VHF Radio Frequency Listings

[Team Pigeon]

I posted this question a while back in the old forum but wasn't able to find it again. I bought a VHF radio late last season in case of emergency- for monitoring forest service roads and logging areas in the summer and basic backcountry communication. I'm usually fooling around the foothills near gas plants and mills. In the winter we're all in and around heli/cat skiing tenures. There's repeaters scattered all over the mtns.
I felt that for myself, this was a more cost effective solution vs. buying a sat phone. Personal locators are another whole story and posting.

Was wondering if people were willing to post or PM useful
-VHF radio frequencies for their riding areas (police, SAR, lodges, logging, highways etc...)
-general radio protocol and procedures. In jobs past, I have mostly used generic APCO 10 codes, but I am not well versed in ham radio land.

I could compile an excel spreadsheet for those interested. One worksheet per state/province for an easy quick printout. And again, this is for emergency use only.

PM me if ya like.


TP

 

[drmiller100]

go buy a SPOT.

i tried to do this. neat concept, but it doesn't work. radio coverage in the backcountry is REALLY intermittent. only a few places work on a few repeaters.

 

[snoboy]

What's a SPOT?

 

[fritzelman]

I think hes talking about this:

http://www.findmespot.com/

A GPS receiver that transmits your location in emergencies. A bit expensive though. $100/year subscription fee plus the $180 price of the unit.

 

[Ex-Member]

I have a VHF/UHF radio... love it. Covers nearly all two-way radio frequencies.

radioreference.com used to be good, now they have a registration procedure or somescht... cityfreq.com is anohter one but ther'es a lot of weeding out you have to do.

Also, keep in mind those are more for scanning and not for TXing, so PL/DPL tones/codes won't be listed in there. My radio can scan for those, once you find the freq/tone/shift, write it to a mem, give it a name, and be done with it.

Don't use the "10-4" stuff on business radio... most of the time (especially in emergency situations) you'll sound like a CBer. Use pro-words, "negative", "affirmative", etc. Other than that use plain language on the radio, don't yell into it, etc. Keep transmissions short and to the point.

73 de K7AIH

 

[Team Pigeon]

Thanks for the info and those sites. I got the exact same radio, but with a different antenna. Got any user tips?? I heard of a guy in Calgary that pre-programs the heck out of radios for a fee. Hopefully he can load some info and I can go from there.

I just have a problem tapping into a repeater and making a call. Can that be done?



And PS. If I wanted a spot, I would of had bought one and started a post calling it- "I bought a spot, why can't I use it like a VHF radio??"

 

[Ex-Member]

You done the MARS/CAP mod? Easy to do with a good soldering iron with a small tip and some super-teeny tweezers. Once you do that, keep the Lock on. PTT lock if I'm browsing around, K+D lock when I'm using a freq... keeps me from hitting buttons/dial and TXing on emergency chans. Also, program FRS/GMRS freqs in there, use NARROW dev, and default to LOW power. It's a b*tchin FRS radio too The antenna I have is a little 3" maldol, not the best when it comes to gain but it's bendy and compact. I pack the stock rubber ducky in my pack, but dont' use it often.

When it comes to repeaters, make sure the tone is set right. Fn-1 and choose "T SQ", then Fn-2 and set the tone. Google around for repeaters in your area, there's usually lists with freq/offset/tone. If by "making a call" you mean using the autopatch, a lot of autopatches are for repeater club members only and require a password to make a call. CRA is $25/year, it's really not a lot for what it gets me. When I joined they gave me a packet with members, access codes, IRLP info, etc.

The programming cable is nice, if you have one get a program called "FT60 Commander"... it's a free app for moving data to/from the radio. Save the setup when you're done too, in the off chance the radio ever loses its mem. Santa brought me a drop-in charger for my radio this year, that's convienent... charges in under 2 hours and can also charge just a battery in it.

73 de K7AIH