Tuesday I was driving between customers with my bc 780 in search mode on the NSRS. A new group popped up: 06-141. I was quickly able to tell that it was a radio tech crew. They were doing field checks along the West/ Northwest portion of the I-215 beltway around Vegas. It would appear that they were checking feedback from the 72 hour test the NHP ran last week. I have often wondered about this portion of the 215 as much of it runs in a trench. I listened to the field tech drive from Desert Inn down to Warm Springs and then back past Alexander.
I always enjoy listening to radio techs talk back and forth. Most of the time they can’t help but talk shop, and I get to learn some new nugget of information. This was even better. The guy in the field had a mobile and a hand held. He also had some way of hearing his own audio coming back out of the repeater, because he kept talking about how he sounded; “A little noisy,” or “really broken up,” and several “Sounds real good here,” which was affirmed by his partner back at the shop. He was giving position checks as he traveled and indicated what trunk site his radio was using. First of all, I had no idea there were multiple sites, and that they were interconnected. He indicated some sites called Sunrise, Sloan, and Potosi. The tech indicated some signal loss problems and went on to say that the “trench” was exactly why they had added Sloan. Most of the trip he said he could see two sites and referred to seeing their antennas.
As he turned around and headed north again, I thought that we might actually meet on the 215. I was several blocks north of him, and he was several blocks further west from me. We worked it pretty close. I got on at Flamingo, just as he was going by Tropicana. There was a traffic jam at what I assume is going to be the overpass at Spring Mountain. I was at the North end as he met the south end. I drove the next few blocks real slow and we met up at the Summerlin Parkway light. I changed lanes and he pulled next to me at the light. I took a picture of him. The camera’s auto focus focused on the window, instead of him, but it was still fun to try. (My photo teacher in high school always told us to carry a camera with us, and I have gotten into the habit of making sure the digital camera is at least in the car, for something like this where a picture might be something neat to have.) He was driving in a white NDOT pickup (oddly he didn’t have one of those duallys with a steel camper just a fiberglass shell) with only a few antennas on the roof. There in his left hand he had a small hand held, and he was giving me the oddest looks. I wonder if he saw the scanner on the dash, and put 2and 2 together, or if he just thought I was another nut job.
As I was going under the Charleston overpass, my radio dropped into scan mode, indicating I had lost the CC. The radio tech noted the same drop, but I don’t know if it was in the same spot, or the same time. I took too long trying to find the talk group they were using, but I found it as he was talking about how he had dropped completely and lost the cc for at least 250 milliseconds. I thought it was just me; the antenna I was using was the stripped section of coax I got with the 780 suction cupped to the windshield of my mini van.
Every time he talked about poor signal conditions he blamed it on the “dirt” being in the way. As we were traveling in the trench leading up to Cheyenne the CC dropped out again. As we came up to the light he remarked that one of his radios reacquired the CC on the Rio. My next Customer was just off of Cheyenne, so I quit following him He. really seemed interested in hearing the effects of “that big pile of dirt” by Lone Mountain. I had to the Alexander exit today, and the big pile of “dirt” is a butte that is probably 200-500 feet tall.
When I got home Tuesday I broke out my Nevada Atlas/Gazetteer. I looked up all of the sights I heard references to:
Sunrise is a mountain North East of Las Vegas surrounded more or less by Nellis AFB at 3364’ tall
Sloan is a railroad siding south of Vegas
Potosi is a Mountain to the West of Vegas standing 8514’ tall
The Rio I assume is the Rio Hotel where I understand the NHP has a VHF trunked site operating currently.
Both mountains, or at least the peaks, are in National forests, so I doubt the radio is on top of the mountain, but probably on a hill or some cleared spot very near the actual peak.
I then looked up all the frequency info I had for the NSRS. I found info on Sloan, Potosi, and after a little searching I learned that I have been monitoring the Sunrise site. However, I haven’t been able to find any info on the Rio site. Has anyone else?
