158.820 in Fairfield; others...need clarification

[W2IRT]

Hi all,

I'm still trying to tweak my 785's codeplug for my local PD/FD, etc and I have a couple of frequencies that don't seem to be what they're shown as elsewhere on this site.

Most notably, what's listed as Fairfield Works on 158.820 sure as heck does NOT sound like a works department; more like a FD or rescue squad, and is loud enough to be nearby. Fairfield FD *does* seem to be on their published frequency of 460.600, however. That frequency (158.82) is on the same license as 156.015, licensed to the TWP of Fairfield under callsign KDU437, and the licensee seems to be the PD (but it clearly isn't a PD channel).

I also see a number of townships nearby are licensed on 155.475 and 154.68, but it seems to be used to dispatch a PD a little further east from me (giving addresses on Rt. 3 earlier today).

Any thoughts?

 

[Alarmguy]

You are probably hearing Teaneck FD in Bergen County on 158.8200 or Hardyston TWP in Sussex County. You have a 785, if you are receiving it with a 173.8 PL its Teaneck as Hardyston uses 131.8 PL. 154.6800 and 155.4750 are SPEN-1 and SPEN-2 respectively you may already know that, that is why Townships near by are licensed most likely.

 

[Pursuit]

154.680 - spen 1 used by every pd in NJ
155.475 - spen 2

 

[W2IRT]

You are probably hearing Teaneck FD in Bergen County on 158.8200 or Hardyston TWP in Sussex County. You have a 785, if you are receiving it with a 173.8 PL its Teaneck as Hardyston uses 131.8 PL.

Ah, good! I'm betting on Teaneck, but I'll put it in PL scan and see what comes up. The frequency is very lightly used and the signal is full quieting. I doubt anything on high-band out of Sussex County would be that loud, especially on an 800 MHz antenna.

154.6800 and 155.4750 are SPEN-1 and SPEN-2 respectively you may already know that, that is why Townships near by are licensed most likely.

Actually, I'm a little unclear on SPEN-1/SPEN-2. I mentioned in another thread yesterday that I'm very new to scanning in NJ (I was very active in NYC and Toronto many years ago), and since I have no external VHF/UHF fixed antennas here (yet), I just never put in anything other than a couple of PDs and FDs.

What I was hoping for was someone who knows the area of west Essex county who could take a look at my active BuTel ARC-250 .MEM file and see if I've put in everything that's relevant to the region.

Finally, another request, does anybody know what frequency the West Caldwell public works department is using? From their antennae, I'd say VHF high, but I can't find anything in the ULS that's not already accounted for.

 

[W2IRT]

You are probably hearing Teaneck FD in Bergen County on 158.8200 or Hardyston TWP in Sussex County. You have a 785, if you are receiving it with a 173.8 PL its Teaneck as Hardyston uses 131.8 PL.

Hmmm....it's neither of the above. It looks to be 127.3 Hz. Next time I have a pen/paper I'll see if I an get some street addresses and cross-reference. It's definitely a Fire Department, though (Engine 1 and Engine 3).

 

[Markscan]

158.820?

I've been trying to figure out what frequency Fairfield DPW is using myself. They are not as far as I can tell on 158.820. I tried the input frequency as well but got nothing. As for West Caldwell DPW, they are on 158.940 PL 141.3. This is also used by Caldwell, and a variety of other towns in Western Essex. They also use this for fire dispatch, but then switch over to an operations channel. I live in Verona , so if I can help You out let me know.
Mark

 

[Alarmguy]

Hmmm....it's neither of the above. It looks to be 127.3 Hz. Next time I have a pen/paper I'll see if I an get some street addresses and cross-reference. It's definitely a Fire Department, though (Engine 1 and Engine 3).

Sorry my bad its Teaneck then if its 127.3. I mistakenly put 173.8 as the PL.
SPEN is (State police emergency Network) aka (State Police Entertainment Network) for the later listen late some night to SPEN 1. SPEN 1 is used to send out information between counties,towns all law enforcement agencies such as BOLO's (Be On The Lookout) and sometimes just to report a fire or accident to another jurisdiction. It is essential for any scanner user to have all 4 SPEN Channels in a scanner, every PD,FD &EMS have SPEN 1 and sometimes all 4 or SPEN 1 and SPEN 4. SPEN 3 is 154.7250 and SPEN 4 is 153.7850 all four SPEN frequencies use a PL of 131.8 . SPEN 4 is used for large scale incidents involving EMS, and sometimes chit-chat for some local PD's .

 

[W2IRT]

Great; thanks for the heads-up on SPEN (and I love the acronym!). I believe I have a couple of SPEN talkgroups in my NJSP bank. Are these re-broadcasts of the high-band frequencies?

The obvious question becomes, though, isn't it a little unwieldy for departments that are on UHF, 800 or trunking to interop through a VHF high system in addition to their own? More gear in the pleece cars, HQ, etc. Guess it's better than no interop at all, though.

 

[Joseph11]

SPEN 2 and SPEN 4 are actually CSQ. SPEN 2 is the nationwide police frequency and SPEN 4 is the same as JEMS 4, which should be CSQ on RX.

 

[SCANdal]

Joe,

There is a problem with some radio shops in New Jersey programming 131.8 on both tx and rx on 155.475. So, if a reader is having any sort of interference problems while trying to monitor SPEN2 in csq, don't hesitate to use 131.8.

SCANdal

 

[Alarmguy]

Great; thanks for the heads-up on SPEN (and I love the acronym!). I believe I have a couple of SPEN talkgroups in my NJSP bank. Are these re-broadcasts of the high-band frequencies?

The obvious question becomes, though, isn't it a little unwieldy for departments that are on UHF, 800 or trunking to interop through a VHF high system in addition to their own? More gear in the pleece cars, HQ, etc. Guess it's better than no interop at all, though.

Pretty much every department has SPEN 1 and SPEN 2 in their consoles. Years ago the NJSP issued towns a dedicated SPEN radio. I have seen departments with Lowband with SPEN 1 and SPEN 2 in the console. As to more gear in police cars, lots of departments on UHF sometimes have a VHF-HI radio, especially if their FD or EMS has VHF-HI. Wayne NJ for example has a UHF for primary and a VHF for SPEN and Mutual-Aid to towns who are on VHF-HI nearby.