Today's captures from Southern California:
| Frequency | Tone | Callsign | User | Confirmed via |
|---|
| 31.480 | Carrier | Unknown | Unknown materials company. | Freq/No PL/Traffic |
| 35.080 | 141.3 | Unknown | Unknown materials company. | Freq/PL/Traffic |
| 35.960 | 103.5 | WPEN207 | Vic's Towing, Inc Sonora, CA | Freq/PL/Traffic |
| 35.780 | 107.2 | WSHY986 | Hubert E. Butler Construction Portland, CT | Freq/PL/Traffic |
| 35.060 | 136.5 | KCD451 | Trudeau Sand & Gravel Saranac Lake, NY | Freq/PL/Traffic |
| 35.980 | 146.2 | KNFU569 | Carroll Concrete Co NH & VT | Freq/PL/Traffic (Expired license) |
| 31.820 | D244 | WPUW388 | The Trans Group Rockland, NY | Freq/PL/Traffic (Expired license) |
| 33.940 | 179.9 | WNHR373 | Waterford, CT Fire Dispatch | Freq/PL/Traffic ("Waterford EMS") |
| 31.360 | Carrier | WXY679 | Rockville Fuel & Feed Montgomery Co, MD | Freq/No PL/Traffic |
| 33.960 | Carrier | KED281 | Westchester Co, NY Fire/EMS Dispatch | Freq/No PL/Traffic ("North White Plains") |
| 33.680 | Carrier | KBH343 | Morgan Co, OH Fire Dispatch | Freq/No PL/Traffic (paging test) |
| 35.740 | Carrier | KLB621 | WL Roenigk, Inc (Western PA) | Freq/No PL/Traffic |
| 33.800 | 179.9 | KXV431 | Windham Co, CT Fire Dispatch (QVEC) | Freq/PL/Traffic (DTMF heard) |
| 45.420 | 136.5 | KMD770 | CHP Southern Blue-3 Base | Freq/PL/Traffic |
| 33.980 | Carrier | KGD259 | Warren Co, PA Fire Dispatch | Freq/No PL/Traffic |
| 35.720 | 136.5 | WSDQ559 | Montauk Bus Service Suffolk, NY | Freq/PL/Traffic |
| 33.880 | 82.5 | KQH904 | Licking Co, OH Fire F2 | Freq/PL/Traffic ("Fire Control") |
| 33.760 | 151.4 | KEX264 | Imperial VFD Clinton, PA | Freq/PL/Traffic |
| 33.780 | 77.0 | KCD579 | SW NH Fire Mutual Aid | Freq/PL/Traffic (As KCF415) |
| 33.500 | Carrier | Unknown | Unknown | Foreign language. |
| 33.740 | Carrier | KYL829 | King William Co, VA Fire Dispatch | Freq/No PL/Traffic ("King William") |
| 33.860 | 77.0 | KGC676 | Washington Co, MD FIre Dispatch | Freq/PL/Traffic |
| 33.860 | 179.9 | KCD346 | Tolland Co, CT Fire Ops North | Freq/PL/Traffic |
| 33.860 | 146.2 | KBH343 | Morgan Co, OH Fire Tactical | Freq/PL/Traffic (callsign given) |
| 33.900 | 136.5 | KGB393 | Radnor Twp, PA Fire Dispatch | Freq/PL/Traffic |
| 33.900 | Carrier | Unknown | Unknown | Foreign language. |
| 33.920 | Carrier | WNKC982 | Lancaster Co, PA Fire Dispatch | Freq/No PL/Traffic |
| 45.400 | 151.4 | KCX987 | CHP Ventura Purple-2 Base | Freq/PL/Traffic |
On a roll!
33.5000 MHz FM [CSQ] [Carrier Squelch] Unknown / UNID Foreign language.
33.9000 MHz FM [CSQ] [Carrier Squelch] Unknown / UNID Foreign language.
Nice catches! Chances are these are Asian fishery radio comms. They run carrier squelch and operate in the 27.5 MHz to 39.5 MHz band using either 25 kHz or 12.5 kHz steps depending on the version. Power output is 25-30 watts, using 300 baud or 1200 baud FSK signaling for selective calling purposes.
Officially, these radios are only supposed to be used by Chinese fisheries, but they are widespread, along with various other fishery radio type services operating in the 25-28 MHz band, 35-40 MHz bands and the like. The "hotspots" seem to be various frequencies in the 30-33 MHz ballpark, including the sliver between 27.500 MHz and 28.000 MHz, within 10 meters and the sliver of spectrum between 29.7 MHz and 30.0 MHz.
27.750 MHz, 27.800 MHz, 27.875 MHz, 27.925 MHz, 28.875 MHz, 29.000 MHz, 29.175 MHz, 29.225 MHz, 29.550 MHz, 29.625 MHz, 29.775 MHz, 29.825 MHz and 29.875 MHz are on the list of "usual suspects", as are 29.9125 MHz, 29.925 MHz, 29.9625 MHz 30.0375 MHz, 30.175 MHz, 30.1875 MHz, 30.525 MHz, 30.5375 MHz, 30.550 MHz, 30.600 MHz, 30.775 MHz, 30.800 MHz, 30.900 MHz, 30.950 MHz, 31.100 MHz, 31.125 MHz, 31.200 MHz, 31.625 MHz, 31.800 MHz and many many others. There's also a fax broadcast signal on 33.000 MHz that is apparently part of the fishery networks (out of Japan). I've heard Asian voice comms and the fax signal on 33.000 at the same time...same with pager signals on 29.800 and 29.900 MHz and the Canadian hospital pagers on 30.020 MHz mixing in with fishery comms on 30.025 MHz. Activity is so prolific that some "early warning logs" listed on websites call it "Asian FM CB" (31.100 MHz is listed many times, 29.875 MHz as well).
Sometimes these signals are pretty fascinating, other times they border on annoying because they're literally all over the band, 11m, 10m and up into VHF low band.
Angelo
