US Forest Service - Angeles National Forest (CA)

US Forests in California:
Angeles	Inyo	Lassen	Modoc	Sequoia	Six Rivers
Cleveland	Klamath	Los Padres	Plumas	Shasta-Trinity	Stanislaus
Eldorado	Lake Tahoe BMU	Mendocino	San Bernardino	Sierra	Tahoe

Angeles National Forest (ANF - Forest #01) "Angeles" KME 2-2

The Angeles National Forest is located in the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles County in southern California. It was established on July 1, 1908, incorporating portions of the San Bernardino National Forest and parts of the former Santa Barbara (now Los Padres) and San Gabriel National Forests. It covers 655,387 acres and is located just north of the densely inhabited metropolitan area of Los Angeles and adjacent cities.

The Angeles National Forest manages the habitats, flora and fauna ecosystems, and watersheds of the largest open space in Los Angeles County. Some of the rivers with watersheds within its boundaries provide valuable groundwater recharge water for Southern California. The existing protected and restored native vegetation absorb and slow surface runoff of rainwater to minimize severe floods and landslides in adjacent communities. Most of the forest is covered with dense chaparral, which changes to pine and fir covered slopes on the peaks of the higher elevations. The land within the Forest is diverse, both in appearance and terrain. Elevations range from 1,200 to 10,064 feet.

The forest contains some 29,000 acres of old growth, consisting of Jeffrey Pine (Pinus jeffreyi), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii), Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa), White Fir (Abies concolor), and Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta).

The residents of Los Angeles County are located within a two hour drive of the forest and the 16 million residents of the five county southern California metro area are within a half day drive of the Angeles. It is likely that the largest frequent gathering and concentration of people on any area of National Forest land in the U.S occurs in San Gabriel Canyon. Traffic accidents on the Angeles Crest Highway, human caused fires, law enforcement, search and rescues occur at a rate not seen on any other National Forest. The close proximity often leads to crimes being committed on the forest. An oft repeated joke about this forest is that if every dead body on the Angeles got up and started walking, the population of L.A. County would increase by 10%! This is an extraordinarily difficult forest to manage. The Angeles is divided into the Los Angeles River (District 1), the San Gabriel River (District 2), and the Santa Clara/Mojave Rivers (District 3) Ranger District, with the Forest Supervisor's Office in Arcadia.

Note: The Ranger District Office for the Santa Clara-Mojave River Ranger District was moved from Texas Canyon (Saugus) to a new facility in Acton.

RADIO SYSTEM

Most radios on the forest have 9 frequencies in common: ANF Channels 1 and 2 (Forest Net), ANF Channels 3 and 4 (Admin Net), two National Air to Ground frequencies and NIFC tactical channels 1 through 3. Each ranger district and crews within each ranger district, may have different channel lineups, but they will usually have these nine in common. The variations between ranger districts and crews involve frequencies belonging to other agencies such as Los Angeles County Fire, San Bernardino County Fire, Cal Fire, and the Bureau of Land Management, as well as frequencies of adjacent National Forests. The agencies and areas that each ranger district interact with for mutual aid are different for each district.

ANF Channels 1 and 2 are called the "Forest Net" and are used primarily for fire and emergency traffic. ANF Channels 3 and 4 are called the "Admin Net." Admin is used by all non-fire personnel, including law enforcement. Channels 1 and 3 are simplex frequencies and channels 2 and 4 are repeated.

When users transmit on channels 1 and 3 using tone 8 (103.5 Hz) their transmission can be received by dispatch on the forest's 9 microwave linked remote bases. These remote bases are linked to dispatch located at Fox Field near Lancaster and the Forest Supervisor's Office in Arcadia. Most of these remote bases are co-located with repeaters and some are not. When someone communicates to dispatch on these channels it is not picked up by a repeater and receiving them requires being close enough to receive simplex traffic. On the other hand, if users transmit on channels 2 and 4, the tone in use must match a repeater within range or their transmission will not be heard. The Angeles National Forest radio system is comprised of 13 repeater sites situated on various mountain peaks in and around the forest which are linked to the dispatch center at Fox Field near Lancaster. Each repeater site functions as both a repeater and as a receiving antenna for dispatch.

