Tulare Area CHP

[ramboton]

For 40+ years I have listened to CHP on their "Pink" channel at 42.440 in Tulare County, as well as the Maroon2 45.460 for the Coalinga and Hanford area units.
Some time in the last few days both have gone dead. It is not and issue with my scanner, I have a BCT15x and a RTL-SDR that were picking everything up a few days ago. As well as a TRX-2 in my truck which has always worked. Today I drove from Bakersfield to Tulare. I could hear Bakersfield CHP no problem (Brown2) but heard nothing on the Pink or Maroon2. I even heard Tulare County Fire dispatch a pair of accidents, I should have heard CHP dispatch their units to those as well but heard nothing. So either they have changed channels (not noted in the frequency database) or their Blue Ridge Tower is down, but I still think I would pick up Coalinga on one of the western repeaters, instead it is all dead.
I just added everything that is in the RR database for Central Division and Fresno dispatch, including 700 mhz channels, still nothing.....

 

[ke6ats]

I'm in Visalia and have been listening to Fresno CHP dispatch on the "Blue-2" for most of the day today (44.98). Everything I have heard seems to be routine traffic. I'm guessing there is an issue of some sort with the "Pink". "Silver" & "Maroon" seem to business as usual.

 

[norcalscan]

I'm going through there next Thur/Friday and will take a listen on Pink. I have a decent CHP mobile setup on a 15x as well. I might be coming up 65 from the south and then up 99 north.

 

[ramboton]

I am thinking that Blue Ridge may be down. I let the scanner run for a while, heard some car to car on the pink and some car to car on Blue, but I am not hearing dispatch. It could be that they are coming off of a Fresno repeater that I just can't hear.

 

[vince48]

I'm too in Visalia and Pink seems not active for the last few weeks.

 

[ramboton]

I am hearing a little on Blue 2, 44.980, and it is normal Tulare/Porterville traffic. However it is hit and miss and lots of static, I assume it is a repeater on a Fresno hilltop somewhere. I know they have a repeater on Blue Ridge which is about 30 minutes above Porterville and would give us perfect reception. I assume that Blue Ridge is down for some reason.

 

[officer_415]

Anything on 45.10 MHz? (listed as Pink 2 in the database)

 

[AM909]

Anyone know what the oldest of their low-band base stations are using for equipment? It seems things can be down for long-ish periods of time. Maybe parts are getting hard to find?

 

[vince48]

Anything on 45.10 MHz? (listed as Pink 2 in the database)

I monitored that channel for over two weeks and nothing

 

[mmckenna]

Anyone know what the oldest of their low-band base stations are using for equipment? It seems things can be down for long-ish periods of time. Maybe parts are getting hard to find?

Last time I was at one of their sites, it was old Midland stuff. I've also seen Daniels equipment.

 

[gmclam]

So many thoughts.... You should always monitor the Blue channel for the area in addition to the main channel. From what I've seen, it's their usual go to in case of need. This time of year and with the weather we've been having, I can see a (mountain top) repeater/transmitter having issues. KRCR-TV was having trouble with theirs, they posted some pics on their web site showing lots of ice.

I believe Pink has a wider coverage area than Blue, so even if Blue is used, it might not be the only temporary solution. Without being in the area, I can't know for sure; but here are some examples of what could be going on.

 

[ke6ats]

Anything on 45.10 MHz? (listed as Pink 2 in the database)

I have not heard anything on Pink-2 in quite a while (maybe 3 months). I have a scanner dedicated to CHP Central Division and I have yet to determine when/ why "Fresno" uses that channel.

 

[ramboton]

So many thoughts.... You should always monitor the Blue channel for the area in addition to the main channel. From what I've seen, it's their usual go to in case of need. This time of year and with the weather we've been having, I can see a (mountain top) repeater/transmitter having issues. KRCR-TV was having trouble with theirs, they posted some pics on their web site showing lots of ice.

I believe Pink has a wider coverage area than Blue, so even if Blue is used, it might not be the only temporary solution. Without being in the area, I can't know for sure; but here are some examples of what could be going on.

I agree, as I said earlier I am 99% sure that the pink transmits from Blue Ridge and I assume they have an outage there. I did check the live cam at Blue Ridge and there is no snow there, but it could be another issue. ALERTCalifornia - Blue Ridge 1

I can hear the normal traffic on Blue 44.980, but as you said it is either low power or farther away. I can not pick them up from my house with a rooftop scanner antenna, even though Pink was loud and clear on that antenna. But I do pick them up in my truck, but I have a large whip antenna for the purpose of having the best CHP reception that I can get.

 

[PrivatelyJeff]

There was some updates to CRIS involving Blue Ridge. Maybe they shut things down temporarily to install or tweak stuff or maybe CHP moved over to it?

 

[ramboton]

There was some updates to CRIS involving Blue Ridge. Maybe they shut things down temporarily to install or tweak stuff or maybe CHP moved over to it?

That makes sense, I am sure Blue is temporary as even the dispatchers seem a little frustrated by the reception not being as good as normal.

 

[ramboton]

Well things are back to normal, the Pink is loud and clear, so they must have resolved the issue.

 

[PrivatelyJeff]

Yep I heard them tell the dispatcher to switch back over earlier.

 

[norcalscan]

Well things are back to normal, the Pink is loud and clear, so they must have resolved the issue.

i concur. Pink 42.440 loud and clear on 15x mobile this afternoon 65, ducor, porterville. Nothing on pink2 so far.

 

[nokones]

Anyone know what the oldest of their low-band base stations are using for equipment? It seems things can be down for long-ish periods of time. Maybe parts are getting hard to find?

All the low-band remote stations statewide were replaced between 2008 and 2012. The only exception may be the simulcast systems. I'm not sure what they did with the simulcast systems. There were no simulcast systems in the Central Valley.