Communications/Radios

Radios!

just quick notes to get this page started

there are N Baofang ?model? in the field.

• Wendy
• Michael
• Casey
• Mitchell
• Catherine has a mess of radios I guess
• Ken ( passed along by Casey & Mitchell )
• Greg?
• Gate Don
• Road Don
•  ?Lisa?
• Mark - (neato cheapo Bofang BU-888. works well and isn't tricky. FRMS only)

There is a pre-configuration for Butano Canyon. This was developed in conjunction with the Coastside Emergency Corps ( is this true? ) It is installed in our radios by a Mr. Peter C or Casey. It is mostly a set of walkie talkie channels, with bonus channels. http://www.sc4arc.org/ http://www.sc4arc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/cecnewsletterspring2018v2--2-.pdf

There is a radio test the first Saturday of every month 9am IIRC

These sorta work up and down the canyon. We're figuring out the range from the various neighborhoods. Catherine has heard parts of a conversation between Mitchell at the Falls and Ken - Mitchell was using a stock antannea.

Monthly Radio Check

other radios

Some folks have FMRS/GRMS radios;regular walkie talkies such as you would get at a sporting goods store. The red boxes in this illustration show which Walkie-Talkie channels overlap with the BaoFang channels.

Yaesu

Brandon and Casey have Yaesu VX-6 radios, which without modification only receive on the defined GRMS channels. The next illustration shows channel settings for Butano. BU1-4 are the 'regular' channels for within the canyon. BU UP and BUPD are the Ham radio frequencies for reaching up to the repeater up on John's redwoodtree on South Ranch Road.

( there is a modification called the MARS modification which allows them to transmit on other channels. ) Note; if you are programming these to match / copy the Butano channels you have to remember that PeterC set up the Bofang GRMS channels as simplex. infact he chose GRMS channels which are often reserved for GRMS repeaters and defined those for the canyon, for some reason. See the above chart.

Baofang BF-888

Mark and _____ have a pair of Baofang BF-888 walkie talkies. Casey programmed one so the last 4 ( of 16 ) channels match the current Butano GRMS channel plan. It seems to be a very inexpensive straightforward UHF radio. It does have a scanning capability.

Reaching the Outside World

an overview

As far as the San Mateo Coastside Emergency Corps folks are concerned, we're in Branch or Zone 3. The CERT co-ordinator for this area is Robert Smith ( [email protected] ) Branch 3 runs from Tunitas Creek to the Santa Cruz County line (La Honda, Loma Mar, Pescadero)

This is why you see all the 3s in the channel names around here. Those are 'our' channels.

The naming scheme has reasoning behind it. The CTL (Control) channels are intended to reach the Red Cross, the California Office of Emergency Services ( OES) , and the County Seat. The CMD channels are Command channels, and are where logistics, coordination and administrative conversations take place. The VTAC channels are tactical channels, intended to be used when emergency services are on-site, or when we don't want to bother folks 'up the ladder.' Specifically in Zone 3 the channels VTAC31-32 are assigned to La Honda, Loma Mar & Skylonda, Pescadero & San Gregoria ( VTAC33) , and the South Skyline Emergency Preparedness Organization ( SSEPO ) respectively.

Coastside Radio Plan

practical matters

There is a Ham radio 'repeater' up on South Ranch Road on the North Ridge. This is the CMD31 channel repeater, known in the Ham world as W6SCF. Given the topology of the canyon that's the only one we're able to reach, and then not from everywhere. CMD31 has a 'private line' to CMD33 ( Ham world KD6KGE, KILLEEN, JOHN W ) which then broadcasts out at a higher power to the wider world.

In the table 2 jumps up you can see BU UP highlighted. That's how Casey has programmed his Ham radio to provide an shortcut to getting out.

the two highlighted lines below contain the settings for accessing the Repeater.

CMD31 is the Repeater's two way setting. There are definitions for the input (RX) and output (TX) frequencies.

CMD31D is the repeaters 'output frequency' - or Direct line. This is the frequency we listen to to hear whatever the repeater is repeating. These get used if one simply wants to talk on the channel everyone is listening to - or if you cannot reach the repeater's 'input' frequency.

Note: it's ok to listen in on these channels without a Ham license. It's probably a good idea to do so now and then to get used to fiddling with your radio. And if there is danger to life or limb, it's OK to broadcast out on these channels. It's not OK to use them casually without a license.

Note: Casey proposes duplicating the programming of all the Bofang walkie talkies to provide the BU UP / BU UPD shortcuts, just in case. Peter C left 'room' in the memory map of the radios for customization. It's OK to repeat channel definitions with differing 'labels' or names.

geek for later

https://aprs.fi/#!call=a%2FW6SCF-10&timerange=3600&tail=3600 ignore me

CMD31

HAM Relay

South San Mateo County document

http://k6mpn.org/training/resources/CERT11-0316UnderstandingRadioComm.pdf

==== FCC doc with older and current FRS / GRMS frequency definitions http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2017/db0522/FCC-17-57A1.pdf

page 12: original FRS / GRMS frequencies / channels
page 22: current settings

the interesting part is to compare how they changed. If we want to accommodate the older radios, without specifying a cut-off-date, we'll have to chose an overlapping channel which survived the changes.

here then, from South County, is the overlap

Channel Overlap

we need to designate one of these frequencies as BU0 or Butano 0.

in communicating with our neighbors we'll have to use the lingo of 'channels' most likely, and the problem here is that manufacturers use differing nomenclature. Additionally people remember the CB radio days where everyone used 'Channel 9' for emergencies - and believe that on their walkie talkies whatever is labeled Channel 9 is the emergency channel.

Casey propose that we have a booth or something set up at the July 4th event where we explain about the BCEC group and what FRS ( regular old walkie-talkie ) channel / frequency we'll be listening to / giving updates on. People can wander back with their walkie talkies and we can double check the specifics of their radios.