State/Statewide conventional channels

[Gilligan]

I did some digging in the FCC database and found some statewide freqs that are basically licensed to the state of Oklahoma. They are conventional. Some are in the database for specific areas and others aren't listed at all. Maybe some of you guys around the state could plug them into your scanners and see what you hear on them. Yes, I realize that some of them are base/mobile relays. But some could be used for car/car as well...

453.275
42.32
42.60
154.680
154.695
154.920
155.310
155.445
155.460
155.475
159.210
154.935
155.760
45.02
45.14
460.05
460.275
465.05
465.275

 

[Sparky_one]

mutual aid

155.670, 155.550, and 155.490 were state-wide mutual aid at one time. I can sometimes here county dispatches and traffic on 155.670 near Henryetta on I-40. But I believe most agencies have abandoned using them. I did ask a dispatcher at Troop G about it and he said that as far as he knew, the DPS removed all mutual aid radios from all OHP cruisers. They now mainly rely on 800 mhz.

 

[Sparky_one]

154.680 is actively used by McAlester OHP dispatch. It repeats to 44.7.

 

[robynsjw]

Old Mutual Aid

I think you mean 155.760 instead of 155.670.
155.760 used to be called the "Old Channel", at least east of OKC, almost every small town's PD, a lot of FDs and local gov't were all on there in the 70s and 80s.
155.670 was the "State Net", supposedly every PD, SO etc in the state had it for "interoperability". And it worked just fine.
155.550 is Okmulgee County, so you'll be hearing traffic there around Henryetta.
The other VHF's sound familiar, some or all of them may be OHP.

 

[Gilligan]

Part of the reason I am even checking into this is to see if they are being used for surveillance. I read a post from another state that had a statewide, state-licensed, mobile frequency licensed and was being used for surveillance purposes. I wouldn't rule out the possibility of OHP using them for car/car or surveillance.

 

[Sparky_one]

golden days of trooper radios

I guess they don't like giving up licenses once they get them. Remember the day when your local trooper had every possible radio in his car including CB? When you did a ride along you had to get used to hearing calls come from every corner of the vehicle. Officer Reynolds at Troop A has radios related to working in the metro. He'll advise you to just listen for calls coming from the door speaker, and not to touch the shotgun.

Yes you are correct, I meant to say 155.760. I had it programmed in an old, old RELM RH-256nb. I had all the state vhf frequencies in this radio for the past 2 years. This summer, I reprogrammed all the OKC VHF simulcast channels in it (I have them on xmit block because what's the use of trying to even talk on those freqs). I can pick them up from as far away as 50 miles with an old Cushcraft 2-meter mobile whip antenna. Yesterday, I opened it up and put in local ham repeater freqs in the old state vhf spots. I love the programming sequence - 146925800031146325. Yet, it is easier than hex editing a motorola code plug.
Lastly, I was always leary of those Bear Tracker devices. I could never find anyone who owened one. I don't like radar detectors but the idea of intercepting mobile repeaters and such was interesting. They would almost have to be 800mhz to be effective now.

 

[tiawah466]

I think you mean 155.760 instead of 155.670.
155.760 used to be called the "Old Channel", at least east of OKC, almost every small town's PD, a lot of FDs and local gov't were all on there in the 70s and 80s.
155.670 was the "State Net", supposedly every PD, SO etc in the state had it for "interoperability". And it worked just fine.
155.550 is Okmulgee County, so you'll be hearing traffic there around Henryetta.
The other VHF's sound familiar, some or all of them may be OHP.

155.7600 was used aroung here for a long time for everyone from the county road crews to fire departments. It was refered to as Old County. We just quit using it for our main channel a few years ago. It is still being used by the County road crews, and sometimes you will hear various LE's and FireFighters using it as a talkaround channel.

 

[Gilligan]

155.670 was the "State Net", supposedly every PD, SO etc in the state had it for "interoperability". And it worked just fine.

And with all the new technology and ITAC channels and such, I never hear anyone talking to anyone. During pursuits, it still all goes through their dispatchers, county to city to state... Sometimes I wonder about this new technology... and this from a person who's grown up with it, not from living in the old days of 100% conventional.

 

[dward42586]

155.31

This was a car to car freq for OHP in OKC area several years ago when I lived there.

 

[Gilligan]

Regarding 155.310,

This was a car to car freq for OHP in OKC area several years ago when I lived there.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. This info is not listed anywhere and they could be using it all the time. Thanks so much. Anything in particular that you remember about it? Did they use it the same way as they use low-band car/car? Or how did they reference it? Did they just come on it and call another unit, as if it was being scanned?

