UCAN Rebanding has started

[theaton]

Big Cottonwood Canyon = Scotts Peak

I was up BCC a couple days ago and got no traffic on the 860 Mhz control channel. I did found a CC of 857.9875 that has affiliated with 7202. Does anyone have a file of this CC up there and all the alternate CC or other voice freqs. There was no traffic on the site (weekday afternoon) so i didn't find out more.

Since the old Site 25 data was poor (1 freq, no license) I went ahead and made 857.9875 the CC and added the license. I also changed the name to from BCC to "Scotts Peak" as suggested by a group member since that's the FCC name. The site is on the boundary between Brighton & Park City.

It was also suggested that Site 40 be changed from "Hansel Mtn" to "Snowville" since that's the FCC name. Any thoughts?

-Tim

 

[Junior1970]

My Two Cents

Since the old Site 25 data was poor (1 freq, no license) I went ahead and made 857.9875 the CC and added the license. I also changed the name to from BCC to "Scotts Peak" as suggested by a group member since that's the FCC name. The site is on the boundary between Brighton & Park City.

It was also suggested that Site 40 be changed from "Hansel Mtn" to "Snowville" since that's the FCC name. Any thoughts?

-Tim

My two cents: Scott's Peak is fine, since that's what it is, but put BCC or spell it out since most know not where Scotts Peak is. Scott's Peak (Big Cottonwood Canyon)
Same with Snowville (even though I've heard the UCAN techs call it "Hansel".) Something like: Snowville (Hansel Mtn)
Well let's go one further. the FCC calls the site at St. George "Webb Hill" but how many up north know where Webb Hill is? Something like: Webb Hill (St. George)
One thing I've gotten out of monitoring UCAN over the years besides the interesting comms and message boards such as this is a statewide geography lesson. Even my UHP VHF freqs in southern Utah I now have labled in my radio as sites such as: "Cricket", "Frisco" "Bald Mesa", etc. However in my Utah topographical map I have found a couple Cedar Mountains in the state, several West Canyons, two Cedar Valleys: One in Iron county and one in Utah County, so on and so on.
What I propose is list the "official" site name according to the FCC but put the closest city, town or area they serve to the site, with the exception of the simo sites which pretty much speak for themselves.
It's irritating when I get on another states database and look up a system (say Nevada's NSRS system) and have to PM a local or "fishing as qlajlu puts it" for info on that states MB hoping for info like I did last summer "looking for the sites for NSRS from Wendover to Elko." Fortunately it's an active board for the most part and found a majority of the info I needed. Some states MBs are not so active and you may not find an answer.
Sorry to ramble but "that's my two cents."

 

[theaton]

Ah, an excellent suggestion, Jay! Since I have a database of all the Mtn sites this will be an easy task. But I'll wait for any other comments. My preference (for consistency) would be to name the peak first with the nearest city/canyon in parentheses, with either one of them being the official FCC name.

Has anyone checked out the Little Cottonwood Canyon site recently. No one has reported rebanding there, but the license lists several possibilities: 851.3000, 852.0625, 852.5500, 853.8875. 852.5500 would be the logical CC since it's 15 MHz below the old one.

-Tim

 

[Junior1970]

I was up LCC the same day and, yes, it has rebanded as well: CC 852.5500, ACC 852.0625. I do believe it's a five channel site still.

 

[LGLHOOK]

I am showing CC 857.9875 as the CC for Cache Valley Simo. Is it poss being that high up for a skip that far?? Just a thought.

 

[Junior1970]

I am showing CC 857.9875 as the CC for Cache Valley Simo. Is it poss being that high up for a skip that far?? Just a thought.

Doubtful. Even if one of the CA Simo sites is Pisgah up Sardine Canyon there is too much terrain blocking from there to LCC. Besides it was a 99% signal in the canyon near Snowbird. As a FYI both Am. Fork Canyon and Ford Ridge both share the same CC (851.3875) but neither are near each other.

 

[enosjones]

My two cents: Scott's Peak is fine, since that's what it is, but put BCC or spell it out since most know not where Scotts Peak is. Scott's Peak (Big Cottonwood Canyon)
Same with Snowville (even though I've heard the UCAN techs call it "Hansel".) Something like: Snowville (Hansel Mtn)
Well let's go one further. the FCC calls the site at St. George "Webb Hill" but how many up north know where Webb Hill is? Something like: Webb Hill (St. George)
One thing I've gotten out of monitoring UCAN over the years besides the interesting comms and message boards such as this is a statewide geography lesson. Even my UHP VHF freqs in southern Utah I now have labled in my radio as sites such as: "Cricket", "Frisco" "Bald Mesa", etc. However in my Utah topographical map I have found a couple Cedar Mountains in the state, several West Canyons, two Cedar Valleys: One in Iron county and one in Utah County, so on and so on.
What I propose is list the "official" site name according to the FCC but put the closest city, town or area they serve to the site, with the exception of the simo sites which pretty much speak for themselves.
It's irritating when I get on another states database and look up a system (say Nevada's NSRS system) and have to PM a local or "fishing as qlajlu puts it" for info on that states MB hoping for info like I did last summer "looking for the sites for NSRS from Wendover to Elko." Fortunately it's an active board for the most part and found a majority of the info I needed. Some states MBs are not so active and you may not find an answer.
Sorry to ramble but "that's my two cents."

when the ucan engineers were talking a while back they mentioned mt baldy. when i seen the updates i clicked on scotts and mt baldy is near there. could this be mt baldy instead of scott peak?

