What happened to CHP?

[6079smithw]

Thanks for the link. The L.A. Times says I've reached my free article limit and I don't plan to subscribe so I'll take your word for it. <snip>
Clear your browser history and cache, the Time counter will reset.

Give this a try: In Chrome, right-click on the article header. An option screen will appear. Click on 'open link in incognito window' Another window will open with your article. Read the article and close the window when you're done. Repeat as necessary per article.

This works on most news sites, but not all. Good luck!

 

[bigRoN18]

I'm very surprised when I talk to scanner owners that never listen to state DOT's when they are traveling. When my late Hubby and I traveled we always scanned them and the highway patrol/state police agencies. We had both in one bank when we traveled out of state and had one bank each for CHP and Caltrans while in California. We were driving from our small town in the western Sierra to his family's place in southern California and heard of a huge accident near Mulholland Drive that had all 8 lanes shut down. We took the 118 to the 101 and down the coast. Hubby's family lived in West L.A. near the ocean so we saved hours and hours. The accident involved some hazmat that took many hours to clean up.

Taking 50 instead of 80 does not sound fun. If you are in a big truck it might not be so scary. We were always anxious about all the blind curves along the river at the upper end of the road within a few miles of the climb to Echo. People drive so fast through those curves and if they stray left just a few inches it causes disasters.

We hardly ever went into Sacramento together so we didn't listen to the capitol police much. Late Hubby did because of county public works matters, being an civil engineer. I miss listening to the CHP and Caltrans and having neighbors who worked for both.

I'm a retired nurse taking care of parents in their 90's. I hardly go outside at all. I have some prescriptions I have to fill a couple of times a month for my parents and I'm very careful. It does not seem as though Arizona is taking the situation seriously enough. I have a medical background so saying that goes with the territory. I've been washing my hands dozens of times per day since I started nursing school and then on to work in a smallish hospital for nearly 40 years, so this is not new to me. I just wish people from bigger cities would just stay home and not come into our smaller city. We welcome everyone all the time, except for now.

In 1999, I was a traveling nurse, on a contract in Bakersfield while I lived in Napa County. I would work three days in a row in Bakersfield, then return home. During the commute, I had both a 2-way radio and a scanner. I'd lock the scanner on the CHP mobile extender frequency. MOST of the time, it would absolutely quiet. I always remember on one trip, I was heading south on I-5 at around 90 MPH; yes, I am admitting to driving a bit over the speed limit, but I was by myself and just wanted to be at my destination. I had been traveling along with three other random vehicles that were all going the same speed. Occasionally, the order of position would change among the three of us when we encountered either slower or occasionally faster traffic.

As we were driving along, I started hearing radio traffic. It sounded like the CHP airplane calling ground units. One such message was a particular color vehicle headed northbound I-5, a half-mile south of Shields Ave, going 95 MPH. I looked outside and immediately saw a sign saying Shields Ave in 1 mile... approximately 1.5 miles away from where this speeder was. I immediately took my car off cruise control and coasted into lane #2. The car directly behind me did the same... I figured he thought I must know something he didn't. The third car, on the other hand, sped up and zipped past the two of us. Within about 10 seconds, I heard the report of that very vehicle going between 95 and 100 MPH by the airplane. Another mile or two down the road, I saw this car with a CHP patrol vehicle behind him on the side of the road. I watched my speed a little closer for a while after that. I'm sure the airplane saw me too, but he called out the one that broke apart from the heard.

 

[6079smithw]

<snip>
As we were driving along, I started hearing radio traffic. It sounded like the CHP airplane calling ground units.

Ah, yes... that was my favorite station to listen to when I was doing a linehaul route from Reno to West Sac early 2000s.
Fun usually started on 80 westbound around MP 110 (Loomis) bottom of the grade where the road was straight as a string.

Units would nail folks trying to make up time coming from Auburn and it worked well for a while until the regulars started looking for
the chase cars parked on the shoulder, they were visible from a couple miles away to downhill traffic. Sooooo...
CHP upped their game by switching to bikes as ground units. Those were almost invisible when parked at the edge of the shoulder
where it met the grass. I used a Bearcat BCT-7 (still have it) connected to a steel CB whip cut down to 42.50 mHz.
There were days when I could copy the airplane from around Colfax MP 135... gotta admit between CalTrans and CHP
that little radio saved me quite a bit of downtime (not to mention disposable income) 'back in the day'...

