Nevada Roll Call

[parrotheadlasvegas]

Hey there guys ! i just found this site the other day and have been reading ever since. I'll be getting a brand new PRO-97 on Christmas Day and I can't wait! I live over on the southeast side of town, right near Sunset and Sandhill, so I'm hoping I'll be able to hear McCarren pretty well from there. I work on the northwest side fo town, up near Cheyanne and Buffalo, so should be a good commute to listen on and maybe a bit at work ... I might be able to pick up Nellis along with North Las Vegas airports, NHP, Metro and all the rest.

Thanks for putting together such a great site and I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year as well!!!

 

[SCPD]

I've lived in Mono County, right next to Nevada since 1981. When I lived in Bridgeport and worked on the Toiyabe National Forest I was up in Gardnerville about once per month and Reno nearly as often. Gardnerville on days off and Reno for work.

Now I live in Mammoth Lakes and can listen to Mineral County (Corey Peak and Pilot Peak), Nye County (Pilot Peak and Warm Springs), and Esmeralda County (Palmetto) from here. The 150 MHz illegal NHP trunked system is still booming in here off Corey. I can't hear the control channel for the state shared system on 800 MHz even with an amplifier. The 150 MHz system is interfering with licensed users here in Mono County.

Right now I'm in northern Sparks at some friend's house for Thanksgiving and listening to the 800 MHz state system and the Washoe County Regional Radio System and having fun trying to figure out all the talkgroups not listed in the RR database.

I looked up the Public Safety Answering Point for Washoe County and see that everyone but Sparks participates in one communications center located north of town on the east side of 395. Does anyone know if Sparks actually has their own PSAP and communications center? If so, does anyone know why they chose not to participate in the Regional Center.

I had to subsitute another frequency for the control channel in channel six of this system. The 86x.300 frequency did not work as there was not a data transmission heard on it when I put it into coventional receive. I found four frequencies in Police Call licensed to Washoe County not on the RR listings and tried one of them (868.1785? - the scanner is in another room right now) in place of the 86x.300 MHz frequency and it doesn't appear I'm having any trouble following all the talkgroups. Can someone in the Reno areas verify that I've programmed the system correctly with this change?

I have an old listing from 1990 or so for all the rural county radio systems in Nevada. I will have to compare it with the listeings for NV on this website. Not too much has changed in most of those counties and my list might be useful.

 

[JoeyC]

The freqs and LCN for Red Peak site are just as listed in the RR database. There is a birdie on 866.3 (LCN06) but that doesn't interfere with my trunking and it IS a valid freq that is still in use (just verified that conventionally) and must be programmed for the system to trunk properly.

868.175 is in LCN13 on Red Peak. 868.1785 isn't valid, maybe you meant 868.1875? I've not heard anything on that freq.

Sparks does have its own dispatch center, where Reno and Washoe Co. are together. Dunno why. Theres also a dispatch facility in Incline I believe for the Tahoe units.

I've never heard any trunking on the illegal 150mHz freqs of the NHP. They are all conventional repeaters from what I've heard.

Since your from Mono Co. Is the SO using 136.5 or 141.3 for the PL on 154.8? I've heard both used. Maybe they use different PLs for different areas of the county? Also, what is they are ID'ing with on the air, Mono ONE? Is there a Mono TWO?

Joe
Reno/San Diego

 

[SCPD]

The 136.5 tone is used for the repeater on Conway and the 141.3 tone is used for the repeater on Sweetwater. Sweetwater is on a small peak east of the 395/108 junction (Sonora Junction). Mono 1 is the PSAP for all of Mono County. Mono 2 was the south county sheriffs substation located south of the Highway 203 off ramp. It used to be staffed 24/7 and dispatched units for the south county before the mandatory 911 operation started in 1983, which resulted in the one PSAP. The substation was staffed for part of the day after that for a few years but it was closed sometime around 1988.

The "one" after the county is a common way to ID the sheriff's communication center of a county in California. I've heard other counties, mostly in the northern part of the state use the same procedure.

