NPS-USFWS conventional freq.

[Haley]

Could someone direct me to where I might find any conventional National Park Service Freq. or Fish and Wildlife Service freq. ? I have a Pro-96 I use for traveling, but would like to dedicate my 246T to some federal conventional freq. (BLM,Forest Service, NPS, or FWS). Are there any conventional freq. left for these services? Thanks for any help, Mike

 

[signal500]

Haley,

Here is a old list (1996) that might help you find some NPS frequencies:

http://www.panix.com/clay/scanning/Frequencies/Federal/park.txt

Also check the database for each state, here is Florida's:

National Park Service Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Fish and Wildlife for Kentucky:

Department of Fish and Wildlife Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

 

[Haley]

Thank you very much Signal 500. I realize I should have said in my intial post, that I was looking for common freq. used by these departments. A lot of readers probably thought I should have included a specific area. Your links will give me a great start, thank you for them. I just get tired of scanning the entire 162MHz-174MHz, and 406MHz-420MHz bands, just kind of hoping to narrow it down a little! Thanks, again, Mike

 

[SCPD]

Haley,

Here is a old list (1996) that might help you find some NPS frequencies:

http://www.panix.com/clay/scanning/Frequencies/Federal/park.txt

Also check the database for each state, here is Florida's:

National Park Service Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Fish and Wildlife for Kentucky:

Department of Fish and Wildlife Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

The last link is that of one states fish and wildlife agency. Haley was asking about frequency information for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a federal agency. The USFWS, among other functions and responsibilities, manages the National Wildlife Refuge system.

Information on the frequencies used by the USFWS is difficult or impossible to find. People who live within the reception area of a National Wildlife Refuge are either not interested in determining frequency use or do not report it. This agency might be the least well known of the federal land management agencies. It has the lowest ratio of employees per land area of any of them.

Haley, there are very few places where trunking is used by the five major land management agencies of the federal government, those being the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Of the top of my head I'm only aware of the trunked system used at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in the San Francisco Bay area. I don't recall if trunking is used for the Gateway National Recreation Area in New York or in the National Capital Region of the National Park Service.

Another interesting thing to note is the National Park Service employs P25 digital at many park units, whereas the other federal land management agencies do not. They are all required to have radios with digital capability, but, as far as I know, the NPS is the only one to use it in some parks. The NPS units I monitor in my area (Death Valley, Sequoia-Kings Canyon, and Yosemite National Parks) have all replaced their systems to narrow band standards, but they do not use digital.

I would like to see more members report frequency information for the USFWS so that it can be added to the database. There isn't much of it at present.

 

[SCPD]

The first link in signal500's post is, as he noted, an old list. Frequencies for many park units changed when radio systems were replaced to comply with the federal government's self imposed mandate to convert to narrow band by 1/1/2005. The list also shows a few units that have changed in classification, e.g. Death Valley National Monument was changed to a National Park in 1994.

In addition the list does not explain the frequencies listed so repeater inputs are not distinguished from outputs, and simplex use is not identified. Like many lists, 400 MHz frequencies are shown, but in every case I know of, excluding the trunked system used at Golden Gate NRA, the UHF frequencies are used for remote base station and repeater point to point links. On some of the park units I have official information for, there are some frequencies listed that have never been employed there.

Another trend in National Park Service radio systems is to use more nets than park units used to have. Large National Parks used to have one "park net" that all functions used to share. Now nets for law enforcement (protection rangers as they are called), fire, EMS, maintenance and one for all other functions (administration, interpretation, and resource management) may be used.

I like the quote at the top of the page accessed by the first link "OK, the visitors have arrived, it's time to turn on the waterfall and let the wildlife out" or some such is pretty funny. The best one I came across in my career was in answer to the most often asked question in Sequoia-Kings National Park:

Q: Hey Ranger, where is the tree you drive though? (Yes, there used to be a standing live tree, large enough in diameter that a tunnel was cut out of its base prior to it being included in a National Park. It was the Mariposa Tree, located in Yosemite National Park, which fell over in the awesome storm of February, 1969)

A: Pick any one you want!!

 

[signal500]

Exsmokey, Thanks for the clairification on the state FWS.

Also, I live very close to the Gulf Island National Seashore park in NW Florida. I have seen many NPS law enforcement cars and trucks, but I have not been able to find the frequencies they operate on. I search both 162-174 and 406-420 MHz alot and still to this day have not heard anything. I have 171.725 and 172.525 in my scan list, and have seen there VHF Motorola XTS5000 portable radios, but still nothing.

