46.180 Rockland County, NY "44-Control"

[GTR8000]

Anyone ever pick up Rockland County, NY "44-Control" on 46.180 (131.8)? If so, from how far away?

They're pumping out 300 watts off the main transmitter from a site at an elevation of just over 1,000', and being right on the Hudson River and not too far from the Atlantic Ocean just up from NYC, I figure they'd be sending out some pretty good waves.

 

[nightwatch]

i get them and ked348 dutches co 46.36 here in new freedom pa south of york pa my elv 1200feet.we never get putnam or orange?

Anyone ever pick up Rockland County, NY "44-Control" on 46.180 (131.8)? If so, from how far away?

They're pumping out 300 watts off the main transmitter from a site at an elevation of just over 1,000', and being right on the Hudson River and not too far from the Atlantic Ocean just up from NYC, I figure they'd be sending out some pretty good waves.

 

[nightwatch]

46.16 kee315,42.60 pike? this am

 

[CT22]

we here there over here in Connecticut all the time. All of Middlesex country dispatches on it here. As a matter of fact my old single tone plectron (672 hz) gets tripped every now and then by Rockland countrys department 9 or 10... cant remember which.

 

[GTR8000]

Yeah, we used to hear you guys out there in CT all the time before we put a PL on 46.18 back in the 90s. Dept 10 (Nyack) would be the one setting your Plectron off, their B tone is 672 (the only dept in Rockland to use that tone, in fact). I recall specifically hearing a CT dispatcher always calling for "R1, R2"...was that you guys?

 

[CT22]

yup, that would be our dispatch center KX aka Colchester Emergency Communications. We are a regional 8 town dispatch center. (im working there right now as a matter of fact - part time).

R1 is first responders
R2 is ambulance
R3 is fire rescue
R5 is a paramedic

 

[GTR8000]

Cool! It's pretty funny all these years later finding out exactly who were were always hearing. I can remember many late nights sitting in the rec room watching TV with the lights dim, and hearing the crackle of the speaker and some distant transmission coming over the radio. We heard you guys pretty clearly; also East Haddam, which I'm guessing is right next to you; Kearny and Harrison, NJ; and if the conditions were really just right, Adams County, PA. I was actually sad when we started using a PL.

Most of what we heard always came over the base stations, but on rare occasion we could actually talk mobile to mobile with units in Suffolk County on Long Island over 46.36!

 

[BFD319]

I'm on Long Island I can hear 46.18 clear on the mobile in my truck

 

[GTR8000]

I remember years ago when we first put 46.32 and 46.36 in our mobiles, we were picking up Nassau and Suffolk units. This was right before we put a PL on low band. I can clearly remember one call in particular being on one of those frequencies and someone asking us who the hell we were transmitting while they were at a working fire! We told them and they replied "Well hi Rockland, this is Long Island...you guys are stepping all over us like you're right next door!" so we apologized and switched channels!

 

[902]

I remember years ago when we first put 46.32 and 46.36 in our mobiles, we were picking up Nassau and Suffolk units. This was right before we put a PL on low band. I can clearly remember one call in particular being on one of those frequencies and someone asking us who the hell we were transmitting while they were at a working fire! We told them and they replied "Well hi Rockland, this is Long Island...you guys are stepping all over us like you're right next door!" so we apologized and switched channels!

That's the "joy" of low band. We experimented with 33 MHz fire frequencies for some alternate dispatch voice paths and had a few busy suburban fire departments in Texas, some 600 miles away, come through on a pretty regular basis. They didn't need a repeater, we heard every one of their mobiles just fine. We switched CTCSS tones, but the signal level was so high that our receivers were blocked much of the time. We gave up on the project and went with using a different band.

All of the low band state law enforcement users coordinate with each other so that only one or two use a particular channel and that none of them has the same CTCSS tones.