Today I was monitoring the USFS Chequamegon-Nicolet frequency (170.4625) and heard one person calling another and said that they tried reaching them on "Tac" and "Com 1".
Also, on the
wiki page, a repeater net is listed on a different pair that looks similar in structure to 170.4625, but I haven't heard a peep.
Does anyone know what Tac or Com 1 is and if the 168.750 repeater net is used?
Both the Southern (R8) and Eastern (R9) Regions of the U.S. Forest Service share a common tactical frequency of 166.5625 and it might carry a label of "Tac 1" on that forest. Most of the time it carries the label, "R9 Tac" and "R8 Tac" in the frequency lists I've looked at. The Chequamegon-Nicolet NF is in R9.
There are two federal government wide tactical frequencies of 163.7125 and 168.6125 (of a set of 4) which are often the tactical frequencies used by both National Forests and National Parks. That gives you 3 frequencies you are not likely scanning right now and I'm betting it is one of the fed. government wide frequencies. NIFC Tac 1 and Command 1 will not be what is being referred to, those are reserved for Type I and Type 2 incident management team use only, such as a large wildland fire or other type of emergency such as a hurricane or tornado with widespread damage.
There is one other possibility and that is the authorization of a unique frequency for that National Forest alone. I'm not sure they have enough radio traffic to justify that. If the above 3 don't work then you would have to search the federal agency VHF-High frequency range of 166.5000 to 169.5000. That range is reserved for tactical frequencies.
My Dad grew up in southwest Wisconsin. The family would refer to northern Wisconsin and northern Minnesota as "God's Country." Like I haven't heard that very often during my U.S. Forest Service career!😒 I spent more than half of my career in the eastern Sierra Nevada of California. My retort to someone making that assertion was "that might be, but right here in the Sierra Nevada, is where God spends his vacations!"😁😎
