in on whats going on out there on the water. I'm just unsure what I should be loading up onto my scanner? Anybody from Havasu?

 

[Hooligan]

Do a Google search to familiarize yourself with what government agencies have management responsibilities for Lake Havasu. I just did it, & saw what counties surround the Lake, plus see Arizona has Lake Havasu State Park there, & the US Bureau of Reclamation is very involved with the lake, etc. Each of the counties has a marine patrol division that's active on it.

Today's News-Herald - Serving Lake Havasu City & The Lower Colorado River Area

I know you're new & very excited to get your scanner going, but it's very rewarding as well as respectable to do research on your own, then ask some questions of others here.

Obviously this is the off-season, but I'd on-season, I'd monitor:

AZ State Parks
Bureau of Reclamation
Mohave SO
SBSO Marine Div talk groups
Lake Havasu City PD
All US VHF Marine channels, especially 16 & those reserved for LE use.
FRS radio channels

Looks like all the rental houseboats come with a VHF marine radio, & I can imagine there's a lot of screwing-around on the radios by some, whereas others never bother to even monitor the radio, and small boats not having a radio at all.

My *guess* is that the couple of different public safety agencies that patrol the lake will coordinate with each other on a discrete VHF marine channel, plus monitor VHF 16, and have their own public safety radio system radios.

Have you done an FCC database search yet for licenses in the vicinity of Lake Havasu?

Figure out how to do a GeoSearch on this web page:

License Search - Advanced License Search


Many episodes of a 'reality' show on the Tru TV Channel showed LE ops during the height of Lake Havasu's wild season a year or two ago. You can watch the old episodes to gather intel on LE radio comms: Party Heat on truTV



Please don't grow up to be a fat, greasy scanner-geek! When out on Lake Havasu during the Summer, put the radio away & go chase some booty.

 

[frodin1]

Yea, the problem is ALL the different agencies have their hands on the lake, so to speak. I was just wondering if there's a way to figure out which one agency could I monitor without having to do all of them. During heavy weekends, we have Coast guard, LHPD, State Parks, and California involved not to mention they bring in other people from other cities as well. Cali and AZ always have jurisdiction, since the state line is technically down the middle of the lake. I was just trying to avoid loading fifty billion frequencies if I don't need to.

 

[AZMONITOR]

In that area I would also monitor the Arizona Dept. of Game & Fish which also does water enforcement activities involving boaters. You can hear them on 151.460. Further the San Bernardino County, CA SO also has a boating enforcement unit and does operate on the California side. I believe they utilize a trunking system on 800 MHz.

 

[frodin1]

These were the others I didn't mention, but that was my next question about the trunking. Thanks for the assist! Happy scanning.

 

[FLANO]

These were the others I didn't mention, but that was my next question about the trunking. Thanks for the assist! Happy scanning.

Don't be discouraged about asking questions. If someone is in the area where you are interested, they'll answer up.

It would be nice if you provide feedback to the forum on what you find, so others can also learn and enjoy. None of us have everything mastered

Have fun!

 

[Hooligan]

Yea, the problem is ALL the different agencies have their hands on the lake, so to speak. I was just wondering if there's a way to figure out which one agency could I monitor without having to do all of them. During heavy weekends, we have Coast guard, LHPD, State Parks, and California involved not to mention they bring in other people from other cities as well. Cali and AZ always have jurisdiction, since the state line is technically down the middle of the lake. I was just trying to avoid loading fifty billion frequencies if I don't need to.

"My *guess* is that the couple of different public safety agencies that patrol the lake will coordinate with each other on a discrete VHF marine channel, plus monitor VHF 16, and have their own public safety radio system radios."

If you look at the list of VHF Marine channels, you'll see that a handful are reserved for US Gov't use. Usually, that means USCG. I didn't think the USCG was active on Lake Havasu, but now I see via Google that they certainly are.

So adding on to the quote above from my original response, check VHF Marine channels 21, 22, 23 & 82 & 83 for use by all the public safety players on Lake Havasu, though they're simplex.

It's not too difficult at all to put in all your area's public safety freqs & monitor them to build-up your general knowledge of events & radio use. Over time, you'll then figure out which are used for LH operations & can put them in a separate bank so you can just focus on monitoring Lake Havasu stuff when you want to.

 

[WayneDoo]

Better late I guess. Just joined this group. Most LE's use their parent land based Freq's while on the water . These include Mohave & Sanbernadino Sheriff, Game & Fish, BLM, USFWS and the US Coast Guard. . They do use VHF Marine band channels 20,21 and 16 as well. Hope this helps you some.


Wayne

 

[Hooligan]

It is a shame that Frodin has never bothered to update this group with his findings as to what freqs are the 'best' to monitor for action on Lake Havasu, and is a perfect example of why some people probably don't bother to take the time to help people out here.

 

[HVN]

Robert Starkey here, founder of Havasu Scanner Feed. If I may provide what information I have, in hopes it is of help to you...

LHCPD patrols the channel. They will use one of their non-primary channels for channel patrol (ie. Channel 5 or 2). You likely already have these channels programmed through their Motorola II Trunking System.

The two Sheriff agencies patrol the rest of the lake.

We hat HSF do not cover the Sheriffs, however might consider in future for major holidays and weekends (spring break, etc).

 

[SCPD]

Don't forget to include Cal Fish and Game, they are on 151.430 in that area. They may be using 159.435 or 151.415 as tacticals. Then again they are so thin on wardens currently that they don't have enough of them where two of them are working the same area at the same time.

The BLM Colorado District, Lake Havasu Field Office manages the Arizona side of the river. The last time I checked their motor pool/fleet included a couple of patrol boats. Their frequencies are: 167.1750 Admin, 168.7375 Fire and possibly 165.6000 for law enforcement. I think the Colorado District (part of the Arizona State Office organization of the BLM) manages both the Arizona side and the California side within a couple of miles of the river. On that last point I'm not sure that is the case. The California Desert District frequencies are 166.3750 Admin, 166.4875 Fire and 166.850 law enforcement. These last frequencies would be important if the CA Desert Dist. manages the California shore of the river corridor.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as far as I remember, does not have much or anything to do with the lake. I believe the National Wildlife Refuges are to the north and south of Lake Havasu. They are on 164.625 the last I heard, which also includes almost all of the remaining Refuges in Arizona.

There is an Indian Reservation nearby, but they would not have anything to do with the management of the lake.

San Bernardino County has a high workload along the river, especially between Needles and Parker Dam. I think they have a substation or some type of office in the vicinity that may only be open during peak use periods. I talked with a San Bernardino Co. deputy who indicated it can get busy for them at times.

 

[SCPD]

I found the map I needed and verified that the BLM Arizona State Office, Colorado River District manages the public land west of the Colorado River in California. Distance varies from a mile or two up to 5 or 6. You won't need the BLM California Desert District frequencies I included in my last post.