L.A. CalTrans

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JayMojave

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Hello All;

What are the Cal Trans Frequencies for the snow plows guys????????

Thanks, I am in Lancaster Ca and should be able to hear some of those guys.

Jay
 

SCPD

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Hello All;

What are the Cal Trans Frequencies for the snow plows guys????????

Thanks, I am in Lancaster Ca and should be able to hear some of those guys.

Jay

In Kern County, you are in District 9 headquartered in Bishop. The state Caltrans map may show it in District 6 - Fresno, however, District 9, due to travel and access considerations performs the maintenance and construction functions in eastern Kern County, from east of Keene on Highway 58, and east of Onyx or Weldon on Highway 178. They also maintain Highway 127 south of Shoshone in Inyo County all the way down to Baker in San Berdo County.

So for the Kern County area you need to look up the D9 frequencies on Government Peak and I believe Oak Peak. They should boom right into Mojave although it might take a outside antenna for Government to be strong in the town of Mojave.

L.A. County is in District 7 headquartered in downtown L.A. You have one repeater in listening range to you in Mojave. It is Hauser Peak, which I receive in my car intermittently starting at the 178/395 intersection and pretty solidly from the mouth of Red Rock Canyon south. So you should be able to pick it up very well. Keep in mind that the county line is the dividing line between the two districts.

D7 units will have a 7 prefix and D9 will have a 9 prefix. The D9 folks work out of the Inyo-Kern Maintenance Station on the north end of eastern Kern County and will be heard on Government Peak, as will the Mojave Maintenance Station units. Inyo-Kern units will be 914xx and Mojave will be 911xx units.

In northeast L.A. County there is a maintenance station in Lancaster, and then another in Newhall. Both are in D7's Northern Region. I believe all Northern Region units have a 7-3 prefix. I don't know where the dividing line is between the Newhall station's section and the Lancaster station's section of Highway 14 is, but it might be somewhere close to Escondido Summit. I also don't know the third number in the callusing for each station. The third number indicates the station.
 

wolter

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I also don't know the third number in the callusing for each station. The third number indicates the station.

The thrid number sequence is actually the employee. The station is nowhere in the radio call sign.
 

SCPD

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The thrid number sequence is actually the employee. The station is nowhere in the radio call sign.

In D9 the first digit is, of course, the district number. The second digit is the territory. D9's two territories are the Mountain and the Desert. There used to be three, one of each county so Mono County was 9-3, Inyo was 9-2, and eastern Kern was 9-1. Budget cutbacks reduced this to the two territories I mentioned and the stations all kept their old numbers. In Mono County 931 is the McGee station and then stations are numbered northward with 932 units being out of Lee Vining and Crestview, 934 is Bridgeport, and 935 is Sonora Junction.

All of D9's stations have a three number call sign for the station supervisor, so the McGee Station supervisor is 931. The next person in line, assistant supervisor if that is the title, is 9311 (pronounced 9-3-1-1 and not ninety three eleven). Stations have more than 10 employees so you have some 9-3-1-10, 9-3-1-11 and so forth.

I would like to see D7's call sign methodology. I would have thought that the 7-3 units were all northern region and perhaps 7-3-1 would be Lebec, 7-3-2 would be Newhall, 7-3-3 would be Lancaster and 7-3-4 would be San Fernando. I have heard 7-3-3 units working CA 14 in the Santa Clarita to Palmdale section.

I have some old information from one of Bob Kelty's books showing 7-6 units being the Foothill Territory, however, some of the Caltrans info I have show the organization for maintenance is region-area-station. The territory must not be an organizational unit anymore. Is this correct? The last time I heard units working Highway 2 they did identify with a 7-6-x-x type call.

I would really like to see a D7 call sign plan. The other thing I would like to see is the channel plan for the trunked system. Because 7, 8 and 12 are on the same trunked system on Santiago it is difficult to figure out the talkgroup affiliation. Wolter, do you have access to any of this? If it is, should it be sensitive and not releasable I would understand.
 

