PCL Construction freqs

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paruvka

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Does anyone know what system and frequencies PCL construction is using on their sites in Calgary DT? My office is overlooking a highrise construction and right at my floor level and it would spice up the day to listen to some of their operations. Thanks.
 

BC_Scan

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Easy as pie, while I don't have the exact ones for that area, simply program your scanner from 451.-470 Mhz and let her search , they will find you, even easier remove antenna from scanner and if you are sitting in front of them (figuratively speaking) lets say the crane operators they have strong usually 4 watt radios you will here very quickly , is there more than one crane ? each crane has their own channel, always usually UHF , sometimes lower UHF 406-422 mhz ,
last time I was there I noticed UHF same as in BC , so you should find them relatively easily , my experience usually pretty dull conversations cause while the crane operator is holding the load steady and the rigger is telling him where to go, they are usually spouting off about some crap . But non the less, enjoy , rigger & crane ops one channel, builders, SO (safety officer), another channel, sparky & plumber another channel. Good luck .
System = UHF simplex, on occassion they use repeaters but no so common
 

paruvka

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Awesome, thanks BC. Will give it a go. I thought they might be digital as I wasn't hearing much.
 

mciupa

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Does anyone know what system and frequencies PCL construction is using on their sites in Calgary DT? My office is overlooking a highrise construction and right at my floor level and it would spice up the day to listen to some of their operations. Thanks.

Code:
469.137500 469.137500 6 TRANSPORTABLE ALBERTA WIDE, AB PCL CONSTRUCTION RESOURCES INC.  VXH368 
.   
469.162500 469.162500 6 TRANSPORTABLE ALBERTA WIDE, AB PCL CONSTRUCTION RESOURCES INC.  VXH369 

469.237500 469.237500 6 TRANSPORTABLE ALBERTA WIDE, AB PCL CONSTRUCTION RESOURCES INC.  VXH370 
 
469.562500 469.562500 6 TRANSPORTABLE ALBERTA WIDE, AB PCL CONSTRUCTION RESOURCES INC.  VXH371 
   
469.662500 469.662500 6 TRANSPORTABLE ALBERTA WIDE, AB PCL CONSTRUCTION RESOURCES INC.  VXH376 
 
469.687500 469.687500 6 TRANSPORTABLE ALBERTA WIDE, AB PCL CONSTRUCTION RESOURCES INC.  VXH372 

469.762500 469.762500 6 TRANSPORTABLE ALBERTA WIDE, AB PCL CONSTRUCTION RESOURCES INC.  VXH373 
.   
469.862500 469.862500 6 TRANSPORTABLE ALBERTA WIDE, AB PCL CONSTRUCTION RESOURCES INC.  VXH374 

469.987500 469.987500 6 TRANSPORTABLE ALBERTA WIDE, AB PCL CONSTRUCTION RESOURCES INC.  VXH375

Please submit any confirmed activity to the database.

Thanks :)
 

robertmac

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Strange but I could not find an licenses to PCL on those frequencies. 469.55 in Calgary does show Graham Auctions, but 469.575 shows nothing for Calgary area. And a search for PCL does not indicate those frequencies either.
 

BC_Scan

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Hears how it works , and this comes right from the horses mouth, IC grants licenses based on requirments by various users, a pool lets say,
When PCL or Norquip, Ledingham, or any of the major constructors bid, receive a job they take their requirments to the local radio shop (and you can find out very easily) whom they are for your area.
then radio shop programs up a 8 or 16 channel Motorola ususally with one or two freq's (recently in Vancouver I came across job that had 4) small site 29th & Cambie.
My experience is that as long as the radio shop follows the rules & informs IC of their lists , all is copacetic.
So the Crane control (not as in trunking) channels listed in data base are seldom used, I find that as I am on different sites, the same contractor PCL etc, shows up with different simplex channels programmed in. That is why search or close call is your friend .
And yes that .550 or .575 is used more often , typically as opposed to .5625 or .5875. all narrow band, have not seen any turbo or digital yet in BC for construction.Does not mean it does not exist,
 

