Washington County (SW Utah) Miscellaneous

[Hooligan]

I'm creating this thread as a venue for misc. Washington County radio-geek info -- new freqs discovered, questions, events & situations providing interesting monitoring, etc.

For those that don't know, Washington County is in the far SW corner of Utah, & borders Mohave County AZ to the W & S, Iron County UT to the N, and Kane County Utah to the East. County seat is St George.

Common-sense would be to check the Washington County RR database before posting a 'new' freq or asking for local freq information.

The Washington County official web site is: Washington County, Utah - Welcome & it has links to the various local community's own web pages, some of which have info/links about their public safety agencies.

 

[Hooligan]

FYI, here's an initial batch of corrections/additions to the Washington County RR DB that I just submitted. Many more corrections need to be made.

CORRECTIONS to Washington County Sheriff's Office data

Regarding the 155.430 frequency for WCSO, the data currently on the RR.com database is somewhat confusing. That frequency is indeed the output for their repeaters at multiple sites, however all repeater outputs use a 141.3Hz CTCSS tone. The current RR DB listing shows numerous other tones & it's implied they are output tones. Actually they are input tones to select a particular repeater site, and the input tone/location data listed isn't really correct anyway. I'm not going to provide info on inputs, other than the input freq is correct.

155.880, which the RR DB lists as WCSO channel 2, is actually a low-profile repeater with one specific use & is not used as a car/car type channel, simplex or repeater. 155.880 77.0Hz Washington County Sheriff's Office 5th District Judicial Court Bailiffs repeater, St George.

The RR DB lists 151.100Mhz as being a county Roads or DPW repeater. Not even close. Here's the accurate data:
151.10 67.0Hz Washington County Sheriff's Office Purgatory Correctional Facility repeater.

155.370 141.3Hz Washington County Search & Rescue repeater & simplex comms. Rptr output & simplex comms all seem to tx 141.3Hz only.


Many other corrections & additions for Washington County, which I'll submit when time allows.

 

[seanturpin01]

Thanks for the proper information. I notice in Ivins I can pick up what seems to be Beaver Dam police on 460.4750. And some other traffic on 155.910. Also, some odd digital sounds on 168.36250.

 

[Junior1970]

Thanks for the proper information. I notice in Ivins I can pick up what seems to be Beaver Dam police on 460.4750. And some other traffic on 155.910. Also, some odd digital sounds on 168.36250.

460.475 is the Arizona DPS repeater. I have heard Mohave units on it as well as AZ deputies. 155.910 is the main Mohave channel. Also 155.625 is the UHP Virgin repeater (simo'ed on 30464 on UCAN) that the AZ deputies share with UT in the Gorge. They are usually identified with a simple "Arizona 151" or something in that realm.
When i used to travel to Ivins every Fall I heard all of these quite frequently and often when I was there or when travelling old 91 over Utah Hill back to Mesquite.

 

[theaton]

Washington County Updates

The RR DB lists 151.100Mhz as being a county Roads or DPW repeater. Not even close. Here's the accurate data:
151.10 67.0Hz Washington County Sheriff's Office Purgatory Correctional Facility repeater.

Ha, I remember how this error came about. I was in Zion Nat. Park when heard the traffic "no escort is available" which is the terminology the park uses for getting trucks through the tunnel. Since the frequency was licensed to the country, I made the guess of "roads." :wink:

There are probably more DB errors resulting from my rushed attempts at scanning. A guess can be better than nothing, but doesn't compare with reliable data from local listeners!

-Tim

 

[Hooligan]

Ha, I remember how this error came about. I was in Zion Nat. Park when heard the traffic "no escort is available" which is the terminology the park uses for getting trucks through the tunnel. Since the frequency was licensed to the country, I made the guess of "roads." :wink:

-Tim

Aha!! OK, I was wondering how that one was made... That jail repeater really has good coverage.

By the way, the only Roads/DOT/DPW type freqs I've heard in-use in W county are:

151.130 100Hz St George DPW? Freq listed as SGFD channel 2, but repeater traffic heard 6/2010 sounded like DPW/Streets crew cleaning debris off several streets. First & only time I've caught activity on this freq.

