Difference between revisions of "United States Forest Service (CA)"
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Most radios on the forest have 9 frequencies in common: ANF FN1 and ANF FN2 (Forest Net), ANF AN1 and ANF AN2 (Admin Net), NIFC tactical channels 1 through 3, and two Region 5 Air-to-Ground frequencies. 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. | Most radios on the forest have 9 frequencies in common: ANF FN1 and ANF FN2 (Forest Net), ANF AN1 and ANF AN2 (Admin Net), NIFC tactical channels 1 through 3, and two Region 5 Air-to-Ground frequencies. 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. | ||
| − | ANF | + | ANF channel 1 and channel 2 are called "Forest Net" and are used primarily for fire and emergency traffic. ANF channel 3 and channel 4 are called "Admin Net" and are used for non-fire communications such as vegetation management, soils, recreation, 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 | + | 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. | 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 | + | 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. |
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|'''Channel '''||'''Tone(s) '''||'''Rx '''||'''Tx '''||'''Alpha Tag '''||'''Description ''' | |'''Channel '''||'''Tone(s) '''||'''Rx '''||'''Tx '''||'''Alpha Tag '''||'''Description ''' | ||
|- | |- | ||
| − | |1||8||172.3750||172.3750||ANF | + | |1||8||172.3750||172.3750||ANF Frst Dir||Forest Net Direct |
|- | |- | ||
| − | |2||1-14||172.3750||169.9500||ANF | + | |2||1-14||172.3750||169.9500||ANF Frst Rpt||Forest Net Repeat |
|- | |- | ||
| − | |3||8||164.9375||164.9375||ANF | + | |3||8||164.9375||164.9375||ANF Adm Dir||Admin Direct |
|- | |- | ||
| − | |4||1-14||164.9375||170.0750||ANF | + | |4||1-14||164.9375||170.0750||ANF Adm Rpt||Admin Repeat |
|- | |- | ||
| − | |5|||| | + | |5||||169.1125||169.1125||A/G 59||Southern California Primary Air to Ground National AG 59 |
|- | |- | ||
| − | |6|| | + | |6||||168.4875||168.4875||A/G 53||Southern California Secondary Air to Ground National AG 53 |
|- | |- | ||
| − | |7||||168.0500||168.0500||N TAC 1||NIFC TAC 1 | + | |7||||168.0500||168.0500||N TAC 1||NIFC TAC 1 |
|- | |- | ||
|8||||168.2000||168.2000||N TAC 2||NIFC TAC 2 | |8||||168.2000||168.2000||N TAC 2||NIFC TAC 2 | ||
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|9||||168.6000||168.6000||N TAC 3||NIFC TAC 3 | |9||||168.6000||168.6000||N TAC 3||NIFC TAC 3 | ||
|- | |- | ||
| − | + | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
|} | |} | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
===Repeaters=== | ===Repeaters=== | ||
Revision as of 02:30, 20 August 2014
Contents
Angeles National Forest (ANF - Forest #01)
Radio System
Channel Lineup
Most radios on the forest have 9 frequencies in common: ANF FN1 and ANF FN2 (Forest Net), ANF AN1 and ANF AN2 (Admin Net), NIFC tactical channels 1 through 3, and two Region 5 Air-to-Ground frequencies. 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.
ANF channel 1 and channel 2 are called "Forest Net" and are used primarily for fire and emergency traffic. ANF channel 3 and channel 4 are called "Admin Net" and are used for non-fire communications such as vegetation management, soils, recreation, 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.
| Channel | Tone(s) | Rx | Tx | Alpha Tag | Description |
| 1 | 8 | 172.3750 | 172.3750 | ANF Frst Dir | Forest Net Direct |
| 2 | 1-14 | 172.3750 | 169.9500 | ANF Frst Rpt | Forest Net Repeat |
| 3 | 8 | 164.9375 | 164.9375 | ANF Adm Dir | Admin Direct |
| 4 | 1-14 | 164.9375 | 170.0750 | ANF Adm Rpt | Admin Repeat |
| 5 | 169.1125 | 169.1125 | A/G 59 | Southern California Primary Air to Ground National AG 59 | |
| 6 | 168.4875 | 168.4875 | A/G 53 | Southern California Secondary Air to Ground National AG 53 | |
| 7 | 168.0500 | 168.0500 | N TAC 1 | NIFC TAC 1 | |
| 8 | 168.2000 | 168.2000 | N TAC 2 | NIFC TAC 2 | |
| 9 | 168.6000 | 168.6000 | 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 Palmdale. 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 by selecting a number on the radio's keypad. As a result, most users refer to the CTCSS tone by its number (e.g., "tone 9" instead of Pine Mountain or 100.0 Hz).
Tones
| 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)
| Channel | Tone(s) | Rx | Tx | Alpha Tag | Description |
| 1 | 1-12 | 168.7500 | 171.4250 | CNF F1 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
| 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 |
Sequoia National Forest (SQF - Forest #13)
Radio System
Channels
| 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
| 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 |
Wiki Links
- US Forest Service - Lake Tahoe Basin Mgmt Unit (CA/NV)
- US Forest Service - Lassen National Forest (CA)
Return to DB page: United States Forest Service (CA)
Return to Wiki page: California (US), US Forest Service