Could anyone help me ident a freq?

[ScanInyo]

132.0500MHz AM

Sounds like ATC, but I live in the middle of nowhere, where would this be coming from?

Info about my area:

Independence CA
Elevation 3925 ft
Heard Day and Night, 24hours a day

Any help will be appreciated

Thanks!

 

[DanHenry]

Oakland Center 132.05

It looks like it's Oakland Center. I did a quick PDF search of the current US IFR supplement and 132.05 is only listed twice in CA. You'll see it below after Mina and Tonopah. Pure trivia, but 132.05 is listed 25 times across the country.

-Dan

---
OAKLAND CENTER, CA KZOA (R) (E) ANGELS CAMP - 119.75 121.25 d126.85
127.95 132.95 134.375 281.5 284.6 290.4 316.1 d322.55 327.0 BISHOP - d125.75
d319.8 FALLON - (E) d128.8 134.45 269.3 d285.5 FERNDALE - d134.15 d387.1
FRESNO - d123.8 126.9 132.8 133.7 134.375 257.2 281.5 285.4 319.1 d353.8 HALF
MOON BAY - 119.475 d125.45 127.45 134.15 d307.3 357.6 380.3 387.1 MINA - 127.175
132.05 273.45 284.65 323.175 MT. TAMALPAIS - d127.8 d353.5 PRIEST - 126.9
d128.7 132.8 133.7 134.55 257.2 285.4 290.5 d307.0 319.1 RED BLUFF - 119.975
134.975 306.2 379.2 RENO - 134.45 269.3 SACRAMENTO - 132.95 257.85 269.1
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE- 134.3 SQUAW VALLEY- 127.95 TONOPAH - 132.05 273.45
UKIAH - 119.975 d127.8 132.2 134.975 306.2 350.3 d353.5 379.2
H-3A, B, C-4F, G, L-1A-2E, F, G, H-3A, B-5A-7A, B, A-2E

 

[Gilligan]

Looks like it may be one of the main freqs for the Oakland Center. When listening to airplanes, you can hear their signals from very far away, since they are so high up. According to several web pages, that freq is the high-altitude freq for the Mina & Tonopah parts of the Oakland Center. Here's a good place to look for information: http://www.irving.org/ftplib/scanning/airtraff.txt Good luck.

 

[DanHenry]

Gilligan makes a good point and I should have asked if you're just hearing the aircraft or both sides of the radio traffic. If you're hearing the Oakland controller it's possible they have a remote radio site up on one of those mountains around Independence.

If you scanner can handle 225-400 there's probably lots of traffic with the China Lake Naval Weapons Center about 40 miles south of you.

-Dan

 

[ScanInyo]

I do only here the controller, and my PRO95 does get the 225-400 thanks to WIN95 Although I have yet to hear anything in that range.

Thank you all for the help, much appreciated.

 

[SCPD]

I do only here the controller, and my PRO95 does get the 225-400 thanks to WIN95 Although I have yet to hear anything in that range.

Thank you all for the help, much appreciated.

I'm surprised you only hear the controller. Usually you have a far better chance hearing the aircraft as they are high in elevation. I hear aircraft on 132.050 constantly here in Mammoth. I can't hear the controller because the Tonopah remote is actually located on Mt. Brock or out at Coledale junction at the navigation site located near there. Are they still called Omni's? One of the most interesting shaped structures you are likely to come across in out of the way locations. If you are hearing the controller, you have a most interesting knife-edged path between Independence and the site on Mt. Brock. That being the case you should plug in 155.625 and listen to the Nye County Sheriff's Dept. Tonopah is the county seat and Brock is the hub for that county's communications systems.

I've had some thoughts about purchasing an aviation transciever (handheld) and carrying it into the backcountry with me for that last resort communications device in case of emergency. I experiemented with a ham handheld some years back using a software program that allowed the radio to transmit out of band and was able to transmit from the lower end of 2 meters all the way down to about 123 MHz. I was using a dummy load so I wasn't transmitting illegally. I thought this would be great! I would have a ham handheld that not only transmitted on 6/2 meters and 70 cm but could transmit on VHF natural resource agency frequencies (likely to be the most likely radio systems to be able to work in wilderness and backcountry) but could transmit to aircraft on air traffic control frequencies in the blind spots of natural resource systems. I programmed in 132.050 and listened to it on a whole bunch of hikes. Very dependable in the area I live in. I programmed in the frequency used on the west side of the Sierra and could hear it when I went over the crest. I thought I was carrying the most versitile radios for backcountry emergencies I could get! The big letdown came when I hooked it up to the dummy load again and realized I was transmitting with FM, not AM. As this was an illegal modification of the radio (a ham radio not type accepted for non-ham frequencies) I reset it and used the manufacturer's software to program the radio. I went back to carrying the "brick" I use in the backcountry which is a VHF Bendix-King handheld, similar to what I started carrying on the job back in 1983 which has been legally modified to cover the 2 meter band. I can work NPS, USFS, BLM, and FWS systems and talk on ham frequencies as well. It won't transmit or receive in the VHF AM aircraft band so that is why I'm thinking about a small aviation handheld.

For those of you who may not know, licensed amateur radio operators are authorized to use any means of communications necessary in emergencies. There is a very strict protocol one must follow, eliminating all alternatives first, before getting on someone else's system. You must be prepared to defend your action if you are not going to be fined and lose your license, but it is a good capability to have in the backcountry. For those of you thinking of using cell phones in these situations realize that there is a lot of "frontcountry" in the Sierra and other mountainous/rural areas where there will never be cell phone coverage. Some of this territory, both in the front and backcountry, can't be worked with a satellite phone or GPS either. There is some very dramatic terrain blocking the horizons!

 

[kd5dga]

For 132.05 it maybe aeronautical enroute frequency.