That's a beam formed antenna. We use them to focus coverage into specific areas. Great for large scale events where the crowd can move around.
Cleveland National Forest New Forest Net
- Thread starter KK6UME
- Start date
AT&T first used them at the Coachella Music Festival for just that reason then Verizon copied it for the big events they handle.
Electronically steerable, or is there a fixed pattern? I'm aware of electronically steerable panel antennas, but have never seen the "eyeball". What's the advantage?
Ironic that our resident expert on "eyeball" antennas has a walking talking eyeball for an avatar. =)
It looks as if they have really advanced the design from when I first talked to Bob Mathews at AT&T! Bob used to work for Lawrence Livermore Labs and has a PhD in Physics.
30. Bob Mathews and Gary Chow
The newer hi-cap model of the antenna covers PCS, AWS, 3G, 4G, LTE, WifI (0.6-5GHz)
MS-12.6DB180-A:
Multi-Beam Dual Band Spherical Lens Antenna:
6 independent low frequency (698-896MHz) cross-polarized beams
12 independent high-frequency (1710-2690MHz) cross-polarized beams
0-15° tilt for each 20° sector
2X2 MIMO support.
Sector consists of 1 lowband beam and 2 high-band beams.
pattern calculator
Multi-beam Base Station Antennas
MS-12.6DB180 – 6ft Antenna
12 Beams High-Band
6 Beams Low-Band
Spec sheet https://matsing.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/MS-12.6DB180-A.pdf
I listen to ANF, CNF, and BDF daily, and yes, activity seems to be down since the shutdown.
There was a vault fire by Big Bear on Onyx summit. Not sure of the damage yet, maybe has something to do with it.
krazybob
Member
Yes there was. I reported this the day it happened. The main vault as well as a second 20 x 20 vault were already smoldering on the ground by the time fire crews got in there. The propane tank was outgassing, which kept them from approaching the scene as well. En route to the location their four wheel drive vehicles got stuck in the snow and they had to chain up. It wouldn't have mattered. The buildings had already come down. It is unknown what services have been affected by this. I could speculate but I'd rather not. I monitor this situation directly and that's how I know the status of the main building in the secondary building as well as getting stuck in the snow and everything else.
I have a buddy of mine who works for the fire dept up there, sent pictures of Cal Fire helo over the buildings and stated exactly what you said about the trucks chaining up ect.https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...VRrPl4tfF63YQHuL2aVRLR2JRzq_7Sian-FzxvDA7OSfG
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I actually heard quite a lot of LE traffic on BDF Admin net today. Lot's of warnings issued for blocking roads and gates, and pot smoking. Guess the snow boarders are out in force.
krazybob
Member
I run a Facebook group where I quote as close to verbatim as possible what's taking place. Those of us that live up here in Big Bear as you can imagine get very concerned when there is a brush fire.
Onyx Summit is actually the trigger point to call a mandatory evacuation although I know from experience working with County that sometimes they overwrite it. In 2003 when they called an evacuation it was such a cluster screw up here on the mountain that they were later second-guessed which now causes them to be rather shy. But the information I monitored directly was that the main building and a second 20 x 20 outbuilding were smoldering on the ground and that a large propane tank was outgassing keeping crews from getting in and putting water on what was left. I know that some amateur radio repeaters are no longer reachable. I know that some Public Safety sites are down as well but I believe they pulled in a portable.
And in just enough time. Where I'm at we've just received 10in of snow and we've had solid rain for more than 24 hours as I write this. At that altitude of 9000 feet they've had a couple of feet of snow, which would have made it inaccessible. I don't speak with any certainty as to the portable system they were able to bring in. They always have the analog system to fall back on although Onyx contained The Analog systems well. Specifically 8-Fire and 4-Fire. This was two weeks ago and I am unaware beyond that point.
bb911
Member
Working with what County? Also, curious as to what county agency you worked for?
CNF call signs heard to date with one new to me; "Lookout" at Palomar.
Comms 22, 27, 28, 29 (not specific to Cleveland - don't know where they are based)
2Charles1
2Edward 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12
2King 1 & 5 (canine units)
Lookout 03 & 62
Patrol 21, 22, 23, 33, 34, 41, 42
Prevention 24
Ranger 2
Rec 23, 25, 26, 31
Trails 21
2Tom n (Trainee)
Utility nn
Jim
Orange County, CA
Comms 22, 27, 28, 29 (not specific to Cleveland - don't know where they are based)
2Charles1
2Edward 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12
2King 1 & 5 (canine units)
Lookout 03 & 62
Patrol 21, 22, 23, 33, 34, 41, 42
Prevention 24
Ranger 2
Rec 23, 25, 26, 31
Trails 21
2Tom n (Trainee)
Utility nn
Jim
Orange County, CA
CNF callsigns heard to date, adding "Lookout" 57 and 41 at Palomar. Am also hearing some folks on Palomar chatting on TAC 5 right now.
Comms 22, 27, 28, 29 (not specific to Cleveland - good to listen to for comms info)
2Charles1
2Edward 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12
2King 1 & 5 (canine units)
Lookout 03, 41, 57, 62
Patrol 21, 22, 23, 33, 34, 41, 42
Prevention 24
Ranger 2
Rec 23, 25, 26, 31
Trails 21
2Tom n (Trainee)
Utility nn
Jim
Orange County, CA
Comms 22, 27, 28, 29 (not specific to Cleveland - good to listen to for comms info)
2Charles1
2Edward 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12
2King 1 & 5 (canine units)
Lookout 03, 41, 57, 62
Patrol 21, 22, 23, 33, 34, 41, 42
Prevention 24
Ranger 2
Rec 23, 25, 26, 31
Trails 21
2Tom n (Trainee)
Utility nn
Jim
Orange County, CA
Ah ha! Any idea which one? I'll pay more attention and see if I can spot it. Maybe the Comms techs will be out eventually to take a look at the repeater.
Preliminary observation
I was outside working on my offroad trailer and happened to come back in to hear Cleveland asking for some checkins on Forest Net. One of thse repeaters had low audio too. It may turn out that both Admin and Forest net repeaters have an audio problem which would point to the interconnect circuit and not the actual repeaters.
Initial general broadcasted announcement was really strong, assuming Santiagp
2nd broadcast was directed to Campo but audio seemed normal
3rd broadcast was a pretty weak signal but seemed to have normal audio
4th broadcast had super low audio with a fair RF signal, unsure of the district/area covered
Final broadcast seemed to be back on Santiago with good audio
