2020 National Air to Ground Frequency List and Assignments

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Paysonscanner

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I'm sorry this is so late. I didn't get the official directory I take this from until 3-4 weeks ago and since I've had very little time to edit it. This update shows all the changes from my previous version in red just like the official directories do. I picked up a few typos I made in the previous version, so I corrected those. They will be shown in red also.

I tried to come up with some better descriptions of the dispatch centers located in the frequency use zones that have been set up to assign the frequencies, so I changed a few dispatch center names, but left a lot of them the same. I don't know the identifier that each dispatch center uses, which I think is the best way to describe who uses the frequencies, but that can be confusing as often the dispatch centers are listed with their full name. Example, the Central Washington Interagency Communications Center is listed just that way, but it is located in Wenatchee, Washington. Should it be listed as "Central Washington" or "Wenatchee?" I would guess they use the identifier on the air as "Wenatchee" and not "Central Washington." I would tend to want to list it as "Wenatchee" as that is what is likely what you hear on the radio. There is limited space getting this to print on one piece of paper printed two sided, which I think is good, reducing paper use and not created too much volume in files and notebooks, so I have to pick the shortest words I can.


EDIT Another example, I struggled on how to list the Columbia-Cascade Dispatch Center, it is located in Vancouver, Washington. It dispatches for the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, the Mt. Hood National Forest, the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area (USFS managed) and some U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuges. I think they use the over the air designator of "Columbia," but it could be "Vancouver" as well. I decided to use "Columbia." In the eastern U.S. some of the dispatch centers cover multiple states or one entire state. I used the city names in this case cause the full name of the dispatch centers are very lengthy.

If this is useful for me to spent time developing I would like some feedback. If not, I will likely update this just for my own use, as long as I can continue to get official info.


Fire season is really winding up in California and other areas may do the same, so maybe this can still be used by some listeners this year.
 

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spanky15805

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Payson

Are you trying to associate GACC and/or dispatch zone with a 3 letter identifier i.e. PDX for Portland? If so, you have a group of work ahead. Even trying to assign a artcc designator would be a pain. I see what you're trying to do(that could be the wild turkey,too) but I can't envision a way to get there.
 

Paysonscanner

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For things like Central Washington, list it as such, with a pointer to the Wenatchee entry.

Thanks, I appreciate that. I would like to hear from people in Washington about that point. There isn't room to list Central Washington and include a "pointer" to Wenatchee, it has to be one or the other.
Payson

Are you trying to associate GACC and/or dispatch zone with a 3 letter identifier i.e. PDX for Portland? If so, you have a group of work ahead. Even trying to assign a artcc designator would be a pain. I see what you're trying to do(that could be the wild turkey,too) but I can't envision a way to get there.

No, I'm not going to use the 3 letter designators, in some cases that would involve up to a dozen or more identifiers for each dispatch center. That would make this table several pages long. I don't want the reader to be forced to look up those identifiers, it a somewhat of a time consuming effort. I'm not sure what a "artcc designator" is. Are you talking air traffic control? If so that has no bearing on where these frequencies are used, the FAA assigns Victor (AM) air to air frequencies and these are the FM national air to ground. I'm not making any attempt to list the AM frequencies, those are shown on hard to get maps for each GACC. This is, and always will be, focused entirely on national air to ground frequency assignments. Late Hubby started doing this right after the national channel plan for air to ground developed. He used it for himself only. I been fortunate to find a connection where I can get the info to update the spreadsheet this is based on.
 

Paysonscanner

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I also struggled with the dispatch centers in Utah. None of them have their location in the dispatch center name. Example, Color Country Dispatch, located in Cedar City, UT. It also dispatches for one district of the BLM Arizona, Arizona Strip District. I've forgotten what I did there. In Utah, the dispatch centers don't match up with the BLM districts. I don't think any national forests are split up though. I tried to make this understandable without the reader needing the dispatch map each GACC has on their sites showing more detailed boundaries of the dispatch centers and the initial attack frequency zones. Some of these zones will have a few dispatch centers within the zone, and some dispatch areas have more than one zone, although the effort has been made to match the zones on the same boundaries as the dispatch centers.

I don't care how these are listed, I'm looking for the best way to do it for the readers, who likely perceive things differently than I do.
 

zerg901

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Paysonscanner - do you have a spreadsheet version of the info?

If not - here is my spreadsheet - a/a a/g from USA Freqs spreadsheet - it is probably 50% as accurate as your info - but anyone can download it and change it to their liking

------------------------

Tips for using Google spreadsheet

To sort the spreadsheet - click on the arrow in the column headings - then click 'sort a to b' (top to bottom) - or - click 'sort b to a' (bottom to top)

File > Download

Insert > Row Above etc

Edit > Delete Column

Edit > Delete Row

Format > Text Wrap etc

Format > Number - Auto

Format > Number - Plain Text

Share - upper right - green button - share with everyone etc - (copy the URL)
 

zerg901

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National IA Frequency Zones (Federal)

National IA Frequency Zones (Federal)

If you click down on the map - and click on DATA on bottom left of map - and then click on a spot on the map - it will tell you the zone etc

If someone from the scanner world could figure out how to add freqs to the map - it would be supreme
 

Paysonscanner

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Paysonscanner - do you have a spreadsheet version of the info?

