Big Walker Mountain and 159.435 analog STARS

[217]

I targeted KFG620 for DX opportunities if any existed. It sits atop of Big Walker mnt. near the I-77 tunnels located in Bland county. I did this purposefully as 159.435 is not used in the state of North Carolina and there would be no interference. The tower is 120 miles distance from my location and near 3800ft. Occasionally late at night I receive a morse ID on 159.435 and its unknown to me if the morse is originating from this tower as I have been trying to ID this for a year or more. I managed to get four recordings in a row @ 1:25, 1:55, 2:25 and 2:55am 9/20 of this interesting morse ID.

.-- .--. ...- .. ..... ...-- ....- .-- .--. --.. --. ---.. ....- ----.

Interestingly enough the ID's are VSP Part 22 licenses of WPVI534 and WPZG849. Is 159.435 included in the analog STARS system? Is this just some old unused redundant system? Or is KFG620 unrelated to the part22 ID's?

KFG620

 

[freqhopping]

Not VSP. DWR, formerly known as DGIF.

Department of Wildlife Resources (Virginia) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Department of Wildlife Resources (Virginia)

www.radioreference.com

 

[ZeroGravity]

This is STARS. It is the analog morse code ID for the Big Walker site on 159.4275.

KFG620 is the legacy VDGIF license. Most of the legacy VSP, VDOF, VDGIF licenses are still active, but the frequencies have been re-used for STARS. I believe they are left active primarily for protection. With FCC Safe Harbor rules now in place, a licensee would be very hard pressed to get 900 watts ERP on VHF, especially at 4100' elevation !