FDOT Repeaters

[tampatracker]

Also will be glad to post the District 7 Tampa ones if anyone can confirm the DPL there is a repeater in Pinellas county (Ridgecrest) on 47.280 license # WQLV552 ; Hernando County (Brooksville) 47.200 ; one in Hillsborough County (Temple Terrace) 47.160 and another in Hillsborough County (Ruskin) 47.060 as most know there is not much on these systems usually a very short beep to snag the DPL..... Once in blue moon hear tests or radio checks on them...figure get use of the low band portion of my Scantenna ...Let me know if find the DPL on any of these!

I had district 7 freq' s in all my scanners and didn't get any traffic so I stopped listening, but now you guys have got me curious so I'll put them back in. I will post here if anything relevant pops up.

 

[bravo14]

Yesterday and today I put FDOT on record got nothing today. Today we had alot of rain I thought they would talk about floods and roads closed not a peep out of them.

 

[W4KRR]

Here is the information for District 4 (the southeast coast):


47.38 NW Quadrant I-95 at 90th Ave, Vero Beach (Indian River Co.)
47.06 Turnpike @ CR-714, Palm City (Martin Co.)
47.20 Turnpike @ West Palm Beach Interchange (Palm Beach Co.)
47.36 Turnpike @ Delray Beach Interchange (Palm Beach Co.)
47.18 Turnpike @ Sunrise Blvd. (McArthur) Interchange (Broward Co.)
47.04 I-75 @ Government Road, near Broward/Collier County Line

Input for all sites is 45.80. DPL is 411 for TX and 412 for RX, both inverted.

Not much traffic on the system, largely due to lack of training, and users prefer to use their cellphones.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

The original design of the FDOT 47 MHz system includes the provision for non priority channel scan in the mobile so that normally the radio operator does not need to manually select the nearest tower, the scan feature with "AND Squelch" should automatically select a repeater that has sufficient coverage for the mobile.

The design was since altered to employ DPL instead of CTCSS so that may have led to them having to manually select towers. DPL is a bit slower than the upper CTCSS tones. Not sure DPL is a good match for low band due to a number of technical concerns. A later engineer was concerned about "skip" from other states being repeated. I am unaware that that ever happened.

The JPS voters have an audio delay feature normally used to equalize audio arrival in huge systems. However in the original FDOT system it was used instead to buffer the repeat audio somewhat to permit the channel scan circuit, some time to catch up. Originally the system utilized E&M signalling in the microwave channel to convey COR/PTT signals. This to ensure the repeater transmitter would key up quickly.

This system design dates back to about 2002 (with some activity in prior years) a period where FDOT employees were relying on NEXTEL and other cellphones and they found commercial towers were down/off the air after hurricanes. The FDOT already had a heavy investment in SIMPLEX 47 MHz mobile equipment and many frequencies. I was responsible for the initial system design, the frequency plan, the coverage and interference studies.

The intent was a hardened system that would survive hurricanes. Portable coverage was ruled out in early tests. The mobiles are in the 50 to 100 watt range. A big challenge is the variability of noise floor nearby the tower sites. Thus the voted multi-site arrangement to better ensure a reliable in bound signal from mobiles.

There had been discussion to add VHF repeaters to the network or use VHF mobile extenders so that hand held radios could be used.

 

[Ecfsar18]

Is great see folks using VHF low to scan still...I also got to hear Pike Electric often especially after Hurricane Matthew on 49.580 MHz Pl 67.0 .... I never hear anyone on the district 5 simplex m/m anymore used to hear them at times near the Cocoa area in Brevard a few years back..... I noticed also seen a small 2 wheel drive FDOT truck other day didn't see any type of antenna on it..are the bigger vehicles the ones who have the mobiles ? There is a ton of roadwork being done on 95 and US1 here in SouthEast Volusia ... Figured the bands would be more active...

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Is great see folks using VHF low to scan still...I also got to hear Pike Electric often especially after Hurricane Matthew on 49.580 MHz Pl 67.0 .... I never hear anyone on the district 5 simplex m/m anymore used to hear them at times near the Cocoa area in Brevard a few years back..... I noticed also seen a small 2 wheel drive FDOT truck other day didn't see any type of antenna on it..are the bigger vehicles the ones who have the mobiles ? There is a ton of roadwork being done on 95 and US1 here in SouthEast Volusia ... Figured the bands would be more active...

I think the cellphones are doing most of the communications, which is too bad because if there is a hurricane, who is to say all these low band radios will have working antennas, mikes and fuses. They need to do roll call on 47 MHz periodically to make sure the equipment works and the drivers know how to use them.

