Iredell county

[KM4WLV]

NCDOT, at least in Rowan County, still uses the low band repeater located at the DOT office on Hwy 29. They also use low band simplex for flaggers when working on roads and traffic control is needed. When they use flaggers I've seen most of them using low band Motorola MT1000 portables. You can tell they're low band by the ridiculous sized antenna on them. They have used VIPER some here in Rowan during snow/ice events but otherwise not much.


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[D1029659]

What are the frequencies then? Are the frequencies in the database right or are they a different frequency?

 

[troymail]

What are the frequencies then? Are the frequencies in the database right or are they a different frequency?

For what is (or was believed to be) known, you can find here:

https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?stid=37

and here

https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?ctid=1935

and here

https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?coid=1&tab=nationwide

 

[drayd48]

I've noticed how lots of VHF and VHF-Lo band frequencies aren't being used anymore. VHF being used for the fire tac channels (in the northern part of the county) is most likely now is using NC VIPER for the fire ops (under Iredell county using TAC 2, TAC 3, etc.) and the NCDOT is either using Nextel phones or on NC VIPER and NCSHP channels being very quiet, I suspect that they are in VIPER completely. I was at a barn fire in the area within walking distance and I tried tuning around the operations frequencies, but heard nothing, so I suspect that they aren't used anymore.

What fire was this and where were was it located? All northern county uses VHF and mix mode VIPER. They mostly use VHF but some units have VIPER they use to talk to ECOM. Lo Band around is pretty much dead because Newton shut it down but some other surrounding districts use it. When you get to Statesville and anywhere south of that (Troutman, Shepherds, Lake Norman, Mount Mourne, South Iredell, and Mooresville fire all use the UASI radio system. Iredell EMS is now using full time VIPER with the tones and some rescue squads still using VHF. ICSO mainly uses VIPER now. Only thing VHF in the county is the Mooresville fire simulcast and north end fire units.

 

[D1029659]

I was at a fire the past week (12-2-17 at Williamsburg Rd) and ECOM said use fire tac 2 and I didn't hear anything on the VHF frequencies

 

[drayd48]

I was at a fire the past week (12-2-17 at Williamsburg Rd) and ECOM said use fire tac 2 and I didn't hear anything on the VHF frequencies

Well sometimes they don't need to use radios and I know the north end does not use them much on scene. Also did you make sure you had 153.890 with a 151.4 PL in?

 

[D1029659]

Yes I did, I also took off the PL tone and tried the other fire tac channels and I didn't hear them. I guess they didn't use their radios on scene if they still do use VHF.

 

[troymail]

Dispatch in my county typically assigns a county TAC talkgroup (on VIPER) at dispatch but the responding units rarely seem to use it. In fact, some areas (towns) have their own frequencies for fireground operations that are non-repeater/direct. The only way you'd hear them is to be very close to the scene.

In many places, they use direct comms for safety reasons - and you have to "be there" to hear those comms.

If you are "on scene", you'd be better of (in cases like this) using Spectrum Sweeper (Whistler) or Close Call (Uniden) to try to find them.

 

[drayd48]

Yes I did, I also took off the PL tone and tried the other fire tac channels and I didn't hear them. I guess they didn't use their radios on scene if they still do use VHF.

Check your PMs

 

[Metrofire31]

NC DOT

I've noticed how lots of VHF and VHF-Lo band frequencies aren't being used anymore. VHF being used for the fire tac channels (in the northern part of the county) is most likely now is using NC VIPER for the fire ops (under Iredell county using TAC 2, TAC 3, etc.) and the NCDOT is either using Nextel phones or on NC VIPER and NCSHP channels being very quiet, I suspect that they are in VIPER completely. I was at a barn fire in the area within walking distance and I tried tuning around the operations frequencies, but heard nothing, so I suspect that they aren't used anymore.

I can also confirm that the DOT here in Macon County (Franklin, Highlands) uses VHF - Low, as correctly posted in the RRDB. The frequencies are those posted for Division 14.

Metrofire31
Franklin, NC
WQIT636 (GMRS)

 

[KM4WLV]

D1029659,

I meant to post this the other day but got sidetracked and forgot.....

In Rowan County when a Fire Department is dispatched they are assigned an OPS talkgroup on our P25 system. OPS 1-11 are used for any incidents inside the City of Salisbury, and OPS 12-35 are used for incidents everywhere else in the county including in the smaller municipalities. Those TG's are used for anything from EMS calls to working structure fires. However, there are certain businesses and buildings in the city and other locations in the county where we use 8TAC91 - 8TAC94 in talkaround/direct mode. If you happen to be listening to our stuff and hear switch to 91 Direct that's what that means.

We also still have a number of VHF and UHF frequencies that are still licensed to either the city or county that aren't used on a regular basis. For example 154.0850 was at one time the primary dispatch frequency for Salisbury FD. 154.0700 & 153.5550 are still Fireground 1 & 2 respectively, but are scarcely if ever these days. 458.0500 is the old input frequency for the Sheriff's Office dispatch and 453.0500 was the receive frequency for that repeater. Although they aren't used much if at all these days we keep those licenses because VHF & UHF because getting licenses in those bands these days isn't easy.

Daily use wise 154.2500 is our county fire dispatch frequency. It is a simplex channel only. A number of departments in the county still keep both VHF and 800 radios installed in the trucks. They use the VHF to communicate to Rowan, and the 800 for the OPS TG while enroute to calls. If you listen to the P25 system it's not hard to tell when someone is on VHF lol. 155.7150 is our EMS Dispatch frequency. Both of these two channels are patched into the P25 system fulltime, however if we experienced a complete trunked system failure these two transmitters will still work. State Fire, 154.2800, is also patched into the P25 system.

I know this thread was originally about Iredell County but when I read the post above about Rowan only using the trunked system I wanted to chime in on that, since I use our VHF & P25 systems everyday. I know I replied once before but thought I'd expand a little more on it