On Wednesday I added the Sloan and Potosi sites to the radio, and mad sure they were in the search mode as I traveled around the city. I heard very little activity on either site. I see that these “new sites” don’t have nearly as many channels, so I wonder if only certain users are able to access them.
I guess for now I will keep listening, and hope that the radio techs do another test drive or two
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I always enjoy listening to radio techs talk back and forth. Most of the time they can’t help but talk shop, and I get to learn some new nugget of information. This was even better. The guy in the field had a mobile and a hand held. He also had some way of hearing his own audio coming back out of the repeater, because he kept talking about how he sounded; “A little noisy,” or “really broken up,” and several “Sounds real good here,” which was affirmed by his partner back at the shop. He was giving position checks as he traveled and indicated what trunk site his radio was using. First of all, I had no idea there were multiple sites, and that they were interconnected. He indicated some sites called Sunrise, Sloan, and Potosi. The tech indicated some signal loss problems and went on to say that the “trench” was exactly why they had added Sloan. Most of the trip he said he could see two sites and referred to seeing their antennas.
As he turned around and headed north again, I thought that we might actually meet on the 215. I was several blocks north of him, and he was several blocks further west from me. We worked it pretty close. I got on at Flamingo, just as he was going by Tropicana. There was a traffic jam at what I assume is going to be the overpass at Spring Mountain. I was at the North end as he met the south end. I drove the next few blocks real slow and we met up at the Summerlin Parkway light. I changed lanes and he pulled next to me at the light. I took a picture of him. The camera’s auto focus focused on the window, instead of him, but it was still fun to try. (My photo teacher in high school always told us to carry a camera with us, and I have gotten into the habit of making sure the digital camera is at least in the car, for something like this where a picture might be something neat to have.) He was driving in a white NDOT pickup (oddly he didn’t have one of those duallys with a steel camper just a fiberglass shell) with only a few antennas on the roof. There in his left hand he had a small hand held, and he was giving me the oddest looks. I wonder if he saw the scanner on the dash, and put 2and 2 together, or if he just thought I was another nut job.
As I was going under the Charleston overpass, my radio dropped into scan mode, indicating I had lost the CC. The radio tech noted the same drop, but I don’t know if it was in the same spot, or the same time. I took too long trying to find the talk group they were using, but I found it as he was talking about how he had dropped completely and lost the cc for at least 250 milliseconds. I thought it was just me; the antenna I was using was the stripped section of coax I got with the 780 suction cupped to the windshield of my mini van.
Every time he talked about poor signal conditions he blamed it on the “dirt” being in the way. As we were traveling in the trench leading up to Cheyenne the CC dropped out again. As we came up to the light he remarked that one of his radios reacquired the CC on the Rio. My next Customer was just off of Cheyenne, so I quit following him He. really seemed interested in hearing the effects of “that big pile of dirt” by Lone Mountain. I had to the Alexander exit today, and the big pile of “dirt” is a butte that is probably 200-500 feet tall.
When I got home Tuesday I broke out my Nevada Atlas/Gazetteer. I looked up all of the sights I heard references to:
Sunrise is a mountain North East of Las Vegas surrounded more or less by Nellis AFB at 3364’ tall
Sloan is a railroad siding south of Vegas
Potosi is a Mountain to the West of Vegas standing 8514’ tall
The Rio I assume is the Rio Hotel where I understand the NHP has a VHF trunked site operating currently.
Both mountains, or at least the peaks, are in National forests, so I doubt the radio is on top of the mountain, but probably on a hill or some cleared spot very near the actual peak.
I then looked up all the frequency info I had for the NSRS. I found info on Sloan, Potosi, and after a little searching I learned that I have been monitoring the Sunrise site. However, I haven’t been able to find any info on the Rio site. Has anyone else?
On Wednesday I added the Sloan and Potosi sites to the radio, and mad sure they were in the search mode as I traveled around the city. I heard very little activity on either site. I see that these “new sites” don’t have nearly as many channels, so I wonder if only certain users are able to access them.
I guess for now I will keep listening, and hope that the radio techs do another test drive or two
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