Alberta Forest Service

[Jay911]

Hey all,

Spring has sprung and so has fire season. There are a bunch of fires going on in the province at any given moment, handled by both municipal crews and AFS. I was on one last week involving 6 muni departments and an AFS machine (helicopter).

Monitoring AFS is pretty easy. Most of their transmissions take place on the VHF-hi frequencies assigned to "ALBERTA SUSTAINABLE RESOURCES DEVEL FOREST PROTECTION DIVISION - NWB" in the TAFL. In the Calgary area, the most notable user is XMC26, the base of operations situated at the AFS building on Bearspaw Dam Road in the northwest part of the city. From there, they co-ordinate much of the Bow/Crow area.

I've heard several transmissions involving helicopters and HAC (helitack) teams so far this season, transporting crews between various bases of operations. Notable locations are, of course, Cochrane, Morley Base, Springbank Airport, Ribbon Creek (the main Emergency Services Center in Kananaskis Country - located across from Kananaskis Village on Hwy 40), and Elbow Ranger Station.

The crews are referring to the channels by a new numbering system I'm unfamiliar with. I've divined three of them, but I'm unable to find a pattern so far.

"Channel 105" is referred to when hearing crews on either side of the 171.63/171.03 pair.
"Channel 109" refers to 167.07/152.93.
"Channel 113" has been heard on 154.415, which is Parks Ch.2 (Elbow), half of the pair of 154.415/153.815.

If anyone has any further info, please post it here.

 

[electricsheep]

I have all of the Forest Protection Radio Guide, I am working on getting it into a Word document... I will keep you posted.

 

[electricsheep]

Are you looking for something along the lines of this?

VHF FM Forest Protection Division FIRELINE Frequencies
CHANNEL TX/RX CTCSS
1 150.470 100.0
2 151.055 100.0
3 151.070 100.0
4 151.090 100.0
5 151.115 100.0
6 151.265 100.0
7 151.385 100.0
8 151.880 100.0
9 151.910 100.0
10 152.090 100.0
11 152.390 100.0
12 153.050 100.0
13 154.415 100.0
14 154.505 100.0
15 158.970 100.0
16 159.420 100.0
17 162.210 100.0
18 150.470 123.0
19 151.055 123.0
20 151.070 123.0
21 151.090 123.0
22 151.115 123.0
23 151.265 123.0
24 151.385 123.0
25 151.880 123.0
26 151.910 123.0
27 152.090 123.0
28 152.390 123.0
29 153.050 123.0
30 154.415 123.0
31 154.505 123.0
32 158.970 123.0
33 159.420 123.0
34 162.210 123.0
35 151.055 88.5
36 151.070 88.5
37 151.090 88.5
38 151.115 88.5
39 151.385 88.5
40 151.880 88.5
41 153.050 88.5
42 154.505 88.5
43 162.210 88.5
44 159.420 88.5
45 159.420 136.5
46 158.970 136.5
47 159.420 151.4
48 158.970 151.4
49 159.420 162.2
50 158.970 162.2

FIRENET VHF Frequencies
CHANNEL TX/RX CTCSS
101 166.170 162.2
102 167.070 162.2
103 167.610 162.2
104 170.805 162.2
105 171.030 162.2
106 171.630 162.2
107 171.900 162.2
108 166.170 173.8
109 167.070 173.8
110 167.610 173.8
111 170.805 173.8
112 171.030 173.8
113 171.630 173.8
114 171.900 173.8
115 166.170 186.2
116 167.070 186.2
117 167.610 186.2
118 170.805 186.2
119 171.030 186.2
120 171.630 186.2
121 171.900 186.2
122 169.620 162.2
123 169.815 162.2
124 169.620 173.8

MDMRS Forest Protection Division UHF Simplex
CHANNEL TX/RX CTCSS
11a 415.4375 162.2
12a 415.5625 162.2
13a 416.9375 162.2
14a 415.4875 162.2
15a 416.1125 162.2
16a 416.9625 162.2
17a 415.5125 162.2
18a 416.2625 162.2
19a 416.9875 162.2
20a 415.5375 162.2

VHF Forest Protection Division AM Allocations
Fire Center 122.900
Air Tanker Bases (fire use only) 122.050
Air Tanker to Birddog only (assigned annually to tanker groups) 122.250, 122.400, 122.425, 122.625, 122.650, 122.775, 122.875, 122.925
Fire Air Advisory 129.800 PRIMARY, 128.950 ALTERNATE
North of 53' (low level) 130.175 ALTERNATE
North of 52' (low level) 130.750 ALTERNATE

All Aircraft proceeding TO a fire, monitor 129.800 PRIMARY. If Multiple fires in area ALTERNATES are used as instructed. THERE IS NO AM MONITORING ON THE FIRELINE.

Channel DOZER VHF11 152.390 100Hz CTCSS
Channel CAMP VHF19 151.055 123Hz CTCSS
Mutual Aid (inter-agency ALPHA Channel) 156.855

 

[Jay911]

That's great! Mind if I post it in the database?

Thanks

 

[electricsheep]

Go ahead, but just a disclaimer it is from 2004. I didn't go out in the bush last year so I didn't get the '05 guide (I had to get married), but I should be getting the '06 guide soon as soon as I head out into the vast nothingness... I also have the list of channels used by which lookouts/offices/fire centers in all of the forest management areas across the province, but there's PAGES and PAGES of it, so forget that.

 

[Jay911]

Thanks. Seems like things were picking up today - lots of traffic on 109.

A lot of the freqs listed are recognizable as Parks and/or other Alberta government freqs. I'm kind of surprised by the MDMRS listings - for one thing, they're the inputs for some in-use MDMRS repeaters, and for another thing, I thought MDMRS was supposed to be decommissioned soon - but it's still being used even today.

 

[electricsheep]

Yeah, the FIRENET system was brand new in spring 2004. MDMRS simplex system is still used heavily by the FPD guys. The FIRELINE system is the old system, but is still used heavily by all the lookouts. I am looking forward to getting in some good photo time this year, as by all accounts it is going to be what is called a very "active" fire season by all estimates.

 

[Jay911]

We have one guy on our department who works "up north" part of the year. He's taken some good photos, but obviously not during any serious action. Seen some 4x4 stucks that I would never get myself into, let alone out of. It's also neat to see a CL215 up close, even if only in photos.

 

[DX-300]

Speaking of fire season, yesterday there were four fires one of them being a pretty good grass fire I could see burning from my house, which was burning east of Mckenzie past 72nd st S.E CFD had HAWC-1 as well as Langdon helping and they needed the farmer to come out with his equipment to make a fire break so it wouldn't jump the road. All of the info is in today's Calgary Herald.

As far as listening to parks goes, I noticed the wardens in Fish Creek Provincial
Park use 171.6300 and they are simulcast on 171.0300.