DPD1

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Well my big contribution is that I actually heard a call go out today... Somebody called in a broken down car. Wow! First thing I heard in over a week. I passed by a bunch of CalTrans vehicles the other day and didn't see an antenna on any of them. So guess that might be why there isn't much to hear... They would actually have to have radios of course.
 

wolter

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The title of the position you spoke of, exsmokey, is actually "Leadworker"; just for FYI. And yes, the radio call sign would actually be 9-3-11 (eleven), but they say "one-one" for clarity. So the supervisor would be 9-3-1, leadworker: 9-3-11, next person in señority - likely Caltrans Equipment Operator II: 9-3-12, so on and so forth. And this would depend on the number of crews in the Region. For example: If more than nine crews, the supervisor of crew ten would be 9-3-110 (nine-three-one ten). Crews typically have 7 people assigned, but as many as 9. You may not hear every call sign in the sequence due to vacancies. And you may hear more than these if an employee is borrowed from another crew, region, or district.

And as I alluded to in my previous post, the third number (in my examples above: 1, 11, 12, 110) is the employee. The second number (the one after the district number) isn't actually a territory. Some crews -- such as striping, signs, overhead signs, mudjacking, storm water -- operate district-wide, so do not have a territory. (Or at least, not in the sense that you mean.) The second number in the call sign sequence is actually the Region. And a Region isn't necessarily geographic; it is based on how the District decides how to group the crews. Often it is which crews are assigned to which Area Superintendent. And another FYI: the superintendent for the examples above is likely 9-3 or 9-3-0. But I doubt you will ever hear him on the radio!

Again again, the station is nowhere in the call sign. Since many maintenance stations in Caltrans have numerous crews that operate out of them, the numbering is actually based on the district, superintendents/regions, crew/call center. The maintenance manager may even come into play! :)

I no longer have ties to districts 7, 8, and 12, so I do not have access to the details you wanted.
 
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wolter

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Dave - the reason for lack of antennas would depend on who actually uses the vehicles you saw. Were they maintenance vehicles? Engineering? Surveying? Administration? Commuter?

What type of vehicles were they?
 

DPD1

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I couldn't really tell you what department they were. It was a couple supervisor pickup type trucks. Couple TopKick type stake trucks, maybe one of those sign trucks. I think they were working on the guard rails. I guess I mistakenly assumed most vehicles have radios.
 

wolter

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This is a photo of a fence & guardrail truck: http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/eqsc/EquipCatalog/images/mcphotos/03398-7000054-002.jpg

If what you saw was a guardrail crew, they would be in a special crew region separate from normal highway and landscape maintenance. Special crews spend even less time on radios because everyone they need to speak with is right there.

All maintenance division vehicles should have antennas, though. If nothing else they would need to receive the emergency broadcasts, such as alerts about freeway chases and the need to abandon closures and work areas.
 

SCPD

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The title of the position you spoke of, exsmokey, is actually "Leadworker"; just for FYI. And yes, the radio call sign would actually be 9-3-11 (eleven), but they say "one-one" for clarity. So the supervisor would be 9-3-1, leadworker: 9-3-11, next person in señority - likely Caltrans Equipment Operator II: 9-3-12, so on and so forth. And this would depend on the number of crews in the Region. For example: If more than nine crews, the supervisor of crew ten would be 9-3-110 (nine-three-one ten). Crews typically have 7 people assigned, but as many as 9. You may not hear every call sign in the sequence due to vacancies. And you may hear more than these if an employee is borrowed from another crew, region, or district.

And as I alluded to in my previous post, the third number (in my examples above: 1, 11, 12, 110) is the employee. The second number (the one after the district number) isn't actually a territory. Some crews -- such as striping, signs, overhead signs, mudjacking, storm water -- operate district-wide, so do not have a territory. (Or at least, not in the sense that you mean.) The second number in the call sign sequence is actually the Region. And a Region isn't necessarily geographic; it is based on how the District decides how to group the crews. Often it is which crews are assigned to which Area Superintendent. And another FYI: the superintendent for the examples above is likely 9-3 or 9-3-0. But I doubt you will ever hear him on the radio!

Again again, the station is nowhere in the call sign. Since many maintenance stations in Caltrans have numerous crews that operate out of them, the numbering is actually based on the district, superintendents/regions, crew/call center. The maintenance manager may even come into play! :)

I no longer have ties to districts 7, 8, and 12, so I do not have access to the details you wanted.

