Northern California discussions

What type of "Radio Person" are you...??? (you may check more than 1)

  • Ham

    Votes: 21 51.2%
  • Fire

    Votes: 28 68.3%
  • Law

    Votes: 27 65.9%
  • Business

    Votes: 10 24.4%
  • Security

    Votes: 9 22.0%
  • Utilities

    Votes: 9 22.0%
  • Family / Vacation / Travel

    Votes: 11 26.8%
  • RETIRED

    Votes: 6 14.6%

  • Total voters
    41
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RadioGuy1951

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I see threads for the major URBAN areas of California, but there is SO much going on in the counties of Northen California...

I hope I'm not duplication an existing thread...I looked and don't think so...

The Northern California "discussion lounge" is now OPEN and serving your favorite non alcoholic drink and virtual BBQ...no PL, just CSQ
 

RadioGuy1951

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NW California FIRE WX link

A quiet day here in paradise

Just a "radio check" on the Mendo SO "Blue" via the Spanish Peak rptr...

Here is a LINK to the NOAA Fire WX page for NW California...

92* at 1345 hrs...tomorrow is expected to be warmer...
 

SCPD

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I'm not sure why you titled this "northern california" when there are rural areas all over the state, including most of San Bernardino and eastern portions of Riverside Counties as well as Inyo and Mono Counties, the latter being my long time country of residency.

There is definitely an emphasis on urban areas on the California forum and on the forums of other states. Keep in mind that those of us in rural areas are a smaller minority than at any other time in the nation's history, now at 15%. The amount of activity on the forum reflects this.

Take a look at the forum for Wyoming, North Dakota, Montana, Alaska and New Mexico. You will find that state's with a large rural population have very little activity.

I like this poll as I would like to know about the preferences of people in rural areas is as well. My perception is that urban area hobbyists listen to law enforcement similar to how they watch TV, for entertainment. The incidents they hear almost never involve someone they know or a location that they are really well acquainted with. They don't need to listen to weather reports that affect their travel plans to the degree that those in rural areas have to, especially those areas with frequent snow, fog, windstorms and the like. So I would suspect that urban area folks listen mostly to law enforcement.

My experience in rural areas, 38 years, versus growing up in southern California for the first 28 years of my life, is that people listen for different reasons. They know the locations; they are affected themselves, they know quite of few of the people involved, or the people affected, or in my case the officers and other agency employees as well; they listen because weather of storm conditions will affect their's or other friends/family plans;and they listen because there aren't any live coverage news organizations in the area or because their newspapers, if they have one, are weekly instead of daily. People in urban areas may share a few of these same characteristics but not to the same degree.

I find that urban area people are far less likely to listen to Caltrans or county/city road departments. These are essential where I live. I listen to SCE frequently because of power outages. Given it is a trunked system that is a bit complex to understand many rural people don't listen to it because most rural scanner owners have radios built in the 80's or early 90's. At least this is the case in the scanners I see in my area. The two county region I live in has only one trunked system besides SCE and that is Mammoth Mountain's. If you mention trunked or CTCSS people don't seem to have any or want any knowledge of these topics. They are going to get a rude awakening when narrowband is required. "Henry, why can't we hear the CDF air to ground so well."

I could have checked every box on your poll and it depends on circumstance.In general I listen to fire and natural resource agencies due to my career in same and because I was more qualified and experienced in fire than in law enforcement, even though I wore both hats. I listen to Mammoth Mountain during or just after storms as it gives me some idea of snow conditions and I use the information later when I go cross country skiing.

Thanks for creating this thread. I hope lots of rural folks respond.
 

jeffreyinberthoud

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Isn't that why back in the good old days of :pYAHOO GROUPS:p we had a NORCAL FIRE , BAYSCAN ,CENCAL FIRE (mine;)), AND A SOCAL FIRE all of those groups did more than just fire and were "localized" enough for most.....Im just saying:roll:
 

RadioGuy1951

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North versus south

I created this with Northern Calif in mind, figuring that IF somebody was inspired in the boonies of Socal, that they would create a forum for it...

