UHF Fire

[Mikel]

Big forest fire a few miles from me started last night (Mynydd Machen) and we had to shut the windows this afternoon due to the smoke so a pretty big blaze.

Interesting thing was all the comms I could her were on 457.2375 Mhz FM which according to the 'Fireground radio channel plan' is a BA (Breathing apparatus) frequency.

I assume all the people on the ground were wearing BA due to the smoke but interesting to hear them communicating with the helicopter and telling it where to drop water from it's bucket on that channel.

I assumed all local comms had gone digital but obviously not yet and in fact all the other channels were inactive as far as I could tell.

I have attached the 'Fireground radio channel plan' just in case anyone has not seen it yet.

[Werthers]

Its good to hear some analog frequencies are active. I'll bung the 457.2375 MHz FM in my scanlist.

UK frequency scanning charts are always 3 decades old with almost everything on DMR and other digital modes these days.

[mattdcooley]

Big forest fire a few miles from me started last night (Mynydd Machen) and we had to shut the windows this afternoon due to the smoke so a pretty big blaze.

Interesting thing was all the comms I could her were on 457.2375 Mhz FM which according to the 'Fireground radio channel plan' is a BA (Breathing apparatus) frequency.

I assume all the people on the ground were wearing BA due to the smoke but interesting to hear them communicating with the helicopter and telling it where to drop water from it's bucket on that channel.

I assumed all local comms had gone digital but obviously not yet and in fact all the other channels were inactive as far as I could tell.

I have attached the 'Fireground radio channel plan' just in case anyone has not seen it yet.

Had similar up here earlier in the week. Moor fire on Pennines. Had Ch 1/3/4/6 all DMR active at various times. Couldn't find freq for the helicopter dropping water though. Had a few strong hits on Simple UK VHF freqs though so may have been hiding amongst them.

[Werthers]

I picked up an analog transmission on 457.4450 MHz FM.

[neil57uk1]

That's not a UK frequency. Guess you have recieved 457.450. Dont forget 12.5khz steps or sometimes 6.25khz steps in the UK.

[mattdcooley]

I picked up an analog transmission on 457.4450 MHz FM.

457.44375. Short term talkback band. Nothing to do with UHF fire

[Werthers]

I picked up an analog transmission on 457.4450 MHz FM.

457.44375. Short term talkback band. Nothing to do with UHF fire

Ok just thought I'd ask. I wasn't sure thats all.

[mattdcooley]

I picked up an analog transmission on 457.4450 MHz FM.

457.44375. Short term talkback band. Nothing to do with UHF fire
[/quote]

Ok just thought I'd ask. I wasn't sure thats all.
[/quote]

No problem. Never hurts to check and learn the bandplans before posting though. You'd find frequencies listed on that going back decades allocated to PMSE. Sometimes they are really rather interesting. Can be a TV crew one month, a stadium match the next and even hired out for events where they want something a little more private than hired suppliers light repeaters but not to go so far as take a technically assigned licence for a day or two.

[mattdcooley]

Ok just thought I'd ask. I wasn't sure thats all.

No problem. Never hurts to check and learn the bandplans before posting though. You'd find frequencies listed on that going back decades allocated to PMSE. Sometimes they are really rather interesting. Can be a TV crew one month, a stadium match the next and even hired out for events where they want something a little more private than hired suppliers light repeaters but not to go so far as take a technically assigned licence for a day or two.
[/quote]

[Werthers]

When I tuned in to 457.44375 MHz it sounded like a two way radio system it didn't sound like talk back at all and when I saw it was on the 457 MHz range I thought maybe it could have been UHF Fire. I'm not familiar with UHF Fire frequencies Anyway thanks for the info.

I listened to the BBC talk back yesterday on a different frequency, they were in the house of commons.

[Mikel]

Big forest fire a few miles from me started last night (Mynydd Machen) and we had to shut the windows this afternoon due to the smoke so a pretty big blaze.

Interesting thing was all the comms I could her were on 457.2375 Mhz FM which according to the 'Fireground radio channel plan' is a BA (Breathing apparatus) frequency.

...........interesting to hear them communicating with the helicopter and telling it where to drop water from it's bucket on that channel.

Just an update since the blaze in April. All comms heard locally since then have been DMR and the 457.2375 Mhz FM usage was obviously just to maintain contact with the helicopter to direct water drops from the ground.

A private company called 'Airbourne Solutions' provide the service which is available from 1 March to 30 August each year.

'Airbourne Solutions' cover the whole of Wales and as far as I can tell, England, Scotland and N Ireland use a different provider (Skyhook?) so may use a different method for air to ground communications.

It will be interesting to see if anyone can capture the channel used in those areas.

One thing they appear to have in common is the use of the 'Bambi Bucket' that can drop 910 litres of water at a time at quite short notice.

Below is a picture of the 'Airbourne Solutions' helicopter with the 'Bambi Bucket' suspended on the remote control cable.