Quebec 1 and 2 heard via Broadcastify feed

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zerg901

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7 Sept 2020 Monday 1229 PM EDT - heard via Santa Clarita Valley feed on Broadcastify - Copter 12 was giving orders to the Super Scoopers - Quebec 1 and Qiebec 2 - and they were answering on the channel (with a bit of an accent) - it was a 3 acre fire near Castaic - not sure which channel it was - not sure if it was AM or FM - maybe it was 154.40 - maybe it was 130.70 (which was mentioned).

I assume that LA County FD Copter 12 was the first aircraft on scene and was functioning as the aerial commander - he was just calling himself "Copter 12".

Anyone know what the typical channel usage is by Quebec 1 and 2?
 

ladn

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Anyone know what the typical channel usage is by Quebec 1 and 2?
I've been hearing them on Blue 8 for dispatch, then transitioning to whatever channel they are assigned to. I have some on the Blue channels always scanning on one scanner, and ANF locked on another scanner, plus the FIRESCOPE comm plan available on another scanner, so I don't always see which channel they are actually using.
 

Uplink

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I am the feed provider of that feed. It was 130.70 AM. Typical is that one, Blue 12, LACoFD A/G, and Blue 8 for the tone out page. They will use whatever frequencies are issued on the comm plan for the incident. They also have several air to air AM freqs they use to talk to each other, but I don't broadcast them as it's all in French/Canadian.
 

zerg901

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Does anyone know if Los Angeles County FD and Los Angeles City FD will both be sponsoring HeliTankers this year?

Guessing the line up for Los Angeles County will be -

LA City FD - multi Type 2 helos and 1 Type 3 helo for command - plus maybe 1 skycrane - all based at Van Nuys Airport

LA County FD - multi Type 2 helos and 2 scoopers - plus maybe 1 skycrane - Type 2 helos based around the county - scoopers based at Van Nuys - skycrane maybe based at Pacoima

Angeles Natl Forest - maybe 1 skycrane and 1 night capable type 2 helo - both based at Fox Field - also an air attack helo based at Fox Field

Note - no fixed wing tankers based in Los Angeles County - except for the scoopers - which might explain why nearly all air ops are on AM channels in Los Angeles County - and why the scoopers would use am channels instead of fm channels
 

Alain

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zerg said:

" Note - no fixed wing tankers based in Los Angeles County - except for the scoopers - which might explain why nearly all air ops are on AM channels in Los Angeles County."

I'm unsure that I understand your point. Please explain. Most "air ops" are on AM down here as well.
 

zerg901

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The USFS and BLM operate many airtankers throughout the western states. I am led to believe that most of those ops in California occur on FM channels. (the 'air tactics' channels). In addition, the feds have a multitude of FM air to ground channels. Per tweets to twitter showing airtanker tracks, it is apparent that large numbers of these airtankers have been active in California recently.

Thinking about this a little further - maybe we can say - any airtanker that requires a lead plane will be heard talking on a FM (air tactics) channel. Any airtanker or helitanker or helicopter that does 'not' require a lead plane will be heard on AM channels.

Furthermore - any air to ground comms from firefighting aircraft to firefighting ground units will usually be on FM channels.

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I suspect this is even more complicated than most people realize. Lets say that someone with a scanner and a camera wants to follow the super scoopers from Van Nuys Airport. What radio channels should be monitored?

Dispatch - LA County FD Blue 8 or maybe 154.40

Van Nuys Airport Clearance or Ground - then Van Nuys Tower - then ???

Enroute - LA County Blue Channels + LA County V repeaters

Arriving at scene - maybe check in freq or LA County VHF Tac channel or air to ground or maybe even air to air depending which aircraft gets on scene first

Per the previous post, the super scoopers usually are heard on 130.70. They cannot talk to any firefighting ground units on that freq afaik. So if the Super Scoopers are the first aircraft to arrive on a fire, I would assume they would use the assigned a/g channel to talk to a fire unit on the ground. For LA County fires that is usually 154.40. For ANF fires it is probably (whatever fed channel it is). For Los Angeles City fires I assume it would be 154.83.

Yeah this is definitely complicated.
 

Uplink

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Not complicated after you get used to it. All fire aircraft must use both the AM and FM radios simultaneously when working with the ground, other aircraft and ATC. The key is to simply "listen", and learn how to hold/stop the scanner on a channel and follow the conversation. The frequencies depend on location of the fire. It can vary. Also the comm plan will be announced on dispatch 8 as well as the areas dispatch, makes life easy.

Many times I see folks with the scanner just running in scan mode always without stopping it, you'll miss the complete story if you let this happen, as it stops on something not related to the incident.

In answer to your question after tower, usually they are flying VFR and they will go to whatever freq is for the area, eg, the next towers class D airspace, or the practice area freqs, or a unicom freq. If u look at the charts it will depend on the airspace.
 
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