VHF Frequencies, BC. AB.

An excellent and informative reply, not4hire.

Clearly, I have a lot to learn from those with the relevant experience regarding radio communications out in the boondocks.

I assume that Industry Canada is continually receiving input from people such as yourself with respect to what an organized VHF radio spectrum should look like in the years ahead.

I wonder if cellphone use is a viable alternative when radio communications may not be practical or even possible? Surely even way out in the sticks there are currently cell towers located on certain mountain ridges and even more being installed on a continuing basis with a view to obtaining complete coverage? A tall order (pardon the pun)!

 

I dunno Freddie - cell phone technology is still pretty new up here ..... matter o' fact, when you say "cell phone" to someone up here, the first thing that comes to mind are the pay phones located in the drunk tank downtown at the precinct house that you use to call for a lift home ..........



























well I thought it was funny ...............










matter of fact, my first cell phone was so big, it came with it's own booth !!!

 

no

not at all

 

Hmmm...no cellphone towers being installed in B.C.'s wilderness nor, presumably, in other remote areas in the west and north?

Even Third World countries are scrambling for such access.

"Cost-effectiveness" at play here?

And, hey, not4hire: please tell us how you manage to keep track of all of those approximately 397 programmed frequencies you say you need for each specific purpose. At first glance, that seems way too inefficient and user-unfriendly. A better way is needed.

 

I'm not sure why you mentioned cellphones as that is (primarily) a one-to-one communication device and completely impractical for controlled road or truck-to-truck use.

Cellular coverage in Alberta and British Columbia is generally adequate when on-highway and in/near populated areas, but even that is spotty in places. Go into some of the more remote areas and it gets exponentially worse. For oilfield/mining/timber a cellular booster is a must-have, but even then you have to accept that you can be out of coverage for extended periods.

Keeping track of the channels is a cinch. I just have an Excel spreadsheet that lists each radio channel, its corresponding frequency, frequency owner, location use and other notes. Since I keep the spreadsheet on my phone I can just sort it for whichever category I need, be it name or frequency, for example. For our trucks I just printed two lists, one sorted by channel name and one by frequency. Easy-peasy.

 

Your post made me think of my favourite phone booth. Going from a long-ago memory; it's about a mile (?) off the Alaska Highway at about Mile 73 (Beatton River Road?) and it's another 100-ish feet off the road into the bush. And when I say "in the bush" I mean that it was literally in the bush--in amongst the trees and dense bushes--no real trail or anything. There weren't any near-by buildings that I remember. There was no land-line connection so I think it was the radio-telephone service Autotel that was in use in northern BC at the time (early '90s)--the precursor to cellular which was virtually non-existent in that area. I just happened to catch a glimpse out of the corner of my eye as I went by on the road to a drilling rig, it was a bit of a WTF moment. At first I thought someone maybe stole the booth from Fort St John and dumped it in the bush, so on another trip I stopped to take a look and... lo-and-behold, it was a functioning phone booth.

So I made a call.



Imagine something like this, but no road, no path, no buildings... just trees and bush. And snow. It was a typical -20-ish winter day when I made my call... darn near got frostbite on my ear from the receiver.

 

Now that's funny !

Years ago there was an old NB Tel booth still left over in Dunn's Crossing, NB ............ Dunn's Crossing was one of the areas expropriated by the Fed Gov't for CFB Gagetown. ....... it was smack in the middle of the training area ......... AND NB TEL maintained that booth for more then 30 years !!!! Many a soldier made a sneaky late night call from that booth to his girl ........

 

I was looking at buying a few of these for when I'm out in the backcountry snowmobiling. Walkie-Talkies just dont cut it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Baofeng-UV-...s-/131367957653?ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1123

 

Not4hire, I assumed that cellphone use direct to your dispatcher/headquarters (not truck-to-truck) would be a quicker option than fumbling through frequency lists, but as you say, you've worked all of that out beforehand with your spreadsheet.

There must be occasions when you need the privacy of a cellphone connection rather than "party line" VHF radio communications?

For truck-to-truck ####-chat, Citizens Band would still be adequate in lightly-populated remote regions. Seriously disruptive skip noise is usually found on only a few channels with the rest reasonably quiet.

Furthermore, AM-mode CB does have an advantage over FM-mode VHF for the following reason:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_effect

No doubt you and others reading this are familiar with this phenomenon.

 

Dragon88, beware of those cheap, Chinese-made transceivers. Most of them aren't water-resistant (never mind waterproof!), so if you dropped them in wet snow or puddles, you would have to let them dry out completely for a few days to make absolutely sure the circuitry isn't shorted inside. Attempting to use them up while still wet is not a good idea!

I suggest something like this instead: http://www.motorolasolutions.com/US...dios/Consumer+Two-way+Radios/Talkabout+MS350R