The 9 remote bases are located at: Fox Field (dispatch office), Arcadia (Forest Supervisor's Office), Frazier Peak, Warm Springs, Magic Mountain, Mt. Lukens, Blue Ridge, Johnstone Peak and Santiago Peak. Those remote bases that are not co-located with a repeater are: Fox Field, Arcadia, Warm Springs and Blue Ridge.

Other

The unit identifiers follow the function name, district, and position number system. The Angeles Interagency Dispatch Center provides dispatching for the forest and the National Park Service - Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. NPS unit IDs for the NRA begin with "7." It is a 24 hour operation. Its identifier is "Angeles."

Channel Plan

Angeles National Forest Channel Lineup

Channel	Tone(s)	Rx	Tx	Alpha Tag	Description
1	8	172.3750	172.3750	ANF 1 Frst Dir	Forest Net Direct
2	1-14	172.3750	164.9375	ANF 2 Frst Rpt	Forest Net Repeat
3	8	173.7750	173.7750	ANF 3 Adm Dir	Admin Direct
4	1-14	173.7750	164.8750	ANF 4 Adm Rpt	Admin Repeat
5	2-3, 5, 14	171.5000	164.8250	ANF 5 Serv Rpt	Service Net Repeat
6		168.0500	168.0500	ANF 6 N Tac 1	NIFC Tac 1
7		168.2000	168.2000	ANF 7 N Tac 2	NIFC Tac 2
8		168.6000	168.6000	ANF 8 N Tac 3	NIFC Tac 3
9		168.4875	168.4875	ANF 9 A/G 53	Southern California Secondary Air to Ground National AG 53
10		169.1125	169.1125	ANF 10 A/G 59	Southern California Primary Air to Ground National AG 59
16		163.7125	163.7125	ANF 16 Rec Svc	Recreation Service

NOTE: This channel lineup varies by ranger district and by function (fire vs. non-fire). Fire radios do not have 163.7125 in Channel 16. Some recreation/admin radios use a group that has 155.1600 (National Search and Rescue) in Channel 16

Tones

ANF Repeaters

Tone	Location	CTCSS Tone	Area of Coverage
1	Mt. Waterman	110.9	Crest of Forest/Wilderness-Highway 2
2	Santiago Peak	123.0	I-5 & I-210/Front Country
3	Mt. Hawkins	131.8	San Gabriel Wilderness
4	Frost Peak	136.5	West of I-15/Cajon Pass/Highway 138
5	Table Mountain	146.2	Big Pines Hwy/Jackson Lake
6	Oat Mountain	156.7	West of I-5/Santa Clarita
7	Josephine Peak	167.9	Lower Highway 2/Angeles Forest Highway
8	Frazier Mountain	103.5	West of I-5/Gorman
9	Pine Mountain	100.0	Lower to Mid San Gabriel Canyon
10	Burnt Peak	107.2	East of I-5/Old Ridge Route
11	Magic Mountain	114.8	East of Highway 14/Santa Clarita
12	Mt. Lukens	127.3	Above La Canada-Flint Ridge
13	Johnstone Peak	141.3	Above San Dimas & Glendora
14	Grass Mountain	151.4	Green Valley/Elizabeth Lake
15	Warm Springs	162.2	Northeast I-5/Castaic

All repeaters transmit Tone 8 - 103.5 on the output frequency.

Note: only the Angeles and Klamath National Forests provide area of use descriptions for each repeater.

Related Links

• National Incident Radio Support Cache - These frequencies are used for large incidents, usually when a Type I or Type II Incident Management Team is assigned. This cache is used for fires, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, visits of high ranking officials, such the U.S. President and the presidents of other countries, large law enforcement incidents, special events and other incidents where the federal government is utilizing the Incident Command System.

Return to DB page: United States Forest Service (CA)

US Forests in California:
Angeles	Inyo	Lassen	Modoc	Sequoia	Six Rivers
Cleveland	Klamath	Los Padres	Plumas	Shasta-Trinity	Stanislaus
Eldorado	Lake Tahoe BMU	Mendocino	San Bernardino	Sierra	Tahoe