United States Forest Service (CA)

U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region (R5) Radio Systems Information

The Pacific Southwest Region covers most of California with the following exceptions: the California portions of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, on the Carson and Bridgeport Ranger Districts located in the Intermountain Region (R4) at the eastern boundary of California and two small portions of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest in the Pacific Northwest Region (R6) at the northern boundary of California north of the Klamath River. It extends into Nevada in two places, first the Nevada portion of the Inyo National Forest north of Bishop and the eastern portion of the Lake Tahoe Basin on the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit west of Carson City and Reno Nevada.

The workload of Region 5 is heavy and complex. Its fire management program is well known, with approximately 50% of the U.S. Forest Service budget for fire management being spent in the region and the total budget for wildland fire management by all fire agencies in California is more than the rest of the United States combined. Southern California has the most wildland-urban interface land area of any locality in the U.S. and California has more wildland-urban interface than any other state. The interrelationship and juxtaposition of direct protection areas for the federal, state, county and municipal fire agencies is exceedingly complex in California, not because of land ownership alone, but because of the presence of some of the most volatile vegetation in the world. The climate is a huge factor and the lower elevation of California is characterized as a "Mediterranean Climate," with relatively mild winters and hot, dry and long summers with heavy chaparral, which includes drought resistant, evergreen bush species that contain oil like sap that is explosive. It is prone to "area ignition," where large areas of fuel ignite like a pool of gasoline,

California has the highest population for a state in the U.S., estimated to be 38 million people in 2014. More money is spent on tourism in California than any other state. Public land recreation use is very heavy, the most for any state in the western U.S. This results in the most human caused wildland fires for any state. The state has the most homes, over 3.8 million, in wildland-urban interface areas than any other state. From the standpoint of property damage the most destructive in U.S. history occurred in California in 1991, the Oakland Hills fire only burned 1,520 acres, but destroyed 3,354 single-family dwellings and 437 apartment and condominium units. There were 25 people killed and 150 injured. The economic loss has been estimated at $1.5 billion (2.5 billion in 2012 dollars). In terms of economic loss 7 of the top 10 fires in U.S. history have occurred in California. Unfortunately, 31% (330) of the wildland firefighter fatalities (1075) in modern U.S. history (1911 to present) have occurred in California, the most of any state. The state has the most human caused fires of any in the country, averaging close to 7,400 per year.There are 10 Geographical Area Coordination Centers (GACCs) in the U.S. and the workload in California is great enough that two of them exist, Operations Northern California and Operations Southern California.

Fire management is not alone in the region's heavy workload., the many other resources and functions of the agency face heavy pressure as well. California is the nation's most populous state and tourism spending is highest of any state. Recreation on National Forest lands is heavy, between 20-25% of the recreation use for the U.S. Forest Service nationwide. This volume of visitor use necessitates a large law enforcement program, with more Forest Service law enforcement officers per National Forest than any region. In addition to fire management, recreation and law enforcement all National Forests also manage timber, grazing, watershed (protection and use), wildlife (includes fisheries), soils, roads and trails, facilities (ranger stations, fire stations, lookouts and communication sites), minerals (exploration and extraction) as well as land use (exchanges, purchases and special uses). These vary by National Forest due to differences in location, topography, vegetation, precipitation, proximity to urban areas, etc. In California management of watersheds, roads and trails, facilities, minerals and land use management have the highest or close to the highest workload of any Forest Service region.

This complexity, size and pressure on all the management functions on the National Forests in Region 5 have resulted in the most complex radio systems in the agency. Region 5 uses the most radio frequencies of any Forest Service region. Each National Forest has a "forest net" and an "administrative net," both utilizing repeaters. The forest net is usually the main communication channel for a National Forest, although on some forests fire and law enforcement are on forest net and all other functions use the admin net. Some forests have a separate "fire net." Most forests have a "service net," which is used for communications between the incident command post and forest dispatcher with most of that being logistical in nature. Cell phones have replaced this net where coverage is available, but service net is still used in cell phone dead zones. The service nets are also available as a command for initial attack for large incidents or for portions of National Forests during multiple fire starts on a forest. Two National Forests, the Klamath and Shasta-Trinity, have management unit or ranger district nets. Some forests link repeaters and remote bases with UHF radio (406-420 MHz) only, microwave only and some use a combination of both. Region 5, like most regions, has a dedicated project net (168.6625 MHz), which is one simplex channel for the entire region. This frequency can be used for both fire and non-fire day to day uses. The region is also building a state wide Forest Service law enforcement repeater network as well, that at this time will be a single frequency pair. Some forests already have multiple repeaters on this net and more will be built to provide nearly the same coverage that the forest and admin nets provide now. The buildout of this system could take decades given the budget climate of the federal government.