Different folks have differeing opinions as to where Northern Calif starts, and where Socal starts...

If one looks at this on a Latitude level, Mono County is in NorCal as is Yosemite...

On the other hand, if you look at this on a regional level, Inyo County might be considered a Socal area due to the presence of Socal Edison / LA Dept of Water & Power...and also that the Hwy 395 corridor is a desert area on the western edge of the Great Basin geographical area...

Everybody has their own definition of NorCal and SoCal...and I'm not prone to nitpick about area's / regions...so folks are free to post as they will...

In my warped view as a NATIVE of NorCal, Socal for me starts at Santa Barbara along the coast on Hwy 101, south of the Grapevine on Hwy 5, and Ridgecrest on Hwy 395...

I live in the State Of Jefferson area, and can see the ocean thru a gap in the mountains...

Yes, I agree that rural folks have different listening habits than the urbanites...CalTrans and PG&E are popular in the winter when roads and power interuptions occur, CDF and USFS are popular during fire season...

PS...any typo's that I make are entirely of my own doing, with no help from others...
 
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RadioGuy1951

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Your own rescue

Have you ever heard your own rescue on the airwaves...???

This happened to me years ago...

We had a very heavy overnight snow, and my porch collapsed and I was TRAPPED inside...

In retrospect, the poles that supported the porch roof weren't heavy enough...

And all my windows were sealed up, and probably too small for me to wiggle out of anyway...

This was my temporary Airstream trailer dwelling...

The porch collapse didn't wake me up, but the urge to pee sure did...and soon it was time to let the cat out, except that the door would not budge...

So I did a quick assessment of my water & supplies, how deep the snow was looking out a window, and how long it would take the snow to melt down...and most importantly my comms ability...

The cell phone was worthless, and I was stumped until I realized I had my 2m Kenwood TR2500 handheld Ham radio, and just enough power to hopefully run it...

I had a deep cycle battery in my Jeep Wagoneer, and a Jones plug in the grill, and 12 AWG cord running from the Airstream to the grill plug...this was my only 12VDC power source at the time...the 2m radio was in a powered mobile adaptor, so I was able to get 12vdc to it...

I lucked out in that I was able to hit a repeater in the Willits area, and even better was the fact that there was a person connected with the radio club down there (35 miles away) standing watch on that frequency...

She started the wheels rolling by contacting CDF MEU HQ at Howard Forest on landline...the VIP program was new in those days and dispatch was not at all sure why a Ham radio op was contacting them...

As it turns out somebody I knew was in earshot and they came into the ECC and took the call...

Caltrans was plowing Rattlesnake Summit, and they were diverted to start up the mtn (which is above the summit), but they couldn't get through the snow drifts...and th elocal FD was called out and their SnoCat broke down...and the CalStar chopper couldn't fly due to the low cloud base...

What to do...??? At least I wasn't alone, as long as the deep cycle battery in my Wagoneer didn't quit (and remember that a COLD battery doesn't have as much capacity as one at room temp)...

I was able to get my door open about 1 inch...just enough to get the rifle barrel through...and I let off 3 groups of 3 (a recognised distress signal) from my Winchester, but nobody could hear it in this very sparsely populated area...

I was hearing my own rescue on my scanner, and the difficulties they encountered...hearing voices I knew and used to work with...

About half an hour later I heard voices outside...

It turns out a neighbor heard the rescue call go out on MEU Local...he's a retired EMT...and he and another person snow-shoed almost a mile to get to me, and they pulled the porch roof away far enough for me to get out...

What saved me:

1)...the hand held Ham radio was connected to a 2m external antenna on the roof...

2)...The heavy snow did not dislodge the wire feeding the 12vdc from the grill plug on my Wagoneer...

3)...There was somebody standing watch on that repeater frequency...

Since then I have a sturdy porch, a solar powered 12vdc set of T105 batteries, grid power, a telco landline, lots of water and food on hand, a much more powerful 2m radio, and an old Cushman TrackSter...

