Scofield trip

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enosjones

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I Just got back from Scofield Today, and Picked up just a few frequencies. Seems all are covered by the Boarding House Repeater site but one. The Active ones Are:

151.340 Emery County SO/ PL 100.0
147.080 Ham Repeater Starpoint
224.980 Ham Repeater Boarding House PL 88.5
151.535 Skyline Mine? Boarding House? very Strong Signal up the canyon past Scofield Definatly Mine Operations PL 100.0
then others heard was
133.900 Salt Lake Center
133.600 Salt Lake Center

Not much else Ford Ridge is Blocked by Mountains sometimes you can see the towers, but not alot til you get back near the lake. Which also means little or no cell service through the area either.

151.460 Boarding House For Price Dispatch and Scofield's City channel 158.835 were not active today but I know the first one is active, However I have not heard from the one from Sanpete County since the begining of winter (153.965). So I dont know if its down do to snow or down for good.

Alot of snow For Scofield, Lake is still Frozen over, Ice fishers and Snowmobilers were on it today, Although it is melting. More Snow is Forecast for tonight through Monday.

Also audio For TV Stations for Channels 2, 4, and 5 can be heard up there as well there was no radio stations I could hear though.
 
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qlajlu

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Enos, that is an excellent report, but I'll bet you froze up on top. It has been cold here in SLC today with that storm you mentioned moving in.

Would you explain to me what is meant by "Boarding House." I have not heard this in regard to radio frequency before. I'm still learning.
 

theaton

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Boarding House

qlajlu said:
Would you explain to me what is meant by "Boarding House." I have not heard this in regard to radio frequency before. I'm still learning.
That confused me at first also. But when I searched my topo maps I found that the repeaters are simply located on Boarding House Ridge.

Enos, I've also been a little confused by the close proximity of towers on Ford Ridge, Boarding House Ridge, Monument Peak, and Horn Mountain. There is also a repeater on Skyline Drive not far away. Why so many government transmitter towers so close together? I know it's a topographically complex area on the Wasatch Plateau, so I wonder if these sites tend to serve different areas best. Or maybe it's more political (which government entitity owns each site). Any ideas?

-Tim

P.S. As a boy scout our troup went on a snomobile outing on Schofield Reservoir. Otherwise I only know the area from driving past it (trying in vain to pass trucks) many times!
 
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tbogs

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I grew up in Carbon County and moved up to the Salt Lake Valley about a year ago. I lived in Helper and when I go back I bring my scanner. There are only a few places in Helper that I can pick up Ford Ridge. If I drive to Price which is six miles south of Helper I pick up Ford Ridge perfect (same thing happens when I try to get the weather service). Its funny because Helper is much closer to Ford Ridge then Price but because of the landscape certain towers you can pick up while others you cannot. Various spots are enclosed in canyons so you need all those towers to transmit.
 

qlajlu

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I was thinking that maybe "Boarding House" was a radio term for a type of station, but being a location makes perfect sense.

tbogs, you brought up something that has made me scratch my head a couple of times, too. How are they going to cover the canyon from Helper up to Soldier Summit when they go to the trunking system? There are so many twists and turns in that canyon, and the narrows, I'm sure, will be a special headache.

How many towers will it take to cover that canyon since 800 MHz is basically line-of-sight? They can't afford to just point something in that direction and say, "Oh, well..." because there is just too much Interstate traffic through there. They have to plan for decent coverage.
 

tbogs

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I'm not sure how they would get decent coverage through the canyon...my best guess would be to put another tower somewhere in Price Canyon (After Soldier Summit and as you get ready to enter into Helper). I know sometimes when the Sheriff's department answers calls up there they have to switch to statewide frequencies. That's why there are many repeaters so close together. During the summer I like to go on Skyline Drive and listen to the frequency in the database that is listed for UHP in Carbon County and it comes in crystal clear. I cannot pick up Price Dispatch though. Its really interesting down in that area but I'm sure ENOS would know more. I didn't really get into Scanners until I moved up here to the Salt Lake Valley.
 

qlajlu

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tbogs said:
...I'm sure ENOS would know more. I didn't really get into Scanners until I moved up here to the Salt Lake Valley.
Yeah, Enos is a veritable walking encyclopedia when it comes to radio coverage in the Price/Carbon County/Emery County/SE Utah areas. He knows this stuff!
 

enosjones

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Yes, Covering the canyon would be hard. Sometimes they have to switch to Cedar Mountain for a while while going up the canyon or to Boarding House. I lost the 800 MHZ in the canyon and in most parts of Scofield. Where I went was past the Dam and up the canyon toward the Skyline Mine area also near Boarding House To a Place called Helaman Hollow (LDS Church owned Cabin).

I can Only Pick up Skyline Mine while up there even though it is on a repeater, or at least I think it was Skyline Mine. Its location of which repeater its on is somewhat confusing too. I can pick up all Boarding House and even Starpoint Repeaters in Price area fairly ok, But Skyline Mine I can't.

Because of all the mountains including Woodhill, Ford Ridge, Boarding House, Four Mile Hill, and many others.
Their locations sometimes block each other out. Such as Woodhill would block Ford Ridge from seeing Helper so Dispatch had to put a Pager Tower for the Helper area on Woodhill to cover Helper. Because the Boarding House Repeater for Dispatch isn't used full time and only when they need it, I didnt hear Price dispatch at all from where I was at in Scofield. But I could hear Emery County SO because they have a Full time linked active repeater used all the time on Boarding House. So i couldn't hear Price dispatch on Ford, Ridge Woodhill, Or Cedar Mountain.

It was nice up there a little cold but the snow was melting yesterday. The Lake is frozen in many spots I was told up to 2 feet deep in some areas.

The NOAA Weather Service Repeater is in Emery County (Just FYI) on Horn Mountain near Orangeville, you lose it in the middle of Carbonville.
 

theaton

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Thanks for the comments. The shadowing explanation makes a lot of sense. Manti-La Sal National Forest has five different repeaters (same frequencies but different tones) in that same general vicinity, presumably to get universal coverage. The funny thing is that you can hear all those sites well from Spanish Fork Peak or the San Rafael Swell, so it makes the non-local person wonder whey they're all needed!

I wonder if the state really intends to expand UCAN statewide and ensure universal coverage. I doubt the cost would justify the benefits. Colorado has gone with a statewide 800 MHz trunked system, but it must not work everywhere because there is still a lot of HP/DOT/local traffic on the conventional channels. Wyoming has also installed a state trunked system (VHF, like South Dakota). While driving across I-80 I picked up control channels the whole way but never heard a single transmission on the system! All the HP/DOT traffic was on the old conventional repeaters. Apparently the state can afford repeaters but not radios. :lol:

Enos, is Helaman Hollow some kind of youth camp or scout camp? I've never heard of it.

-Tim
 

enosjones

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theaton said:
Enos, is Helaman Hollow some kind of youth camp or scout camp? I've never heard of it.

-Tim

Yes they use it for that and some for scouts. They have girls camp there they stay for almost a week. Very good sized, and still could use tents outside in the summer too. From what I was told its 18.3 miles from the Scofield turn off at the 6 and 96 junction to the cabin.
 
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