Low Band in Ohio

[dwelty]

Hello,
Any Public Safety/Public Works/Government on low band any more? How about any businesses on low band? In Ohio.
Thanks

 

[phask]

Hello,
Any Public Safety/Public Works/Government on low band any more? How about any businesses on low band? In Ohio.
Thanks

I think the only thing in my area is one township road maintenance. There may be more, but that is all I ever monitor.

 

[wa8pyr]

I think the only thing in my area is one township road maintenance. There may be more, but that is all I ever monitor.

At least one county (Licking) still pages fire on low band although they're on MARCS for ops now; Pickaway County might start paging on low band again as an alternate notification method separate from 800 MHz.

I haven't really searched low band in quite awhile, maybe I need to do that again just for giggles.

 

[kf8yk]

Geauga County still uses low band for fire paging, Lake County has a few fire departments using it for station alerting as well.

 

[digitalanalog]

I decided to search and "KF8YK" was correct, I got 46.140mhz PL 114.8, Geauga County Fire dispatch calling Chardon fire to a Tree down accross the road with wires down, I heard them dispatch 3 times in a 20 min. period. 4 bars on my BC895xlt.

Thats 60+ miles away from me, I'd say the antenna was working very good on land band. I will be scanning/searching for anything else I hear I will post it here.

 

[andrewtv08]

At least one county (Licking) still pages fire on low band although they're on MARCS for ops now; Pickaway County might start paging on low band again as an alternate notification method separate from 800 MHz.

I haven't really searched low band in quite awhile, maybe I need to do that again just for giggles.

Licking County hasn't paged on low band for several years; in fact the dispatch center doesn't even have low band capability any more. Mary Ann Twp FD has some sort of repeater set up, where when they are dispatched over high band, it is rebroadcast over low band for old pagers. But that is the extent of low band in Licking County.

 

[W8UU]

Duplicate post

 

[W8UU]

I'm not aware of any low band use in southeastern Ohio. If its not MARCS, the individual counties have invested in VHF, UHF and even some MotoTrbo setups. Business use is very sporadic and is almost gone, too. We have the perfect topography (lots and lots of hills) for making low band the top choice for two way communications, but there's nothing in use any more. On a related note, its hard to find a manufacturer who builds and sells low band radio equipment. Maybe Midland or Kenwood?

 

[wa8pyr]

I'm not aware of any low band use in southeastern Ohio. If its not MARCS, the individual counties have invested in VHF, UHF and even some MotoTrbo setups. Business use is very sporadic and is almost gone, too. We have the perfect topography (lots and lots of hills) for making low band the top choice for two way communications, but there's nothing in use any more. On a related note, its hard to find a manufacturer who builds and sells low band radio equipment. Maybe Midland or Kenwood?

Kenwood does, but I forget the model. California HP just bought a bunch of them because a single control head will support multiple radios (they're using low band primary, along with VHF and 700/800 for interop). As far as I know CHP still understands that low band works best in hilly terrain.

 

[Volfirefighter]

As far as I know CHP still understands that low band works best in hilly terrain.

And during the hot summer months at night when skip is active, they can be heard clear as a bell here in Ohio

 

[redbeard]

I miss sitting in the radio room at the VFD in East OH and listening to Florida fire depts coming in on 33.94. Sometimes even hearing them over my Minitor 1 pager while sitting in the amplified charger base.

 

[eorange]

Last summer I caught a mass casualty drill in the 30 MHz band coming from Massachusetts, clear as a bell on my Icom R6 with a whip.

 

[wa8pyr]

I miss sitting in the radio room at the VFD in East OH and listening to Florida fire depts coming in on 33.94. Sometimes even hearing them over my Minitor 1 pager while sitting in the amplified charger base.

When the band was open. . .

When I worked for a fire department in eastern Franklin County we were still on 33.92 MHz. Sunday mornings around 1000 were always fun; we invariably caught a county in California doing their station radio checks and would always give them a "Station 160 clear" after they finished. Their response was always "Thanks, Ohio, you're loud and clear too."

33.82 MHz was still the primary for LAFD for the San Fernando Valley in the late 80s; they generally boomed in on my scanner at home.

39.58 MHz (still in our console at the PD until the early 90s when we updated the radio system and got new consoles) was good for listening to California Highway Patrol in addition to the many agencies in SE Ohio still using it.

Another FD I worked for was on 33.76 MHz; the Mexican petroleum companies on that frequency got so bad we had to put PL on the radios.

Fun times.

 

[W8UU]

I remember when 33.86 MHz in Central Ohio sounded like CB Channel 19. One fire department after another talking, tones galore, and a lot of rapid fire "get on, get off" communication to keep the channel as open as possible. Than came the skip ...