hey Mike im in Pike county also . I have the highknob frequency plugged into my scanner . Do they use that frequency when they are on the ground fighting a fire in pike county or are there others that i am missing ? I have the air to ground frequency 159.2850 and Highknob 151.3625. Thanks in advance .
DCNR Forest fire Season
- Thread starter Steveradio
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hey Mike im in Pike county also . I have the highknob frequency plugged into my scanner . Do they use that frequency when they are on the ground fighting a fire in pike county or are there others that i am missing ? I have the air to ground frequency 159.2850 and Highknob 151.3625. Thanks in advance .
Per RR database District 19 uses "154.36250- CSQ- secondary", but I have never monitored an incident close enough to confirm it, or picked off any other low power or simplex comms such as the DCNR Tac frequencies listed in the database.
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference
Just monitored a DCNR response east of Hawley in Pike County on 151.3625.
Heard comms between Swiftwater and Engine 62, as well as Whisky 16 communicating with Engine 62 en-route and on arrival at the scene.
Again, I'm too far away to confirm any on-scene low power or simplex comms if there was any.
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Dei2Racing
Member
They use the County FD frequencies. Since the bulk of the fighting is done by the volunteer fire departments. Some departments have repeaters some don't. But command goes through the County commenter on 154.44500. The whisky units have access to the County system.
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Dei2Racing
Member
https://webcad.pikepa.org/pages/public/liveincidents1.aspx
Pike county live incidents feed from the 911 center.
Past call history
https://webcad.pikepa.org/pages/public/feedreader.asp
I forget who first posted them here
Pike county live incidents feed from the 911 center.
Past call history
https://webcad.pikepa.org/pages/public/feedreader.asp
I forget who first posted them here
I should have made the above post/reply clearer- I'd like to confirm what DCNR is using inter-agency (not comms with local FD units). related to secondary and tac comms when they are in Pike (or Monroe for that mater).
If I recall correctly, the standard mobile radio is an 800MHz STARNET radio. Some units (I think Ranger vehicles) have both an 800 and VHF mobile installed. It has been a while since they switched and I would have to look back through old papers to see who got what. Originally, VHF portables would also be assigned to state parks personnel for carrying when out on foot. This is why some of the larger parks routinely make use of the VHF repeaters in their area. That utilization seems to be less than originally planned, though. Maybe they got better 800 coverage in some areas? The 800 coverage is definitely poor in some areas...they just improved a VHF site in Centre County last year for two state parks in the NE part of that county. In parks/forest districts where 800 issues remain, the VHF repeaters get used. In parks/forest areas where the 800 coverage is good, they seem to stick with just using 800.
I thought they had VHF portables for forestry fire line ops that utilized the statewide tac channels. A few years ago, there was a very large wildfire in French Creek State Park and the statewide VHF tac channels were in use on that incident. The statewide simplex channels would be available to DCNR personnel and the various volunteer fire companies that make up the wildfire teams controlled by DCNR.
Units can talk between 800 and VHF radios by utilizing the VHF repeater system as every VHF repeater has a corresponding linked talkgroup on the 800 system.
It seems that, in many areas, most routine (not fire line) comms are taking place directly on the 800 system.
I don't have an exact fleetmap, but I know that there is at least one main talkgroup for every forest district and every manned state park (some parks are part of larger multi-park complexes and not staffed directly). You also have the talkgroups for the VHF repeaters. There are also regional channels (i.e. Parks Region 1, 2, 3, 4). There are probably other talkgroups, too. If anybody has a DCNR radio, I would be interested in knowing the fleetmap layout. Some button pushing and writing and a few minutes of time is all that would take.
EDIT: I forgot to add that in areas where VHF is used at the local level, forestry and parks radios have fire and/or police channels in their radios for the local systems. This is why they would be operating on Pike channels to talk to county. DCNR units may also use the county interop talkgroup on the STARNET system to talk to county radio. More typically, it is forest rangers or park rangers running vehicle tags who use the STARNET option.
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ChrisRupert
Member
I see a lot of the older DCNR frequencies re-licensed this week. Not sure they narrowbanded them or a change in the license.
Yeah, I am not quite sure what is going on there. DCNR has had a habit over the years of maintaining old licenses despite the fact that the actual frequency use has changed around quite a bit. All the recent stuff I saw related to legacy licenses was modifications to remove the wideband emissions.
Steveradio
Member
When they utilized 151.385 used to pick up Swiftwater Base loud and clear, now that they switched have not picked up much of anything this year. Last year the tankers 159.285 were very active so would monitor that but CSQ.
For the Park Rangers such as Hickory Run and the facility used to be on 151.3850 very active but since silent. They are also dispatched by Carbon County Police 154.8000 PL127.3 and active on this frequency along with Beltzville Rangers.
All mosly 800
For the Park Rangers such as Hickory Run and the facility used to be on 151.3850 very active but since silent. They are also dispatched by Carbon County Police 154.8000 PL127.3 and active on this frequency along with Beltzville Rangers.
All mosly 800
ChrisRupert
Member
151.285 for Little Pine State Park in Lycoming County. That's not one of the original DCNR channels?
W3DMV
Member
Good catch. Little Pines has a good license - KNHL283
and has the following:
151.160 FB
151.175 FB
151.285 FB
151.295 FB
151.400 FB
151.445 FB
I didn't see any mobiles/portables on the license. Wonder
if it's being used as a link or other function ?
