Troy TN On Unlicensed Station

[btritch]

I live in northeast arkansas and for the past few months or more I have been hearing Troy Fire Department In Troy TN in Obion County TN do their weekly pager tests and radio checks around 7:00 PM on out county fire channel here, It's not coming through the repeater because it beeps when it's unkeyed, It's a solid signal coming from Troy TN itself and I'm picking it up on 154.445 MHZ, But when checking the license for Troy TN they do not have this frequency listed on their license or anywhere in Obion County For that matter, Now I realize that TN is only one state over but Obion County is almost the KY Boarder, it's only 75.2 miles by way of air from Troy TN to where I am, However this is quite aways considering the terrain type, I first thought it was just skip by the way the waves were rolling but it's been going on for months every night, So it wouldn't really be skip I don't think. The only thing I haven't figured out is, Why would I be hearing them on 154.445 if there is no FCC license on file for that frequency for Troy TN, Can anyone confirm if they are using this frequency and I'm just not seeing the frequency license or something I'm missing somewhere, Can someone explain this?
Thanks For The Help,
Brian
Paragould AR 72450

 

[buddrousa]

Brian what are you hearing them on because both repeaters are 154.400 out and tone on both the main and the backup repeater. I have them in my kenwood tk250 and live in Union City 154.445 is in use for Weakley County Tn Fire. The input for them is 153.890 I just heard them test at 7pm tonight.

 

[btritch]

My scanner is picking them up on our local fire channel, It's not even on a VHF antenna, it's actually connected to my Antron CB AM Antenna and still picking them up. I'm hearing them on 154.445 which is our repeater output on the fire channel here in greene county AR, The frequency input is 151.025. I'm hearing them clear as a bell on this channel too, That's why I ask.. (Troy Fire Department, Troy Fire Department, Pager Test, Pager Test, Tone Time (time here) Obion County 911 Clear.) I've heard it the last three or four weeks... Output 154.445, Input 151.025 and it's Obion County TN, Troy Fire Department, I'm hearing them clear as a bell. Why I don't know, That's what I'm trying to figure out, lol I could be hearing them off the Butler County Missouri Frequency, Their output is the same as ours but the input is different, it's actually 154.445 out and 150-775 in, That still doesn't match up though. I can't explain it but I'm hearing them... Any ideas?

 

[appalachianscanner]

Re:

Could be an image that your scanner is picking up.....

 

[INDY72]

Next question..... Are you using a scanner that you can close the scan mode and use a tone on your frequencies such as a PRO-92, 95, 96, 97, 10Xseries?

If so scan in closed mode this will make your scanner act like an actual radio by only letting the toned broadcast through. Put the tone on YOUR local chan, and scan in closed mode. If you still get bleed in from Troy, then we have a mystery.

 

[btritch]

Well it could be an image but all the way from here, It's 77 miles from here to there by air. Could it be an image at that distance?
No, This radio (radio shack pro 2051) doesn't have pl tones, My GRE does but this one don't. I have never picked it up on it but it's on a different antenna too, The one I'm hearing then on is 65 feet in the air, The other one is about 30. It could be an image but from 77 miles and every week? It's strange that it comes in every week from that far away..

 

[SCPD]

A 65-foot antenna, with a CB antenna would most likely pull that signal in. In the early 80's I had a spare outdoor CB antenna that I hooked up to one of the first Bearcat LED scanners, and I was pulling in fire pages from a site approximately 60-70 miles NE of me.

I also pulled in some great distance locations on vhf lo and vhf hi. So what you are hearing is possible that it is coming 75 miles away. You've got great anntenna height and it's not surprising to me that you are pulling this in on a CB antenna. There is another thread somewhere on RR covering that very topic.

 

[INDY72]

When I was living in MS, I had a CB whip set up on an Magmount scanner base on a tin roof at an elevation of 15 feet. The house was located on one of the highest hilltops in SE MS. I regularly pulled in VHF low band from up to 100 miles without skip or ducting. Pulled in VHF high band from nearly that same distance without ducting. Pulled in UHF from up to 50 miles away without ducting. On a good bandpath for skip,.. I could get low band from CA, SC, MO, Mexico, military from who knows where. On a good bandpath ducting season, I could listen to high band and UHF from as far away as the New Orleans, LA areas south, AL EMA to the east, and not sure where else I was picking up.. but your talking distances of up to 500 miles in some instances. And that was rooftop, not a mast mounted rig. Wish I had had a say.... 30 foot mast back then.

 

[btritch]

So from what I'm hearing my AM antenna makes a better FM scanner antenna than my FM scanner antenna does, lol
But the frequencies are different all the way around, So I guess it could be an image then..

 

[appalachianscanner]

See if you can hear the same stuff on a different radio/scanner...