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Bright Ideas
Gary Webbenhurst
P. O. Box 344, Colbert, WA 99005-0344
garywebbenhurst@monitoringtimes.com
I know that my readers faithfully read
this column first, so here is an idea
1 for December 31 st . If you don’t go
out for New Year’s Eve, it is a great
night for listening to the scanner.
The closer to midnight, the better the
action. I just mute the TV program and
listen to a pair of scanners on the fire and police
bands. Think of the money you save by staying
home! Can you say “new radio”?
The recent poll of MT readers made
a clear statement. The readers want
2 more frequencies! Are you reading
every page in every issue? Because
MT does publish literally hundreds,
make that thousands of frequencies.
When you discover some that interest
you, make a photocopy of that page, or transfer the
information to your computer database of frequencies.
The HF frequencies are more universal, and I
would hope that SWLers use the center section of
the Shortwave Guide to their full advantage.
If you subscribe to MT, you should also
get the digital, online, downloadable edition
of MT Express for only an additional $11.95
($19.95 to non-subscribers). This electronic
format has several advantages. It arrives early,
you get the benefits of active web links, and it is
in full color! It is very slick! Go to http://www.
grove-ent.com or call 1-800-438-8155 for details
The long anticipated deadline of narrowband
technology re-farming has
3 arrived. Government VHF users
must be in compliance by January
1, 2005. This means two things.
First, there are hundreds of new 7.5 kHz
splinter frequencies now in use. The old,
full 15 kHz spacing now exists with a new channel
between each of the old allocations.
For example, fire allocations that looked like
this: 154.160, 154.175, 154.190, 154.205, etc. will
now look like this: 154.1600, 154.1675, 154.1750,
154.1825, 154.1900, 154.1975, 154.2050, etc. Your
old radio probably does not have these 7.5 kHz
steps. You can program something close and hear
the signals, but it may sound unnatural because your
radio was not designed for this new narrowband
spacing. I have been disappointed listening to the
new narrow spectrum using my old scanners. AT-
TENTION, Uniden, and Radio Shack (GRE): get
with the new channel spacing!
So what are the new channel assignments in
your area? Read on.
of towns and frequencies. Rather, I intend to make
it easier for you to find you own local frequencies.
That is the fun part of the hobby!
Keep in mind there are frequencies in use that
have never been published anywhere. They may not
even be legally authorized by the FCC. (Remember
the mess in Nevada?) SWAT frequencies are rarely
published for obvious reasons.
To begin a new search, you can do as I have
and create a template in your word processor. Start
with a new document, and hit the enter key a couple
of times. Now go to the Tables feature, and select
Insert (or create.) Start with six columns and 25
rows. Columns can be labeled: Receive (RX), PL
tone (CTCSS), Transmit (TX), PL tone, and the
Agency Name, or use. The sixth column can be left
blank for your imagination to fill in later. Using your
mouse, you can adjust the width of the columns. The
first four can be fairly narrow, just wide enough for
the eight spaces of a frequency. The Agency column
needs to be much wider. For the first frequency, you
can start with the first VHF Low, VHF High, UHF,
700-900 public safety frequency allocation. Figure
1 is a sample of my VHF high table.
Don’t forget about the new VHF 7.5 kHz
narrowband allocations. For UHF it is 6.25 kHz.
You can go back to the top of the page and
give it a title like “Public Safety Frequencies in use
in Spokane, Washington.”
OK, you spent an hour at the computer, and listed
all the possible VHF High frequencies in the RX
column up through, say, 162.000 MHz. Anything
above this is probably, but not always, a US Government
agency assignment. Now set your scanner
or fancy receiver to scan or search in that band by
sections, such as 150.700 to 155.995. Later you
can search 156.000 through 162.000. Be patient.
You need to sit on this search for several days at
varying times. The best time to catch
some activity are usually in the early
morning, when people, and vehicles,
5
go into service; again at their lunch
hour, “I’ll meet you at the steak
house”; and 4-7pm when units go off
duty or dispatchers make pager tests or
announcements. This is particularly true of rural
volunteer fire departments.
For me, half the fun of the monitoring hobby
is finding these new, sometimes undocumented
frequencies. Sometimes I find a new signal from
a distant county or city because a new, powerful
repeater or tower location has made the signals
stronger enough for you to monitor them.
The best scanner for this type of search is the
Pro 92 or the Pro 2067. In fact, most of the newer
scanners will decode the PL tone or DCS. As you
find or confirm the frequencies in use in your area,
just begin filling in your database table.
Now that you have a new, accurate list of
frequencies, why not send them to the appropriate
MT column writer, such as Scanning Report, Fed
Files, MilCom, or Boats, Planes and Trains?
As you search through the bands, you might find
birdies which you can lock out. However, there
may be some major interference which you need
block out entirely. I find these howling intermods a
real annoyance. I use PAR 152 and PAR 158 MHz
notch filters. These use in line BNC couplings,
and are easily installed (or removed) between your
radio and your antenna. If your trouble emanates
from the 162 MHz NOAA stations, PAR has a
filter for that, too. Available at Grove Enterprises
1-800-438-8155.
My annual statement:
Except for Grove Enterprises, I have no
business association with any vendor, nor stock in
any company. If I discuss, or promote a product, I
usually have a photo to verify that I bought one and
use it. If it is a turkey, well, I just wasted my dollars,
and hopefully saved you from wasting yours.
I work hard to ferret out new websites about
radios or related topics. I write the column several
weeks in advance before it hits your mailbox.
Sometimes the URLs change or even disappear.
Use several search engines for complete coverage
of topics you are researching. Happy New Year!
4
OK, so you did not get a new Scout
Frequency Finder for Christmas.
Well, let’s start 2005 out right,
and make a new sweep of the local
bands you wish to monitor. The
Bright Ideas column does not post lists
January 2005 MONITORING TIMES 23