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US Forest Service - Pike National Forest (CO)

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Revision as of 15:34, 11 July 2022 by Ecps92 (talk | contribs) (table list - →‎Law Enforcement)

The Pike National Forest encompasses approximately 1.2 million acres spread across Park, Jefferson, Douglas, Teller, and El Paso Counties in central Colorado. Because of its close proximity to both Denver and Colorado Springs, the Pike National Forest is one of the busiest forests in the region, boasting an annual visitation average of nearly 2.5 million people. The South Platte Ranger District is responsible for 450,000 acres of the Pike National Forest, covering the entirety of southern Jefferson County, western Park County, and western Douglas County. Two other Ranger Districts manage the forest, Pikes Peak to the south, covering the portions of the forest in Teller and El Paso Counties, and the South Park Ranger District, covering the remaining portions of the forest which ring Park County. The Pike National Forest is managed jointly with the San Isabel National Forest and the Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands.


pike_nat_forest_vicinity_map.jpg


Radio Frequencies

The Pike National Forest is managed jointly with the San Isabel National Forest and the Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands. Unlike the unified Arapahoe, Roosevelt, Pawnee radio system to the north, geographic disparities keep the operations of the PSICC radio systems separate, with each management unit operating their own net.


Dispatching and resource tracking on the Pike National Forest is handled by the Pueblo Interagency Dispatch Center.


Pike National Forest Repeater Network (Pike Net)

  • Frequencies changed in July 2016 to comply with NTIA directive to move repeater outputs to frequencies between 169.5125 and 173.9875.
  • "Tone #" refers to the National Standard Tone Numbering System used by the USFS, BLM, and other land management agencies and is only applicable to TX tones.
CH TONE # RX FREQ RX TONE TX FREQ TX TONE Description Ranger District County Confirmation
Local/Direct 1 171.1375 110.9 171.1375 110.9 Forest-wide Simplex/Direct (All) (All) 2022.07
North Twin Cone 2 171.1375 110.9 164.9875 123.0 North Twin Cone Peak Repeater S Platte / S Park Park
Russell Ridge 3 171.1375 110.9 164.9875 131.8 Russell Ridge (Indian Creek) Repeater S Platte Jefferson 2022.07
Mount Evans 4 171.1375 110.9 164.9875 136.5 Mount Evans Repeater S Platte Clear Creek 2022.07
Longwater Gulch 5 171.1375 110.9 164.9875 146.2 Longwater Gulch (Green Mountain) Repeater S Platte / S Park / Pikes Peak Douglas 2021.08
Devils Head 6 171.1375 110.9 164.9875 156.7 Devil's Head Repeater S Platte Douglas 2022.07
Almagre 7 171.1375 110.9 164.9875 167.9 Almagre Mountain Repeater Pikes Peak Teller 2022.06
Stanley 8 171.1375 110.9 164.9875 103.5 Stanley Canyon Repeater Pikes Peak El Paso
Cheyenne Creek 9 171.1375 110.9 164.9875 100.0 Cheyenne Creek (Mount Rosa) Repeater Pikes Peak El Paso
Lake George 10 171.1375 110.9 164.9875 107.2 Lake George Repeater S Park Park 2021.09
Topaz Mountain 11 171.1375 110.9 164.9875 114.8 Topaz Mountain Repeater S Platte / S Park Park
Dicks Peak 12 171.1375 110.9 164.9875 127.3 Dicks Peak Repeater S Park Park
Sheep Ridge 13 171.1375 110.9 164.9875 141.3 Sheep Ridge (Sacramento Gulch) Repeater S Park Park
Mount Bailey 14 171.1375 110.9 164.9875 151.4 Mount Bailey Repeater S Platte / S Park Park 2022.01
Badger 15 171.1375 110.9 164.9875 162.2 Badger Mountain Repeater S Park Park 2022.06
16 171.1375 110.9 164.9875 192.8 Portable Repeater (Incident specific) (Incident specific)
(UHF Link) 406.3250 (Varies) 415.3250 (Varies) UHF Remote Link to Pike Repeater Net (Tones vary depending upon repeater selected)

