Questions on Boulder County Colorado Fire Radio

[zerg901]

Per the FCC ULS - these seem to be the repeaters in use for Boulder County Fire/EMS - (I will add in the info from the RadioRef database

154.22 - repeater (FB2) located at Boulderadio Dr in Boulder - usage is "County Fire Central" - channel name is "Red 1" - PL 141.3 - Dispatch

155.535 - repeater (FB2) located at Mead - "County Fire North" - Red 1 - PL 141.3 - Dispatch

154.37 - repeater (FB2) located at Boulderadio Dr in Boulder - Red 6 - PL 131.8 - Tactical - repeater or talkaround / simplex

151.355 - repeaters (FB2) located at - Mead + Thorodin Mtn + Chatauqua Park + Justice Center in Boulder + Gunbarrel Hill in Boulder - "County Fire South" - Red 1 - PL 179.9 - Dispatch

1. Can someone list the input freqs for these various repeaters? (I suspect that 154.325 is the input to all of the Red 1 repeaters) - (What is the input to 154.37?)

2. Is paging done on 154.325? Do the pagers listen to / receive the paging signals on 154.325?

3. Does 151.355 have multiple repeaters transmitting at the same time? (synchronized simulcast)

Note - 154.325 is listed as PL 179.9 - Red 1 - County Fire Direct - Tactical

I suspect that 154.325 was the legacy primary channel. All paging and response was done on this channel. Then repeaters were added. But the repeaters did not output on 154.325. The repeaters actually used 154.325 as the input. I assume this was done to increase car to car range, not to increase service to the pagers.

To recap - 154.325 is primarily used in the simplex mode - the 154.22, 155.535, and 151.355 repeaters are used to expand the capabilities of the 154.325 channel in some manor - but I am not really clear how that works.

Can anyone elaborate?

Peter Sz

 

[resq197]

All the RED 1 repeaters use 154.325 with a PL of 179.9 as the input. You are correct that this was historically a simplex channel for dispatch/paging and then later moved to the 3-site repeater system. In addition to the 3 transmitters, there are also at least 5 voting receivers at various locations in the County.

154.325 is still used for voice paging and you'll hear dispatch there as well. The primary transmitter is at Gunbarrel I believe. For certain mountain agencies, you'll notice that their tones are aired twice, once from the primary site, and then from Thorodin - audio then switches back to primary. You can notice this if you are in a location where you can detect the difference in signal strength (for example, my Minitor III will alert twice if I'm in Boulder, but if I'm up in Nederland, it only alerts once off of the Thorodin site with the following voice being relatively hard to copy).

In addition, there is a digital (POSCAG) paging system maintained by the county that all public safety agencies use, it's on 158.775. Many responders carry both digital and voice pagers.

As far as I'm aware, no simulcast is being used in the system. 151.355 and most of the other repeater outputs are licensed at multiple sites. I assume this was done to allow for the possibility of backup transmitters at those sites.

The RED 6 input frequency is 153.770. Also, RED 6 is no longer used in talkaround/simplex mode, although it was initially and some radios may still have it programmed.

-Brian

 

[zerg901]

OK - I think I get it now. If a fire officer sets his/her radio to one of the Red 1 repeaters, she/he is better able to hear what is going on on Red 1. Actually - it depends. If you want to hear the portable radio on Red 1 that is 100 feet from you, you listen on 154.325. If you want to hear the mobile or portable that is on Red 1 on the other side of a mountain from you, you listen to a Red 1 repeater. I think that the deal. Peter Sz

 

[letarotor]

Peter,
Internet searching several weeks ago I came across an Arapaho/Roosevelt National Forest and Pawnee National Grassland Fire Resource Briefing Packet dated July 2007. It lists the Red channels as follows:
Red 1 North 155.535/154.325 179.9
Red 1 South 151.355/154.325 179.9
Red 3 154.415/154.415 179.9
Red 4 153.830/153.830 179.9
Red 5 153.950/153.950 167.9
Red 6 154.370/154.370 131.8

Except for the input to Red 6, sounds like they are still good.

MC