156.06 210.7Hz Utah Dept of Transportation Car/Car simplex channel

I have all the freqs listed for DPW/Roads/Utilities/Service in the DB programmed in, & good ears at home & mobile, but in the 4 months I've lived here, I haven't heard anything on them. I made sure to scan them as well as do a lot of searching during the thunderstorm & major wind gusts we had about a month ago, but despite some flooding, downed trees, & etc. & streets/DPW crews being called-out at the request of PD/FD, I never heard any DPW type comms, anywhere, including the normal PD & FD channels. PD/FD channels are usually quiet enough down here that I suppose DPW/Streets Depts could be dispatched off them, but...


Utah DOT should have some sort of RF system here for command & control of their personnel, but they aren't up on UCAN yet, I & don't see/hear anything for them around here but the 156.060 freq, which I've only heard in simplex mode.

As for the Arizona Strip/Virgin River Gorge area, here are my notes on that:

155.385 156.7Hz Beaver Dam, Arizona area FD repeater, covering AZ Strip & Virgin River Gorge area

155.910 110.9Hz Mohave County SO, Arizona Strip area repeater. Car to car simplex on output with no CTCSS.

156.105 103.5Hz Arizona DOT repeater.

458.950 173.8Hz Close-Call hit at home. Per FCC license, it is an AZ DPS control-link located on Virgin Mountain near Littlefield, AZ. WNXY718


460.475 151.4Hz Arizona DPS District 1 repeater. Multiple repeater sites.

As Jon mentioned above, the AZ DPS unit(s) that patrol the Arizona Strip along I-15 between Nevada & Utah are almost always 15_ series units (often just one, sometimes two) & they monitor both 460.475 as well as the 155.625/203.5Hz Utah Highway Patrol repeater, and often when in the Virgin River Gorge they'll rely on the Utah channel to call out traffic stops, run plates, etc.

It took me a while to discover that Mohave County SO channel. It wasn't in the RR DB as of a couple months ago, so I was wondering why I'd never hear any MCSO traffic on the listed freqs, despite just living about 10 miles N or the border. MCSO doesn't patrol I-15 but they get busy with some of the bar crowds in Littlefield & Beaver Dam & have a substation there. It's funny how they have to drive 30 miles across Utah to get to the other part of their county by Colorado City & Pipe Springs, though they don't normally patrol that area (AZ DPS does).

 

[n7jei]

Mohave County SO does patrol the Colorado City/Pipe Springs area. I've seen and heard them on 158.73 csq.

 

[Hooligan]

Mohave County SO does patrol the Colorado City/Pipe Springs area. I've seen and heard them on 158.73 csq.

I too have occasionally seen MCSO vehicles in that area, however a retired MCSO deputy told me that they don't normally *patrol* that area as it's a relatively small & sparsely populated stretch & to get to it, they'd have to drive 40+ miles through Utah from their Beaver Dam substation or have a much longer drive up thru Coconino County. They will investigate major crimes & back-up AZ DPS or BIA Kaibab-Paiute Reservation Police in an emergency. AZ DPS *patrols* it & that's why AZ DPS has a repeater site on the plateau behind Pipe Springs. The AZ DPS unit I saw there yesterday was also a 150 series unit, so I'm assuming the 150 series guys handle Arizona Strip.

 

[Hooligan]

Here is my info for Zion National Park. I've spent time radio-geeking while hiking & sitting in my car in the park, but tend to stay out of it during peak tourist/100+ degree heat season. I can monitor the repeaters from home though. Typical NPS type comms, but things get interesting when someone (usually doing something they shouldn't be doing) gets hurt/lost/killed. Then NPS activates their incident command system, staffs their EOC, and deploys their SAR resources.

152.285 218.1Hz Zion National Park shuttle bus repeater. Licensed to Parks Transportation, Inc.

166.325 156.7Hz NPS Zion National Park. Admin channel? At least two different CTCSS tones on input freq. At least one repeater is at “Timbertop.” This repeater (or at least one of the input tones) possibly is for their Kolob Canyon area.