Just another day in the deep boonies...

On another note...it's one thing to be ON fire apperatus making a code 3 run...and kinda spooky to be involved in a TC and hear the code 3 run coming for you...
 
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SCPD

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Interesting story!

Mono County is served by Southern California Edison and the LA DWP owns land and has facilities in Mono County as well. DWP's furthest north water facilities are in the Mono Lake basin. They maintain the DC Pacific Intertie powerline all the way to a point in southern Oregon. They have a low band network to communicate with L.A. along the entire route.

Here in the eastern Sierra, which includes both Inyo and Mono Counties we are not really part of either southern or northern California, we consider ourselves as eastern California, or "the right side of California." It is a mistake to put Mono in one geographic area and Inyo in another as southern Mono and northern Inyo Counties have many ties to each other in the areas of government, economic, political and social interaction. The Inyo National Forest, BLM Bishop Field Office, SCE Bishop District, Caltrans District 9, the Eastern Sierra Transit Authority and most of the communications systems include both counties. All of this discussion is somewhat esoteric, however, it is important for us, especially when outside influences try to split the region in two when drawing up zones of influence.

The most absurd split is having the two counties in different ham radio ARRL area, with Mono County being in the Pacific Division, San Joaquin Section and Inyo County being in the Southwestern Division, Orange Section. Our 2 meter and 440 MHz repeaters are used from both counties and by very few hams outside the region due to the topography of the region.

The eastern Sierra should also include the eastern portion of Alpine, El Dorado, Placer, Sierra, Nevada and Plumas Counties. However, all of these have more land on the west side of the Sierra Nevada and thus are not a unique region like Inyo and Mono Counties. Include all of both in "Northern California" if the state must be divided into north and south.
 

RadioGuy1951

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I agree about the eastern side...

The point I was making is how different folks view what is one region or another...

I've been holed up just south of Bridgeport waiting for Tioga Pass to open up, and I have friends in Lonepine...

I've been amazed how many folks hanging out in the hot springs are from NW Calif

This shot is on the road to "Hoppy's Cabin" South of Whitney Portal Rd on the southern end of the Alabama Hills...

One of my favorite places is the Film Museum...

I was able to talk to somebody in Tonopah from Bishop via a 2m repeater east of Bishop (somewhere in the White Mtns...???) using that same Kenwood TR2500 (which I still have but don't use)...
 

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gmclam

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Southern California

I don't know if any of you have seen the maps of the counties in "southern California" trying to split off into a 51st state. That map does include Inyo county and does not include Los Angeles county.

I personally consider Mono & Inyo counties to NOT be part of northern California. I like to call them Eastern California, otherwise part of southern. Then I draw the line at Kern county, making Kern part of the north. My idea is that the mountains are the dividing line whether it be the Grapevine or Sierras roughly speaking.
 

lbfd09

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I don't know if any of you have seen the maps of the counties in "southern California" trying to split off into a 51st state. That map does include Inyo county and does not include Los Angeles county.

I personally consider Mono & Inyo counties to NOT be part of northern California. I like to call them Eastern California, otherwise part of southern. Then I draw the line at Kern county, making Kern part of the north. My idea is that the mountains are the dividing line whether it be the Grapevine or Sierras roughly speaking.

I have not seen any of those maps since the 60's when there was a major rift in the state with those from the south land seriously trying to split the state. I think I have most recently thought like you the dividing line is the Kern/LA county line. But having taken classes at the training center in Bakersfield I see many thinking Bakersfield as a part of Southern Calif. Kind of like the way Tracy is considered part of the SF Bay Area. I guess that's because of the short trip over the Grapevine.

I have been in "East California" only a few time - it's like a different country.

But, then when at the training center in Chico, I met up with some from Reading who came to Southern Calif. in Chico, so I guess it's all on what perspective you have of the state.
 

