Preston County SO freqs?

[KC8ULU]

Hey everyone, lurking on RR for years. As a ham radio operator, I like to listen to other frequencies besides the ones I talk on. I live in Terra Alta, about 11 miles East of Kingwood (Preston Co.), but I have never heard a squawk on any of the Preston Co. frequencies that are listed in RR. I don't have a digital scanner; I'm using my amateur radio to get the HF and VHF freqs. Are they on the P25 system or am I just not able to catch them? If it's just an issue of wrong freqs. that are HF or VHF, I have an extra VHF handheld I am willing to use as a feed point for the area's EMS/SO/Fire. Thanks!

 

[MOTOROLANUT]

Preston Newbie

Hello and Welcome to RR, You have an advantage over alot of listeners in northern WV considering
the altitude on where you live. The Preston sheriff data is correct/semi complete for now in the RR database. Try the VHF high freqs listed below. RR has a lot of great members here, especially in the WV forum, so ask away if you need any help.


155.31750 153.94250 WQES725 RM 103.5 PL PCSO DISP Preston Co Sheriff - Dispatch FM Law Dispatch

156.23250 WQES725 RM 103.5 PL PCSO DISP Preston Co Sheriff - Dispatch (rebroadcast of 39.48) FM Law Dispatch

 

[mtindor]

I can verify that what MOTO posted is valid info. 156.2325 was active as of last night, as I caught them a few times during routine searching. I've heard 155.3175 in use wiitin the past few months.

I'm a 100+ miles away from Preston, so I don't have the advantage of copying them on a regular basis. But they are definitely using the VHF freqs.

Mike

 

[KC8ULU]

I had the 156 and 155 freqs in my radio, so maybe I just don't have it on at the right times. I've got my radio set to listen just to those two freqs. for now, so maybe I'll get lucky. I may try and move my antenna (as an apartment dweller, my big discone has nowhere to go).

 

[KC8ULU]

Yep, seems like I was just not holding my tongue right (was off a few kc). Able to hear PCSO, PCFD (North/Central/South) and PC EMS as well.

 

[MOTOROLANUT]

Another mystery solved....Keep listening to Preston Co......There is quite of bit of activity up there nowadays..

 

[wvguy21]

im from Tunnelton, dont hear to much over this way

 

[mtindor]

im from Tunnelton, dont hear to much over this way

You sure should. 155.3175 at the very least is quite active. I hear activity on 154.1525 and 156.2325 as well, and I'm over 100 mi away.

I'm pretty sure there the RadioReference database is lacking some frequencies for Preston Co. Our policy these days is to NOT add a frequency unless it has been confirmed in use and we know what agency is using it.

If I lived in Preston Co (I live nowhere near it, I'm in Ohio), I'd be monitoring the frequencies below. For the frequencies listed below that aren't listed in the RadioReference database, they aren't listed because nobody has confirmed any activity on them.

33.88		FB	Terra Alta VFD			(not sure if it's even used anymore)
39.48		FB	Preston Co SO Dispatch		(not sure if low-band is used anymore)
39.82		FB	Kingwood PD low band		(is it active, was it ever?)
39.98		FB	Preston Co			(statewide law freq, not sure who uses it anymore)
45.14 / 45.98	FB2	Supposedly a Preston Co low-band repeater for some county agency
45.98		FB	Supposedly a Preston Co low-band freq for some county agency
46.10		FB	Preston Co Fire Dispatch	(low band)
153.995		MO	Kingwood PD VHF			(mobile license only)
154.1525	FB2	Preston Co Fire			(repeater, with 151.4825 or 153.9275 as input)
154.2875	FB	PReston Co			(unknown agency)
154.3925	FB2	Preston Co Fire			(repeater, 159.105 likely input)
154.4225	FB	Preston Co			(unknown agency)
158.475		FB	Preston Co EMS			(simplex)
154.98		FB	PReston Co EMS?			(supposedly an EMS freq)
155.115		FB2	Preston Co EMS Dispatch		(repeater, with 158.745 as input)
155.235		FB	Preston Co EMS
155.3175	FB2	Preston Co Sheriff		(repeater, likely 153.9425 input) - is this just SO or all law enf?
156.2325	FB2	Preston Co Sheriff		(repeater, with 151.4825 or 153.9275 input) - just SO or all law enf?
158.835		FB	Preston Co Fire TAC?		(supposedly a Fire TAC freq)
159.2175	FB2	Preston Co			(unknown agency, with 153.9425 input)
453.100		FX2	Preston Co			low-power UHF link between various towers and 911
453.375		FX2	Preston Co			low-power UHF link between various towers and 911
453.425		FX2	Preston Co			low-power UHF link between various towers and 911
453.5625	FX2	Preston Co			low-power UHF link between various towers and 911
453.7625	FB2	City of Kingwood		(repeater, unknown agency, licensed to Kingwood)

If anybody around Preston feels like monitoring these frequencies and can pin down any new information on them related to Preston, please do so.