The region also has three unique tactical frequencies. These have been used as supplements on extended attack and large, national, incidents for over 25 years and NIFC Tacs 1-3, especially Tac 2 have been used for initial attack for as long they have existed. The federal wildland fire and land management agencies (National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) are beginning to phase out the use of the NIFC tacticals for initial attack. The BLM and U.S. Forest Service are getting frequency allocations so that each Forest Service region and each BLM State Office have a least three unique tactical frequencies separate from the 6 NIFC tacticals. The future use of the NIFC frequencies will be reserved for use on "National Fires." only. These are fires where a National Type I or Type II incident management team is in command. Less complex and smaller incidents are managed by Type III, IV, and V command organizations and use locally available communications systems. Type III teams can request use of NIFC frequencies and equipment if needed. In Region 5 the complexity and number of simultaneously occurring large incidents in proximity to each other creates a high potential of interference on tactical frequencies. The 6 NIFC and 3 regional tacticals are sometimes insufficient to provide clear and effective communications for all incidents. Unlike other regions that now have regional tactical frequencies the predominate use of R5's tacticals has been to supplement the NIFC system on large incidents. Although a few forests have been using them as additional tacticals in the last 5-10 years, the demand for these continues to be for large "national incidents." At some point in the future additional tactical frequency assignments may be in the picture for R5.

NIFC has a goal to provide 2 air to ground frequencies for each of the 105 interagency dispatch centers in the country and in the west has met this goal everywhere except California.. California has been assigned 7 air to ground frequencies to provide 2 for each of 4 zones configured from north to south. These frequencies are for use by all of the federal land management agencies in those zones. These 7 frequencies have been assigned from the list of 73 national air to ground frequencies. All other Geographical Area Coordination Centers use the 5 original air to air FM tactics. In California each National Forest has been assigned 2 unique air tactics frequencies. It is not confirmed, but it is believed that these frequencies can be used by the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as well.

Intra-crew communications in the Pacific Southwest Region take place on the region's project net or on one of the 4 frequencies on the National Intra-crew Communications Plan. The Primary, Secondary and Tertiary crew net frequencies are restricted to incident scenes and National Crew net can be used on the crews home unit. Intra-crew communications must be logistical and not tactical in nature. The 6 NIFC and 3 regional tactical frequencies may not be used for intra-crew communications.

The brand of handheld radio used by the U.S. Forest Service (and most wildland fire agencies as well) is Bendix King. These model of BK radios most commonly used have a capacity of 16 groups of 16 channels each. "Command" models with greater capacity are available as well. These radios allow the users to select a CTCSS tone independently for each channel by selecting a number on the radio's keypad. In Region 5, for the purposes of brevity and efficient use of repeater nets the name of the repeater is not voiced, rather the CTCSS tone number is announced (e.g., "Tone 9" instead of Pine Mountain). Cal Fire uses the same procedure. Other federal agencies in the state and other areas of the country use the name of the repeater in most cases, although the announcement of the tone only is beginning to catch on in other areas.

This background information should allow the reader to understand the systems of each National Forest as listed below.

Angeles National Forest (ANF - Forest #01)

Channel Lineup

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, CalFIRE, 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 "Forest Net" and are used primarily for fire and emergency traffic. ANF Channels 3 and 4 are called "Admin Net." 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 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.