168.350 P25 NAC636 NPS Zion National Park tunnel ops, simplex. Used between East & West tunnel posts to coordinate closures for oversized traffic, etc. Freq is also USG common.

169.7125 156.7Hz NPS Zion National Park Law Enforcement Repeater.

172.6125 156.7Hz NPS Zion National Park main ops channel. “West Temple” repeater plus simplex. Callsign KOJ-770.

 

[theaton]

Zion National Park frequencies

I took a stab at these updates on the National Parks page (National Parks in Utah). Feel free to report corrections. Do you know the input frequency or location for the law repeater?

-Tim

Here is my info for Zion National Park. I've spent time radio-geeking while hiking & sitting in my car in the park, but tend to stay out of it during peak tourist/100+ degree heat season. I can monitor the repeaters from home though. Typical NPS type comms, but things get interesting when someone (usually doing something they shouldn't be doing) gets hurt/lost/killed. Then NPS activates their incident command system, staffs their EOC, and deploys their SAR resources.

152.285 218.1Hz Zion National Park shuttle bus repeater. Licensed to Parks Transportation, Inc.

166.325 156.7Hz NPS Zion National Park. Admin channel? At least two different CTCSS tones on input freq. At least one repeater is at “Timbertop.” This repeater (or at least one of the input tones) possibly is for their Kolob Canyon area.

168.350 P25 NAC636 NPS Zion National Park tunnel ops, simplex. Used between East & West tunnel posts to coordinate closures for oversized traffic, etc. Freq is also USG common.

169.7125 156.7Hz NPS Zion National Park Law Enforcement Repeater.

172.6125 156.7Hz NPS Zion National Park main ops channel. “West Temple” repeater plus simplex. Callsign KOJ-770.

 

[Hooligan]

Do you know the input frequency or location for the law repeater?

As part of my personal curiousity & enjoying some occasional radio-geek challenges, I do locate input freqs & associated CTCSS/DCS/NACs, but I don't openly share that info unless there's a compelling need to do so.

As for the LE repeater, no, I don't know where it is, but since there are at least two different input freqs for it, it might transmit from more than just one site.

 

[seanturpin01]

I have seen TGID 30784 pop up today a couple times. I cant find it in the data base. The first time I saw it I couldnt catch what was said over it but the second time I saw it the dispatcher said "Oops sorry wrong channel" when calling for a cedar unit. Does anyone know what TG this is for?

Sean

 

[Hooligan]

Here's what I have for Washington County & local LEAs.

WSO is kind of strange. Seems like each LEO has a personal 1X## identifier that they sign in & out of service with, but then the few that are actually doing basic patrol work will then ID as an Echo, Charlie or Whiskey unit depending on what part of the county they're assigned to, whiles others are in-service with their 1X## callsigns. Perhaps they're countywide/command officer units. They sure don't have many people out on patrol at any one time, but I guess that's because violent crime is rare, and they get backed-up fairly well by other area LEAs. With at least some of the communitiues, the lower their callsign #, the higher in rank they are. For example, 6X3 is a Washington City PD Sgt whereas 6X15 is a patrol officer. Same thing with Hurricane PD, with 4X140 being their one full-time animal control officer.

St George PD has all sort of special units -- Bike Patrol, Traffic units, SWAT, etc. & use a variety of callsign types which I haven't tried to figure out yet other than that patrol units do use a district # as part of their callsign.