Here are some frequencies I have logged over the years for the US Forest Service:

164.75000
164.80000
168.05000
168.07500
168.10000
168.12500
168.15000
168.67500
168.72500

 

[Haley]

Ex-Smokey , thanks for all the background and information----i really appreciate it! Whenever I travel i try to catch unknown Federal freq. , and you are TOTALLY correct, the USFWS are very hard to find. I have read through some of your older posts to get as much info as I can. Just this summer I caught a lot of action on the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC, with my pro-96, all digital. Its good to know that not all federal agencies have totally switched over!


Signal 500, thank you also, the lists were a great starting place for me. 164.xxxx, and 168.xxxx seemd at one time to be common for the NPS. I logged Chippewa NF on 164.825, several years ago. I have also logged Voyageurs NP on 166.900, but as I said those were years ago. Thanks for all the info, and please post more if you have any!

Also anyone near a National Park, Forest, NWR, Land Mgt.area ect., if you have any freq. please post them so they can get in the database! Thanks again for any help, Mike

 

[smokeybehr]

Out here, we have 2 refuges that are relatively close (1 hour away for each). One is dispatched by CA-SNF, and the other by CA-BBD. One refuge (CA-SLR) has a pair of heavy Type 3 engines, and the other (CA-KWR) has a single Type 4. They both use the tac channels of the agency that dispatches them.

 

[SCPD]

Out here, we have 2 refuges that are relatively close (1 hour away for each). One is dispatched by CA-SNF, and the other by CA-BBD. One refuge (CA-SLR) has a pair of heavy Type 3 engines, and the other (CA-KWR) has a single Type 4. They both use the tac channels of the agency that dispatches them.

I can hear the Shuteye repeater (tone 5) from Mammoth Lakes. I am aware to the arrangement where the Sierra NF dispatch center provides dispatching services for SLR (San Luis NWR) fire units. The same arrangement is in place where the Modoc NF center provides dispatching services for the 4 NWR's in the northeastern portion of California. The Mendocino NF center dispatches the Sacramento River area NWR's. In all of these cases listening to the appropriate Forest Net frequency will result in hearing those units being dispatched to fires.

In the case of the northeastern California refuges the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also has their own frequency to use for administration of the refuge. I would guess this is true for the other NWR's mentioned above. I know by listening to the Sierra NF nets, that the San Luis fire management units and personnel conduct their prescribed burn using their refuge frequency. It is these refuge frequencies that are hard to find.

 

[KB7MIB]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

To resurrect an old thread, I used to hear USFWS on 164.625 in Arizona from my home in Peoria. All refuges used the same frequency. I haven't heard them in years, though, and I was wondering if anyone knew what they're using now?

 

[KB7MIB]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

I don't know if it was Lake Havasu they were on, but I could hear boat units patrolling it. If so, the statewide network must have been linked, because there's no way a repeater at Lake Havasu was making it all the way down into Phoenix by itself.

 

[KB7MIB]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

If they were patrolling Lake Pleasant, in north Peoria, or one or more of the recreational lakes in the Tonto NF, then a more local repeater would make sense, if the Black Mtn site north of Phoenix is the Black Mtn that's listed in the SWFD-10.

 

[SCPD]

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, being a federal agency does not patrol Lake Pleasant. It does not patrol lakes on National Forest land either. The Arizona Department of Game and Fish patrols them. State game and fish agencies have jurisdiction of the animal on National Forest land and the Forest Service has jurisdiction of the habitat of the animal.

The Havasu National Wildlife Refuge is located between Needles and Lake Havasu. Only the far upper reaches of Lake Havasu lie within the refuge so USFWS refuge officers don't patrol the main portion of the lake.

There is a new frequency being used in southeast Arizona on one peak I don't recall. I'm not sure why the separate frequency is being used. 164.625 is also used in New Mexico by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This frequency is the most often used by the agency around the country.

 

[KB7MIB]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

169.650 on Bernadino Pk has been in use for years (it's listed in the SWFD-10 which came out in '99) in Cochise County. There's a refuge down there somewhere, I don't recall exactly where or the name.

 

[KB7MIB]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

I know I heard a lake/river patrol on 164.625, I recall an overturned boat call several years back. I don't know which lake/river, and I can only say that it was the USFWS that was using it because of the info in the SWFD, and the RR DB.

 

[KB7MIB]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

i just haven't heard any activity yet this year, and I was just wondering if it's still a valid channel, or if there was a local site to Phoenix that's no longer on the air.

 

[ecps92]

Likely it's the San Bernardino and Leslie Canyon National Wildlife Refuges
San Bernardino NWR

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

169.650 on Bernadino Pk has been in use for years (it's listed in the SWFD-10 which came out in '99) in Cochise County. There's a refuge down there somewhere, I don't recall exactly where or the name.

 

[KB7MIB]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

Thanks.