fed monitoring

[yungchin]

yeah the fed building is right next door to where all the city buses meet up in downtown waco tx! and if you have fed frequencies program like i do in your scanner! you could sit right there at the bus station and hear those feds in the fed building nextdoor.

 

[krokus]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.973 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

And? Federal agencies operate all over the country.

 

[yungchin]

fed frequencies

im quite sure krokus that fed frequencie are used all over the nation! but i was just wondering why when i get back home i can't no longer hear them? then i go back to the bus station which is next to the fed building i can pick them back up again.are the radios they using in some fed frquencies only goes to a certain range?

 

[Scannerhead1983]

While there are federal repeaters out there across the US. Most fed frequencies are simplex radio to radio. So that would explain why you can only hear them at or by the bus station. I believe they also use Mobile Repeaters onsite of locations they are at too.

 

[yungchin]

fed frequencies

but i think those were the gsa guys though! you can see them walking around on the outside of the fed building with those radios. i always thought they radios go to only a certain extent

 

[yungchin]

fed frequencies

that make alot of good sense what you posted scannerhead! because i didn't know that or was unaware of it.

 

[Scannerhead1983]

Most portable radios will transmit a range of a couple miles, that all depends on geographic locations too, areas where there are a lot of buildings and obstructions will limit the range of portable to portable simplex operations.

 

[SCPD]

While there are federal repeaters out there across the US. Most fed frequencies are simplex radio to radio. So that would explain why you can only hear them at or by the bus station. I believe they also use Mobile Repeaters onsite of locations they are at too.

That might be true for agencies that don't have much of a wide field presence because they are primarily administrative. For agencies that have work to be done in the field and are quite some distance from their offices they don't use simplex often, except when field units are close to each other. Land management agencies and military bases have a lot of repeaters in their systems. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has an extensive system of repeaters over a large area. The Army Corps of Engineers have many repeaters to operate dams, locks and reservoirs. The latter having significant recreation use requiring park rangers in the field. They manage a significant amount of lands around their projects. The Coast Guard has quite a bit of radio traffic, most of it simplex, primarily along ocean shores.

I've lived in rural areas for the entire time programmable scanners have been available. I don't have much experience listening to federal agencies in a city. When I'm in one, with most of that in western cities, I listen to the federal land management agencies. All of the major cities in the west are in listening distance to such agencies.

Depending on your listening preferences and location there can be a fair amount of federal agency traffic.

 

[nd5y]

Even if you live in a smaller town with no federal offices or facilites, one or more of the 3-letter agencies might show up at any time.

 

[KC2zZe]

Don't forget the four letter agencies. Either type of agency might travel past your QTH. I happen to live in a smaller town that is divided into approximate quarters by the intersection of two interstates. It's always interesting to hear units - even for a brief few moments - conversing while traveling to/from a destination or while following someone/thing.