Yes, but I can't PM it to you due to your account settings. I don't really want to post the spreadsheet version. PM me and tell me how to forward it to you.
 

RadioDitch

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I noticed that for New Hampshire, the listings show EACC (Eastern) for the regional comms center. White Mountain NF always operates with NECC (New England). Can anyone clarify?
 

ecps92

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EACC is the Coordination Center, but there are Dispatch Centers under them such as NECC
I noticed that for New Hampshire, the listings show EACC (Eastern) for the regional comms center. White Mountain NF always operates with NECC (New England). Can anyone clarify?
 

Paysonscanner

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EACC is the Coordination Center, but there are Dispatch Centers under them such as NECC

Thank you, Bill. That should answer his question.

I can explain further. The GACC is the Geographical Area Coordination Center. There are 10 of these in the U.S. I've listed those alphabetically in the 3rd column, when a GACC is assigned an air to ground frequency. This, of course, channel line by channel line. The third column is headed "GACC." GACC's have many dispatch centers in their respective areas. In the 4th column labeled "Dispatch/Initial Attack Zone" I've listed the dispatch centers or zone in order of the GACC's listed in the third column. I don't assume that people are going to understand all of this when looking at the spreadsheet. I've tried to compact a lot of information into this 2 page table. As I've said above, if I provide more information the table would be longer than front and back, one sheet of paper.

Do a "Geographical Area Coordination Center," click on Images and a map of those centers will be the first image displayed. As a topic wildland fire can be complex. It takes a little knowledge to understand the various listings and documents that I've posted on a few federal forums.

I've tried to make this thing as understandable as I can. On some lines, if I had just one additional dispatch center, the document will expand to 3 pages. I would like to avoid that. If anyone has a suggestion that would make the table more understandable, but not add anything to the page length, I'm all ears.

I just went back into the properties of the Excel spreadsheet that I use to produce this PDF. It shows late Hubby initially put it together in 2006. I did not realize he had been using it for this long. He never shared this with anyone except fire department buddies (volunteers) and other scanner hobbyists/hams/fire buffs. I developed a source, kind of second hand last summer (2019), that now allows me to see a limited amount of current info.

I hope this is helpful.
 

Paysonscanner

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Oh and! The GACC's are not regional dispatch centers that can use all the various agency radio systems in the area they cover. Their job is to coordinate the efforts of all the dispatch center's needs. They have delegated authority issued by the National Interagency Dispatch Center located in Boise, Idaho. NIFC is the national level of coordination, they have to coordinate and support the needs of all 10 of the GACC's. I won't go further unless someone asks. Daddy, as always, thank you for your take on all of this. I've typed much of this by dictation from him.
 

Paysonscanner

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EACC is the Coordination Center, but there are Dispatch Centers under them such as NECC

Bill, I just used the link you provided. You once again hit the nail on the head. Everyone should try to read a few things on the website of the GACC's. In particular the annual mobilization plan for each GACC is valuable. There is a section, usually in Chapter 1 that lists all the dispatch centers in each GACC. The aircraft section often lists the location and types of helicopters. air tankers, lead planes, and air attacks used in the area. That information varies by what GACC you are reading about. There is a parent mobilization plan written by NIFC as well. It can be helpful for understanding some aspects of wildland fire and other types of incidents logistics and support.

One concept to understand relative to dispatching and support. It is a 3 tier system and sometimes 4 tier. The tiers are 1-NIFC, 2-GACC's, 3-dispatch centers and 4-some smaller dispatch centers within the primary dispatch center areas. Example, in Florida, the Tallahassee Dispatch Center covers the U.S. Forest Serviced and the state forestry agency from there for the entire state. The 2nd tier above them is Southern GACC center in Atlanta. However, there are 4th tier dispatch centers, mainly those of the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who have responsibilities and needs making these dispatch centers necessary. One of these is the Everglades National Park dispatch center, it is within the area the Tallahassee Center covers. So it submits orders for resources to them, they either fill those orders within Florida, or submit them to the Southern GACC to fill. If the Southern GACC can't fill it, the orders are forwarded to NIFC.

The GACC's, the incident command team each organizes and NIFC get involved in all sorts of occurrences/incidents. For example, NIFC was tasked, with the U.S. Forest Service in the lead, to conduct the recovery of the debris from the Columbia Space Shuttle in a multi-state effort. The ICS was very helpful organizing the efforts of a large number of fire crews that were ideally suited for the grid search of a wide area. Katrina found NIFC assigning incident command teams to take charge of the logistics and planning functions of several incidents. The logistics included getting nearly all of the supplies used, along with the receiving/distribution centers needed. I think they arrange all the transportation as well.

Daddy is continuing, but this post is long enough. During his 36 year career (1951 to 1987) he saw much of this get organized and implemented. The overall structure of it is what he is talking about. He says it is very impressive to watch in person. Now comes the inevitable war stories, time to go.
 
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