D9's territories used to be Mono, Inyo, and eastern Kern, with call signs of 9-3-0, 9-2-0, and 9-1-0 for the supervisor or superintendent of each territory. Those have been consolidated into the Mountain and Desert Regions, not territories as I previously stated. There is only one Region Manager, not two as one would expect, another result of cutbacks. The numbering system for the maintenance personnel all has a second number of 1, 2, or 3. Since 9-3-1 is the supervisor of the McGee station, the 9-3-1 numbers are assigned to the station. This may vary in other Caltrans districts, but it the system here. I have obtained copies of the D9 list from time to time and that is why I can tell you this for certain.

In the case of a person being the tenth or greater employee at a station they are 9-3-1-12, pronounced "nine, three, one, twelve" and not "nine, three, one, one, two." D9 may be one of the smallest districts in terms of personnel and the numbering system may vary.

There might not be much to listen to on Caltrans frequencies in the southern California megalopolis, but in snow country their frequencies are essential. Whether or not I hear something, I always have Caltrans and the CHP scanning in my car when driving. I do the same in other states. I've posted many times that doing so has saved me large amounts of time stuck in traffic jams, mostly due to accidents. In a couple of cases it has caused me to check into a motel before getting to the problem sections of roads. Caltrans has a numbered road chain restriction system that is: R0, no restrictions, R1, chains required, vehicles with mud and snow tires exempt, R2, chains required, 4 wheel drive with mud and snow tires exempt, and R3, chains required, no exceptions. A road will usually close before R3's are implemented. I think it is pretty crazy when 4WD's are required to chain up so I interpret R3 to mean, "check into a motel."

All of the chain signs in D9 are designated by a letter and numbers. When a restriction is changed on a section of highway you will hear something like "Bishop - 9-3-1-5, D8 0 to R1." Icy signs used to be turned and recorded as well, but did not have a letter/number designation. With the budget cuts this practice has stopped. A international symbol, slippery when wet sign is turned to face traffic and left turned the entire winter. Too bad, the slippery when wet sign often escapes notice as it is just one more yellow/black sign out there. A huge icy is usually noticed and if Caltrans had it turned it was a good idea to slow down as they were posted near the most difficult and long lasting ice prone areas.

In D9 there are few vehicles without antennas. There are fairly large areas without any cell phone coverage and radios are needed for safety reasons. There are a couple of areas, the east side of Tioga Pass for example, without any 800 MHz coverage. Caltrans is currently addressing those areas, but I'm not sure what the outcome will be.
 
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wolter

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D9's territories used to be Mono, Inyo, and eastern Kern, with call signs of 9-3-0, 9-2-0, and 9-1-0 for the supervisor or superintendent of each territory. Those have been consolidated into the Mountain and Desert Regions, not territories as I previously stated. There is only one Region Manager, not two as one would expect, another result of cutbacks.

Not necessarily as expected. I have known numerous Region Managers that oversee multiple regions - and these were not during troublesome budget times. It has to do with the number of personnel under his supervision.

The numbering system for the maintenance personnel all has a second number of 1, 2, or 3. Since 9-3-1 is the supervisor of the McGee station, the 9-3-1 numbers are assigned to the station. This may vary in other Caltrans districts, but it the system here. I have obtained copies of the D9 list from time to time and that is why I can tell you this for certain.
If another crew is transferred to a station, what happens to that theory? When only one crew works out of a station, yes the numbering will appear to be assigned to the station. But believe me - it isn't. I have worked on numerous crews that are the only one in a station. District 9 is not unique in this respect. I have also worked in stations that had crews from multiple regions. Since call signs are based on regions, the theory of calls being assigned to a station cannot work. It may in District 9 at preset. But that is coincidental. As you said, D9 is small - so small that they apparently do not need to share stations. Once they do, though, I am positive the numbering scheme will not follow the station theory. It is impossible.

In the case of a person being the tenth or greater employee at a station they are 9-3-1-12, pronounced "nine, three, one, twelve" and not "nine, three, one, one, two." D9 may be one of the smallest districts in terms of personnel and the numbering system may vary.