I arrived in Reno last Wednesday with the Washoe system programmed in. I was in Spanish Springs and figured the Red Peak repeater would work quite well. The system was quite active when I manually selected the channels conventionally but it would not track. When I selected all the frequenices one at a time, I could not receive the control channel. I then began to search between 866 and 868 and found four control frequencies and looked them up in Police Call. The first one I found to be licensed to Washoe County I put in channel six in place of 866.300 and the radio then began to track. The frequency is 866.275. I watched the radio carefully and it seemed to be tracked correctly. This morning before leaving there it seemed like I may have missed a couple of dispatches for Reno fire. I would hear apparatus talk about a call that I didn't hear the original call out for. If this was true I must have been missing one frequency.

On the way home I heard Reno Fire dispatches on the NSRS on McClellan Peak. I wasn't aware of the state transmitting traffic on the Washoe County Regional system.

When I was manually stepping through all 15 of the Washoe system, I noticed a lot of traffic with all the frequencies being used very often. It would seem that the system may be maxed out already and might need additional frequencies. Does this seem to be a correct observation?

 

[SCPD]

Never mind! I programmed my radio late Tuesday night and entered 868.275 in LCN 1 instead of 866.275. Of course the radio did not track as I now see that 866.275 can sometimes be used as the control frequency. I did not have the latest information for this system with me as I have my printer down after rearranging my office.

I'm surprised the radio trunked so well considering the crazy job I did by substituting 866.275 in place of 866.300 in LCN 6.

This is what I get when I program long into the night before leaving on a trip the next morning.

 

[JoeyC]

Thanks for the Mono info! Will be driving thru again next week.

I've also had shoddy reception (when mobile) driving north from Spanish Springs along Pyramid Hwy then all of a sudden crystal clear even further north. (I also receive the site 5+ bars in South Reno.)

I've also heard RFD and WSO on that McClellan site on occasion. I suppose the site provides better coverage for areas of Washoe Valley that Slide Mtn doesn't and thats why its carried on the state system.

 

[SCPD]

Other Mono County repeater PL tones. 146.2 is for Leviathan, 114.8 for Antelope Mountain northwest of Benton, 127.3 for June Mountain, 151.4 for Lincoln Mtn. (actually not on Lincoln now, which is a peak near Mammoth Mountain, but on Casa Ridge just east of the old Mono 2) and 131.8 for Casa Diablo Peak, located southeast of Crowley Lake. It is the forested hill you can see to your northeast as you drive northbound on 395 up Sherwin Grade. There is also a repeater located at the Crowley Lake fire station using 123.0. This repeater is only on "County Fire" or 153.860. All the other repeater locations have both the S.O. on 154.800 and County Fire. Another frequency recently added by Mono County is their tactical simplex of 158.880. The old Benton repeater was located in the fire station there and I believe it was relocated to Antelope Mountain. I have not verified this yet.

EMS (154.025) just has Sweetwater, Conway, and Casa Diablo and the tones are the same. In the Mammoth area simplex is used as the Mammoth Hospital is the answering point for all ambulance to hospital traffic in the county. 154.025 is only used for ambulance to hospital and the county fire net is used to dispatch them. Another net is the county admin/public works system on 153.920. They have repeaters at the same locations as EMS, but the output tone is common for all the repeaters. 118.8 for public works and 103.5 for admin. The input tones are pretty complex as each repeater has two different input tones depending on the use (admin or public works) of the radio. Cell phones have reduced the admin traffic to almost nothing.

About 18 months ago Mammoth PD left the sheriff's net and put their own repeater into use for dispatching. Mono 1 is still the dispatching point for them. 155.595 used to be a simplex tactical for the department, but a new frequency was obtained and a repeater was placed up on the upper gondola station at the top of Mammoth Mountain. So far I haven't found them using a tactical frequency.

The last net for Mono County is for the Eastern Sierra Unified School District and is located on Conway Summit on 153.980 with a PL of 146.2.

One of these days I will submit all the info I have for Mono County on the RR database. What is there now is only partial information.

 

[JoeyC]

Wow, lots of good detailed info. Submit that!

 

[MrTommy]

Just found the site today and logged on. I live in Carson City, but drive a truck between Reno and Salt Lake three times a week. I'm still working off an old Bear Tracker but I plan to upgrade to the 21st Century early next year... The only thing I can get on the old 'Tracker' is the "Bear in the Air" in the canyon between Reno and Fernley. That and the all important DOT snowplows, which is actually more useful than the NHP stuff.

