Hooligan
Member
So there I am this morning, headed to Kanab UT via the Arizona Strip & am just passing thru the beautiful, swinging metropolis of Colorado City (Mohave County) on Hwy 389 when I end up behind an AZ DOT line-painting crew, doing about 10MPH.
Two civilian vehicles were in front of me, and then an AZ DOT pickup truck carrying a flashing billboard sign reading something like "LINE PAINTING CREW AHEAD -- DO NOT DRIVE OVER YELLOW LINES" & then right in front of the pickup truck is the specialized AZ DOT truck that's painting the lines.
The Close Call feature on my BC-996XT in the car suddenly hits on 459.3625MHz/DCS074 and I hear what sounds like a wireless mic (constant carrier), and some guy talking about fool #1, moron #2, idiot #3, etc.
I'd never known this before, but discovered that this AZ DOT line painting crew was using a somewhat low-power, full duplex UHF system on 459.3625 (the pickup truck follow-up vehicle) & 454.3625 (someone in the line-painting truck).
I didn't have the time to just stay behind them for a couple miles & figure out why exactly they had that radio system (in addition to the normal AZ DOT VHF radio channels), but the guy in the pickup truck was mostly just advising the line-painting truck of any vehicles (us "fools," "idiots" & "morons") that were in the process of passing.
As I started to pass the AZ DOT pickup truck, I lowered my passenger-side window, pulled-up along side it & yelled "I am not an idiot!" & then continued to safely pass him & the line-painting truck. I noticed the driver of the pickup was wearing a headset for this UHF system.
For the next 5 min or so, I continued to listen to them. He told the other guy that I'd pulled-up & shouted something at him, but that he didn't understand what I said. They then talked about how it would be "funny" if he learned some sort of Arabic/Taliban phrase, so that if anyone else ever pulled-up alongside him & said something like I did, he could "scare the people off" by responding to them in Arabic. He thought it'd be even funnier if he stole a towel from whatever hotel they were staying at that night, and wore it as a turban.
On my way home from Kanab around 7PM, I happened to see that line painting truck in the Fredonia (Coconino County) AZ DOT lot. I should have driven in & snapped a photo & looked for a UHF antenna on it, as I was able to continue hearing their conversation from several miles away (so it wasn't just a cheap, 250mw wireless mic system) that morning. Further on down Hwy 89, I saw what I believe was the AZ DOT pickup truck in the parking lot of a bar/restaurant. Shoulda stopped & took a look for a UHF antenna on it too & maybe gone in to talk to the driver, but I was tired & anxious to get home.
Anyway, I don't know if those are a standard freq-pair for AZ DOT line crews, or just for the "FLAG" (Flagstaff) region.
I understand it's completely normal when you've got a full-duplex system to be kind of chattering on it in addition to the mission-related traffic, but I thought the pickup truck driver was kind of lame for referring to every motorist behind/passing him as being some form of idiot.
Might have been interesting to hear his comments if a black dude, or a hot chick passed him...
Has anyone else noticed this sort of UHF full-dux system in use by AZ DOT line crews? Hopefully I'll run into them next Thursday on my venture back to Kanab.
Two civilian vehicles were in front of me, and then an AZ DOT pickup truck carrying a flashing billboard sign reading something like "LINE PAINTING CREW AHEAD -- DO NOT DRIVE OVER YELLOW LINES" & then right in front of the pickup truck is the specialized AZ DOT truck that's painting the lines.
The Close Call feature on my BC-996XT in the car suddenly hits on 459.3625MHz/DCS074 and I hear what sounds like a wireless mic (constant carrier), and some guy talking about fool #1, moron #2, idiot #3, etc.
I'd never known this before, but discovered that this AZ DOT line painting crew was using a somewhat low-power, full duplex UHF system on 459.3625 (the pickup truck follow-up vehicle) & 454.3625 (someone in the line-painting truck).
I didn't have the time to just stay behind them for a couple miles & figure out why exactly they had that radio system (in addition to the normal AZ DOT VHF radio channels), but the guy in the pickup truck was mostly just advising the line-painting truck of any vehicles (us "fools," "idiots" & "morons") that were in the process of passing.
As I started to pass the AZ DOT pickup truck, I lowered my passenger-side window, pulled-up along side it & yelled "I am not an idiot!" & then continued to safely pass him & the line-painting truck. I noticed the driver of the pickup was wearing a headset for this UHF system.
For the next 5 min or so, I continued to listen to them. He told the other guy that I'd pulled-up & shouted something at him, but that he didn't understand what I said. They then talked about how it would be "funny" if he learned some sort of Arabic/Taliban phrase, so that if anyone else ever pulled-up alongside him & said something like I did, he could "scare the people off" by responding to them in Arabic. He thought it'd be even funnier if he stole a towel from whatever hotel they were staying at that night, and wore it as a turban.
On my way home from Kanab around 7PM, I happened to see that line painting truck in the Fredonia (Coconino County) AZ DOT lot. I should have driven in & snapped a photo & looked for a UHF antenna on it, as I was able to continue hearing their conversation from several miles away (so it wasn't just a cheap, 250mw wireless mic system) that morning. Further on down Hwy 89, I saw what I believe was the AZ DOT pickup truck in the parking lot of a bar/restaurant. Shoulda stopped & took a look for a UHF antenna on it too & maybe gone in to talk to the driver, but I was tired & anxious to get home.
Anyway, I don't know if those are a standard freq-pair for AZ DOT line crews, or just for the "FLAG" (Flagstaff) region.
I understand it's completely normal when you've got a full-duplex system to be kind of chattering on it in addition to the mission-related traffic, but I thought the pickup truck driver was kind of lame for referring to every motorist behind/passing him as being some form of idiot.
Might have been interesting to hear his comments if a black dude, or a hot chick passed him...
Has anyone else noticed this sort of UHF full-dux system in use by AZ DOT line crews? Hopefully I'll run into them next Thursday on my venture back to Kanab.