 

[K4DPA]

Is great see folks using VHF low to scan still...I also got to hear Pike Electric often especially after Hurricane Matthew on 49.580 MHz Pl 67.0 .... I never hear anyone on the district 5 simplex m/m anymore used to hear them at times near the Cocoa area in Brevard a few years back..... I noticed also seen a small 2 wheel drive FDOT truck other day didn't see any type of antenna on it..are the bigger vehicles the ones who have the mobiles ? There is a ton of roadwork being done on 95 and US1 here in SouthEast Volusia ... Figured the bands would be more active...

My uncle used to be the general Forman for Pike in Brevard County and had a take home truck. I keyed up all the channels he had in his Kenwood mobile and that's how I got their frequencies. He only had like 5 channels in his radio. They are all licensed out of North Carolina.


-Dawson Adams
WQPN413
"Calm down, it's just a radio."

 

[Ecfsar18]

Yea would hope so! I wonder if they have to say the callsign license after each time basically like the FFS does?

 

[K4DPA]

Yea would hope so! I wonder if they have to say the callsign license after each time basically like the FFS does?

No they don't. I don't even know why FFS still does that. Such a waist of time. Pike doesn't use their radios much unless they are close by working storm or something. The general formans and formans are issued Verizon iPhones. They used to be on Nextel and then sprint. Now they are on Verizon. So their situation is kinda like FDOT.

 

[Ecfsar18]

Pretty neat Dawson!Was gonna mention one of the locals up here has started up a Volusia County REACT and the guy who is starting it is going to try to get a VHF repeater for Amateur and maybe.even an 11 meter back up for CB 9? and also the local who has a GMRS repeater in Florida Shores is gonna probably going to move his setup to the owners tower eventually...... In s separate thread I've noticed it's pretty dead in SE Volusia 2 meter/6 meter wise....

 

[Ecfsar18]

Believe they started a Volusia County REACT page on Facebook ....

 

[W4KRR]

I think the cellphones are doing most of the communications, which is too bad because if there is a hurricane, who is to say all these low band radios will have working antennas, mikes and fuses. They need to do roll call on 47 MHz periodically to make sure the equipment works and the drivers know how to use them.

I worked for FDOT for many years. Two way radio training for employees is virtually non existent. Nobody from management on down seemed to care about the radios very much. The front reception desk had a radio console and they were supposed to answer any calls. Many would just ignore it, some even turned it off because they found the sound annoying.

The field personnel didn't really understand the newer Midland mobile radios, so they just use their cellphones when they need to communicate. Which is a shame, because in the event of a hurricane or other disaster, nobody would know how to properly use the radio system.

 

[tampatracker]

I just checked our database and see that the district 7 frequencies have not been updated to to reflect the multicast system. Has that system been implemented in the Tampa area yet?

 

[K4DPA]

I worked for FDOT for many years. Two way radio training for employees is virtually non existent. Nobody from management on down seemed to care about the radios very much. The front reception desk had a radio console and they were supposed to answer any calls. Many would just ignore it, some even turned it off because they found the sound annoying.

The field personnel didn't really understand the newer Midland mobile radios, so they just use their cellphones when they need to communicate. Which is a shame, because in the event of a hurricane or other disaster, nobody would know how to properly use the radio system.

You're exactly right. Then during and after a disaster they want to complain about how they can't communicate. They need to look no further than themselves. It's a real shame our state employees are like this.


-Dawson Adams
WQPN413
"Calm down, it's just a radio."

 

[Ecfsar18]

District 7 system Tampa tracker

Just waiting for someone to catch the dcs tone for the repeaters in the area ... I caught the ones in district 5 every ten min or so is a quick key up ...

 

[Ecfsar18]

Also need someone to confirm the tones for the district 3 ones in the Panhandle

 

[nd5y]

Is there a distinctive licensee in the F.C.C. database that makes it easy to find all of them there? That gives you the frequency and the location of the base station at least. That might be a shortcut to finding them all.

Search for the FRN. It lists all the licenses for the FRN (there may be more than one FRN).
Click the column headings to change the sort order.
https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?frn=0001801182
Note that this also shows expired, canceled and terminated licenses.

 

[Ecfsar18]

The locations and FREQS listed for district 3 are under license WQGN989 ... Washington county(Caryville)-47.200 ; Leon County(Tallahassee)-47.120 ; Liberty County(Sumatra)-47.340 and Okaloosa County(Holt)-47.080 ....

 

[bravo14]

The locations and FREQS listed for district 3 are under license WQGN989 ... Washington county(Caryville)-47.200 ; Leon County(Tallahassee)-47.120 ; Liberty County(Sumatra)-47.340 and Okaloosa County(Holt)-47.080 ....

I live in bay co and I didn't hear nothing for days on fdot. Even with all this rain we had the past 2 days.

 

[Ecfsar18]

Bravo just did a search for Bay county showing a FB on frequency 47.260 for Bay County (Panama City) under license #WQBK734 listed 108 watts located at 3911 highway 2321.... Not showing as a voting repeater didn't see the v under it....