Arizona Rangers

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JonHanson

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I'm up at the Thunder Valley Rally in Cottonwood and the Arizona Rangers were prominent here for security at the venue. They looked to be carrying Baofengs with a front panel keypad. I'm guessing they're probably on a simplex channel? My SDS100 is back at my hotel recording the Cottonwood police and fire so I'll see when I play it back if they were on the police frequencies. Does anyone know what they typically use?
 

N9JIG

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They have a batch of 151 MHz. business band freqs listed at Arizona Mutual Aid (Arizona) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference


FrequencyInputLicenseTypeToneAlpha TagDescriptionModeTag
151.955 WQRN411M123.0 PLAZ RANG CH1Ch. 1 OperationsFMNLaw Tac
151.505 WQRN411M123.0 PLAZ RANG CH2Ch. 2 OperationsFMNLaw Tac
151.510 WQRN411M123.0 PLAZ RANG CH3Ch. 3 OperationsFMNLaw Tac
151.625 WQRN411M123.0 PLAZ RANG CH4Ch. 4 OperationsFMNLaw Tac
151.700 WQRN411M123.0 PLAZ RANG CH5Ch. 5 OperationsFMNLaw Tac
151.760 WQRN411M123.0 PLAZ RANG CH6Ch. 6 OperationsFMNLaw Tac
158.410 WQRN411RMAZ RANG RPTPortable Repeater
 

JonHanson

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I had my SDS-100 in the hotel and I'm not near the venue at all. I had the CloseCall running though and it did hit on 151.625 MHz (but with a DCS instead of a PL tone), so I'll have to see what it picked up when I replay it. I'm miles from the venue where they were.
 

mbnv992

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I find it funny that they all carry Baofeng radios. They have great gear then cheap out on the radios. I guess no one in any of their companies are radio guys.

I guess if you don’t have government grants to get APX’s ( or at least a low tier Motorola product ). But man, at least get a brand name quality product.
 

IC-R20

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I find it funny that they all carry Baofeng radios. They have great gear then cheap out on the radios. I guess no one in any of their companies are radio guys.

I guess if you don’t have government grants to get APX’s ( or at least a low tier Motorola product ). But man, at least get a brand name quality product.
If you look up that license in the FCC database you'll notice the name and email is a ham radio operator. A lot of the volunteer/patriot/militia groups love the Baofengs and PRC152 knockoffs.
 

IC-R20

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I actually caught them using 2 repeaters Friday and today (Saturday) in Kingman, for a Rodeo and Parade event honoring Andy Devine. Deceased local celebrity and HAM operator. I recorded scanner audio for most of today and made a video out of it. Starts of standard and gets a bit more interesting/amusing torwards the middle. (I also posted links to the direct audio files in my thread about this find before I knew who they were Andy Devine Days Rodeo (Kingman) - Potential Crossband Repeaters)

 

GlobalNorth

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I find it funny that they all carry Baofeng radios. They have great gear then cheap out on the radios.

Quoting the Ranger website:

"Can I afford it?
As an all-volunteer organization, individuals who join the Arizona Rangers receive no monetary compensations or reimbursements for their service. Rangers provide their own uniforms, duty gear, weapons, and ammunition. They are responsible for their own transportation to duty locations anywhere in the State as well as monthly company dues."

Quoted from: (Duties as a Ranger – Arizona Rangers. (2023). azrangers.us. Retrieved September 24, 2023, from Duties as a Ranger – Arizona Rangers)




Since they are paying for their own gear and many are retirees or young people, the APX series of radios are effectively out of reach, as are the XTS, the XPR, and even the Waris series. Programming is a problem for non-technical people, batteries can be an issue, etc.

The old Sprint PTT network was probably their best choice, but it's long gone now.

For what they do and what they can legally do, hobby radios are fine.
 

IC-R20

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Quoting the Ranger website:

"Can I afford it?
As an all-volunteer organization, individuals who join the Arizona Rangers receive no monetary compensations or reimbursements for their service. Rangers provide their own uniforms, duty gear, weapons, and ammunition. They are responsible for their own transportation to duty locations anywhere in the State as well as monthly company dues."

Quoted from: (Duties as a Ranger – Arizona Rangers. (2023). azrangers.us. Retrieved September 24, 2023, from Duties as a Ranger – Arizona Rangers)




Since they are paying for their own gear and many are retirees or young people, the APX series of radios are effectively out of reach, as are the XTS, the XPR, and even the Waris series. Programming is a problem for non-technical people, batteries can be an issue, etc.

The old Sprint PTT network was probably their best choice, but it's long gone now.

For what they do and what they can legally do, hobby radios are fine.
No what they said still stands as they mentioned the money spent on tacticool gear and also considering there's far better options out there. If you listen to the audio I posted they actually mention as much as apparently the group here with the Baofengs was called the 'kingsmen' and the rangers actually had decent real radios which they discussed having the baofeng guys swap out for since they were fedup with them.
 

Hooligan

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From a friend who is a longtime member of the Arizona Rangers:

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Sorry this one slipped by me. No we don't use Baofeng radios. We use the same radios the local PD uses. Can't recall what brand, but they are $1K radios. Not top dollar, but they are decent radios. There's been a lot of updating of systems around here. Way above my understanding, I'm sure not a radio tech by any stretch. I listened to some of the recorded traffic and I think some of the critics don't understand what was happening. I know some of the companies use cheaper stuff. Also some of the terms were mis-construed. They aren't professionals, just volunteers doing mostly the best they can. Also in some of the isolated areas the pros aren't much better.
**************
 
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