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	169.9500	ANF 2 Frst Rpt	Forest Net Repeat
3	8	164.9375	164.9375	ANF 3 Adm Dir	Admin Direct
4	1-14	164.9375	170.0750	ANF 4 Adm Rpt	Admin Repeat
5		169.1125	169.1125	ANF 5 A/G 59	Southern California Primary Air to Ground National AG 59
6		168.4875	168.4875	ANF 6 A/G 53	Southern California Secondary Air to Ground National AG 53
7		168.0500	168.0500	ANF 7 N TAC 1	NIFC TAC 1
8		168.2000	168.2000	ANF 8 N TAC 2	NIFC TAC 2
9		168.6000	168.6000	ANF 9 N TAC 3	NIFC TAC 3

Repeaters

The Angeles National Forest (ANF) radio system is comprised of 14 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.

Each repeater operates on the same input/output frequency pairs but uses a different CTCSS tone on the input. By selecting different tones users may activate different repeaters, choosing the one best suited to their location and communication needs. When a user activates a repeater by keying up on the appropriate input frequency and tone, their transmission is repeated only by that repeater. Other repeaters in the forest do not repeat transmissions from other repeaters. The input or repeater selection tone is not transmitted on the repeater output frequency, rather all repeaters transmit Tone 8 (103.5) on the output.

Tones

ANF Repeaters

Tone	Location	CTCSS Tone
1	Waterman Mountain	110.9
2	Santiago Peak	123.0
3	Mount Hawkins	131.8
4	Frost Peak	136.5
5	Not Assigned	146.2
6	Oat Mountain	156.7
7	Josephine Peak	167.9
8	Frasier Peak	103.5
9	Pine Mountain	100.0
10	Burnt Peak	107.2
11	Magic Mountain	114.8
12	Mount Lukens	127.3
13	Johnstone Peak	141.3
14	Grass Mountain	151.4

Cleveland National Forest (CNF - Forest #02)

Cleveland National Forest Channel Lineup

Channel	Tone(s)	Rx	Tx	Alpha Tag	Description
1	1-12	168.7500	171.4250	CNF 1 Forest	Forest Repeater Net (Note: Tone 8 - 103.5 Rx Side)
2	All excp. 1,6,8	168.1500	169.7250	CNF 2 Admin	Admin Repeater Net (Note: Tone 8 - 103.5 Rx Side)
3	2,5,10	164.1250	164.8250	CNF 3 Service	USFS Southern CA Service Repeater Net (Note: Tone 8 - 103.5 Rx Side)
4		168.6625	168.6625	CNF 4 Prjct	Region 5 Project Net (Note: R5 2014 listing did not show a channel 4, this frequency is assumed from past years)
5		168.2000	168.2000	CNF 5 NIFC T2	NIFC Tac 2
6		166.5500	166.5500	CNF 6 R5 T4	R5 Tac 4 Palomar Ranger District Initial Attack
7		167.1125	167.1125	CNF 7 R5 T5	R5 Tac 5 Trabuco Ranger District Initial Attack
8		168.2375	168.2375	CNF 8 R5 T6	R5 Tac 6 Descanso Ranger District Initial Attack
9		151.1900	151.1900	CNF 9 CF Loc	Cal Fire MVU Local Direct (Note: Tone 3 - 131.8 Rx Side)
10		151.3550	159.3000	CNF F10 CF C1	Cal Fire Command 1 (Note: Tone 8 - 103.5 Rx Side)
11		151.2650	159.3300	CNF 11 CF C2	Cal Fire Command 2 (Note: Tone 8 - 103.5 Rx Side)
12		151.3400	159.3450	CNF 12 CF C3	Cal Fire Command 3 (Note: Tone 8 - 103.5 Rx Side)
13		151.2500	151.2500	CNF 13 CF T5	Cal Fire Tac 5 (Note: Tone 16 - 192.8 Rx Side)
14		151.4600	151.4600	CNF 14 CF T12	Cal Fire Tac 12 (Note: Tone 16 - 192.8 Rx Side)
15		151.4750	151.4750	CNF 15 CF T13	Cal Fire Tac 13 Tone 16 Rx Side (Note: Tone 16 - 192.8 Rx Side)
16		169.1125	169.1125	A/G 59 CA4 (P)	National Air-Ground 59 CA Zone 4 Primary

