Pike Electric

[charlesdmartin]

To North Carolina members, I need to know any info on frequencies used by Pike Electric which is a major power company subcontractor for the east coast , such as my area northern Virginia and DC area . There trucks have what appears to have low band antennas on them. Thanks

 

[gmt0000]

You are correct, they are low band antennas. Their primary frequencies are
49.42
49.46
49.48
49.50
49.52
49.54
I don't have the CTCSS list, but I recall 67.0Hz......

Most of the time, when contracting with local power companies, they will also have radios that operate on the local power companies systems as well.
Dale

 

[jeffmulter]

Charles - The following license covers the frequencies Pike is permitted to use on a temporary, non-interference basis nationwide:

ULS License - Industrial/Business Pool, Conventional License - WPAS602 - Pike Electric, LLC

They are also licensed for radio use at specific locations throughout the southeast U.S. Those licenses seem to cover 2 or 3 of the low band channels, as well as 1 or more UHF channels.

In Va., the only locations I see in the FCC ULS are Roanoke and Abingdon.

During major outages in my area, I have never seen them using 800 radios to maintain contact with Duke Power (Duke, until recently, was using a Motorola 800 MHz trunking system, They are transitioning to Open Sky). Instead, a Duke representative was in the area to oversee line restoration.

In 2005 (?), though, when Florida was hit by several severe hurricanes, I was told that some of the Pike trucks from the Gastonia (N.C.) maintenance depot had 800 radios installed to communicate with Fla. Power and Light (I think that was their previous name, prior to becoming a part of Progress Energy) before heading to Florida.

 

[KX4KDH]

And C.W. Wright is doing a pile of work here on the Outer Banks. I just did a search on the ULS and came up empty handed. I think they are low band, also...

 

[jeffmulter]

C.W. Wright uses 30.58 MHz base and mobile, along with 152.870 MHz mobile. Just like Pike Electric, C.W. Wright has licensed both frequencies for temporary use anywhere in the U.S.

When you do a search in the FCC ULS, run a search under "all states" to find these temp use licenses, as well as a search in states they actually have offices in. Nothing will show if you only check by searching in N.C.

 

[KX4KDH]

Yeah... I tried searching in VA where I know they have an office.... But they also have a couple in NC... But thanks for the find!

 

[kb4mdz]

FWIW, they have a Raleigh office at 1050 North New Hope Road, Raleigh. Try doing a geographical based search from that.

 

[KX4KDH]

Yep... And an office in Charlotte. The one I searched that I knew of for sure in Va. is in Chester, VA.... Thanks for the info!

 

[thomasfd13]

In a lot of parts of NC Pike is a sub of Duke. It's been awhile since I have had a chance to talk with those guys and get close to the trucks but more then likely Pike is on the same op as Duke. If I get a chance I'll find out what they are using. Can't see them being on their own TG when they work so close with Duke.

 

[KM4WLV]

Just a heads up guys. Pike does have some low band stuff in their trucks, however they slowly moving to and using a whole lot more Duke Energy's new Open Sky system.

Low band may get used more in the mountains because of the terrain but majority of their comms are on Open Sky now.

I know this because I'm friends with the guy over the project getting the new system fully implimented.

 

[SCPD]

OpenSky

(Duke, until recently, was using a Motorola 800 MHz trunking system, They are transitioning to Open Sky).

Why are they going to a system that is a proven failure?

 

[SCPD]

Williams Electric

I've noticed that Williams Electric out of Shelby has been doing alot of work for Duke Energy here in WNC their frequencies are: 451.850
451.875
451.900
451.925
and 451.950
mobiles only nationwide.

 

[KM4WLV]

I forgot about this thread, lol.

Pike's main office is in Mt Airy, NC. You may want to search for something along those lines. As far as the trucks in Salisbury (where I live), and the Charlotte Metro area as a whole, Pike uses Lo Band stuff (as indicated by the antennas on the trucks) as well as Duke Energy's new Open Sky system.

Williams Electric in the Charlotte Metro area as well as other places utilizes Duke's Open Sky system as well. As far as any other stuff I can't say as I've only seen the standard 800 Motorola antennas (when Dukes old Type 1 system was still in service), and they now have the new combo type antenna that has an NMO mount with a GPS "puck" built in. I'm not sure who the manufacturer is. All vehicles using the Open Sky system use this antenna (Duke, Pike, Williams, Asplundh, etc). The GPS part is used for the mapping program used on the MDT's in the trucks.

Hope this helps !!!