 

[Sparky_one]

OKC detectives

I once found an unpublished OKC Police detective channel when a car with heavily tinted windows was outside my home for about an hour. I was curious as to what they were doing. I grabbed my good ole frequency counter and watched it for a while. Sure enough, it zeroed in on a vhf frequency. I put that frequency in my scanner and listened to undercover agents waiting on a suspect. The suspect showed up 2 houses down and he barracaded himself in his home. He tossed out his wife and fired a few rounds. They shot out my front porch light with a pellet gun but had to use something bigger on the OGE light at the corner. It penetrated the transformer and the oil caught fire. The whole pole went up like a bottle rocket. Finally at about 2AM they sent in some kind of remote camera. They saw a man laying on the floor. They went ahead and crashed in and found him with a gunshot wound in the head. They put out on the radio, "HQ, we need the signal 7 squad."

 

[grack]

They shot out my front porch light with a pellet gun but had to use something bigger on the OGE light at the corner. It penetrated the transformer and the oil caught fire. The whole pole went up like a bottle rocket.

Typical. Somebody gets to do something "cool" and loses whatever brains they had. Who knows what their little stunt cost in damages both to OGE and their customers served by that transformer.

 

[dward42586]

They just came on and called the unit they wanted to talk to. I believe I've heard this freq 155.31 in use here in the Tulsa area within the past few months.

 

[Gilligan]

I heard two cruisers using 154.935 this morning w/ a tone of 114.8 PL. I believe they were southbound on I-44 West.

 

[dstew67]

I heard two cruisers using 154.935 this morning w/ a tone of 114.8 PL. I believe they were southbound on I-44 West.

Troopers use this in the OKC area for car-to-car.

 

[Gilligan]

Troopers use this in the OKC area for car-to-car.

I kind of thought that before but had never copied a tone on the freq. I find it a bit unusual that the tone is 114.8 PL and not 77.0 PL like the regular OHP stuff. All the same, at least now it is confirmed. And I think it would probably be the same throughout the metro at least for all cruisers to be able to talk to each other.

In another note, I also heard some county deputies using 460.500 (107.2 PL) simplex, talking around the repeater on their ch 17, for car-to-car ops just prior to an arrest.

 

[Chaos703]

A mere 20 years ago, 155.76 was in constant use for inner-departmental communications in the Okmulgee area (and I assume everywhere else in the state). Dispatchers would use it to talk to each other as often as individual units. Calling was addressed like this:

"Okmulgee PD, Troop B; State Net ..." or "Okmulgee PD, Henretta PD; State Net ..." or "Baker 703, Okmulgee County; State Net ..."

It worked perfectly. And I honestly don't understand why it isn't used anymore since nothing has come along to replace it.

 

[dstew67]

I thought twice about posting this, but I'm going to...

With OKC's switch to 800 MHz, and almost everyone else around here using UHF, that left several VHF freqs all but abandoned. Don't count them out yet though. I recently heard a federal agency using one of these frequencies for surveillance that has seen no traffic around here for months. I would just keep those in a scanner somewhere. You never know what kind of stuff you'll stumble on!

 

[Gilligan]

I recently heard a federal agency using one of these frequencies for surveillance that has seen no traffic around here for months. I would just keep those in a scanner somewhere. You never know what kind of stuff you'll stumble on!

Just out of curiousity, do you remember which frequency you heard it on?


Yesterday when I heard those deputies on 460.500 (OCSO Ch 13), They were using talkaround for short-range ops. Then when they were about to make an arrest nearby, they got on that repeater and called another unit. What I'm wondering is if maybe this repeater/simplex combination on 460.500 is actually being used for a county tactical team. I've heard different kind of alerts on the channel and always wondered why they would broadcast alerts on anything but the dispatch freq that most patrol units monitor. But if it is for a tac team, they may benefit from hearing some of those alerts. The DB lists the freq w/ this description: "Radio Service/Physical Plant/Maintenance". What does "Physical Plant" mean?

 

[dstew67]

Just out of curiousity, do you remember which frequency you heard it on?

Of course! :twisted:


I'd rather not say what it is though, because it was so recent, and I don't relush the idea of having this post used to charge me with interferring with a federal investigation.

What I can't understand is this...if you're a big enough criminal to attract the attention of a federal agency, wouldn't it be prudent to do a little counter-intelligence by using a scanner? I mean, you're already gonna be charged with some serious felonies if you're caught. Are you really worried about being charged with using a scanner in the commission of a crime? Then again, if you're stupid enough to think you can break the law forever and not get caught, then maybe you're stupid enough to not use a scanner, or maybe use it correctly.