Stokes Fire F-1 154.265

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fcfd988

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Does anyone know what is going on on Stokes Fire F-1, 154.265???

For the last several days there has been what sounds like a radio keying up periodically with just a dead key.

It sounds like a Motorola, because it will time-out after so many seconds and you can hear the fimiliar time-out timer tone like a maxtrac or similar makes. Then a few minutes later it is back.

I heard a unit call Stokes to ask if they heard the keyed mic and they replied and said they were aware and the interferance, as they called it, had been going on for some time.

It gets so annoying that I have had to lock it out of the scan list.....

Anyone else hearing it??

Wes
 

jeffmulter

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The open carrier was noted here yesterday morning, and this morning. I noted a series of mike clicks a short time ago.

Conditions yesterday morning were superb to the north and south of here. I presume it may have been interference from a radio not in the Stokes County area.

Just a confirmation ... 150.775 / 141.3 is the input to the Stokes repeater on 154.265 / 141.3 ? From the FCC database, one cannot tell if 150.775, 151.175 or 159.060 is the input.




Jeff
 

CCHLLM

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Yesterday was definitely a red letter day for the interference. The offending signal is itself being interrupted by something, often has a steady tone and/or a two tone encoding similar to Motorola QC, and on the majority of complete transmissions, it sports an FSK data burst at the end of the transmissions. I'm ashamed to say that in spite of the fact that I live in the adjoining county and have excellent reception of the Stokes fire frequency, I haven't put the ham radio into VFO mode and attempted to see what's on the input from my side of the mountain.

Experience as a radio tech tells me that the qualities of the audio that comes through the Stokes repeater when the interference is present indicates that the mystery signal or the repeater receiver is drifting on frequency, or the modulation level on the mystery signal is varying and is exceeding the band pass of the repeater receiver. My guess would be the latter of the choices.
 
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drew6553

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same thing is going on in Brunswick county on fire 154.415 have actually heard it keyed for 3 plus hours at some points
 

MBennett

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The Fire F1 Dispatch is 154.265 / 150.775 with PL of 141.3

We have had Radio Maintance check our equipment and the FCC in on it too and it does get very wild at times

The Fire Units that are responding to calls are having to monitor Stokes Fire F-2 Combat

The Fire F-2 151.205 / 159.060 with PL of 192.8
They are having to monitor this channel by fire department personnel and by the County 911 Emergency Communications Personnel

Fire F2 is on the consoles at the 911 Center and the Communications Personnel have access to it

I live in STOKES COUNTY
 
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MBennett

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It has been making that noise again this afternoon and it is openning the the Fire Dispatch Repeater

Fire F-1 154.265 / 150.775 with PL Tone of 141.3

Is there equipment to see if the repeater equipment is getting out of balance to cause this major PROBLEM

Any help would be greatful
 

fcfd988

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wx4cbh,

I dont know if they are having any rx drift problems, but....

I constantly hear them bleeding over onto State Fire 154.280 from Stokes Fire F-1 154.265.

Usually you only hear the console warble alert tone bleed over onto State Fire. I hear it on my mobile radios, my scanners at home and our FD base located in Yadkin County..... And yes, we have State Fire programmed with csq recieve.

Maybe they are over modulating too.

I could understand hearing it occasionally if I am close to Stokes County, but it is a regular occurance and 2 counties away.....

Wes
 

jeffmulter

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Thanks, MBennett, for the input frequency and tone.

FWIW - East Ridge Fire Department in Hamilton County, Tn (Chattanooga ... southeast Tn) has used 150.775 / 141.3 as the input to their fire repeater on 154.310.

My understanding, according to the information that the "owner" of the Chattradio list on Yahoogroups has on his web site, is that the repeater is now relegated to paging only, and their fire operations is on the Chattanooga / Hamilton County Motorola trunked system.

East Ridge is licensed for a fixed link between their dispatch and the repeater on 150.775.

The callsign of the license is KZG287, and here's the contact information from the license ... if you seek further information:

Eddie Phillips / (423) 867-7100
 

CCHLLM

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This is all good info from all here, and I'm not surprised at the adjacent channel interference. My two Spectras (truck and house) don't hear the 265 traffic on the state fire freq, but the Icom (home) and the Maratrac (other truck) do occasionally. And from the audio characteristics, I wouldn't be surprised if you're right about the overmod. Encoding modulation levels on the Randolph fire repeater (154.415/151.4 PL) is another that seems to be quite a bit louder than the repeated audio levels, and I get adjacent channel interference on both the Icom and the Maratrac there, too, when the scan lands on Wilkes fire (154.400/151.4 PL) or Iredell (154.385/151.4 PL).
 

yardbird

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Stokes Fire F-1

Has anybody looked into the possibility of bleed over from Alleghany Co. Fire?