Tones

CNF Repeaters

Tone	Location	CTCSS Tone
1	Sierra	110.9
2	Santiago Peak	123.0
3	Elsinore	131.8
4	High Point	136.5
5	Cuyumaca	146.2
6	Ortega	156.7
7	Los Pinos	167.9
8	Boucher	103.5
9	Lyons Peak	100.0
10	Portable Repeater	107.2
11	Black Mtn.	114.8
12	Sitton Peak	127.3

Eldorado National Forest (ENF - Forest #03)

The Eldorado National Forest does not use channel numbers to describe the frequencies it uses, rather it describes them by name. Channel plans vary based on the ranger district and function to which they are assigned. Recreation, fire, timber, range (grazing), wildlife, engineering and watershed are examples of functions. The names are shown below under "Description" for each channel.

Direct or simplex communications are not conducted on the forest's repeater nets such as Forest Net. Tactical frequencies are used instead. Almost all handheld radios in use by the Forest Service are the Bendix-King. These radios have 16 groups and 16 channels per group. Only one group can be used at a time. By eliminating the simplex operation of the 5 Forest Service repeater nets the forest uses, 5 channels are available for other frequencies.

Eldorado National Forest Channel Lineup

Channel	Tone(s)	Rx	Tx	Alpha Tag	Description
***	1-11	171.5250	169.9500	ENF Forest	Forest Net
***	1-11	172.3250	173.7625	ENF Admin	Admin Net
***	1-11	164.1250	164.8250	ENF Service	Service Net
***	1,2,3	172.3750	164.9625	TMU Fire	Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit Fire Net (Commonly referred to as "Basin Fire")
***	1,2,3	171.5750	165.4125	TMU Admin	Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit Admin Net (Commonly referred to as "Basin Admin")
***	1-8	151.1900	159.2250	AEU Local	Cal Fire Amador-Eldorado Local Net Tone 5 (145.2) Rx Side
***	1-16	155.9025	159.2275	Eldr Cmd	Eldorado County Command
***	2,4	153.9350	158.880	Amdr Cmd	Amador County Command (Note: Tone 2 - 123.0 Rx Side)
***		168.0500	168.0500	NIFC T1	NIFC Tac 1
***		168.2000	168.2000	NIFC T2	NIFC Tac 2
***		168.6000	168.6000	NIFC T3	NIFC Tac 3
***		166.5500	168.5500	R5 T4	R5 Tac 4
***		167.1125	167.1125	R5 T5	R5 Tac 5
***		168.2375	168.2375	R5 T6	R5 Tac 6
***		168.6625	168.6625	R5 Project	R5 Project Net
***		151.1600	151.1600	CF T2	Cal Fire Tac 2 (Note: Tone 16 - 192.8 Rx Side)
***		151.3700	151.3700	CF T8	Cal Fire Tac 8 (Note: Tone 16 - 192.8 Rx Side)
***		151.3850	151.3850	CF T9	Cal Fire Tac 9 (Note: Tone 16 - 192.8 Rx Side)
***		151.2200	151.2200	CF A/G	Cal Fire Air to Ground
***		167.5000	167.5000	CA 2 A/G 14 (P)	National Air Ground 14 - CA Zone 2 Primary
***		169.1125	169.1125	CA 2 A/G 59 (S)	National Air Ground 59 - CA Zone 2 Secondary

Tones

ENF Repeaters

Tone	Location	CTCSS Tone
1	Alder Ridge	110.9
2	Leek Springs Hill	123.0
3

Inyo National Forest (INF - Forest #04)

Inyo National Forest Channel Lineup

Channel

Tone(s)

Rx

Tx

Alpha Tag

Description

INF Repeaters

Tone	Location	CTCSS Tone

Klamath National Forest (KNF - Forest #05)

Klamath National Forest Channel Lineup

Channel

Tone(s)

Rx

Tx

Alpha Tag

Description

KNF Repeaters

Tone	Location	CTCSS Tone

Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (TMU - Forest #19)

Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit Channel Lineup

Channel

Tone(s)

Rx

Tx

Alpha Tag

Description

TMU Repeaters

Tone	Location	CTCSS Tone

Lassen National Forest (LNF - Forest #06)

Lassen National Forest Channel Lineup

Channel

Tone(s)

