SoCal Edison Talkaround Channels

[bryan_herbert]

If you keep SCE in your radio, be sure to dedicate a separate conventional bank for the four simplex channels listed near the top of the page.

Southern California Edison Trunking System, Various, Multi-State - Scanner Frequencies

We just came out of a 2+ hour outage and I'm hearing crews troubleshooting on TA4 939.9875 D245

 

[SCPD]

If you keep SCE in your radio, be sure to dedicate a separate conventional bank for the four simplex channels listed near the top of the page.

Southern California Edison Trunking System, Various, Multi-State - Scanner Frequencies

We just came out of a 2+ hour outage and I'm hearing crews troubleshooting on TA4 939.9875 D245

Thank you, Thank you.

So many members do not post confirmations. I worked with a database administrator who kept good track of this system and I had researched the license data. The amount of information I had to sort through was rather large and disjointed. We had to collaborate to try to sort through it all and fill in some blanks here an there. With a confirmation report we now know we hit the target.

I live 300 miles north of the western portion of L.A. and I'm in SCE's service area. I'm in a rural area where it snows a lot (well prior to the last 3 years) and we get 70 mph winds at eye level in town. As good as the Edison system is, that kind of weather still causes some outages. LIstening to SCE during outages is essential as far as I'm concerned. I've lived in rural areas for 43 years now and when I transferred one of the first things I figure out is the electric utility radio system. Further down the list is the water/sewer provider. Sometimes we turn on the water and nothing comes out. Cold weather and service connections to the laterals that result in turning some pipe off.

There isn't much interest in utility radio systems and given my experience I can't understand this. I've figured out what many of the circuits and sub stations are named in my area. I downloaded a glossary of electric utility terminology to figure out what they are saying. The Edison system is excellent and they patch the trouble groups north of the L.A. basin together. SCE's Edison, Florence, Huntington and Shaver Lake hydropower system is on the other side of the hill from me. When a storm approaches I can hear what it is doing on the west slopes of the Sierra. I can hear what is happening how a storm is affecting Ventura County as well as the portions of the Central Valley they serve.

Thanks again for the report. I haven't heard anything on the tacticals here, but now I know they do use them.

 

[SCPD]

I identified other simplex frequencies SCE has licensed over a large area. I haven't done any license research for quite some time so I don't know if these frequencies are currently licensed. The frequencies are 897.6375, 897.6625, 900.9750, and 900.9875. Each have the same decimal values as the four tac frequencies on the SCE database, but are 39 MHz apart. I'm not sure why they are 39 MHz apart. I would be great if someone in the L.A. basin scanned them to see if they are in use.

 

[bryan_herbert]

It was a pleasure to confirm. I've had the talkaround channels in my radio for a couple years now because the same underground vault along Wiley Canyon Rd on the McBean Sub blows at least once a month. Every time it does blow were without electricity for anywhere between 2 - 24 hours depending on the amount of damage the explosion causes. This was the first time I've ever heard the simplex channels used - guy in the truck was talking to guy in the vault and to Pardee Sub. I used the stock BCD396XT whip antenna and the signal meter never dropped below 3-bars.

 

[bryan_herbert]

I will be sure to add the additional simplex channels to my radio and give them a try. I'm certain the simplex channels are used often, I just happened to catch them today due to their close proximity to my apartment.

 

[AA6IO]

Bryan,
Thanks for great info about simplex frequencies.
Steve AA6IO

 

[WayneH]

I'm not sure why they are 39 MHz apart.

That's the standard repeater offset for 900MHz.
--


The freqs and their operating state, along with alias, came from an Edison radio that I personally verified so I know it to be true. Not that they are the be all, end all but it's nice to see them actually being used.

 

[SCPD]

All the different offsets for commercial, public safety and ham bands are hard to keep up with. Thanks for the information on this offset. I'm not sure I've ever known of it or did and have completely forgotten it.

The freqs and their operating state, along with alias, came from an Edison radio that I personally verified so I know it to be true. Not that they are the be all, end all but it's nice to see them actually being used.

I'm not sure what you mean buy this. Are you referring to the database page for SCE? I worked on that one when it was first developed. Given that you have had a SCE radio to examine you might be able to help out on this. I'm pretty sure there is a whole group of talkgroups that is not listed because I'm not able to verify their use. They are the construction talkgroups. There are a three listed in the database. I developed a table that uses a mathematical comparison between the Field Service Representative talkgroups and the operations talkgroups to establish the construction talkgroups for each district. The three construction talkgroups listed fit into my table just as listed. If you know anything about the construction talkgroups, enough to verify my educated guess as to what they are, I would like to know so that we can put them in the database.

My location is such that SCE has little, if any, construction activity. The operations talkgroup and the substation talkgroup is used for everything. I've not heard any activity on the four direct or tactical frequencies reported here. Weather, especially snow, causes a lot of damage here and that is when the SCE system is most active. Close range traffic that would seem more appropriate on these four frequencies, is carried on the district's operations talkgroup.

 

[WayneH]

If you know anything about the construction talkgroups, enough to verify my educated guess as to what they are, I would like to know so that we can put them in the database.

Negative. What I pulled out of the radio went in to the database. This was a long time ago so what I know is in the DB. And to clarify, too, the Control channel list is the actual list from the radio. It may have been updated. So FWIW...

This system is in the middle of going through an upgrade to replace the "Core" to Motorola's 7.x hardware. The 3600 sites will interface through the SmartX product. So expect to see some P25 TGs at some point. It's a big network so it will take some time.

 

[redneckcellphone]

was this just on simplex? was trying to listen when we lost power for about an hour in garden grove. for a bit i put my 436hp on close call and then on the sce frequencies under utilities. heard nothing

 

[bryan_herbert]

Yes, simplex. Again this was a rarity, Ive been listening to Edison for years and this was the first I have ever heard the channels used. After the initial dispatch on the Field Service Rep (FSR) talkgroup, they switch to the Operations (Ops) Troublemen talkgroup or Transmission talkgroup. This is where you will hear work crews troubleshooting with the substations.

Setup two banks, one for the trunked radio system, the second for the conventional simplex channels, but assign both banks the same Quick Key.