Weird Freq of the Day

[N9JIG]

OK, here is another one:

This afternoon I got a CC hit on 385.875 as a couple F-35's flew overhead NB out of Luke AFB. I did not hear much as I was almost home but I did hear two distinct voices with the typical very short transmissions.

I thought it to be a bit unusual as the 380-400 portion of the band is mostly used for trunking systems these days but this was definetly air to air traffic.

 

[N9JIG]

Today's hit is 118.150, known as RAPCON (Radar Approach Control) for Luke AFB. Apparently a local civil aircraft was passing by overhead working Luke.

 

[N9JIG]

So, with being on lockdown the last couple weeks the pickings have been slim. While I get a lot of CloseCall hits here at the palatial N9JIG Estate most of them are well-known. Between the common Mil Air hits as planes go between the local MOA and AF base and the civil air hits I have also been getting some local ham repeaters up on the nearby mountain and the occasional 700 MHz. hit from the local police and fire ops.

The only hit I have had from home that I did not immediately recognize the source of was 445.9250, which sounds suspiciously like APRS data. It has been at least 10 years since I have dabbled in APRS and I wasn't sure anyone still used it on anything other than 144.390. I will have to see if I can find a way to monitor it on a computer to see if this is indeed APRS that I am hearing.

 

[KB7MIB]

445.9250 should be a 1200 baud APRS channel.
Sometimes, just listening to it, the data sound will match exactly with 144.3900 as far as timing goes.

John
Peoria

 

[N9JIG]

The lockdown has a positive effect it appears. The RF noise floor is seemingly lower so I am getting CloseCall hits that I have not heard in the past or from further distances than expected.

For the first time in a week I drove into town to take the wife's sewing machine in for service and heard a few hits I do not normally get from where I was to get them. One was 173.375, an LTR channel on a system operating on the White Tanks (RadioLink). While I expect to get this from home as I can see the mountains from the back yard, I was at 99th & Bell in Sun City when I did.

Oddly I also got a CloseCall hit on 155.625 the other day from home. No PL was logged and I was not actually in front of the radio when it hit so I don't know if it was from Wickenburg PD (20 miles north of me) or if maybe just some local trucker with a Baofeng.

 

[PRO-96]

I am going to try to add a weird freq each day, something I have found via searching, scanning or by CloseCall around Arizona. Feel free to post your own finds here too.

Today's find is 150.000, PL 100.0. This was a CloseCall hit from AZ-85 passing the Lewis Prison between Buckeye and Gila Bend today. It was very obviously a repeater output but I have no idea of the input. It was two guys speaking Spanish and I suspect it might have been sourced from the radio tower located by the water tanks on the hill across the highway from the prison.

25-30 years ago I copied 150.000 or 150.005 CSQ, not close enough to tell from the instrumentation I had at the time, which was apparently being used by the National Command Authority from a satellite transmitting four 60 WPM (45 Baud) five level Baudot, actually International Telegraphic Alphabet #2 (ITA-2), time division multiplexed signals.

The RTTY signals disappeared about 20 or so years ago, when it was on the air it took awhile for me to realize it was a satellite, had it full scale all over Cincinnati, then I went into KY for a job, and when running the hills and valleys, finally noticed that it never dropped out, so it had to be coming from an airborne platform.

Yours could be some sort of federal operation as that frequency, in the 148-150.775 should be controlled by NTIA and not by the FCC.

FCI Phoenix is located approximately 25 miles north of downtown Phoenix, also west of Anthem, Arizona but still within the city limits

Federal Correctional Institution, Phoenix - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I found the following listed on here for 150.000:

Freq Out	Freq In	Tone	Callsign	Description	Category	Agency/County	State
150.00000		032 DPL	Explorer 1	Special Events Howard County	Howard	MD
150.00000		67.0 PL	New Mexico Gas Company	Energy Other Businesses	Businesses Bernalillo	NM
150.00000			Switching	China Rail Railroads	Railroads	CN
156.19500	150.00000	136.5 PL	WQWI563	Public Works	Plymouth Grafton County	Grafton	NH

However looking at the FCC license WQWI563 150.000 is not listed, the others could be bootleg simplex.

http://www.monix.net/MONIX.txt

 

[PRO-96]

OK, today's CC hit is a weird one! I was in the parking lot at HRO (43rd & Peoria) and got a CC hit on 154.585, PL 114.8.

I was unable to identify the user. I only heard a few words and not enough to identify it. I held on the channel for a few minutes and heard a quick follow-up ("I Found it over here Bill.").

I could not find any users licensed for this.

154.585 Oil Spill Cleanup 20 Watt sometimes paired with 159.480
Could be licensed anywhere in the US wherever the company is located.

http://www.monix.net/MONIX.txt

 

[nd5y]

Not exactly weird but yesterday I heard PMR446 for the first time.
Some kids were using radios with 3-tone roger beeps on 446.03125.

 

[cellphone]

Today's find is 150.000, PL 100.0. This was a CloseCall hit from AZ-85 passing the Lewis Prison between Buckeye and Gila Bend today. It was very obviously a repeater output but I have no idea of the input. It was two guys speaking Spanish and I suspect it might have been sourced from the radio tower located by the water tanks on the hill across the highway from the prison.

This one has interested me since posted. Per the FCC Table of Frequency Allocations, 149.900-150.050MHz is allocated as MOBILE-SATELLITE (Earth-to-space). I think what you monitored is bootleg. I am too far away from that location to check. There is a Republic Services landfill catty-corner from the main Lewis Prison complex, but I would not expect Republic this irresponsible with frequencies. There are also numerous farms the west and south that are suspect. There is also a small manufacturing company near the main prison complex.

FCI Phoenix is located approximately 25 miles north of downtown Phoenix, also west of Anthem, Arizona but still within the city limits

FCI Phoenix is 50+ miles northeast of the transmitter Rich identified, so this is not related.