Angeles National Forest (ANF - Forest #01)
Radio System
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" and are used for non-fire communications such as recreation, vegetation management, soils, road maintenance, engineering, wildlife, utility systems, building maintenance and grazing management . 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.
Intra-crew and communications on the Angeles NF take place on the Pacific Southwest Region's (R5) (all of California with the exception of a few small areas) project net of 168.6625 or on National Crew Net 163.7125. Tactical communications on the initial attack phase of fires is still being conducted on NIFC Tacticals 1-3. These channels as well as NIFC Tacs 5, 6 and 7 may not be used for intra-crew communications. 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 so that each have a least three unique tactical frequencies separate from the six 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. Region 5 has had three regional tactical frequencies for more than 20 years and are used when several large fires burn close to each other and the six NIFC frequencies are all being used to capacity. This occurs with some regularity in Region 5 as 40-50% of the fire workload of the U.S. Forest Service is in this region. Perhaps additional tacticals are in the works for R5.
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.
The nature of Bendix King radios used by the Forest Service is such that users may select a CTCSS tone independently for each channel by selecting a number on the radio's keypad. For the purpose of brevity the name of the repeater is not voiced, rather the CTCSS tone number is announced (e.g., "tone 9" instead of Pine Mountain or 100.0 Hz).
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 CH1 FN |
Forest Repeater Net
|
2 |
All excp. 1,6,8 |
168.1500 |
169.7250 |
CNF F2 AN |
Admin Repeater Net
|
3 |
2,5,10 |
164.1250 |
164.8250 |
CNF F3 SN |
Service Repeater Net
|
4 |
|
168.6625 |
168.6625 |
CNF F4 Prjct |
R5 Project
|
5 |
|
168.2000 |
168.2000 |
CNF F5 NIFC T2 |
NIFC Tac 2
|
6 |
|
166.5500 |
166.5500 |
CNF F6 R5 T4 |
R5 Tac 4 Palomar Ranger District Initial Attack
|
7 |
|
167.1125 |
167.1125 |
CNF F7 R5 T5 |
R5 Tac 5 Trabuco Ranger District Initial Attack
|
8 |
|
168.2375 |
168.2375 |
CNF F8 R5 T6 |
R5 Tac 6 Descanso Ranger District Initial Attack
|
9 |
|
151.1900 |
151.1900 |
CNF F9 CF Loc |
Cal Fire MVU Local Direct Tone 3 Rx Side
|
10 |
|
151.3550 |
159.3000 |
CNF F10 CF C1 |
Cal Fire Command 1
|
11 |
|
151.2650 |
159.3300 |
CNF F11 CF C2 |
Cal Fire Command 2
|
12 |
|
151.3400 |
159.3450 |
CNF F12 CF C3 |
Cal Fire Command 3 Tone 8 Rx Side
|
13 |
|
151.2500 |
151.2500 |
CNF F13 CF T5 |
Cal Fire Tac 5 Tone 16 Rx Side
|
14 |
|
151.4600 |
151.4600 |
CNF F14 CF T12 |
Cal Fire Tac 12 Tone 16 Rx Side
|
15 |
|
151.4750 |
151.4750 |
CNF F15 CF T13 |
Cal Fire Tac 13 Tone 16 Rx Side
|
16 |
|
169.1125 |
169.1125 |
CNF F16 R5 AG 4 CNF (P) |
USFS Region 5 Air-Ground 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 Net")
|
*** |
1,2,3 |
171.5750 |
165.4125 |
TMU Admin |
Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit Admin Net (Commonly referred to as "Basin Admin Net")
|
1-8 |
151.1900 |
159.2250 |
AEU Local |
AEU Local |
Amador-Eldorado Local Net (Cal Fire)(Note: RX Tone 5 - 146.2}
|
1-16 |
155.9025 |
159.2275 |
Eldr Cmd |
Eldorado Command
|
2,4 |
153.9350 |
158.880 |
Amdr Cmd |
Amador Command (Note: RX Tone 2 - 123.0)
|
|
Tones
ENF Repeaters
Tone
|
Location
|
CTCSS Tone
|
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)
Radio System
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
Return to DB page: United States Forest Service (CA)
Return to Wiki page: California (US), US Forest Service