 

[KC8ULU]

I don't have UHF capabilities, but I will keep an ear out on the VHF. No antenna for the HF stuff yet. No money to buy one and nothing laying around to make one with.

155.3175 is SO only. It's their secondary channel. Not used too frequently.
156.2325 is a general law enforcement dispatch. Used for all SO and local municipalities. VHF patch from 39.48. This is the freq. my feed uses.
33.88 is used (per a local EMT I was talking with yesterday at a local shop). It's used for fire ground simplex.
39.48 is used by SO (see comment on 156.2325)
154.98 is the primary EMS dispatch. Dispatch via pager tones.
154.3925 is Fire North. Used to dispatch on North end of county (Masontown/Reedsville)
154.1525 is Fire Central. Used for Kingwood/Terra Alta/Tunnelton
155.115 is Fire South. Used for Rowlesburg area.
158.835 is Fire Tac 3. Simplex for fire ground communications.

As I get more info on other freqs. I'll update. I just added the rest of those VHF into my radio.

 

[mtindor]

I don't have UHF capabilities, but I will keep an ear out on the VHF. No antenna for the HF stuff yet. No money to buy one and nothing laying around to make one with.

155.3175 is SO only. It's their secondary channel. Not used too frequently.
156.2325 is a general law enforcement dispatch. Used for all SO and local municipalities. VHF patch from 39.48. This is the freq. my feed uses.
33.88 is used (per a local EMT I was talking with yesterday at a local shop). It's used for fire ground simplex.
39.48 is used by SO (see comment on 156.2325)
154.98 is the primary EMS dispatch. Dispatch via pager tones.
154.3925 is Fire North. Used to dispatch on North end of county (Masontown/Reedsville)
154.1525 is Fire Central. Used for Kingwood/Terra Alta/Tunnelton
155.115 is Fire South. Used for Rowlesburg area.
158.835 is Fire Tac 3. Simplex for fire ground communications.

As I get more info on other freqs. I'll update. I just added the rest of those VHF into my radio.

Thanks for the info. I've updated a few entries in the DB.

The RadioReference database lists 155.115 as both Preston Co Fire Dispatch (South) and as Preston Co EMS Dispatch.

In your experience, is there ever any EMS traffic on 155.115?

Mike

 

[KC8ULU]

Mike,
No, EMS is solely dispatched on 154.980. 155.115 is only for Fire South. In fact, Reedsville got dispatched to a wreck while one of the other stations was having an engine dispatched to the same wreck. Both freqs. were in use at that point (radio kept jumping between them).

Edit: Reason being, there is a repeater in the north end of the county, the main one on the mountain beside Terra Alta and then one in the southern end of the county.

 

[mtindor]

Excellent.

I made a few changes - Preston County, West Virginia (WV) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference
- Changed 156.2325 to "Preston Co Law Dispatch"
- Changed 155.3175 to "Preston Co Sheriff - Ch.2"
- Removed 155.115 as "EMS Dispatch"

33.88 that you mentioned is licensed to Terra Alta VFD. Although I'm sure other agencies could use it as well for fireground, I'm not going to add it unless you [or another listener] actually hear county fireground activity on it.

These days, as a general rule, admins are not to have multiple entries for the same frequency unless it is being used to distinctly separate agency usage. I see that 154.98 is listed twice (once as EMS Dispatch and once as EMS Ch.3). Do believe that to be valid? I"ll leave the EMS Ch.3 in there for now. Just questioning whether it needs to be there since the single 154.98 CSQ entry for EMS DIspatch would cover anything anybody would hear on that frequency already.

I Appreciate your willingness to provide info to update your county. After all, occasionally I hear Preston Co from here as well.

Mike

 

[KC8ULU]

Mike,
No, 154.98 is EMS dispatch/status only. Channel 3 (TAC 3) for fire and EMS is 158.835 simplex CSQ. I have heard activity on this by both EMS and fire units. I will keep an ear out on 33.88 as soon as I get another antenna.

 

[mtindor]

Mike,
No, 154.98 is EMS dispatch/status only. Channel 3 (TAC 3) for fire and EMS is 158.835 simplex CSQ. I have heard activity on this by both EMS and fire units. I will keep an ear out on 33.88 as soon as I get another antenna.

Hmm, 158.835 is listed with a 143 DPL. Are you sure it's CSQ? Or do you not have PL/DPL capabilities on your monitoring station to know that for sure? I'll leave it as is for now.

thanks again for the updates!

Mike

 

[KC8ULU]

I have a ham radio hooked into it. If I put in the DPL of 143 it will not trigger. Running without PL or anything I can hear it fine.

 

[MOTOROLANUT]

Preston county sheriff channel 2 secondary

156.2325 is a general law enforcement dispatch. Used for all SO and local municipalities. VHF patch from 39.48. This is the freq. my feed uses
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Brown Leopard can you see if you can find out/confirm the matching 156.2325 freq for the VHF high band repeater we need to know which is the TX, RX and PL?


