Los Padres NF encoding 103.5 ctcss?

[Progline]

As long as I can remember, the LPF was encoding the same ctcss tone on their output as on the input. Thus, if you wanted to monitor LPF using CTCSS, you had to either program in each hilltop with it's own ctcss tone, or just use carrier squelch.

Yesterday afternoon's weather/fire danger ratings came over the air (170.55 "forest net"), and I was surprised to see that it was encoding 103.5 from whatever transmitter they were using (I am in the San Fernando Valley). The DB shows 103.5 to be Cone Peak, up by Big Sur, so obviously I was not hearing THAT site.

Has the LPF joined the ANF, Sequoia, and San Bernadino in encoding 103.5 forest wide?

-Rob

 

[kilowa22]

It is possible that you were receiving Big Sur by way of ducting. Also your CTCSS decoding may have had some type of interference that made the CTCSS decoder display the wrong CTCSS code. On the Radio Shack 163/164 scanners interference will cause the CTCSS to be displayed wrong.
If the code is the same the next time you monitor then most likely it has changed.

 

[Progline]

I just checked, and as I type this I am definitely hearing the southern weather reading on 103.5, and was also hearing the no. weather reading before (weak, but copiable) also on 103.5.

I also checked the tone (the scanner I'm using is the RS 2055, which DOES get fooled on ctcss), and it's right. Changes underway at the LPF???

 

[ScannerDude244]

They do use 103.5 up here in Big sure and arroy seco area.

 

[LZJSR]

I have LPF in my scanner with CTCSS set to "search" and from Frazier Park to San Fernando Valley to Ventura to Santa Barbara, I always get 103.5 as the receive tone. Sounds like no matter where you are in So Cal, it is safe to program in 103.5 as you said. Don't know about central coast/SLO/MNY, but in So Cal and in San Fernando Valley, I hear the 103.5

 

[Mick]

Earlier this year I was hearing 110.9 and 123.0 when 170.55 was in use. Logged in Orange County.

 

[SCPD]

I have the same observation as to the sites no longer carrying the input tone on the output frequency. My wife and I have been in L.A. 14 weeks (11 different trips) since Memorial Day for power of attorney duties. I don't remember when I noticed the change to 103.5 only, but it has been some time this year or last fall.

The Angeles, San Berdo and Cleveland were the first NF's to use CTCSS on the output. I'm not sure why they picked 103.5, but the reason has something to do with interference from Mexico. Those in southern California should be very familiar with the amount of interference that the lack of enforcement in Mexico causes. Hams contend with it all the time. Mexicans come north to buy ham 2 meter and 70cm equipment along with 1500 watt amplifiers to be used for use in taxicab, construction or other businesses; or personal communications.

Early one morning (0200 or so), driving by myself to a fire on the Cleveland for a Incident Command Post position during a multiple major fire event, I was scanning command and tactical frequencies, when to my horror I heard interference from Mexico making the command repeater useless on one fire. I then heard a couple of division supervisors on this same fire talking about interference from the "Julios." It was quite a few years later that command repeaters began to employ 103.5 on the output of NIFC repeaters.

If the offending Mexicans are buying U.S. equipment and using it, I'm not sure why they would not use 103.5 making the choice of an output CTCSS tone a challenging crap shoot.

If the Los Padres has changed to 103.5 for the output of all of their south end repeaters (the Santa Barbara, Ojai and Mt. Pinos Ranger Districts) it must be an interference from Mexico problem, but I'm not sure why this issue has required them to make the change only recently.

 

[Progline]

The 103.5 tone was also captured on the northern (or at least central) system, during that areas weather broadcast (they usually do the monterey, etc districts first, then read the south end....they used to use Torrey Peak for the southern weather - I could tell by the CTCSS tone shipped out).

I cannot comment on the Service Net yet (171.55), as I've heard no activity on it (which isnt unusual).

 

[ScannerDude244]

The 103.5 tone was also captured on the northern (or at least central) system, during that areas weather broadcast (they usually do the monterey, etc districts first, then read the south end....they used to use Torrey Peak for the southern weather - I could tell by the CTCSS tone shipped out).

I cannot comment on the Service Net yet (171.55), as I've heard no activity on it (which isnt unusual).

I can also confirm 103.5 is being use on Monterey CO sites.

 

[code3cowboy]

103.5 has been used for some time on the LPF CH 3 and LPF CH 4 channels iirc, though I rarely note the channels as being programmed with a tone, nor do I ever notice the LPF Forest Net and/or Service Net being programmed with a Rx PL.

This is throughout Monterey, SLO, and Santa Barbara counties.

 

[fireinoc]

So if I have this right, all I have to do is enter the LPF (or other forests) frequency and include the 103.5 tone and I should pick up all transmissions within range, whether they are repeated or direct? Or do I have to enter the same frequency twice, once with the 103.5 tone and once without to receive both repeated and direct communications?

 

[LZJSR]

If you just program in 170.55 for Forest Net (no tone) and 171.55 for Service Net (no tone) you will hear everything from the Los Padres main 2 channels. If you enter the 103.5 tone for receive, and for some reason they are transmitting without tone from a certain repeater site, you will miss the transmission. Unless you get interference from another source, your best bet is to just program it without the tone on the receive frequency.

 

[monitor142]

Cleveland NF has 103.5 on the outputs of Forest Net, Admin Net, and Law Net-Analog. Law Net Digital is NAC 40B.

Something reminds me in the past that I caught Comm Techs on Service Net a year or so back and the output was not 103.5, maybe 131.8? rings a bell.

Either way unless I'm catching local interference on one of the channels I'm running everything in mixed mode search on the PSR500 just in case USFS starts using P25 on other channels. After I caught P25 on Law Net, don't want to miss any changes. I found that by accident while doing a Fed Band search.

-M142