Um ... aren't those the same thing? tuh-mey-toh, tuh-mah-toh :)

And just for clarity, all Caltrans call signs are divided into three parts: XX-YY-ZZ, where X = District, Y = Region, Z = Employee.
 
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JayMojave

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Hello All: Just verified that Angles National Forest has shut down access to highway 2 that connects La Cresenta, Tujunga, and Palmdale together. Due to the Station Fire leaving a lot of grounds burnt and such, and incoming rains and snow.

This should be intresting to listen to.

Here are the frequencies I have retrieved out of the data base for Cal Trans in the ANF area.

868.0375 and 858.9875 Mt Lukens
860.9875 and 859.7375 Mt Pinetoes
857.7375 Hauser in Palmdale
856.9875 Oat Mt
8569875 car to car
853.9125 ?
858.7375 near Gorman

Jay in the Mojave
 

inigo88

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I no longer have ties to districts 7, 8, and 12, so I do not have access to the details you wanted.

What about the District 4 trunking system? :D

Thanks for the unit ID description. It makes sense. CalTrans tow trucks on the Oakland side of the Bay Bridge identify as "4-2-ZZ" on the trunking system. Example "4-2-204." So one could reasonably expect that Region 2 of District 4 could correspond either geographically to the Bay Bridge or generally to the towing function of the vehicles in general?

EDIT: Sorry to thread-hijack and we can spin this off to the SF Bay sub-forum if appropriate.
 

wolter

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What about the District 4 trunking system? :D

Thanks for the unit ID description. It makes sense. CalTrans tow trucks on the Oakland side of the Bay Bridge identify as "4-2-ZZ" on the trunking system. Example "4-2-204." So one could reasonably expect that Region 2 of District 4 could correspond either geographically to the Bay Bridge or generally to the towing function of the vehicles in general?

EDIT: Sorry to thread-hijack and we can spin this off to the SF Bay sub-forum if appropriate.

They are part of the Toll Bridge Region, which includes maintenance and tow of all the toll bridges operated by Caltrans.
 

DPD1

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Hello All: Just verified that Angles National Forest has shut down access to highway 2 that connects La Cresenta, Tujunga, and Palmdale together. Due to the Station Fire leaving a lot of grounds burnt and such, and incoming rains and snow.

This should be intresting to listen to.

Here are the frequencies I have retrieved out of the data base for Cal Trans in the ANF area.

868.0375 and 858.9875 Mt Lukens
860.9875 and 859.7375 Mt Pinetoes
857.7375 Hauser in Palmdale
856.9875 Oat Mt
8569875 car to car
853.9125 ?
858.7375 near Gorman

From where you are you might be able to hear them simplex up there on Crest. But the little I've heard has just been on Lukens I think.
 

JayMojave

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Hello Dave: Ok good deal, I will be listening in.

Here are the Angles National Forest Frequencies I have:
172.375 406.225
170.000 406.425
170.075 408.7725
169.950 408.750
169.200 408.675
169.175 410.625
169.125 415.225
168.600 415.275
168.200 415.325
168.075 415.350
168.025
166.125
164.9375
164.9350

They will probably have Helo's doing patrol runs looking over the burnt areas for mud slides. So if anyone has anything different would like to hear about it.

Jay in the Mojave
 

DPD1

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Whole world has been floating away down here and still not a peep from the guys in orange.

Lots of the big stuff that happens in the forest gets played out on the LASD - Area North, or one of the County Wides. Or the LACoFD area resp. 470.4875. The actual forest people seem to take a lot of that stuff in stride and usually don't talk a lot.
 

wolter

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Right. And they won't be out on the roads unless they absolutely must be. Rain and not-so-skilled drivers make for very hazardous conditions. Things like clogged storm drains will usually be relayed by phone.
 

Uplink

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CALTRANS-PINETOS, 860.98750, PL 110.9 is definitely an active freq, heard in the Santa Clarita and San Fernando valleys. Especially during the recent rains, not super busy, but usually when something big comes up, also was a useful freq when we had the fire the 5 FWY tunnel in the Newhall Pass, and all the detours were happening. I have head some stuff on the car-to-car chan.but only very seldom.
 
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DPD1

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Yeah, I think that's the one that I have been hearing a little bit now and then.
 
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