Topsail Island

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jscott02

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Greetings!

Headed to Topsail Island for a week in July. Will be bringing my Home Patrol and possibly a dual band HT. Anything special to monitor in the area? Is there much marine (boats, not The Corps) traffic in the area?

Thanks,

Jim
 

CaptDan

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it's been a few years since i've been on topsail island - onslow county sheriff patrols the beach - depending what is going on - listening to the marines can be great. Esp if they are preparing for a mission.
 

KC4YIN

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Will you be on the south end or north of Surf City? Pender Co. S.O is on the Viper system down there and I believe they cover the island as well although they have a local PD. As for the dual band there are a number of repeaters down there. See this link.
Wilmington amateur radio repeaters

The 444.850 / PL 88.5 is a wide coverage repeater I can hit with a handheld from Topsail on the south end easily. The 146.73 / PL 88.5 is a local repeater fairly close by. 146.82 / PL 88.5 and 147.345 / PL 88.5 are both wide coverage repeaters.

I've been going down there for more than 50 years and go back every chance I get. But then I'm only an hour and a half from there anyway.
 

KC4YIN

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No problem. You should still be able to hit those repeaters with no problem. As for the scanner, last report was that North Topsail Beach PD was on VHF- 155.565 I believe with some people reporting spotty reception. Check the data base here on RR for Onslow County, NC. As for marine VHF that is also active with marine broadcasts coming out of Wrightsville Beach Coastguard as well as local boat traffic.
Enjoy.
 

mass-man

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Whenever I travel to a beach location I scan the Coast Guard frequencies. Can't believe the amount of activity, and at least once a day a S&R of some kind. Be sure to listen there!!!!
 
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North Topsail Beach, Onslow County: NTB Police can be heard on the VHF sheriffs dispatch channel as well as the Onslow/Jacksonville trunked radio system.

Fire in Onslow County is mostly on VHF, but some 800 crosspatching, the same with Onslow EMS. They have a conventional 800 P25 system, use the County trunked system some and that is crosspatched into the VHF EMS frequency, 155.400

On the Pender County side of things, Pender uses the NC VIPER system almost exclusively, but they still have VHF crosspatched to VIPER for fire and EMS paging. The Holly Ridge site on VIPER is very close to the island and you will catch better than 90 percent of Pender County's 800 traffic on that site, plus lots of other users as they pass through.

As far as Amateur Radio, Wilmington has a number of 2m and 70cm repeaters. You also have Jacksonville has two 2m repeaters, but getting into those on a handheld from the island is most likely not going to happen. One repeater is in Hubert at 286 feet and the other is on top of Onslow Memorial Hospital.

There is also a 70cm repeater in Hubert, 444.675 + 88.5 ENC/DEC that has handheld coverage on the island in a number of places as well as Snead's Ferry.
 

JACKNTB2012

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Top'Sul

Unit numbers for NTB FD are in the 2400's in Onslow County and picked up on 154.4300.

NTB PD comes over on the Onslow County Sheriff dispatch and their unit# are in the 800's.However very little traffic and crime and they use cell phones for car to car a lot.

Surf City is in Pender County and their unit # are in the 300's, Surf City FD is Station 25 or Station 23 in Pender County and unit numbers naturally are in the 2300's and 2500's.

Lots of traffic on AirLink Medivac transmitted thru NCSHP VIPER in Onslow County.

Recent rebanding for VIPER Project 25

Enjoy your time at the beach.

JG
 

jscott02

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Thanks all. I'm still on the fence regarding bringing radios. Since I play radio for a living sometimes a break is nice. Either way, gonna be a good week :)
 

rescue161

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Don't forget the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base on the UHF Low OBT system. There is usually a lot of activity, especially with the 4th of July celebration. Base police (PMO), Base Fire and other users can be monitored.
 
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