Below are all the callsign prefixes that I've heard on a regular basis over the 7 months that I've lived around here. Some of the smaller communities just have a part-time PD & when they're off-duty, SO or UHP handles calls in the area. The tiny burg of Leeds had a small, part-time PD but it was disbanded/mothballed for financial reasons last year. I assume Leeds PD would have used the 155.430 repeater system operated by the SO like all the other small PDs do, but maybe that explains the 'Leeds Special Service District" system on 155.7225/167.9 that simulcasts SGPD channel 1 (even though it actually doesn't have a strong signal in Leeds). Hildale is a small, very creepy community directly on the border with Colorado City Arizona. Both are Fundamentalist LDS communities & seem to try to keep to themselves & not interact much with the rest of Washington County. Hildale has a Town Marshal, who is or at least was also deputized to provide services to Colorado City Arizona. I occasionally see the marked patrol vehicle when passing thru the area & it has a VHF antenna, but I've never been in the area when there has been radio traffic on the listed 153.905MHz freq to absolutely confirm it's used by them. I do occasionally catch 153.905/103.5Hz simplex traffic from home but it's weak & context hasn't allowed me to personally confirm it as Hildale Town Marshal yet. I assume they have 155.430 WSO capability but have never heard a strange callsign come up on that, nor do I recall ever hearing a WSO deputy being dispatched to something going on in Hildale, though I occasionally pass one of the WSO "Echo" (East patrol area) units running RADAR just N of Hildale on Hwy 59. Maybe Hildale has their own 9-1-1 PSAP, or maybe they use the county's PSAP but the cultists down there aren't allowed to use 9-1-1 & instead call the 7 dogit Town Marshall Office #. Do a Google Search on "Hildale Town Marshal" if you're curious about some of the legal messes going on there.

Washington County LE Callsigns

Charlie - WSO -- Central part of county (155.430)
DC - Drug Court trackers (155.430)
Delta - BIA Police, Shivwits Band of Paiutes Reservation? (155.430)
Echo - WSO -- East side of county (155.430)
Tango - Washington County Drug & Gang Task Force
Whiskey - WSO -- West side of county (155.430)

1X - WCSO (155.430)
2A - State Parks (155.610 & 155.775)
3X - Santa Clara (155.430)
4X - Hurricane (155.610)
6X - Washington City (155.610)
7X - Laverkin (155.430)
9X - Springdale area (155.430)
12X - Ivins (155.430)
13B - BLM St George Office LE Rangers (155.430)
20X - Search & Rescue team? Also heard with 700 series callsigns (155.430, 155.370)
26A - Dixie State College PD (155.430)


In parenthesis are the normal freqs I hear the particular LEA on.All the LEAs seem to have each other's dispatch freqs on their radios, but just about never actually switch over to use them, even when it would save time & enhance officer-safety to do so, nor is there any sort of county-wide LE mutual aid channel -- really STUPID comms training/procedures down here. Dixie State College PD answers up on 155.430 when called, but might normally operate on St George PD's channel since DSC is encompassed by St George. BLM LE Rangers (there are only two assigned to this area!) are also occasionally heard on the BLM repeaters. Not 100% sure Delta units are BIA police -- I've never heard them with any radio traffic other than signing on or off-duty, and will have to camp out on the Shivwits Reservation to see if they normally use some local repeater or simplex system there, but I've heard a Delta unit down in Kane County & also suspected he was a BIA unit assigned to the Kaibab Pauite Reservation in Pipe Springs. Maybe someone can confirm that "Delta" units are BIA statewide.

The UHP 155.625 et. al. repeaters down here also have numerous different types of callsigns heard. I think some Iron County So & local PDs are dispatched off that system, as well as Adult Probation & Parole, DNR/State Parks, etc. at least until UCAN is phased-in down here. All or at least some of the PDs do use some of the VHF simplex tac channels licensed to UHP for car/car use or special details.


As usual, comments or corrections are appreciated. I hope one of you scanner dudes in St George will post a breakdown of SGPD callsign structures, but if you're not absolutely sure about something, please mention that.

 

[AD7ZW]

Bia

In the Eastern Part of the State all Federal units use Bravo as the Identifier. Hope this helps. Below is a listing of the federal callsigns commonly heard in the Uintah Basin.

7 Bravo Ute Indian Tribe
9 Bravo BIA LE
13 Bravo BLM LE
14 Bravo FS LE
34 Bravo NPS LE (Dinosaur National Mountment)

 

[wbloss]

Simo

Also heard the UCAN engineers noting some of the St George area sites would became part of the Simo when they got it done. Discussion of Zones and numbering.