Loving this site already!

 

[dylan1055]

dylan ... henderson

nuff said

 

[SCPD]

That and the all important DOT snowplows, which is actually more useful than the NHP stuff.

I've been trying to tell people that for years. There doesn't seem to be a lot of interest in figuring out highway department radio systems, call signs, districts, etc. I've had highway department frequencies in my radios ever since the first programmable scanner came out. I find that highway department personnel talk about the condition of the road in far more detail than highway departments do. Having their frequencies in my scanner when mobile has saved me dozens of hours tied up in traffic.

I also listen to utility companies quite a bit, especially during storms. Weather affects electric transmission and distribution and you can often hear what the problem areas are before the fire and police departments start responding to weather related problems. The Nevada Shared System, with the utility companies on it, makes it quite convenient to listen to them. I wish we could figure out their talkgroups better. The southern Nevada directory lists them but it is hard to decipher the abbrevations.

 

[jimcamella]

Living in Sun City Aliante in North Las Vegas. I-215 loop and Aliante pkwy. Just joined tonight. Looking for a recommendation on a new UHF digital that can do PRO25. Great info. Thanks.

 

[TOUGHLIFE]

Suggestion For P25 Radios

Living in Sun City Aliante in North Las Vegas. I-215 loop and Aliante pkwy. Just joined tonight. Looking for a recommendation on a new UHF digital that can do PRO25. Great info. Thanks.

I have the Uniden 396 and the RS Pro-96 and between them the Uniden wins by a big margin. You can do a lot more with that radio than the 96. Check it out at Uniden's web site or go play with one at Amateur Electronic Supply in Las Vegas assuming they have it in stock, although I accquired mine thru Radio World in Boulder City. Both work well on the Motorola digital TRS used at Nellis AFB for ground related activities.

 

[jimcamella]

Thanks for the tip! Heard good things about the Uniden, especially when it comes to rebanding updates. On my way. Happy New Year.

 

[Pro-95]

Wow, lot's of people on this forum now.

Exsmokey, I have taken a couple of trips through the 395 corridor. The close call picked up some additional freqs that I need to send to you to verify so they can be submitted. I won't submit them when I only heard them a couple times, driving by.

 

[jmlejeune]

Henderson

Just checking in as a newbie in Henderson.

Any help with the East side of Henderson Trunking would be great!!! I can get them West of 95 but no traffic East.

 

[joen7xxx]

MX 7000! I thought I was the only guy left on the planet with one of those!

 

[SCPD]

MX 7000! I thought I was the only guy left on the planet with one of those!

I have one also. It used to scan painfully slow and then I sent it to a place back east and now it is just slow. However, it is a good radio. Outstanding sensitivity on 800 MHz. With that funny angle for the keyboard/display it can be mounted in a variety of places in a vehicle. Mine is now relegated to a living room location where, if no other scanner is on, we can quickly turn on the MX-7000 when we hear a siren in town.

 

[joen7xxx]

Mine is the livingroom lounger scanner also. How does yours do with respect to being on frequency? A couple of years ago, mine got off frequency and I actually had to tweek the oscilator back to where is should have been. It was actually about 5 kc off, just enough to make everything sound terrible.

 

[SCPD]

Mine is the livingroom lounger scanner also. How does yours do with respect to being on frequency? A couple of years ago, mine got off frequency and I actually had to tweek the oscilator back to where is should have been. It was actually about 5 kc off, just enough to make everything sound terrible.

Mine is in the 2-3 kc range, but this is not consistent across all the bands. Low band is worse (probably 3-4 kc) and 800 MHz is close enough so that I don't notice a difference. When I bought it in the early 80's I used it to listen to Caltrans only. It was the first or one of the first 800 MHz radios available and Caltrans District 9 was the first, or one of the first, districts to convert to 800 MHz. In rural counties listening to Caltrans is not just a curiousity, but essential, especially in snow country.

How did you adjust the oscilator? If I remember correctly it takes an expensive piece of benchtop type equipment that generates signals at various frequencies and has an osciliscope or other display on it. I had a friend re-peak my old 8 crystal channel Regency hibander so it worked up in the 170 range so I could listen to Forest Service frequencies. Those things were not capable of good reception wider than about 5 MHz or so.