Clarke County Lowband

[KF4ZTO]

Hey all,

I'm planning on going to the Berryville hamfest and, after looking through some licenses for Clarke County (which appears to have switched over to VHF highband for fire/EMS/PD with the exception of SIRS obviously) and I've noticed there are three VHF lowband 46MHz fire licenses still active - KNHD997 for 46.540 MHz, KJI595 for 46.100 MHz and WPPZ520 for 46.260 MHz. The KJI595 license has been renewed recently (November 2012).

Can anyone confirm that Clarke County is no longer using lowband? IIRC, 46.100 was the old county fire frequency but I could be wrong. Are they only dispatching on highband now and just keeping the lowband gear for backup? It appears that only the 155.7225MHz fire dispatch frequency is licensed for pagers. All the aforementioned 46MHz band licenses are only for base/mobile operation.

Any input would be appreciated. I haven't been to Clarke County in many years and would like to make sure my scanner bank is up to date (naturally I'll be including the 155.7225 fire dispatch, 154.0475 sheriff dispatch and 155.6925/155.7825 tac/ops frequencies and SIRS).

Edit:

After browsing through the licenses, it appears that some VFDs maintain their own licenses on the 46.100MHz frequency:

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?fccCallsign=KNHM798 - which also includes pagers and a 33.680MHz frequency on their license,

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?fccCallsign=KGN558 - which is just on 46.100MHz

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?fccCallsign=WPPG718 - base station license for 46.100MHz and 46.540MHz

Yet another edit: Nix the Shenandoah Farms Volunteer Fire Department license (KNHM798 for 33.680 MHz and 46.100 MHz), according to a quick Google search, the VFD has been dissolved.

 

[W4UVV]

Shenandoah Farms VFD/RS Dissolvement

As KF4ZTO posted the Shenandoah Farms VFD/RS is gone. Warren and Clarke Counties Board of Supervisors recently voted to dissolve the Shenandoah VFD/RS stationed in Warren Co. but which also served part of Clarke Co. Below is the Warren Co. website link documenting the various irregularities found in a local government audit conducted in 2011. Subsequent discussion indicated Warren Co. would temporary staff and hopefully form another NEW VFD/RS at that location with NEW members from the community. The operative word is "new".

Wow! Problems and community dissatisfaction first surfaced in 2010 when the VFD/RS failed to adequately respond to a residential fire located next to the fire station. Later the subsequent construction of an obscene snowman on fire company property in public view followed by posting a picture of the same on Facebook did not help matters. That's only two reasons. There's more.


Here's the interesting reading link:

Shenandoah Farms Volunteer Fire Department Dissolved | Press Releases | About WCG

John
W4UVV

 

[wfrd140]

RR database is up to date. No more lowband.

 

[leonzo]

And the Sheriff frequency is encrypted 99% of the time.

 

[KF4ZTO]

Thanks for the feedback everybody.