New Frequencies Issued by FCC

[TheIceMan]

> The New Jersey State Attorney General's office in Trenton, NJ has just
> received authorization for statewide use of the following frequencies.
> This is the same agency that received authorization for the two UHF
> frequencies we previously shared with you. The probability that these
> are associated with upcoming convention. Program these and take a
> listen!

While I have no idea if they are using them for convention-related
communications, these are definately not just for the convention.

Every public safety (PD, FD, EMS, ...) radio should have access to these
channels as they are nationwide interoperability channels created by the
FCC in late 2000. These are the VHF High and UHF equivalents of the
ICALL/ITAC channels found in the 800 MHz band.

http://wireless.fcc.gov/releases/fcc00-348.pdf
(Scroll to paragraph 82, which starts on page 37)

VCALL 155.7525
VTAC1 151.1375
VTAC2 154.4525
VTAC3 158.7375
VTAC4 159.4725

UCALL 453.2125 / 458.2125
UTAC1 453.4625 / 458.4625
UTAC2 453.7125 / 458.7125
UTAC3 453.8625 / 458.8625

They are narrowband only and interoperability is the primary use for these
channels as of January 1, 2005. They specifically are not to be used for
communications internal to one agency but rather for multiple agencies --
be they neighboring towns or from different parts of the country -- to
talk to each other even if they don't have any other common channels.

If you are interested in monitoring anything more than local activity, you
should definately have these in your scanner just as you have SPEN and
JEMS channels, for example. (And, even for local use, they can be used
for police and fire from the same town to interoperate if no other channel
is available.)

And, since some of us are involved in public safety... you should get
these channels programmed in to your radios. You only have to be
specifically licensed for them if you want to setup a base station or
repeater. As long as you hold another valid FCC license for public safety
frequencies, you can put these into your mobile or portable radio without
a separate license.

 

[NINN27]

just a side note, these frequencies have been known for a while (at least where i am at), just not finalized until just now with the FCC approval. the EMA here in maryland has already been laying out guidelines on how and when to use these.

 

[GM]

Are there any PL/DPL tones to program, are they CSQ, or does it depend on the agency/state? Any intel. is greatly appreciated.

 

[Thunderbolt]

Very interesting! I wonder when they will catch on across the nation? I think this is a great step forward in promoting better interoperability among public safety first responders, and Emergency Mgmt./Homeland Security agencies.

73's

Ron

 

[INDY72]

Been posted in Police Call for YEARSS..... and they will most likely be CSQ with a few exceptions

 

[ericcarlson]

The way I've seen them listed is CSQ on the "call" channels and 156.7 Hz CTCSS on the "tac" channels.

-Eric

 

[Alarmroom]

Alot of states are adopting 156.7 as the CTCSS since they will follow somewhat the 800 Mhz ICALL/ITAC channels. The one problem is that there are many agencies that utilize the UTAC channels as a primary. I guess that we'll see when 0101/05 rolls around.