---
There is some other missing/incorrect things on the RRDB list and
perhaps time and and other mods are starting to catch up with us. Thanks
for reporting your findings...
and has the following:
151.160 FB
151.175 FB
151.285 FB
151.295 FB
151.400 FB
151.445 FB
I didn't see any mobiles/portables on the license. Wonder
if it's being used as a link or other function ?
---
There is some other missing/incorrect things on the RRDB list and
perhaps time and and other mods are starting to catch up with us. Thanks
for reporting your findings...
151.445 is currently used as a vehicular repeater channel statewide for DCNR vehicles. They have Pyramid repeaters. If I had to guess I would say that is an old typo on the license. You can catch traffic on that frequency around Little Pine sometimes.
151.175, 151.385, 151.295, and 151.400 were the four standard repeater outputs back in the old days with 151.160 and 151.445 being old statewide simplex channels. 151.385 would be the 151.285 typo?
The notes on the license only indicate removal of the wideband emission designator. I think this is nothing more than a case of "it doesn't cost us any money to keep these old licenses active".
151.175, 151.385, 151.295, and 151.400 were the four standard repeater outputs back in the old days with 151.160 and 151.445 being old statewide simplex channels. 151.385 would be the 151.285 typo?
The notes on the license only indicate removal of the wideband emission designator. I think this is nothing more than a case of "it doesn't cost us any money to keep these old licenses active".
Here in Pike county if the fire is not that big the DCNR will do face to face with the chiefs on the scene,otherwise they will use the county comm channels on scene or to communicate with the comm center. DCNR in Pike and wayne county don't use 800 mhz simply because they don't work well in these areas per the guys from DCNR that I see regularly. Whisky 16 is the main DCNR unit for pike county and parts of wayne county. We have been lucky so far this year,but it is early and seems to be getting busier as the time goes by. I belong to Hemlock Farms fire and rescue and we have been called out about 25 times since the beginning of march for brush fires for our brush truck and side by side since we got a skid on it this year. ALL of the ff's in Hemlock now have wildfire gear because it is expected to be a very busy season this year and unless you have wildfire gear now you can NOT work a wild fire per at least our SOP's. DCNR is trying to make it a requirement that ALL ff's have wildfire gear statewide for wildfires since it is too dangerous to fight wildfires with trurnout gear.
Mike
Retired FDNY/EMS
Haz-Tac
Mike
Retired FDNY/EMS
Haz-Tac
Thanks for the local insight, Mike. The one thing some people have difficulty understanding is that DCNR's comms usage varies greatly from one area of the state to another. It all depends on what the locals use, how robust local resources are, local relationships, terrain effects on the state 800/VHF, etc.
As a DB admin, I get to deal with the submissions insisting that the VHF is dead because so an so never hears the local state park on VHF. That has no bearing on the overall picture. This is a big and diverse state and DCNR is a large agency (over 120 state parks, 20 forest districts) with diverse needs and issues.
As a DB admin, I get to deal with the submissions insisting that the VHF is dead because so an so never hears the local state park on VHF. That has no bearing on the overall picture. This is a big and diverse state and DCNR is a large agency (over 120 state parks, 20 forest districts) with diverse needs and issues.
mike4164-
Up to last week, I had never heard comms between Whiskey16 and DCNR's Engine 62 on 151.3625
Any idea where DCNR's E-62 is stationed and what type of apparatus?
Like I said previously they have never operated close enough to my location to listen to low power HT comms. Always wanted to confirm fireground comms between DCNR staff.
BTW- just my opinion, your Dept. is doing right by your members by going 100% with wild land gear. Kudos to your leadership team. Structural gear in the woods is insane. DCNR should follow thru on the requirement for wild land gear.
Game Commission to burn 227 acres of Game Land
Might be a good chance to catch some, if any, activity, if you live in the area. Not sure to what extent DCNR would be involved but I figured I would throw this out there.
Shelby
Might be a good chance to catch some, if any, activity, if you live in the area. Not sure to what extent DCNR would be involved but I figured I would throw this out there.
Shelby
PGC has some VHF highband allocations that are most likely used for this work. I would check those frequencies during these prescribed burns. I have not yet had the opportunity for my day time work travels to overlap near one of the burn areas so that I can keep an ear on things. PGC land management personnel do this work in house.
151.370
159.390
151.340
I would go with no PL since they may be using more than what is listed currently in the database. Also check for P25 as well as analog.
If I am not mistaken I think Engine 62 is the National Park Service engine for the Delaware Water Gap area in the Pike/Monroe county area. Also ALL of the DCNR VHF channels as well as pike and monroe fire channels are very busy. There was a controlled burn today off of Rt. 402 at the Pike/Monroe border that got out of control. I missed the trucks from Hemlock as I was getting my daughter from school but I am told it is about 250 acres burning. They have called out 29 Brush,atv1 and 26 ATV2 from Dingmans. I am waiting for them to call the engine out soon. There is at least 1 helicopter being used for recon. As for the air tankers I dont know,I have not heard them,but I am monitoring all the channels from my home. The most chatter you can hear if you listen online for this fire is Monroe fire ems dispatch.
Mike
Retired FDNY/EMS
Haz-Tac
- Status