I think there repeater input is 150.775 and output is 154.430/ PL 192.8

I have noticed in the data base that alot of counties in North Carolina have recently licensed 150.775 and 150.790 as repeater inputs for fire and ems/rescue

Alleghany Co. and Stokes Co. are just separtated by one county.

Just a thought

David
 

MBennett

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Stokes County Problems

150.775 Fire Dispatch 1 - Transmit
154.265 Fire Dispatch 1 - Receive

The problem that I see with it is that it is the Receive to Fire Dispatch and not the Transmit to Fire Dispatch

and the PL Tone is 141.3

any questions or answers to please reply
 
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CCHLLM

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The repeater receivers (it's a multi-site system, BTW) are on 150.775 mHz, and the interference is very obviously on at least one of the receivers since the voted receiver's audio is what's being repeated. If there's a system link frequency, it could be there and not on 150.775 at all. Besides, I think the problem is coming from the VA side of the border.
 

MBennett

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Sites with in Stokes County

we have the following sites within our Communications Network

911 Emergency Communications (Primary PSAP)
to
Booth Mountain
to
King Water Tower (Mountain View Rd)
to
Sauratown Mountain

The Following use the multi-cast network

All Law Enforcement with in Stokes County
All EMS with in Stokes County
All Fire Departments

We have had some trouble with

Law Enforcement 1 - 453.050 PL 141.3 within the last 2 days mainly daytime hours


any questions just ask
 
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MBennett

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Stokes County Radio Frequencies

The Frequencies listed on this table have been confirmed through the County Emergency Communications Director Stokes County 901

These should also be what is on the Radio Reference Site as well

Agency----------Frequency Input--PL Tone----Frequency Output--PL Tone

Stokes County Law Enforcement
SHERIFF 1---------458.050--------141.3---------453.050-----------141.3
SHERIFF 2---------458.725--------141.3---------453.725-----------141.3
SHERIFF 3---------458.800--------141.3---------453.800-----------141.3

Stokes County Fire & Rescue Services
FIRE DISP 1-------150.775--------141.3----------154.265----------141.3
FIRE F2------------159.060--------192.8----------151.205----------192.8
FIRE F3------------159.060--------192.8----------159.060----------192.8

Stokes County Emergency Medical Services
EMS DISP 1-------151.175---------192.8---------156.195-----------192.8
EMS E2------------155.235---------192.8---------155.235-----------192.8

Any questions just ask
 

fcfd988

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Mbennett,

Suppose you could shed some light on what the logic is behind the Fire F-3 channel??

I have never understood why this is setup like it is. Why would you want to be talking on F3 simplex and at the same time be bringing up the Fire F2 repeater???

Wes
 

MBennett

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fcfd988 said:
Mbennett,

Suppose you could shed some light on what the logic is behind the Fire F-3 channel??

I have never understood why this is setup like it is. Why would you want to be talking on F3 simplex and at the same time be bringing up the Fire F2 repeater???

Wes

Wes,

Right now the Fire F3 channel is not operational it is just listed at this time

on our frequency list

They currently use

F1 - Dispatch Frequency of 154.265 / 150.775 PL 141.3
F2 - Repeater Combat of 151.205 / 159.060 PL of 192.8
F4 - Combat with Frequency of 154.265 PL 192.8
F5 - Combat with Frequency of 151.205 PL 192.8

Hope this helps

I really don't understand some of the setup on our Radio System

RCS Communications Group is the group that Maintains our Radio Equipment at all of the Tower Sites and field Equipment and The 911 Center at the present time.
 
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CCHLLM

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Last night Lancaster was loud and clear for a while in this area, as were several other places that are normally absent on the VHF side of the shack. I believe there was a bit of a band opening for a while, eh? Seemed to be south and west, especially west. It may have been good in other directions, too, but I neglected to enable those channels in the scan list, and just as well with all the chatter going on over channels I normally don't hear.

BTW, anybody checked the VA database for 150.775? Guess I need to contribute so I can search, too, but I've already had to dump a bank account and acquire another directly due to PayPal, so for sure it won't be that way.
 
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jeffmulter

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>> BTW, anybody checked the VA database for 150.775?

Comparing the FCC ULS against information on RR and other sources, the licensee with the highest probability of matching 150.775 / 114.8 would be Wytheville in Wythe County.

It appears they are using the channel for local rescue purposes, with 150.775 being the input to a repeater on 155.385. Some of the county fire channels use a PL tone of 141.3 Hz.

An interesting sidebar I found are a pair of overlapping articles from the local news in Wytheville:

http://www.wythenews.com/servlet/Sa...VE_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137834644032

http://www.wythenews.com/servlet/Sa...VE_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137835222265

Albert Newberry, the Wytheville public safety director mentioned in one of the articles, is the contact person on the license covering 150.775 / 155.385:

http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/....hts?db_id=3&callsign=WPHS425&application_id=
 
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