American Red Cross

[kb2vxa]

Hi again Steve and all,

I was talking about the hams that went to New Orleans, you guys in other areas naturally fared much better. I heard reports from operations all over the affected areas, some responses were better handled than others. Hats off to you guys on a job well done!

Well, at the time I wasn't listening to LA repeaters, they're just a few miles out of range. (;->) If I had something better than a 30' wire strung around the room at the time I may have heard what little HF activity there was using Field Day for real setups. Since then I have moved and put up a 40M dipole, much better S/N ratio now even if I still put up with considerable power line noise.

"I'm not sure why you think we were "slow on the uptake". We were up and rolling before the winds died down."

Not "you guys" hams, "you guys" here on the forum. I guess you overlooked the part about this being a scanner site?

 

[Mattsenft]

Red Cross

Red Cross operations in the central PA area are all done by cell phone. I visited a tower site the other day where a Red Cross radio is located and saw that the leased line for the radio is no longer maintained.

 

[edweirdFL]

I know I'm bringing an old thread back, but I also hadn't heard the Red Cross on low band for many years, until today.

47.42 MHz 146.2 tone in use by a mobile Red Cross unit talking to the Daytona base, here in Central Florida. If I had to guess based on the location given and the recent tornadoes, I'd say it was part of the relief effort.

Ed

 

[jhastings]

47.42 MHX and Related FXs

The VHF low band frequency 47.42 MHz is one of several frequencies available in the "Special Emergency Radio Service" pool established by the FCC under 47 CFR Sec. 90.41(a). To see how these FXs might be used look at the web page:
http://www.freqofnature.com/frequencies/ca/redcross.html

 

[captmfa7112]

47.42 still in use in New York City, its usually very active during storms or any major events although there is some day to day traffic

 

[n4voxgill]

The VHF low band frequency 47.42 MHz is one of several frequencies available in the "Special Emergency Radio Service" pool established by the FCC under 47 CFR Sec. 90.41(a). To see how these FXs might be used look at the web page:
http://www.freqofnature.com/frequencies/ca/redcross.html

The special emergency radio pool was consolidated into the public safety pool several years ago. red cross and others in the pool are eligible for any public safety frequency.

The are on two pools now. Public Saety and Industrial/Business. Check Part 90 rules on the FCC website.

 

[DaveNF2G]

I'm pretty sure that 47.42 is still an exclusive allocation for the Red Cross.

 

[n4voxgill]

it is licensed nationwide.

 

[AF0DJ]

In all the Nat'l owned ERVs

The low band set (47.42 and a couple of others) is still the only radio that Red Cross National HQ will allow to be installed in ~their~ several hundred ERVs. There are a few (very few) ERVs that are owned by indvidual chapters and they, of course, can have whatever comm assets for which their chapter is licensed.

A few chapters also use low band for their day to day disaster response ops but they are rather few. Mainly the ones who need longer ranged comms but don't yet need to use the Red Cross HF SSB freqs.

The biggest usage of low band is during major disasters when the many ERVs are being used in a mobile feeding environment and the comms are with the individual kitchens that the ERVs are supporting (or being supported by - depending on which aspect you are working - LOL) At these times and in these places the freq gets ~quite~ busy.

Indeed when we have several DRs (Disaster Response operations) going around the US and we have a 6 meter band opening it can get a bit confusing if proper comm procedures and assigned IDs are not used.

 

[Steveradio]

Almost forgot about that frequency. 47.4200 have not had in scanner for a few years now.

Lehigh Valley Chapter uses radio rental company LTR system for dispatch and routine traffic.

