MOSWIN only has 3 towers that have a 151.xxx shown. Cole, Storade and Emminence. As was suggested, maybe some skip, or tropo.
How often or active does it appear to be w0hfc?
I plugged it into several radios and have not heard it on the air yet.
I also plugged it into an Icom R9000 to check for center frequency on 151.310 just in case that is not the true frequency center.
How strong does the signal appear at your QTH w0hfc?
I get pretty decent reception from that area here sitting up pretty high above the Missouri river bottom so I should not have any problems hearing it if it is a local signal.
I'm just east or northeast of the original Stl County EOC towers if you know where those are located. I actually sit a bit higher than the EOC's ground altitude but I don't have the nice towers to go along with it!
I'll sit on it plus record the radio set for P25 just in case I get something while at work.
I have one for you both, 155.865. It used to be licensed for Stl County OEM use but was cancelled after Slater really got going.
I noticed the other day that 155.865 is again licensed to Stl County under a new call at 25 watts out.
I plugged that one in and am getting an open carrier with no PL or DPL tone. I do hear a burst of what sounds like FSK or some form of telemetry data maybe once every 30 minutes or further apart but otherwise, it's just an open carrier.
I plugged it into a radio at work and also found the open carrier so that ruled out noise from my own equipment.
I recall going to one of the counties health centers down south around 30 and Lindbergh years ago and they had an air quality monitoring station setup in the back of the parking lot of that health center.
I recall it spitting out short bursts of data on the same frequency but that was some years back now.
I'm guessing this may be the same thing I'm hearing today but not sure. I know they had a few of these air quality monitoring stations around the county back then. I'll need to try and remember to monitor that one when storm season gets here and see if traffic picks up.
The ones I did find years ago did have simple weather monitoring equipment as well but the main sensor appeared to be a jar or container of sorts that sucked in air for some type of air quality measurements.
I recall being able to hear what sounded like a slow speed vacuum pump pulling in air through the jar for sampling.
None of them were located near any hazardous areas like near say a certain landfill for example!
In fact, the ones I did find years ago were located in what I'd call pretty clean air environments so who knows what they were/are monitoring for.
I never heard any form of ID or voice, just the very short bursts of data on the frequency. That was years ago and the amount of data bursts I hear today is even way less frequent.
Something must trigger them as they don't spew out the data bursts at any regular intervals that I could determine today.
It's more or less when some threshold is met before they are triggered to send the short data burst.
Can either of you hear an open carrier from your QTH on 155.865 MHz?
At one time, it was listed as something to do with weather for the county but I don't recall ever hearing any voice traffic on the frequency.
I think the database here still lists the frequency under Stl County OEM but it is listed as deprecated (and expired) now. The new active call sign is WQXB616 and it appears to be licensed in use for five areas around the county.
One of those locations is the counties new ECC they built along with the Slater system.
One of the other locations is the old EOC site just down the road from my QTH.
As listed under the new call at the FCC site, locations 3,4 and 5 are all within my reception area and site 3 appears to be on the tower at the old EOC location so you may be able to hear that one as it is shown as being up about 230 feet on the tower.
It would be interesting to see if either of you can hear the open carrier on 155.865. I'm more curious as to why the continuous open carrier I can hear on the frequency. Who knows, maybe that is how they know the transmitter is working as far apart the bursts of data seem to occur at times today.
I'll report back if I hear any type of digital signals on 151.310 from my end.
I actually noticed that 151.310 is really licensed for the Department of Conservation and not DNR. DNR or Department of Natural Resources are actually two separate entities or agencies within the state.
One is heard on Moswin but the other is not AFAIK.
I think DNR is actually a division of the state parks department.
Why we need both has always been a mystery as they both seem to have almost the same job functions.
The database here is confusing as well as it mentions state parks department as well as DNR for 151.310.
If you look at the FCC site, 151.310 is mainly licensed to a division of the DNR known as the state parks or Department of Conservation.
They both even publish their own free monthly or quarterly magazines free of charge for state residents.
So when you hear say "Ranger 35" come up on Moswin, is that a DNR ranger or a state park ranger?!
I was always confused by the two agencies in this state.
Try running 151.310 and 151.160 through the FCC site and you should see both agencies if you select a common call sign under each search result. One will be DNR and the other is the Department of Conservation.
Very similar job functions as well.
Of course both are licensed in what used to be reserved for the conservation or parks type operations when the FCC allocated ranges of frequencies for specific user types.