UHF in Madison area ...

[ffemtbland]

I dunno - maybe it's just me, but I feel like there is a lot more to monitor in the VHF range -- 136-174 Mhz. What do you (specifically Madison listeners) monitor in the UHF spectrum? Why do you think the entity chose UHF as opposed to VHF, or vice versa?
Lars
KC9JMD

 

[OpSec]

VHF is the place to be in this state. I have 2 VHF mobile radios in the vehicle, and I recently got a VHF XTS3000 to handle all the ham and public safety channels.

As for why agencies choose UHF, it seems there isn't much rhyme or reason anymore. Generally, UHF is used in urban areas due to it's building penetration abilities...ie City of Milwaukee PD. That said, a couple counties near me uses UHF for fire/ems which baffles me, considering the terrain is better suited for VHF.

Another reason is licensing. There were (are) far more public safety and non-public safety license allocations on UHF than VHF, due to the amount of spectrum available on both bands. That is why there is a lot of business users on UHF.

 

[biglaz]

Lars! How's it going?

VHF is pretty much where it's at around here. I only have a few UHF public safety frequencies programmed in for this area. 453.800 which is Madison fire station alerting, and I think MedFlight uses a UHF frequency too for something. Also doesn't the city fire have some UHF fireground channels? I'm not sure... I think Capitol and UW PD use UHF too, right? Other than that, basically small business type stuff and GMRS/FRS.

Walworth County has a pretty decent number of UHF (and 800 MHz for the PDs) frequencies. I'd say probably 1/3 to 1/2 of the Fire/EMS agencies use UHF.

 

[biglaz]

Also, I believe a while back the Madison PD talk groups were rebroadcast on UHF...
460.0500 City of Madison PD - North/East/Central
460.3000 City of Madison PD - South/West

I tried listening to those frequencies once and didn't hear anything. Does anyone know if they still use these frequencies?

 

[cpd38]

Capitol and UWPD use UHF. Both have 800 radios in cars and portables to monitor/talk to MPD.

As far as MPD, the old frequencies I was told are just used as backup in case the 800 goes down. I haven't heard them simulcast on those channels in a couple years now.

 

[ffemtbland]

Luke - i've had those freqs in the radio for a while now ... they don't seem to be active.
Lars
ps - you been on ham bands much?

 

[RevGary]

We would like to test (DX) a newly constructed UHF gain type base antenna from our location close to the Outagamie/Shawano County line... Anyone recommend a 450 to 466 mhz UHF frequency SOUTH of a line from Port Washington to Reedsburg that we could program in and test in ANALOG mode for distance? We don't care what it is - just as long as it has a 150+ watt ERP for testing. Thanks ahead of time...