 

[Grog]

If it's one of their ECRVs, then they'll have low-band, hi-band, UHF, comm-HF, ham HF-440 as well as sat phone, cell phone, and even a 10-4 good buddy machine


I'll be seeing one tonight for the third time since November

 

[SCPD]

Very, very seldom are they active on 47.42 MHz even in California, a very populated place. They have many licenses on UHF channels where they are quite active.
Here are some licensed channels for the Red Cross in NJ:
Just click on the links to see the FCC pages:
http://tinyurl.com/eq5ot
http://tinyurl.com/gb7q6
http://tinyurl.com/kp46b
http://tinyurl.com/jebsq
http://tinyurl.com/hnc86
http://tinyurl.com/jfox8
http://tinyurl.com/gr6c5
http://tinyurl.com/kbtt9
http://tinyurl.com/gcjul
http://tinyurl.com/jy4zo
http://tinyurl.com/kqgaq
http://tinyurl.com/o3u45

47.420 Was used here back in February in Prattville, Alabama when an ef 5 Tornado struck there. PL tone of 146.200. btw population is about 30,000

 

[SCPD]

Well, I'm not sure about HF traffic but my YL and I were using VHF. Well, technically I was on UHF since I was crossbanding through my car to the VHF repeater. She manned the RACES station at the Ascension Parish EOC and I was at the Lamar Dixion Expo Center shelter handeling RACES comms there. We were using the Ascension Club VHF repeater and we weren't bored at all. There was plenty to do. Her log at the EOC was over 9 pages long after only one shift.
Yes, FRS was used but only for comms inside the shelters. FRS has become a common tool we use regularly for shelter operations. It has little or no effect on the need for trained operators to pass radio traffic to EOCs or chapter HQs. So we had plenty of traffic to pass.
I'm not sure why you think we were "slow on the uptake". We were up and rolling before the winds died down.
There's another reason you may not have heard much HF traffic. Many repeaters stayed up during and after the storm. State EOC RACES ops used a UHF repeater owned and operated by a local REACT team, which was linked to a UHF machine in New Orleans, to pass traffic between NO and Baton Rouge. They also used a repeater owned and operated by the DOW chemical company ham club, which was linked to a repeater in Hammond, to talk to Parishes to the east of Baton Rouge. The RACES ops at State EOC primarily used a wide coverage privately owned VHF repeater to cover Baton Rouge and surrounding Parishes. Meanwhile, Red Cross was using another privately owned wide coverage machine for it's Baton Rouge operations. I'm not sure how much they may have used thier 47MHz radios if at all.
Ascension Parish RACES ceased operations the Thursday after the storm hit. I was recently told that some club members set up a HF station at Lamar Dixion later the following weekend so some of the 2,000 shelter residents could send Health and Welfare messages to friends and relatives. Other than that I heard little first hand information about use of HF by anyone in Southeast Louisiana after Katrinia.
Hams working for SATERN told me that they used 146.55 simplex and some other VHF freqs here. They also used HF for some comms.

OFF TOPIC?? as are most posts on this thread??????

 

[slicerwizard]

OFF TOPIC?? as are most posts on this thread??????

Any other two year old posts you want to jump on?

 

[cellblock776]

Good Grief. Someone waited 2 years to get on my case about being on topic? Maybe I'll wait another two years then come back here to tell him to Bite Me. But then again he said it with a big grinning smilie so he probably wasn't serious. So hey, maybe we can all be friends after all.
Until then....
Happy scanning,

Steve

 

[SCPD]

Any other two year old posts you want to jump on?

uhm look again THIS IS A CURRENT THREAD

 

[af5rn]

uhm look again THIS IS A CURRENT THREAD

Yeah, if you just woke up from a two year coma. :lol:

Original post: 04-22-2006, 02:34 PM

 

[loumaag]

Attn: AlabamaRS

uhm look again THIS IS A CURRENT THREAD

Well the thread is current but the post you commented on above was actually very much on topic at the time it was placed in the thread, 2 years ago.

Speaking of "off topic", you seem to be trolling the forums looking for posts and threads so you can say they are off topic or belong in the wasteland, please stop. If you have any threads or posts you think are off topic or belong elsewhere, report them, but stop posting in the thread, thanks.

 

[zurcher]

This is a very old forum..however...as a red cross volunteer ..we still use 47.42 on low band..but does not go out very far...range is very limited...as ham op. we can better use ham bands...
this all in bridgeport area of connecticut.