San Bernardino NF 400mhz link information wanted

[f40ph]

Hello all,
Does anyone have information regarding UHF 400mhz control links used in the BDF? I've found the "control link" list in the database but haven't heard anything yet. It's possible that it could be my location but I was hoping someone could steer me to a web link, a specific frequency, or maybe even tell me that they don't even use UHF in San Bernardino.
TIA

 

[techman210]

I just discovered 406.385 MHz last week. That might not be the “exact“ frequency – haven’t had time to do any further research. Heard in the front range of the San Bernardino national Forest. Might be coming from Fed Comm on Tippecanoe.

I wasn’t expecting to find it since most of the USFS and BLM UHF links went to wireline or microwave years ago.

 

[tkenny53]

I have heard some stuff on Angeles's UHF freq's, nothing worth wile...

 

[ecps92]

your options are for the exact freq, UHF Federal is generally 12.5 Khz channel spacing

406.3750
406.3875
406.4000

I just discovered 406.385 MHz last week. That might not be the “exact“ frequency – haven’t had time to do any further research. Heard in the front range of the San Bernardino national Forest. Might be coming from Fed Comm on Tippecanoe.

I wasn’t expecting to find it since most of the USFS and BLM UHF links went to wireline or microwave years ago.

 

[Paysonscanner]

I have an interesting piece of paper that is dated 2010. I have no idea of how current it is. It is a spreadsheet table with 12 UHF frequency pairs that were assigned to each national forest at that time. I made a scanned copy I could post, but it isn't a clean copy. My late hubby wrote a bunch of notes on it and so did 2-3 others (including my Dad) with home phone numbers of some. I will present the information here without the scanned copy, first by frequency order and then by national forest order.. Note the downlinks shown have uplinks 9 MHz higher. I will use abbreviations for the national forests as in,

ANF Angeles (1)
CNF Cleveland (2)
ENF Eldorado (3)
INF Inyo (4)
KNF Klamath (5)
LNF Lassen (6)
LPF Los Padres (7)
MNF Mendocino (8)
MDF Modoc (9)
SRF Six Rivers (10)
PNF Plumas (11)
BDF San Bernardino (12)
SQF Sequoia (13)
SHF Shasta-Trinity (14)
SNF Sierra (15)
STF Stanislaus (16)
TNF Tahoe (17)
TMU Lake Tahoe Basin (19)
HTF Humboldt-Toiyabe (17) in USFS Region 4, but adjacent to several R5 forests.


406.2250 ANF, CNF, INF, PNF, SQF, SHF, HTF
406.2750 ANF, INF, MNF, MDF, PNF, SQF, SHF, SNF, HTF
406.3250 CNF, INF, KNF, LPF, MNF, SQF, SNF, HTF
406.3500 LNF
406.3875 INF, KNF, LNF, MNF
406.4250 INF, MNF, PNF, SHF, SNF
406.5250 CNF, INF, MNF, HTF
406.5750 INF, KNF, LNF, BDF, TNF, HTF
408.9875 INF, LPF, MDF, SQF, TNF, HTF
409.1875 INF, LPF, BDF, SNF, TNF, HTF
409.3875 CNF, INF, BDF, SNF, TNF
410.7875 KNF, SNF

Now in forest order,

Frequencies shown in bold have been monitored.

Angeles: 406.2250, 406.2750
Cleveland: 406.2250, 406.3250, 406.5250, 409.3875
Eldorado: nothing shown, is microwave the only link they use?
Inyo: 406.2250, 406.2750, 406.3250, 406.3875, 406.4250, 406.5250, 406.5750, 408.9875, 409.1875, 409.3875
Klamath: 406.3875, 406.5750, 410.7875
Lassen: 406.3500, 406.3875, 406.5750
Los Padres: 409.9875
Mendocino: 406.2750, 406.3250, 406.3875, 406.4250, 406.5250
Modoc: 406.2750, 408.9875, 409.1875
Six Rivers: unknown
Plumas: 406.2250, 406.2750, 406.4250
San Bernardino: 406.3875, 406.5750, 409.1875, 409.3875
Sequoia: 406.2250, 406.2750, 406.3250, 406.3875, 408.9875, 409.1875
Shasta-Trinity: 406.2250, 406.2750, 406.4250
Sierra: 406.2750, 406.3250, 406.3875, 409.1875, 409.3875, 410.7875
Tahoe: 406.5750, 408.9875, 409.1875, 409.3875, 410.7875
Lake Tahoe Basin: unknown
Humboldt-Toiyabe: 406.2250 406.2750, 406.3250, 406.5250, 406.5750, 408.9875, 409.1875

