SPEN 1 Carrier

[rr60]

For days now, dozens of times per minute a station is keying briefly.

Mostly with no PL yet occasionally seen with a burst of 131.8. About 15dB above the floor here
in North Central Jersey.

Going to tough for Northstar if they use this for a contact frequency.

 

[kd2pm]

Helos usually use SPEN4 or at least they used to. I know there is one agency out there that has SPEN patched to their trunked network (I believe Middlesex/Sayreville) so maybe they are getting something coming in from that system. Just speculating...

 

[rr60]

Helos usually use SPEN4 or at least they used to. I know there is one agency out there that has SPEN patched to their trunked network (I believe Middlesex/Sayreville) so maybe they are getting something coming in from that system. Just speculating...

Thanks! I have a receiver dedicated 24/7 for a long time. Pulls in Fort Lee to BurlCo. Medevac contact frequency all over the place. It depends on the FGC/IC and dispatcher of the day. SPEN 1/4 certainly favorites. Hunterdon gets the award for consistency. The InterOp 154.965 repeater almost always used for many years. I had a dedicated position for SPEN 1 on the G5 for the Middlesex TRS. I suspect that patch got dropped. I have not heard nor seen in a month or two.

Speaking of SPEN 1, the heterodyne with some SP Division morning radio tests is crazy. My ear says several stations are keyed simultaneously. I am surprised they have not created a few simulcast sites.

The rouge SPEN station still carrying on this morning.

 

[kd2pm]

Heterodyne could be that they have not aligned those transmitters in quite a while and the phasing is off. We had to do that on our old 4.1 years ago. Phase optimization had to be done or else we had the typical wa-wa-wa complaints from the users.

 

[Skypilot007]

I'm hearing that activity on SPEN 1 also here in Burlington County. Quite strong the signal is here.

 

[magic_lantern]

I dont hear it or see it on display in morris county

I do hear it and see it at the rt78/287 interchange

where else in the state is it heard

Thanks

 

[K2NEC]

Heard loud and clear in Wayne, Passaic County

 

[w2xq]

As Skypilot007 says, Burlington County is reasonably active. I note the audio levels popped up when I switched the mode to AM-N. My perception is that most of the activity is in the western end of the county around US-130.

 

[IamDavidGallagher]

Gone now? Not seeing it anymore.

 

[rr60]

“Little birdie” again told me it was being DF’d.

So I’m told.

 

[Mboy00]

Hi all. I believe SPEN 4 is used for the Medevac's and such, as I know that is the interoperability channel used by agencies when communicating with the bird for medivac assignments (I thought the same thing to that they used SPEN 1 until I asked!) I hope this helps.

 

[FT752]

Yes, SPEN 4 is the primary medevac option. This is all they really* have right now because UTAC 43D is not working for NorthSTAR. They can hear ground units calling them, but cannot talk back to the ground. Thus, agencies who washed VHF and SPEN capabilities out of their reach, (based on Central NJ encounters), are resorting to the nasty analog to P25 patches by having SPEN 4 patched into TRS TGs. I say nasty, as previous experiences with patching conventional analog frequencies like Warren PD in Somerset County into Countywide PD on the Somerset County TRS were completely worthless. However, in the last instance where North Plainfield needed a medevac, both the Somerset County TRS side and the SPEN side actually came across exceptionally well. This is no substitute for planning to have the appropriate communication capabilities equipped, but it at least should not be entirely detrimental for the time being.

*I am not familiar with the use of the NJICS UASI or StateComm TGs, which is applicable only to those who have NJICS access; I am only informing from the conventional analog front.

 

[rr60]

Yes, SPEN 4 is the primary medevac option. This is all they really* have right now because UTAC 43D is not working for NorthSTAR. They can hear ground units calling them, but cannot talk back to the ground. Thus, agencies who washed VHF and SPEN capabilities out of their reach, (based on Central NJ encounters), are resorting to the nasty analog to P25 patches by having SPEN 4 patched into TRS TGs. I say nasty, as previous experiences with patching conventional analog frequencies like Warren PD in Somerset County into Countywide PD on the Somerset County TRS were completely worthless. However, in the last instance where North Plainfield needed a medevac, both the Somerset County TRS side and the SPEN side actually came across exceptionally well. This is no substitute for planning to have the appropriate communication capabilities equipped, but it at least should not be entirely detrimental for the time being.

*I am not familiar with the use of the NJICS UASI or StateComm TGs, which is applicable only to those who have NJICS access; I am only informing from the conventional analog front.

That is hitting the proverbial nail on the head. The concept of patching a TRS to a simplex base station is not understood. Likely never will. The ALTITUDE & LOCATION of helicopter matters a lot. Complicating things are weather (the cloud ceiling) as this can limit final approach altitude and the LZ location itself.

In your outstanding example the SPEN4 base is almost 10 miles away in a Somerville.
Terrain in play too. If the helicopter makes Comm’s from a 1000’ altitude it works fine. From 500 and decending into the LZ no so good at all. The SPEN 4 signal must go the long way around.

Often people wonder why it worked last time perfect and the last time terrible.
IMHO not a good practice as there are way to many variables patching Simplex and TRS.

The programming in the ship is all over the place. Sometimes I see ship TX w no PL while the ground unit in in PL decode. Other times just the opposite. I would say generally improved but from time to time no contact made.