New to RR

[n1rum]

Hi all,

I didn't see a general place for introductions (sorry if I missed it!), or for that matter if it's regular practice around here , but I figured an AZ forum would make some sense.

I live in the Flagstaff area, as I have for about 20 years. I grew up in the northeast, near Camden, NJ. As a kid (1980s) my family had a scanner. It was an old Bearcat base station, and listening could be wild at times, especially Camden. Fast forward to now, I'm just getting back into the hobby, and picked up a Uniden SDS-100 in the last couple days. Still getting used to the changes in technology, like trunking, DMR, and NXDN (I bought all the Uniden upgrades except ProVoice, since from what I can see they are all used in this area). I got Sentinel up and running on my poor Linux laptop, so favorites lists, firmware updates, etc. have been started / completed.

I also have a ham license (Technician no-code when I first passed the exam in the early 90s). I've kept the ham license active, though I haven't used it much over the years. That's probably the next step, buying a ham radio. And yes, my call sign is N1RUM, luck of the draw getting "rum."

As to what I listen to, I'm fairly wide open, listening to anything I can find right now. Not surprising, it's been mostly highway and local dispatch so far. I would love to find some aviation activity and more railroad, considering the nearby airport and all the trains passing through.

Anyway, just a long-winded "Hi! Hope you're all well. Looking forward to participating." Feel free to ask any questions (or not). I wouldn't be surprised if I missed something obvious.

 

[fxdscon]

Anyway, just a long-winded "Hi! Hope you're all well. Looking forward to participating.

Welcome to the forums!

 

[AJAT]

Welcome to RR. I am in Navajo County. About an hour and half from you. I also lived in NJ for a few years. Bayonne. You have the flagstaff airport up there, you should get some good ACT reception. Have fun with your SDS

 

[MiCon]

Welcome, N1RUM.
I live in Yavapai County, so I won't be much help with specifics. I don't have a digital capable scanner, mainly because everything here is VHF & UHF analog. I took a quick look at the Coconino County DB, it appears there's a fair amount of local stuff you can listen to, some digital but mostly analog. I'm referring to mostly the public safety stuff.

Aviation: The RR DB lists the freqs for the airports and ARTCC's. If you have a decent antenna you shouldn't have any problems receiving a/c. Also try airnav.com for the local approach and departure freqs. There's not much military aviation activity in your area except for the a/c flying overhead or nearby, enroute to their destination. Not all military a/c use ads-b radar, but if you check adsbexchange.com you might occasionally see one passing through your area.

Railroad: Again, the RR DB lists most of the railroad activity in your area. It's under the AZ listings.

Considering we're going into the summer fire season, you might want to try the USFS and AZ Forestry freqs.

I hope this helps.

BTW, I grew up in Somerset County, NJ in the 60's & 70's.

 

[n1rum]

Thank you all for the welcome! I added railroad and aviation from the DB, I think I'm mostly getting Phoenix railroad, but this weekend I'll see what I can find. Thanks Mike for the other websites that can help.

I have a feeling in part I just need to spend more time in Sentinel and learning what changed over the years.

 

[fxdscon]

I have a feeling in part I just need to spend more time in Sentinel and learning what changed over the years.

Check out the "Easier to Read" manuals here:

for Sentinel.....

SDS Sentinel Software Manual

for the SDS100....

Easier to Read SDS100/200 Digital Scanner Manual

 

[es93546]

You will be able to hear the Coconino, Kaibab and Prescott National Forests. When you go to the map shown in "Browse" on the main database page, that is, click on browse on the database page. At the bottom of the map you will find the words, "Nationwide Frequencies" and click on them. On the page that follows scroll down to "Federal." Scroll down to "National Interagency Fire Center" Program most of those frequencies in. Leave out the Logistics frequencies, those are mainly used for repeater links. You might want to, just for the hey of it, include the fire camp frequencies. Don't program in the UHF (406-420 MHz) frequencies under "Aircraft." Program the VHF AM aviation frequencies. My suggestion is you set up one bank, group, list, whatever they are called on you radio. Don't listen to this bank regularly as they are only used on large, complex wildland fires.

If a large fire occurs somewhere on the South Kaibab, most of the Coconino or the eastern portion of the Prescott, this bank will be very useful. Frequencies not listed on the Radio Reference (RR) database (RRDB) will be used on some fires. Keep track of the posts under "Arizona Incidents and Breaking News" Click on the top link "2024 (or current year in the future) AZ Wildland Fires." People who have figured out (mostly by listening or doing a frequency search) frequencies being used for various fires. The aviation frequencies listed are for the first day (initial attack) and will change the next morning of a large fire. Figuring those out, along with air to ground frequencies, is what takes a bit of searching around.

Go to the Arizona database page. Next to the county map on the top, on the right, is a list of frequencies groups and find "Arizona Federal." Scroll down to "Forest Service." Program in the two repeater nets you will find for each of the three National Forests I named above. Program the air to ground and air to air frequencies for each forest that are listed under "Interagency Dispatch Centers" and will be listed under "Flagstaff, Williams and Prescott." Under "Common Use" find the three Southwestern Region tactical frequencies, they might be used even without a fire. Program in 168.3500, that is used as the "Travel Channel" in AZ and NM. When more than one vehicle is traveling, they use this frequency to talk about where to get gas, where to get meals, what motels they might have to stay in and general chit chat as they motor on.

If you live in east Flagstaff you won't have a chance of hearing Grand Canyon National Park. If you live west of Anderson Mesa, try playing around with the frequencies listed for the park. Law Enforcement is encrypted full time and that's too bad as that is where most of the action is. Try listening to all the other nets, admin, fire, tactical and you might hear either repeaters located at Desert View (eastern Grand Canyon) or Hopi Point (west of the south rim village). The nets are networked, which means all repeaters can be heard on each repeater. So you can hear North Rim traffic on either Desert View or Hopi Point. You might need an outdoor antenna to hear this park. If you can, keep in mind the South Rim is one of the busiest areas of any National Park. Lots of medicals, lots of search and rescues, a fair amount of fire traffic, a small amount of admin (most of the personnel) and a small amount of maintenance traffic. When I lived in west Flagstaff I had a good base scanner, but only the whip antenna on it in my living room. With a roof top antenna I think I would have heard the park, but don't know for sure.

Don't forget to program in the Arizona Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection and Arizona Dept. of Game and Fish. Game and Fish has a networked system also. You will hear units all over the state. At least that is how it was when I lived there, early to late 1970's.

You won't hear any BLM or U.S. Fish and Wildlife traffic. The lands managed by each are too far away.

You can also hear some traffic from the Navajo and Hopi Reservations. They have some fire frequencies and have a wildland fire and game and fish workload. They have repeaters on Mt. Elden, which will boom into town. You won't hear everything as they only use Elden for their southern areas. I didn't try to listen to these when I lived there.

This is a lot to read through and is all oriented to natural resource management agencies. That is because I worked a U.S. Forest Service career, which started on the Kaibab National Forest.

The monsoon season, which starts a lot of wildland fires, which is a week or two out. It used to arrive on July 4th, nearly every year I lived there.

I hope this is of interest to you and is helpful.

 

[n1rum]

Thank you, very helpful!