W

 

[Hooligan]

In the Eastern Part of the State all Federal units use Bravo as the Identifier. Hope this helps.

Thanks -- it does help. The only Bravos I hear in Washington County are the two BLM LE Rangers -- 13B10 & 13B40, but I'll keep my ears open for other Bravo units, and will back away from my guessing that the Delta unit I occasionally hear signing in & out of service on the SO channel is BIA Police. I poked around at the Paiute Nation's Shivwits reservation today. It's extremely small in terms of population & housing & I didn't see any evidence of a BIA presence there.

Regarding the Washington County LE Callsign list, 2X = St George PD, and the Victor units heard on SGPD are their Volunteers In Public Safety ("VIPS," part of the SGPD Volunteer Unit).

 

[seanturpin01]

Thank you for all of the info Hooligan-
Ive heard other Bravo units get called out to DV calls and what not. As in like them calling 101A and 6B to back on a family fight. So I would think 101A is of higher rank but ive also heard 210B call in and get called out but not as often as 101A. So I would think that maybe the Alpha units are Primary and the Bravo is secondary and Charlie is either last back up or just normal traffic BUT I AM VERY UNSURE OF THIS. Also, Bike units from what I have heard would be like "256" or "254". And st.george animal control, usually Ive heard them say 410 to 400. 400 Being their dispatch. And in ivins the Animal control is 12X41. But definitely the county units are 1X=WACO Sheriff 2X=St.george 3X=Santa Clara 6X=Washington city 12X Ivins.... And for sure 13B40 is a BLM ranger. And for sure 2Victor # units are Volunteers in public safety. I also seem to think BUT MAY BE WRONG that W30 is an undercover unit. I have heard a familiar voice from an Ivins officer say show me 10-42 and sign me in as W30 for the rest of the night. Im not sure but thats what I got from it. Maybe ill try taking notes of what I hear as to Call signs and try to get a pretty accurate list. I listen to my scanner pretty much all day when at work so I do listen alot.

SEAN

 

[seanturpin01]

Also forgot to add, On UHP 155.625 which is linked to UCAN, I hear alot of Salt lake stuff sometimes during the day coming on TG 19720, they give off some odd call signs like Salt Lake Alpha 345. But mostly the UHP units seem to be 3 digit call signs like Cedar 222 or Arizona 151. Ive also heard cedar 424.

 

[Hooligan]

Hi Sean,

The Bravo units heard on SGPD dispatch aren't really the same sort of Bravo callsigns that are apparently federal units. It *seems like if the Bravo is part of the callsign prefix (like 13Bravo-40) it's a federal unit, but if the Bravo is part of the callsign suffix, like SGPD "6B," then it's not a fed.

SGPD has all sorts of different callsigns, but it seems like for most SGPD patrol units, the first # is their patrol zone, & then the letter is perhaps a sub-sector of that zone. Some zones might be quiet enough to just have one patrol unit assigned to it, others might be busy enough with crime & people/traffic in general to have several patrol cars, plus perhaps a bike patrol, etc. assigned to it. I hear SIERRA units on SGPD 1 too. My initial assumption is that they're Sgts or SWAT personnel.

As for Sheriff unit W-30, I know that unit does handle routine calls, so I don't think it's an undercover unit, though it could be a uniformed deputy in an unmarked car. I assume the Ivins officer you heard go in-service as W-30 is a WSO Deputy who works part-time for Ivins PD.

 

[enosjones]

Also forgot to add, On UHP 155.625 which is linked to UCAN, I hear alot of Salt lake stuff sometimes during the day coming on TG 19720, they give off some odd call signs like Salt Lake Alpha 345. But mostly the UHP units seem to be 3 digit call signs like Cedar 222 or Arizona 151. Ive also heard cedar 424.

You might check your settings on your scanner and turn off ur status bit to ignore, the TG 19720 is 8 off the true tg which should be TG 19712 which is UHP SL County North. To be sure check if you get TG 6560 or 6568 Corrections AP&P? (Which is active alot) If u get 6568 then its the status bit and needs to be set from yes to ignore. just a heads up