Intra-Crew, Work, & Tactical Frequencies

  • Pike NF has no (known) exclusive frequency assignments for either work or tactical use. All of Pike's work and tactical channels are shared use, either within the USFS or across the entire Federal Government. Beware that communications from other Federal agencies or forest units may be received on any/all of these frequencies depending on your location, as their use is not specific to Pike NF.
  • Work Channels/frequencies are generally restricted to low power use in handhelds for the purpose of intra-crew communications. These frequencies are part of a shared NTIA Itinerant/Common Use pool (see: Federal Government Itinerant) and not reserved for use by any one specific user/agency.
  • The three known Pike Tactical channels are shared use within USFS as nationwide NIFC Tacs and not specifically assigned to Pike NF. See National Incident Radio Support Cache for additional.
  • On extended attack incidents, frequencies from the National Incident Radio Support Cache pool are likely to be assigned.
  • Local/initial attack incidents may be assigned frequencies from the VHF portion of the NIFOG Interoperability pool (see: Common Public Safety#VHF High Band) to allow for direct coordination with local resources.
CH RX FREQ RX TONE TX FREQ TX TONE Description Notes Confirmation
Pike TAC 1 168.050 CSQ 168.050 CSQ Pike Initial Attack TAC 1 (NIFC TAC 1) National Interagency Fire Tactical for mobile/handheld simplex use. In common use nationwide as NIFC TAC 1. Not exclusively assigned to Pike NF. Has been referred to as "Group 5 Tac 1" by Pike NF personnel. 2022.06 (In use on Gove Creek incident.)
Pike TAC 2 168.200 168.200 Pike Initial Attack TAC 2 (NIFC TAC 2) National Interagency Fire Tactical for mobile/handheld simplex use. In common use nationwide as NIFC TAC 2. Not exclusively assigned to Pike NF. Has been referred to as "Group 5 Tac 2" by Pike NF personnel. 2022.06 (In use on Gove Creek incident.)
Pike TAC 3 168.600 168.600 Pike Initial Attack TAC 3 (NIFC TAC 3) National Interagency Fire Tactical for mobile/handheld simplex use. In common use nationwide as NIFC TAC 3. Not exclusively assigned to Pike NF. Has been referred to as "Group 5 Tac 3" by Pike NF personnel.
"Pike Work" 163.7125 163.7125 192.8 Pike Intra-Crew/Work Ch 1 Gov't Common 1, handheld use only. National Travel Net, IHC, and Intra-Crew frequency. Tone 192.8 has been used in the past by Pike NF on this freq. 2021.09 - Heard "REC" units performing trail work on Rampart Range Rd. Unknown if PL was used.
168.6125 168.6125 Pike Intra-Crew/Work Ch 2 Gov't Common 3, handheld use only. Secondary IHC and Intra-Crew frequency.
"Gov Work" 168.350 168.350 "Government Work" Inter-agency Work Ch Gov't Common/Nationwide Itinerant. Can be used as an input to 163.100 for portable or temporary repeaters. Old National Travel Net and R-2 TAC. In common use by BLM as a Local Work Channel.
163.100 163.100 General Use Work/TAC Ch Gov't Common/Nationwide Itinerant. Output to 168.350 when configured for use as a temporary/portable repeater. Old National Logistics Channel. In common use by many Federal agencies as a travel channel.


Law Enforcement

  • The Pueblo Interagency Dispatch Center (Pueblo Dispatch) does not handle any LE dispatching functions. USFS LEO's in Colorado generally use either the State (CSP) communications center, or the local County Sheriff's dispatch center which covers the area they are working in for dispatch.
  • USFS LEO's working in the Rampart Range area of the South Platte Ranger District appear to be using DCSO for dispatch.
CH RX FREQ RX TONE TX FREQ TX TONE Description Notes Confirmation
"Devil's Head LEO" 172.5125 110.9 Unknown Devil's Head Law Enforcement Repeater Rampart Range Area Law Enforcement Operations Repeater. Very informal tactical use among USFS, DCSO, and CPW LEO's. Appears to be a standalone repeater, not monitored by Pueblo Dispatch. 2022.07
"FS Law" 168.025 CSQ 168.025 CSQ USFS Nationwide Law Enforcement Simplex Common Used occasionally for car-to-car comms between LE units on Pike NF. Often used by units when traveling on area highways. 2022.06

