Fort Jefferson National park

[dic]

I'm making a second trip to FT J (this time overnight and with a scanner) and am wondering if anyone has any of the National Park frequencies and or the USCG times of broadcast, etc.
Close call would not be an issue (nothing within 70 miles) I'm trying to prepare myself.

Thanks
DIc
N1XBA

 

[sflmonitor]

There is a UHF frequency (406.475) that I have monitored in Key West. It appears to be a phone link from Ft. Jefferson. I last monitored it about a year ago while in Key West and it was in analog mode. I don't recall if the pl tone was 127.3 or 141.3. I also have the following frequencies supposedly designated to Ft. Jefferson that I have yet to verify. They are 408.075, 171.2625, 166.950 and 168.550. It is my understanding that they have a VHF repeater located at Loggerhead Key. I would assume the 408.075 frequency is the phone link on the Ft. Jefferson side and the VHF frequencies are assigned for repeater use. I would program them in analog and digital mode as most of the UHF and VHF frequencies for NPS in South Florida have gone digital. Please let us know what you discover.

 

[dic]

I shall do that.
Inquiry: some of the "civilian" people there (the gift shop people and hosts) are from Key West and would (profiling aside) seem to be the Ham radio personality.

Wouldn't or shouldn't there be a ham repeater there for whatever reason?
I'm not even sure why I ask, but to be from Boston and South Florida (overpopulated areas with incessant radio traffic)it seems almost inconceivable that the employees out
there don't have any/landline/sattelite comms with the shore.

Tons of yachts and pleasure craft and no radio communication other than 16 and 22/

WIth those super chase boats the NPS use--no radios?

HMMM

 

[sflmonitor]

As a ham radio operator, I would agree that a repeater would be fun and useful. But there are a couple of drawbacks/limitations (in my opinion) that would restrict the installation of such a repeater.

1 - Electric power, there is very little of it. I believe everything on Loggerhead Key is powered by solar panels. I can only assume that the park management would keep tight controls on the loads to those panels.
2 - Height. The lighthouse is only about 150 feet in height. Not tall enough to reach Key West without some good engineering. They would need a directional beam pointed towards Key West. Also would need to have a high site in Key West to receive and rebroadcast. I think this is how they set up their UHF phone link.

They do have sat phones these days but cost is still a factor. Also, I understand that their VHF repeater is linked via RF to the dispatch center at Everglades National Park. I was told that they link it via the tower at the Flamingo site. It would be nice it you could not only confirm the use of the frequencies I have as being used for repeater use, but also if any of those are used as an RF link back to Flamingo.

 

[profiledescent]

Wouldn't or shouldn't there be a ham repeater there for whatever reason?
HMMM

A 5 watt HT will cover the whole place on simplex. A repeater would be a waste of time and money.

 

[dic]

I just went through my picture files of my trip and have three great pics of the antenna mast.
I am quite computer illiterate and it appears to me that the pictures (at 2.5 MB each) are too big to attach.

How should I proceed?

 

[dic]

Never mind PM sent.
Pictures should be appearing soon.

 

[sflmonitor]

Here are some pictures of the Yagi antennas at Ft. Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas. Ft. Jefferson is located 70 miles off shore from Key West, Florida. Thanks to dic for sharing them.