This will solve a big mystery that mtindor and myself have been unable to confirm yet.

Thanks in advance!

 

[KC8ULU]

You mean if 39.98 is the primary and the 156 is just a link? Sure thing. PL/input I'll see what I can dig up. Since we're so far away, I don't know if I can catch the input side. May have to try a few things to see what I can find.

 

[mtindor]

Brown Leopard can you see if you can find out/confirm the matching 156.2325 freq for the VHF high band repeater we need to know which is the TX, RX and PL?

This will solve a big mystery that mtindor and myself have been unable to confirm yet.

Thanks in advance!

No kidding! That'll solve a huge mystery heh.

BrownLeopard:

To add to what MOTOROLANUT is asking, there are four repeater pairs licensed under WQES725.

The four repeater outputs are:

154.3925
155.3175
154.1525
156.2325

The four repeater inputs are:

153.9425 (believed input for 155.3175)
159.105 (believed input for 154.3925)
151.4825
153.9275

Realistically, one or more of those inputs may not be used. And even though the DB lists 159.105 as the input for 154.3925 as well as 153.9425 as the input for 155.3175, that was guesswork on my part based upon the FCC license.

If you could program in all four of the above outputs as well as all four of the above inputs, then if you hear activity on one of the inputs you can quickly cycle through the outputs and see what repeater that input is triggering, or vice versa.

MOTOROLANUT:

I think BrownLeopard has no PL/DPL discovery. He can enter a PL or DPL into his amateur radio that he is using to scan, but I don't think the radio can sit on an open frequency and display the PL/DPL for him like it does on our scanners.

Would be very cool to be able to match up those inputs and outputs though heh.

Mike

 

[KC8ULU]

Correct. I'm just using what the FCC has pretty much given the radio service as a tone pack. Usually in this case it's PL 103.5 (per the DB and the amateur repeaters in the area). DPL I can't do much with. I can confirm that 103.5 on the 156 machine is correct, however. I can put the input on my second VFO and just listen in on that when a repeater opens to find out input since they are known through the ULS.

Speaking of feeds....I just noticed mine is down...again. Time to hit the support forums.

Edit: Neither input is showing any activity from transmissions on the 156 SO. This could be that I'm on the wrong side of the mountain or it's an internal link at the repeater house.

 

[mtindor]

Correct. I'm just using what the FCC has pretty much given the radio service as a tone pack. Usually in this case it's PL 103.5 (per the DB and the amateur repeaters in the area). DPL I can't do much with. I can confirm that 103.5 on the 156 machine is correct, however. I can put the input on my second VFO and just listen in on that when a repeater opens to find out input since they are known through the ULS.

Speaking of feeds....I just noticed mine is down...again. Time to hit the support forums.

Edit: Neither input is showing any activity from transmissions on the 156 SO. This could be that I'm on the wrong side of the mountain or it's an internal link at the repeater house.

Could be a combination of things. Since it transmissions on the inputs [if there are any] aren't going to be broadcast from a mountaintop, you are going to have less chance of hearing them. And, being that i know pretty much zero about Preston Co or their public safety configurations, I can't say how they are going about things. But certainly one or more of those inputs could be inactive, or they may be active in areas too far from you for you to hear activity on a regular basis [but perhaps a hit and miss signal when one of the mobiles is in a good location].

Even though there are four repeater pairs licensed, entirely too many scenarios are possible. One scenario could be that one input is used for two separate outputs, with a different PL on the input being used to trigger one repeater output or the other. Another scenario is that they may have multiple repeater pairs inactive and may just have one pair up for Law and one up for Fire/EMS. Hard to tell.

If you look at the FCC license [and if you assume everything in it paint a proper picture of how things are currently being done in Preston Co], then you see:

NORTH
======
154.3925 - Bruceton Mills (off CR-73)

CENTRAL
=======

154.1525 - Kingwood (Briery Mtn / Caddell Fire Tower)
156.2325 - Kingwood (Briery Mtn / Caddell Fire Tower)

SOUTH
======
154.3925 - Fellowsville (Laurel Mtn)
155.3175 - Fellowsville (Laurel Mtn)


Now, consider how things are listed in the RRDB. If the RRDB information is correct, it doesn't really jive with FCC info. RRDB says 154.3925 is Fire North - FCC records show a 154.3925 repeater in the North and the South.

So, who knows what is really going on, not me rofl. That's why RR doesn't rely upon FCC data all by itself, since the way an agency has things set up may be exactly opposite of how the FCC lists it.

But yeah, it possible that you just aren't going to be close enough to hear most communications on the input (and I think that is the case with most people). It's a hit-miss potluck thing a lot of times where you might hear something on an input but only if the mobiles are in the near vicinity, line of sight to you or are up on a hill/mtn transmitting.

Mike