 

[KT7L]

Mt Baldy

when the ucan engineers were talking a while back they mentioned mt baldy. when i seen the updates i clicked on scotts and mt baldy is near there. could this be mt baldy instead of scott peak?

Enos, weren't the UCAN folk talking about expanding to Mt. Baldy for the past few years? If what you are hearing and the old expansion plan are, in fact, the same, then we're talking about Mt. Baldy in in South -- not the one by Scotts.

Just a thought....

 

[Junior1970]

Enos, weren't the UCAN folk talking about expanding to Mt. Baldy for the past few years? If what you are hearing and the old expansion plan are, in fact, the same, then we're talking about Mt. Baldy in in South -- not the one by Scotts.

Just a thought....

Bob is right. Mt Baldy is near Indianola in Sanpete County. It would cover the US 89 corridor from the Thistle Junction with US 6, through the Birdseye area on to Sanpete County. Last years fire up Salt Creek Canyon burned over this area but from what I've heard there is some red tape with the BLM before the tower can be built. There is another site planned for Hobble Creek Canyon above Springville. Same issue trying to get an OK with the landowner to lease the property needed. This I know because a) my close friends own property in the canyon and b) I was up Hobble Creek last week and the only CC's I picked up there were Strawberry (left fork), West Mountain (up to the fork at Kelly's Grove) and Teat (spotty up upper right fork.) No new data channels found.

 

[bchris]

UCAN Site Names

Junior and Theaton,

I like what you are thinking regarding how to name the sites. I have a thought or two of my own I might like to add.

On one of the UniTrunker screens, on the Info tab, in the Alias field, some sites list the site name here. This is apparently entered by someone at UCAN while the equipment is actually being set up for that site, and is transmitted to all the radios (including ours) as part of the CC data stream. I would think that this would be the most recent and 'official' name that we know of.

The first problem with this Alias name is that it only appears on some of the sites, and I dont know why. Perhaps Mr. UniTrunker or someone else can help answer this question. The second problem is that they seem to limit it to one word. In the example screen shot below they simply named it 'DAVIS', while 'Davis County Simulcast' would seem like an obvious better choice. In the cases of 'Barton Peak' and 'Teat Peak' the aliases are just 'Barton' and 'Teat'.

My first choice of site name would be to use the Alias as the basis for our name when it is available. Hopefully this name will agree with the name on FCC records anyway, but I think my default would be what the UCAN guys actually went to the effort of typing in, in those cases when they actually did so.

My second choice would be to use the most recent name listed on the FCC records. By most recent I mean that, for example, Ford Ridge and Medicine Butte were known by different names on previous FCC permits. I would encourage us to switch over to a newer name when one is indicated on a newer license, just as you all have apparently done in the past.

I understand that Hansel Mtn and Snowville have both been used to indicate the same site on different FCC permits; I do not recall which is most recent. I would like to see what the Alias says for that site.

In all cases I really like adding a nearby town, well-known landmark, or even the county to more easily identify the area of the site. In other words, I am more OK with the name 'Hansel Mtn (Snowville)' than just 'Hansel Mtn'.

I would also like to know what you guys think about adding 'UCxx-' as a prefix to the site name, as in "UC19-Teat Peak (SF Cnyn)". This was very useful for me on my BR330, but I am not sure it will be as helpful on my new PSR-500. Just a thought.

.

 

[theaton]

Mt. Baldy near Indianola

Bob is right. Mt Baldy is near Indianola in Sanpete County. It would cover the US 89 corridor from the Thistle Junction with US 6, through the Birdseye area on to Sanpete County. Last years fire up Salt Creek Canyon burned over this area but from what I've heard there is some red tape with the BLM before the tower can be built./QUOTE]

There's already a UCAN license for this Mt. Baldy site (WQED658). The Google map shows several buildings already on this summit--presumably radio transmitters. But who is transmitting there? There are no BLM repeaters listed anywhere in Sanpete County, and none of the USFS repeaters are listed at that location.

-Tim

 

[enosjones]

The Control Channel for Ford Ridge 851.3875 Switched today to the Alternate Control Channel 859.4625 I donno why the switch or if its temporary or not. But this confirms the alternate control channel for Ford Ridge.

Yesterday while Ucan Engineers were talking the Ford Ridge Control Channel went Back to 851.3875 after a few days being on the alternate one. One of the engineers was at Ford Ridge and probably switched it back. i also downloaded the alpha version for unitrunker and recorded some audio using scanner recorder. if anyone is interested i will post it later.

 

[DannyM86]

Ucan Rebanding

Hi:

Does anyone know if Sites 4 and 24 have been rebanded yet and if so could you post the new CC frequencies.

Thanks

 

[LGLHOOK]

Dan,
As for now, site 4 has not yet been rebanded. the freqs. in the database are the correct ones they are using for site 4 at this time.
As for site 24, i am not sure on that site.

 

[KT7L]

Site 24

Nope, site 24 is a big simo, and has not been re-banded.

I will post to all when re-band occurs on 24, as I monitor this site daily.

 

[KT7L]

Nope, site 24 is a big simo, and has not been re-banded.

I will post to all when re-band occurs on 24, as I monitor this site daily.

WELL, I promised I would update.... UCAN Engineers have 1/2 the audio channels shut down, many glitches on their part, including killing an exciter box..... But re-banding of this Simo site is VERY near!

Too bad my bc 246 firmware isn't quite available -- But I have UniTrunker running...