I know you asked for the San Bernardino. Once I looked it up I thought the info for the other forests may be helpful to someone. As old as these are who knows what the present situation is. I would love that people would do searches on their local forest, especially if they live in a town with a ranger district or forest supervisor's office. Some links are used in multi path connections between dispatch and distant repeaters, some only once for each net where a single remote base is used and on the Humboldt-Toiyabe to link each repeater with a remote base on their microwave network. When I was in Mammoth Lakes, CA this summer fixing up a house for sale I heard 3 of 4 of the links.

 

[Paysonscanner]

I didn't list the Stanislaus NF, so I looked it up again. It shows unknown. Some of those with no listings might be the result of the forest using all microwave, but I'm not sure if any forest uses microwave only. Has anyone else thought of having the ability to become invisible, enter a wildland dispatch center sight unseen, staying overnight while looking through their filing cabinets and computer files and being able to copy and print? That or load a thumb drive would be great. One night in each wildland dispatch center would take a few years, given the travel all over America. There are about 145 of them.

My late Hubby said he spoke with a Communications Unit Leader on a fire once who said they carry this CD with them that has the entire NTIA file on federal agency assignments. There is some la ti da security procedure that has to be followed including keeping it in a safe at the home office. I guess they get one at least once a year. Lordy, imagine getting a copy of that! I'm a law abiding citizen so I'm not imaging some sort of crime here.

My Daddy has told me since I remember that I have too active of an imagination, so maybe he is right. I blame the freckles!

 

[N5ICK]

You never know what people will do with that information if ever got out!

 

[zerg901]

The best time to search for the UHF links might be during the Morning Lineups - or maybe during a fire dispatch - or when there is alot of activity on the VHF channels. (yup - Captain Obvious here)

 

[Paysonscanner]

The best time to search for the UHF links might be during the Morning Lineups - or maybe during a fire dispatch - or when there is alot of activity on the VHF channels. (yup - Captain Obvious here)

That's what late Hubby did when we were traveling. Morning lineups are usually between 0945 and 1030 during daylight savings and an hour earlier during standard time. During initial attacks provides the best opportunities, but those come along sparsely, depending of the fire workload of the forest. It's getting tougher with the huge budget cuts the USFS has sustained. Fire and law enforcement are the only consistent field going people. I've noticed that during my travels and now living inside the boundary of the Tonto NF. Prescribed burning usually involves a lot of radio traffic, calling in weather, reading the NWS spot forecasts, the test burning, status of units completed, final acreage for the day. The tac channel traffic is heavier, but that doesn't help identify links at all.

EDIT, nearly all national parks we visited had a morning report where all the ranger stations/visitor centers had a set format for. I don't remember when it was broadcast. When stations would report campground space availability we would move lickitly split to those places. We were able to figure out a lot of NPS systems that way.

 

[Teotwaki]

A great topic! I used to love to sleuth out the links and had forgotten about them.

I can verify for Cleveland the following as heard this morning.
406.525 MHz tied to Forest Net 171.425. I was able to hear units way down in Palomar without hearing the FN repeater down there.

I found an active UHF link unrelated to USFS
410.575 MHz has audio for NOAA/NWS Oxnard channel 162.425 KWL22 broadcasting from Point Dume

Link to coverage info NWR Transmitter Propagation

 

[Teotwaki]

409.1875 with very low audio (narrowbanded?) was just active when SBNF Forest net was up: 171.475

 

[Paysonscanner]

Great info guys! If we could get others to monitor these links we could get a handle on this. It is encouraging to see that the two links you confirmed were on the list I passed along. I'm filling in the information on my sheet to keep track. I know the Tahoe NF uses a lot of UHF links, it would be nice if someone in the Auburn, Nevada City, Grass Valley areas could nail down that forest. I just looked up the Tahoe in late Hubby's notebooks and found an old diagram of their radio system with no year printed on it. It shows 4 VHF Low frequencies being used for links that are not part of the old North Zone dispatcher's intercom. Back in the 80's and early 90's Hubby and I could hear the South Zone dispatcher's intercom as well as the North Zone's. It was interesting to have access to those.