Well, She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed just informed me that my staying 6 feet away from the lawn mower is not considered
Social Distancing, so it's back to reality for now....

Thanks for the memories!!

 

[Paysonscanner]

Give this a try: In Chrome, right-click on the article header. An option screen will appear. Click on 'open link in incognito window' Another window will open with your article. Read the article and close the window when you're done. Repeat as necessary per article.

This works on most news sites, but not all. Good luck!

I finally got to read the article! A neighbor let me borrow his laptop and get on his WiFi. He left it on the porch and then I went outside with a floor length rain coat, goggles and a P100 respirator. I cleaned off the computer with disinfectant wipes. He has some sort of program to hide his location, VPN, VPM or something like that?? He left the computer on and on his Google account. Anyway, I opened the header in an incognito window and read it. She makes good points that are more widely accepted today. I see stories of small, mountain towns asking everyone to stay away all over the internet. I think our local chamber of commerce should do some "reverse marketing" with the message "don't come here until an official all is clear message is issued - we will welcome you with open arms when this is all over!" I put the raincoat, respirator and goggles outside and will allow them to sit in place for several days before bringing them inside. I came in the basement entrance, put all my clothes in the washing machine and took a shower. I wear goggles and the P100 to a drive through at the pharmacy. I have to be careful for my parents, who depend on me to give them IV's on a regular basis. I opened several other stories I had been locked out of, some still didn't allow me in and some did. What a weird world we have right now.

Thanks for you help on this! Mono County is on the other side of the hill from where I lived in the Sierra Nevada foothills. I was in Mammoth for many weeks this last summer and found out they have a very competent and experienced woman who is sheriff. You go girl!!!!!

 

[6079smithw]

I finally got to read the article! <snip>

Glad to be able to help. Stay safe!

Frank in Reno

 

[picscan]

Here's their new Low-band plan:

Black Base/Repeater 44.660 MHz - South Sacramento
Black Mobile/input 42.280 MHz
Gold Base/Repeater 44.620 MHz - North Sacramento
Gold Mobile/input 42.200 MHz
Green Base/Repeater 45.360 MHz - Auburn/El Dorado Hills
Green Mobile/input 42.720 MHz
Blue Base/Repeater 44.840 MHz - Statewide (Valley Division)
Blue Mobile/input 42.360 MHz

As you can see, things have changed since the old days (NO Repeaters)...

Wow, busy all the time now! They're all coming in great too. Thanks.

 

[6079smithw]

Wow, busy all the time now! They're all coming in great too. Thanks.

Don't forget Truckee 45.60 - 42.88 if you're heading over Donner or Echo summit... plenty of traffic there too.

 

[takedownman5150]

I can rarely pick them up here in Imperial County...sometimes on analog but distant...Occasionally they use a repeater close and its louder. I am in the middle of the county. They are suppose to move to 700mhz band but nothing here. Any help out here in the desert ?

 

[Paysonscanner]

I can rarely pick them up here in Imperial County...sometimes on analog but distant...Occasionally they use a repeater close and its louder. I am in the middle of the county. They are suppose to move to 700mhz band but nothing here. Any help out here in the desert ?

The 700 meg system they have developed is for their vehicle extenders and there are base station extenders as well on the same band. The base station extenders are located at area and division offices. The base stations are intended for handheld coverage of the office area only. The CHP is not going to develop a field 700 meg system. The number of repeaters needed to provide statewide coverage on this band would be staggering. The state did a study in San Diego County that showed 4 times as many repeaters would be needed just to go to 400 megs, let alone 700. Given the topography of San Diego County as compared to the rest of the state the results would likely be greater than a factor of 4.

 

[takedownman5150]

Makes sense. I'm thinking a lot more MDT and Cell phone use. Still happy with what I have and love this SDS200 !

 

[scannerboy02]

The CHP is not going to develop a field 700 meg system.

This is not 100% true.

While they will not go completely 700 MHz (at least not soon) they are putting 700 MHz sites up in some areas. The Sacramento area is one of those and the Pine Hill site is on the air.

 

[takedownman5150]

okay off topic... BLM has become hard also. ?