FJ Cruisers of Northern California

NorCal FJs Band Plan aka Working Frequencies.

This post will be updated as needed. Please send me a message if you want to propose any changes to the NorCal FJs Band Plan outlined below.

CB - We have two main channels that we use if both are in use on the trail then a group decision by the trail leader will determine operating frequency

Primary Channel 31
Secondary Channel 30

FRS/GMRS - We have one primary channel that we run communications on since CTCSS allows us to control who we hear.

Primary Channel 7 code 31 Most FRS radios
Primary Frequency 462.7125 PL 192.8 GMRS
Secondary Channel 6 code 31 most FRS radios
Secondary Frequency 462.6875 PL 192.8

HAM VHF 2M - On the trail 2 Meter VHF is the most flexible and VHF has better ground wave propagation then UHF for point to point with a HT. The only thing we need to make sure to do is not operate on a input or output frequencies for repeaters in the band.

National Calling Channel - 146.520 not for rig to rig comms
Primary - 146.460 no tone
Secondary - 146.565 no tone

HAM UHF 70cm/440 - UHF communications tend to be for everyday conversations. The main system that is used is the CARLA repeater system. The current system is 31 linked repeater in the Northern California area. It covers from SF to east of Reno down to San Luis Obispo (aka Pismo) there are systems that reach into areas like High Sierra and Gold Lake. If you plan on using the CARLA system make sure to read some of the guidelines or ping me(opg4759) for information on it's use. They guys that run it are friends and they welcome the use of the system.

HAM 6 meter - TDB

HAM HF 10/12/20 Meters. This will be on a case by case basis since only a few of us are General or Extra level HAMs.

APRS - Most of the time if we are running APRS we will stick to the standard 144.39 national frequency. There may be specific events like AllCal for example that we might run a network off the national grid. That will be determined by the HAMs on site and a survey of the APRS network in the local area.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by potatomutato on October 17, 2010 at 9:00pm

good stuff! please make a note of it.

Permalink Reply by manoweb on October 17, 2010 at 9:42pm

So I have a question: do we really need the codes on FRS? When using it I have never heard any other group; is that happening a lot in your experience?

Permalink Reply by opg4759 on October 18, 2010 at 6:14am

with how cheap frs radios are, yes I have heard other users. Since we don't always just use these on the trails but around town for various meetups.

Also some of us like myself use commercial radios that have to be programed via PC.

Permalink Reply by potatomutato on October 18, 2010 at 9:38am

i've heard others on a couple occasions...especially on drives to the trailhead.

Permalink Reply by manoweb on October 18, 2010 at 1:45pm

OK but then we should publish a table with the conversion from "FRS code" to "subtone".
I still think it's best to avoid the "marketing trap" of the codes because in any case two groups shouldn't share the same frequency; by knowing another group is there one can take an action and change freq instead of having intermodulation issues with an already 'weak' system like FRS

Permalink Reply by opg4759 on October 18, 2010 at 3:30pm

that's why I put FRS first with channel and code for most radios, the gmrs which has the actual freq and tone. If people want the whole list of tones it's a easy google search. My goal is to make the easy and not confuse things with too much data

Permalink Reply by gringo on June 21, 2011 at 7:08pm

Thanks for the norcal band plan, printed and stuffed in my fj doc case. I'll indeed get use out of it when I attend norcal events

Permalink Reply by opg4759 on June 21, 2011 at 8:40pm

I would say it would be good for Step-Cal as well.

Permalink Reply by opg4759 on July 6, 2011 at 6:51am

Made a change to the 2m primary channel after a bit of research i discovered that 146.460 is common among the Land Cruiser community so I've updated our band plan to match.

Permalink Reply by DWH on July 10, 2011 at 11:20pm

I took the info above and created an easy to print pdf file, including a summary chart.

See attached.

OPG, please check for errors

Attachments:

NorCal FJs Communication Plan.pdf, 99 KB

Permalink Reply by gringo on July 11, 2011 at 6:58am

very nice, thank you

Permalink Reply by Estysalinas on July 18, 2011 at 7:41pm

Ok.....this just goes to show that passing a test means nothing! Is the national calling channel the channel that you listen to in order to establish initial communications? So after you "call" then you setup and change frequencies?