Rx

Tx

Alpha Tag

Description

LNF Repeaters

Tone	Location	CTCSS Tone

Los Padres National Forest (LPF - Forest #07)

Los Padres National Forest Channel Lineup

Channel

Tone(s)

Rx

Tx

Alpha Tag

Description

LPF Repeaters

Tone	Location	CTCSS Tone

Mendocino National Forest (MNF - Forest #08)

Mendocino National Forest Channel Lineup

Channel

Tone(s)

Rx

Tx

Alpha Tag

Description

MNF Repeaters

Tone	Location	CTCSS Tone

Modoc National Forest (MDF - Forest #09)

Modoc National Forest Channel Lineup

Channel

Tone(s)

Rx

Tx

Alpha Tag

Description

MDF Repeaters

Tone	Location	CTCSS Tone

Plumas National Forest (PNF - Forest #11)

Pluman National Forest Channel Lineup

Channel

Tone(s)

Rx

Tx

Alpha Tag

Description

PNF Repeaters

Tone	Location	CTCSS Tone

San Bernardino National Forest (BDF - Forest #12)

San Bernardino National Forest Channel Lineup

Channel

Tone(s)

Rx

Tx

Alpha Tag

Description

BDF Repeaters

Tone	Location	CTCSS Tone

Sequoia National Forest (SQF - Forest #13)

Channels

Sequoia National Forest Channel Lineup

Channel	Tone(s)	Rx	Tx	Alpha Tag	Description
1	8	168.6750	168.6750	SQF F1	Emergency Net Direct
2	1-14	167.67500	170.5750	SQF F2	Emergency Repeater Net
3	8	168.7750	168.7750	SQF F3	Fire Net Direct
4	1-14	168.7750	170.6000	SQF F4	Fire Repeater Net
5	8	168.1750	168.1750	SQF F5	Admin Net Direct
6		169.7250	169.7250	SQF F6	BLM Central CA DIstrict Admin Net Direct
7	4,5,8	169.7250	165.450	SQF F7	BLM Central CA District Admin Repeater
8		169.7750	169.7750	SQF F8	BLM Central CA District Fire Net Direct
9	2-8	169.7750	163.0250	SQF F9	BLM Central CA District Fire Repeater Net

Tones

CNF Repeaters

Tone	Location	CTCSS Tone
1	Delilah Lookout	110.9
2	Buckrock Lookout	123.0
3	Mule Peak Lookout	131.8
4	Baker Point	136.5
5	Oakflat	146.2
6	Piute BM	156.7
7	Chimney Peak	167.9
8	Jordan Peak Lookout	103.5
9	Sherman Peak	100.0
10	Tobias Peak	107.2
11	Breckenridge	114.8
12	Parkridge	127.3
13	Converse	141.3
14	Olancha	151.4

Shasta-Trinity National Forests (SHF - Forest #14)

Shasta-Trinity National Forests Channel Lineup

Channel

Tone(s)

Rx

Tx

Alpha Tag

Description

SHF Repeaters

Tone	Location	CTCSS Tone

Sierra National Forest (SNF - Forest #15)

Sierra National Forest Channel Lineup

Channel

Tone(s)

Rx

Tx

Alpha Tag

Description

SNF Repeaters

Tone	Location	CTCSS Tone

Six Rivers National Forest (SRF - Forest #10)

Six Rivers National Forest Channel Lineup

Channel

Tone(s)

Rx

Tx

Alpha Tag

Description

SRF Repeaters

Tone	Location	CTCSS Tone

Stanislaus National Forest (STF - Forest #16)

Stanislaus National Forest Channel Lineup

Channel

Tone(s)

Rx

Tx

Alpha Tag

Description

STF Repeaters

Tone	Location	CTCSS Tone

Tahoe National Forest (TNF - Forest #17)

Tahoe National Forest Channel Lineup

Channel

Tone(s)

Rx

Tx

Alpha Tag

Description

TNF Repeaters

Tone	Location	CTCSS Tone

Wiki Links

• US Forest Service - Lake Tahoe Basin Mgmt Unit (CA/NV)
• US Forest Service - Lassen National Forest (CA)

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