Ben96cal

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I guess I'm in the minority.. I also add "cencal" as well as norcal and socal.. Socal ends at the grapevine then it starts in cencal territory following the 5 and 99 north until you hit San Joaquin County, that's when Norcal comes into play which obviously goes to the OR border.. if we're going to have a "norcal" board it should start from Yolo County to the south all the way to the OR border..
 

RadioGuy1951

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Regions

Everybody has a bias as to which regions are where...I mentioned this in the start of this thread...

As a native (Northern) Californian I probably have a different perspective than somebody from a different area...

Somebody mentioned that they think of Kern Co as being in Central Cal...I understand the geographical gateway the Grapevine presents...yet Kern County also extends into the desert (which is the western portion of the Great Basin)...

Sometimes I think of our regions thus:

But trying to think of regions strictly along county lines is also problematic for me...so instead of political county lines as the defining factor, I usually think of my native state as geographic areas...less precise...but we're speaking in generalities here anyway...

Not to be ignored was the movement to create the State Of Jefferson...if you google it you can discover an interesting story...and who knows what the present day landscape would be if the attack on Pearl Harbor had not happened...

There is NO correct interpretation of our regions...YMMV...
 

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SCPD

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This is a 2011 proposal. It's quite interesting. 51st state

From this 30 year eastern Sierra resident point of view I think this proposal is really bad. I guess some people are not content with gerrymandering and now want to redraw state lines to accomplish the same thing?

It is interesting that the poll here shows a slight lead for listening to fire.
 

RadioGuy1951

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Poll

From this 30 year eastern Sierra resident point of view I think this proposal is really bad. I guess some people are not content with gerrymandering and now want to redraw state lines to accomplish the same thing?

It is interesting that the poll here shows a slight lead for listening to fire.


Hummmm..when I created the poll, I was thinking of what profession(s) the person was/is in...but it could also be interpreted as what the person listens to (I didn't think of that angle)...

Redrawing political (county or state) lines has been going on since humans first drew a line in the sand...whether we agree with the proposals or not...
 

gmclam

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Poll

Hummmm..when I created the poll, I was thinking of what profession(s) the person was/is in...but it could also be interpreted as what the person listens to (I didn't think of that angle)..
You didn't include enough categories for it to be considered as profession. It seems like there should be a "technical" category and not just lump everything into business.
 

RadioGuy1951

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Yup...

Yup...you're right...I didn't think of that catagory...

What KIND of technical profession(s) do you think would be good to include IF there was one...RF bench techs, broadcast CE's, govt radio sysops, steeplejacks...???

Any other catagories...???

I don't know if I can go back and still make mods to the poll...
 

RadioGuy1951

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SUBTITLE: What kind of radios do you USE...???

Perhaps a SUBTITLE might be: What kind of radios do you USE...???

That would be more accurate to what I was thinking, instead of the word "professions"...does this explain it better...???

"Retired" is kind of a catch all...I was thinking of somebody who used to use radios but now doesn't...inactive ham, former railroad employee, former cop or firefighter, etc...perhaps it's kinda ambigious...

It's been a while since I constructed a poll, and I can hereby certify that absolutely no sliderules were harmed in the thought process...
 

lbfd09

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From this 30 year eastern Sierra resident point of view I think this proposal is really bad. I guess some people are not content with gerrymandering and now want to redraw state lines to accomplish the same thing?

It is interesting that the poll here shows a slight lead for listening to fire.

I am still trying to figure out what this proposal is.... If it's to divide the forum up in to more regions I am only for it if each and EVERY city, community, gathering point, hilltop, and road junction has it's own section. I think it's silly subdivided now as one must look in more that one area to catchup on what's happening in California. Oh, wait - that's how they work things in the data base here - ya can't find every frequency that's used by your favorite agency with out looking up county common channels in the county section, state common channels in the state mutual response sections. And the national stuff, I have yet to figure out where that is hiding...

I like having one state posting and do my own filtering and sorting. I have a computer after all it's powerful enough to do at least that, in between the times I have it uploading new loads into my different radios and scanners..

I guess what my computer is saying here is, it's not that broken - DON'T muck with it.
 
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