robertmac

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Hears how it works , and this comes right from the horses mouth, IC grants licenses based on requirments by various users, a pool lets say,
When PCL or Norquip, Ledingham, or any of the major constructors bid, receive a job they take their requirments to the local radio shop (and you can find out very easily) whom they are for your area.
then radio shop programs up a 8 or 16 channel Motorola ususally with one or two freq's (recently in Vancouver I came across job that had 4) small site 29th & Cambie.
My experience is that as long as the radio shop follows the rules & informs IC of their lists , all is copacetic.
So the Crane control (not as in trunking) channels listed in data base are seldom used, I find that as I am on different sites, the same contractor PCL etc, shows up with different simplex channels programmed in. That is why search or close call is your friend .
And yes that .550 or .575 is used more often , typically as opposed to .5625 or .5875. all narrow band, have not seen any turbo or digital yet in BC for construction.Does not mean it does not exist,

I'm trying to wrap my feable mind around this. I know that IC does not list all frequencies in use [eg: RCMP, etc.] but I would have thought that they would list construction users. If I read this correctly, radio shops can program in frequencies that are not listed as being issued by IC? And if they are used on a crane with line of site, could there be interference with licensed users on the same frequencies [I know tones may keep this to a minimum]. But if someone is not coordinating this, how do they prevent interfering with one another? I also would have thought that IC would assign frequencies to radio shops for them to use as per their license. I can see why these do not show up when searching for PCL, but would have thought doing a local frequency search would have shown a license to the radio shop. As an example, a search of IC data base for 469.55 shows only Graham Auctions as a license holder west of Quebec.
 

Jay911

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There are a number of different ways that a frequency can be "not" listed in the database.

One is if the license containing the frequency is protected. Typically these licenses are for police or military organizations.

Another is if the license contains an appendix. An easy example is virtually any license granted for frequency 140.73. Nearly every license (at least all the licenses I've seen) with this frequency is a placeholder for a license with an appendix. The one I just pulled out at random just now references appendix 1, which is "Northern Alberta Forest Industry" - about 100 pairs used on logging roads in NW AB. It also included appendix 6, which is the Basic Ten (LADD and other regional haul channels) plus about 150 more pairs from NE BC. And it has appendix B1, which is the Basic Ten again (not sure why they're registered in both appendicies). And it also has appendix RR, which is "Resource Road" data, which is about another 100 channels for BC logging/oilfield ops. There are many more appendicies, but I don't have a comprehensive list myself. None of these frequencies are listed in this licensee's actual license as searchable on Spectrum Direct or on the TAFL. You can view these appendicies by taking the callsign or the seven-digit numerical license number from a TAFL or SD search and plugging it into the SD Virtual License form.

The third way a frequency can not show up in the TAFL is if band limits are specified instead of a specific frequency. You find this often in aircraft licenses (since they have frequency-agile radios which can tune nearly anything) or for unprotected licenses accessing protected systems. For example, a number of agencies licensed to transmit on certain protected trunk systems have licenses which show up in TAFL/SD with the frequency "821.000000" as the tx and "866.000000" as the rx. If you look at the actual Virtual License, it is displayed as "821 to 824" and "866 to 869".
 

robertmac

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I did wonder why there was listing for a range of frequencies but no specific frequency mentioned. I have looked at the virtual license and have seen that IC does appendix this to allowing non licensed users on these frequencies generally with permission of the current license holder. But I did not think that this applied to areas outside logging/gas/oil areas in BC and Northern Alberta [or any northern part of a province]. Plus a lot of the Basic Ten frequencies do have restrictions as to where they can or can not be used. But most of these frequencies will show a lot of licensed users when doing an IC search. I have not done a lot of virtual license views to see if this type of situation also applies to UHF frequencies. I wouldn't think that they would be protected like the RCMP, etc.. I have seen a few UHF Canada Wide licenses on IC search and some of these are in the 469.xxxx range. Just surprised that the PCL frequencies would not show up licensed to someone. I did a quick scan of the 469 range but did not hear anything on the frequencies listed here, but I did not spend a lot of time. I did hear what sounded like school bus operation on 469.1875 [no licensee listed]. If I get some more time this week, I will listen in the 469 range as should be able to pick up crane operations where I will be located.
 
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