Review of the Master Frequency Guide
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The guide is available on PDF files, not a printed book like Police Call. So whatever the font, it always can be zoomed in (enlarged) to a comfortable size while still keeping the proper format.. Keep in mind some volumes are quite large, some over 3500 pages.
It's portable so any platform can view the files and they can be stored on a drive in case the Internet is unavailable.
It's portable so any platform can view the files and they can be stored on a drive in case the Internet is unavailable.
While looking over the Alabama download what I found interesting to me, and hasn’t been discussed here, is that the sorted business .pdf also includes HF licenses for business entities. Information not generally available via RR and valuable to me!
I’ve paid for and downloaded V4 of the Business Guide. Very nice job and appears to be very inclusive. What I like best is, because it’s a .pdf, the ability to search by licensee name or frequency. I’ve gone through the NC section and sort of created a table of contents in my notes app:
NC Frequency Guide
NC HF starts on page 1722
NC Civ Air starts on page 1739
NC VHF starts on page 1746
NC Railroad starts on page 1820
NC UHF starts on page 1848...etc.
So far very happy with my purchase.
NC Frequency Guide
NC HF starts on page 1722
NC Civ Air starts on page 1739
NC VHF starts on page 1746
NC Railroad starts on page 1820
NC UHF starts on page 1848...etc.
So far very happy with my purchase.
Hi thecop,
Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad you found Volume 4 useful!
Speaking of HF, I may have forgot to mention that there is also an HF only version of the guide that covers the entire US.
Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad you found Volume 4 useful!
Speaking of HF, I may have forgot to mention that there is also an HF only version of the guide that covers the entire US.
It's a tool like any other, Personally i like the idea of having printed hard copies when searching Frequencies, if you don't find that this information is not useful, don't buy it, but emission type would be extremely useful hint hint
Thank You Joe and Joe
Thank You Joe and Joe
I took a pretty thorough look though the Master Frequency Guide samples and here are my thoughts. I too like having digital and hard copies of license data for offline use. But for the same price as a single volume of one of these frequency guides, you can purchase a RadioReference premium subscription and get access to data for download (as a .csv or .pdf, depending on the data selected) for the entire country.
I found the data from RR to be much more rich, including everything that the Master Frequency Guides does, plus more: an input frequency field, input/output tone fields, a modulation mode field, an alpha tag field, and a description field (often less cryptic than the licensee holder name, and can contain information about the actual user, not just the license holder).
Above it was stated that "what I like best is, because it’s a .pdf, the ability to search by licensee name or frequency" but PDF is perhaps one of the least ideal formats for storing and querying tabular data. PDF is good for keeping file size small for documents, but not so great as a database. Data accuracy arguments aside, I found that I get much more bang for my buck with a Radio Reference premium subscription.
I found the data from RR to be much more rich, including everything that the Master Frequency Guides does, plus more: an input frequency field, input/output tone fields, a modulation mode field, an alpha tag field, and a description field (often less cryptic than the licensee holder name, and can contain information about the actual user, not just the license holder).
Above it was stated that "what I like best is, because it’s a .pdf, the ability to search by licensee name or frequency" but PDF is perhaps one of the least ideal formats for storing and querying tabular data. PDF is good for keeping file size small for documents, but not so great as a database. Data accuracy arguments aside, I found that I get much more bang for my buck with a Radio Reference premium subscription.
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Hi call_sign_null,
Which Premium subscription query are you referring to? I also have a Premium subscription to RR.
thanks,
Which Premium subscription query are you referring to? I also have a Premium subscription to RR.
thanks,
Hi Matt,
Although those reports are great there are some differences that should be noted.
For the first 2 reports, the data is from identified frequencies only (from member submissions), not the entire FCC database like the guide lists. That is why tone and modulation mode is included in the RR reports and not in my guide.
For the last 2 reports "File of all FCC licenses in a county" these reports are more closely related to the guide.
These reports seem to span from approximately 30MHz to the microwave range while my guide goes from almost DC to 1 GHz. So the added info is of interest to the LF/HF listener. I omitted over 1 GHz because microwave links are usually not of interest to scanner users.
Also I have a few more service codes such as Aircraft Ground from the FCC DB, I did not note these in the downloadable report.
My guide is for an entire region of the US and the info is by state. So you can see all licenses in the state at a glance instead of having to select each county separately. This comes in handy when a system covers more than one county.
Finally the sorting and format is a little easier to follow in my guide, mainly because I sort by callsign then site name, then frequency. So the bases/repeaters appear first in most cases.
Again I am not criticizing the RR downloadable reports, but just comparing them to my guide.
As I have always said, my guide is a complement to RR not a replacement.
thanks!
Although those reports are great there are some differences that should be noted.
For the first 2 reports, the data is from identified frequencies only (from member submissions), not the entire FCC database like the guide lists. That is why tone and modulation mode is included in the RR reports and not in my guide.
For the last 2 reports "File of all FCC licenses in a county" these reports are more closely related to the guide.
These reports seem to span from approximately 30MHz to the microwave range while my guide goes from almost DC to 1 GHz. So the added info is of interest to the LF/HF listener. I omitted over 1 GHz because microwave links are usually not of interest to scanner users.
Also I have a few more service codes such as Aircraft Ground from the FCC DB, I did not note these in the downloadable report.
My guide is for an entire region of the US and the info is by state. So you can see all licenses in the state at a glance instead of having to select each county separately. This comes in handy when a system covers more than one county.
Finally the sorting and format is a little easier to follow in my guide, mainly because I sort by callsign then site name, then frequency. So the bases/repeaters appear first in most cases.
Again I am not criticizing the RR downloadable reports, but just comparing them to my guide.
As I have always said, my guide is a complement to RR not a replacement.
thanks!
The inclusion of LF/HF listings is definitely an advantage the Master Frequency Guide has going for it. A diverse data pool for radio hobbyists is a good thing - Radio Reference isn't/shouldn't be the sole source of information when investigating radio signals. If the Master Frequency Guide was available in a tabular format like .csv, I think you could widen the audience.
Hi Matt,
the CSV file is a really good idea and it would be easy for me to implement!
thanks!
the CSV file is a really good idea and it would be easy for me to implement!
thanks!
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