>> I missed this. This sounds reasonable, but where is the coordinator, as this should not happen.
The frequency assignments for the two county fire agencies possibly date back many years ... before the FCC relaxed licensing someone outside the standard fire allocations. Originally, fire comms were limited to 28 ? VHF frequencies, and some of those were designated for mobile, low-power or special use only.
>> Would this explain why I am not able to recieve a tone on 154.355 when I hear Chester.
The tone should be decoding as clearly as it does for any radio on the system. Essentially, the channel repeater doesn't know the difference between a transmission from Chester Co, or a transmission from a Berkeley Co radio.
Out of curiousity, I set up a receiver and tone unit on the input and output to look at the tones on both sides of the repeater ... if the opportunity arises.
>> I should be so lucky to have listen time Thursday. Maybe early in the day. My location is good enough and my travel time fair enough that I have in the past confirmed hearing the Gainsville Fl fire Department here on 154.145 (Colleton county #1 for this and also on this Garden City SC and one in Savannah Area.)
I used to get a fair amount of logs from the northeast counties in Florida. Then Jacksonville went digital trunked for most TGs, the state went to Pro Voice, and some of the counties also implemented trunking.
I have yet to log the Gainesville / Alachua Co area from home, although we spend our vacations in Fla. We usually go down via I-85 / I-75, and return via I-4 / I-95 / I-26. The wife drives, and I monitor / log.
I also monitor on the airborne trips to Tampa, but the aircraft skins really attentuate ground-based VHF ... UHF and 800 reception is great, though.
>> On band openings I get so many stations on my regular fire Department Frequencies that I can't ID them all. I know I will hear Edgefield County SC and St Johns County Fl, on 154.415, with fair openings.
If you have a particular unidentified, pass along the frequency and tone. I may have already identified and logged it.