VHF Uplink Frequencies and Tower Locations

[mnovia]

I am wondering if anyone has a bag of tricks for finding out what the uplink on VHF would be without traveling to the town and checking the spectrum analyzer... I am looking for a way to do this online with FCC search or a similar tool.

It would also be really nice to pinpoint transmitter locations for UHF and VHF using the FCC search or a similar tool. I have had SOME success with this, but often, several locations are listed in the license and they turn out to be either the PD, FD, or some guys house...not the transmitter location.

 

[lmrtek]

The FCC geographical search will list the exact location of transmitters not just the contact info

 

[nd5y]

It would also be really nice to pinpoint transmitter locations for UHF and VHF using the FCC search or a similar tool. I have had SOME success with this, but often, several locations are listed in the license and they turn out to be either the PD, FD, or some guys house...not the transmitter location.

This is because the transmitter location on FCC license applications is often wrong.

The FCC geographical search will list the exact location of transmitters

No, it shows the location that was entered on the licence application which may or may not be correct. The FCC has no idea if the information is correct, a typo, or intentionally misleading. It doesn't look like they even attempt to verify it.

 

[nd5y]

I am wondering if anyone has a bag of tricks for finding out what the uplink on VHF would be without traveling to the town and checking the spectrum analyzer... I am looking for a way to do this online with FCC search or a similar tool.

It depends on the type of system and radio service. Base stations and repeaters will have a station class code that starts with FB. Mobile stations will start with MO. Control stations (base stations that transmit on the repeater input frequency) usually have station class FX1.

VHF generally has no standard offset. If a license has several repeater frequencies at the same location or the same frequencies at several locations it is often not possible to determine which input and output frequencies are paired together by looking at the license. On UHF and 700/800/900 MHz this is not the case because those bands have standard offsets.

 

[WA0CBW]

As nd5y said there is no "physical" checking by the FCC or the licensing coordinator other than paper checking. This causes real havoc when either a mistake was made on the application or a licensee just decided to move the transmitter to a different location. Then when the coordinator is issuing a frequency it meets the distance requirements to co-frequencies and adjacent frequencies. However it really isn't. I have seen the FCC issue some hefty fines and loss of the frequency to the offender. Fortunately most radio shops do a pretty good job of checking the license properties with the actual properties.
BB

 

[mnovia]

Thanks For Responses

Thanks, the FX1 info was helpful.

I also didn't realize you can turn on the uplink frequencies in the freq search at the top of the page...I don't think these are 100% accurate, but better than nothing.

As for the transmitter location, yes, I think there are HUGE inaccuracies on the FCC website. You are seeing the FD or PD address, or the home address of the license filer in a lot of cases. One of the problems is that the towers often do not have a street address...they are off of a parking lot, or an unpaved access road with no name...the FCC should have used GPS coords instead of street address.

 

[nd5y]

Tthe FCC should have used GPS coords instead of street address.

They do. All radio services with site based licensing require latitude/longitude coordinates of the transmitter locations when applying for frequency coordination and licenses. Often the coordinates provided by the applicants are wrong.

 

[ecps92]

It is not the FCC, the DATA is provided by the USER and/or Licensing Coordinator/Radio Shop.

.the FCC should have used GPS coords instead of street address.