In addition to the conventional VHF frequencies shown above, the USFS has been assigned a handful of talkgroups on the State of Colorado DTRS. "USFS SE" has been used in the past by Pike NF LE units for car-to-car traffic, although traffic is more common on the VHF frequencies. Capturing traffic on these talkgroups is extremely difficult, due to the low saturation of USFS units with DTRS radios affiliating to the system.

Name TGID Description Notes
USFS STW 1230 US Forest Service Statewide Statewide common/travel channel for USFS units in Colorado.
USFS NE 1231 US Forest Service Northeast Operations Reserved for Arapaho, Roosevelt, and Pawnee operations.
USFS SE 1232 US Forest Service Southeast Operations Reserved for Pike, San Isabel, and Cimmaron/Comanche operations. Has been referred to on-air as "Southeast."
USFS NW 8375 US Forest Service Northwest Operations Reserved for Routt, White River, and Grand Mesa operations.
USFS SW 8376 US Forest Service Southwest Operations Reserved for Uncompahgre, Gunnison, Rio Grande, and San Juan operations.

Air Operations

CH RX FREQ RX TONE TX FREQ TX TONE Description Notes Confirmation
"National" (NTL FLTF) 168.650 110.9 168.650 110.9 National Flight Following Frequency Nationwide Flight Following Frequency. Used for dispatch, flight following, and/or redirection of aircraft or other air-to-ground administrative traffic. Not for incident or ground operations use. Appears in most radios as "NTL FLTF." Generally referred to on air as "National." Previously known as "Airnet." 2022.07 (in use daily with both PBC and FTC dispatch)
"AIRGUARD" 168.625 110.9 168.625 110.9 National Aircraft Emergency Frequency Continuous monitoring of this frequency is required of all tactical aircraft and dispatch offices. Restricted to emergency air-to-air or air-to-ground communications only. May be used for initial call, recall, and redirection of aircraft only if no other frequencies are available. Appears in all radios as "AIRGUARD" and generally as Channel 16 in portable radios to allow crews to quickly switch to it. 2021.12 (Used briefly as a contact frequency during the Oak Fire.)
"Air-Ground 35" 167.225 CSQ 167.225 CSQ Colorado Zone 07 Primary Air-Ground Primary Air-Ground frequency for Pueblo Dispatch Zone (Colorado Initial Attack Zone 07). National Air-Ground System Channel 35. Has been seen programmed as "CO07AG35" or "A/G 35" in some radios. 2022.07 (In use on Mill Gulch Fire.)
"Air-Ground 10" 166.9375 CSQ 166.9375 CSQ Colorado Zone 07 Secondary Air-Ground Secondary Air-Ground frequency for Pueblo Dispatch Zone (Colorado Initial Attack Zone 07). National Air-Ground System Channel 10. Has been seen programmed as "CO07AG10" or "A/G 10" in some radios. 2022.05 (In use during operations on High Peak Fire.)
"Victor 121.075" 121.075 AM 121.075 AM Colorado Zone 07 Air-Air 1 Primary Air-Air frequency for Pueblo Dispatch Zone (Colorado Initial Attack Zone 07). 2022.05 (In use during operations on the High Peak Fire.)
119.575 AM 119.575 AM Colorado Zone 07 Air-Air 2 Secondary Air-Air frequency for Pueblo Dispatch Zone (Colorado Initial Attack Zone 07). Authorized for use during 2020 season, unknown if still in use.
126.350 AM 126.350 AM Colorado Zone 07 Air-Air 3 Tertiary Air-Ground frequency for Pueblo Dispatch Zone (Colorado Initial Attack Zone 07). Authorized for use during 2020 season, unknown if still in use.
(UHF Link) 408.9875 136.5 417.9875 110.9 UHF Remote Link to National Flight Following (168.650)
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