Which Bay Area CHP frequencies for me?

[gmclam]

CHP

People have listed Amber, Pink & Ruby; and then added Blue. Those are all great if you are going to only be on the San Francisco penninsula. If you are heading east at all, then there's another set you'll want.

Whenever there is an "incident", they may move it to Blue; or use the channel it started on for the incident and move regular traffic temporarily to the Blue.

I monitor all those frequencies from up here in the Sacramento area, no problem. When I am mobile I absolutely also have the mobile frequencies programmed too, because you never know when they'll have the repeat function off, or you're temporarily not in a good spot to receive the base freq. Typically, if I can pick someone up on mobile with full quieting, then I know they're close and it's something I should pay closer attention to.

Also, I highly recommend programming CT values. Low band is notorious for (atmospheric) noise and that keeps the squelch from opening unless/until there is a good signal.

 

[JT-112]

I've never had good low-band reception in a hotel, this specifically includes CHP all over the state in various types of hotels - low-rise wood frame, high rise, you name it. It just doesn't penetrate structures well. Tried many types of antennas as well, including a low-band duck that California Radio Shacks stocked.

I have had great success at using a small whip on the car - I've posted about it before. It's meant for travel, is black and very thin and also has a very small coax cable terminating in a BNC. Unless you're looking for it, you'd probably miss it. Excellent low-band reception as well as VHF and 800. Pretty sure AES sells them still. It's not the toughest thing, but it's also cheap (I go through one about every 2-3 years) and it's effortless to pack.

Found it: MFJ 1721: Ham & Amateur Radios - Equipment, Parts and Supply | AES

 

[LIScanner101]

Don't forget the blue channels 42.34000, 44.72000 131.8 PL

I was going to tell you to read the wiki,but it was deleted!

Thanks, just plugged those in now

I'm getting closer to being more up-to-date for my CA trip next week thanks to EVERYONE on this forum!!

 

[LIScanner101]

Also, I highly recommend programming CT values. Low band is notorious for (atmospheric) noise and that keeps the squelch from opening unless/until there is a good signal.

Agreed 1000%. In fact, there are almost NO frequencies I monitor here on Long Island OR in CA that I do NOT add tones to. The few exceptions are LI fire dispatch on 46.1000, 46.1200 and 46.4600. These are dispatched without tones by FireComm and I never hear anybody else on there anyway. Thanks for the good input.

 

[LIScanner101]

I've never had good low-band reception in a hotel, this specifically includes CHP all over the state in various types of hotels - low-rise wood frame, high rise, you name it. It just doesn't penetrate structures well. Tried many types of antennas as well, including a low-band duck that California Radio Shacks stocked.

I have had great success at using a small whip on the car - I've posted about it before. It's meant for travel, is black and very thin and also has a very small coax cable terminating in a BNC. Unless you're looking for it, you'd probably miss it. Excellent low-band reception as well as VHF and 800. Pretty sure AES sells them still. It's not the toughest thing, but it's also cheap (I go through one about every 2-3 years) and it's effortless to pack.

Found it: MFJ 1721: Ham & Amateur Radios - Equipment, Parts and Supply | AES

That's a nice little antenna. At 20" it would still fit in my suitcase. I might give that a shot. Beats packing the two sections for my MON-52 and it's a lot less bulky.

Regarding low-band in hotels, you wanna know how picky I am about this :wink: ? Well, I actually have "high floor" as part of my Marriott user profile (I always stay at Courtyard Marriott hotels in CA) and I try to request a room that is facing either south or at the very least east. This way I have a better signal "view" of all communities and cities south of SFO. Putting the antenna right on the window helps, or, if possible, on any kind of railing that is outside the room.