FEMA Frequencies In Action

 

Recent events in the South Florida area prompted requests from readers for information on the frequencies used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

 

At 1:23 AM on June 24, 2021, a large section of the Champlain Towers South condominium building in Surfside, Florida, collapsed. Nearly 100 people lost their lives in the collapse. The response to the building collapse was massive, with not only Miami city agencies and Florida state agencies responding, but quite a few federal agencies sent teams of personal and equipment in. On June 25, President Biden signed an Emergency Declaration authorizing federal assistance to local and state resources.  

FEMA can show up in nearly any federal frequency band, but their primary frequencies of choice these days is in the 400 MHz federal band. All communications are likely P25 digital and encrypted. FEMA has also been observed handing out Motorola DTR710 900 MHz spread spectrum frequency hopping radios in some situations. In addition to the FEMA channels, be sure and keep a watch on the VHF and UHF interoperability frequencies found in the DHS National Interoperability Field Operations Guide, or NIFOG. Radios deployed at disaster sites will have all the NIFOG channels available for use.

 

Here is a listing of known FEMA radio frequencies that were probably in use in South Florida and can be used in any disaster response. The P-25 digital channels will often be used with a Network Access Code (NAC) of N421, but other NACs have been observed in some situations. All of these can be used as repeater pairs (inputs are usually +9 MHz in the UHF band), or any frequency can be simplex:

 

406.2625           N421     FEMA 01/02

406.4500

406.4625

406.6500

406.6750

406.7000

406.7250

406.7500

406.8625                         National Disaster Medical System (NDMS)

407.0625           N421     FEMA 03/04

407.1250                         NDMS

407.2625

407.4500           N421     FEMA 11/12

407.4625

407.5250

407.6625           N421     FEMA 05/06

407.8000
407.8500

407.9000

407.9250

408.0625

408.2625

408.8625           N421     FEMA Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) 01

409.0000           N447     FEMA NDMS

409.0500           N447     FEMA NDMS

409.0625           N421     FEMA 07/08

409.0750                         NDMS

409.1500

409.2000

409.2625                         USAR

409.3375

409.4625           N421     FEMA 11

409.6625                         USAR

409.7250

409.8625           N421     FEMA 05

410.2625                         USAR

410.3375           N447     FEMA NDMS

410.4625           N421     FEMA 09/10

410.6625                         FEMA Urban Search and Rescue (USAR)

410.8625           N421     FEMA 14

412.4375

412.8250

412.8375

412.8500

412.8625

412.8750

412.8875

412.9000

412.9125

414.9125

414.9375

414.9500

414.9625

415.2625

415.4625

415.6500

415.6750

415.7000

415.7250

415.7500

415.8625

416.0625

416.2625

416.4500           N421     FEMA INPUT

416.4625

416.5250

416.6625

416.8000

416.8500

416.9000

416.9250

417.0625

417.2625

417.2875

417.8625

418.0625           N421     FEMA 08 INPUT

418.0750

418.1500

418.2000

418.2625

418.3375

418.4625           N421     FEMA 11 INPUT

418.6625

418.7250

418.8625           N421     FEMA 05 INPUT

419.2625

419.4625           N421     FEMA 02 INPUT

419.6625           N421

419.8625           N421     FEMA 14 INPUT

 

I will continue to update my FEMA frequency listings on the Fed Files Blog page, which can be found here: http://mt-fedfiles.blogspot.com/p/fema-frequencies.html

Federal Emergency Frequencies

In the April issue of The Spectrum Monitor, I presented possible frequencies that would possibly be used, particularly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here are some potential monitoring targets for federal agency activity in areas in which federal agencies are supporting public health issues. First is the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). While their day-to-day activity probably does not have many two-way radios involved, they do have emergency response teams and those teams do have radios. Here are the frequencies allocated to HHS;

30.420

30.430

34.050

36.180

36.220

36.250

36.270

36.350

36.750

38.830

40.370

41.350

41.390

41.430 (Nationwide)

41.470 (Nationwide)

41.530 (Nationwide)

41.650 (Nationwide)

41.690 (Nationwide)

41.790 (Nationwide)

41.830

163.0000

163.0750

163.1750

163.2500 (Nationwide Medical Paging Allocation)

163.3000

163.3750

163.7000

164.3000 (Nationwide)

164.5250

164.7000

164.8000

164.9625

164.9875 (Nationwide)

165.0625

165.2625

165.3125

165.3375

166.1000

166.8250

168.0000

168.3250

168.5250

169.6250

170.1250

171.2375 (Nationwide – shared)

171.7250

172.3000

172.7750

407.7000 / 416.7000

408.0500 / 417.0500

409.0000 / 418.0000

410.0250 / 419.0250

410.2000 / 419.2000

410.2250 / 419.2250

410.4000 / 419.4000

410.4250 / 419.4250

411.2250 – Simplex

411.4500 – Simplex

411.8250 – Simplex

413.4500 – Simplex

413.8750 – Simplex

415.4000 / 406.4000

415.8250 / 406.8250

415.9250 / 406.9250

416.9750 / 407.9750

417.6500 / 408.6500

417.7000 / 408.7000

419.1500 / 410.1500

419.6000 / 410.6000

419.6250 / 410.6250

419.8000 / 410.8000

Here is a listing of what was found in an HHS radio channel load at one time and may still be in use. Note the HHS National TAC channels:

409.0000         N293   K2

419.6000         N392   K3

409.2000         N447   K4

418.2000         N744   K6

409.0500         N447   K7

418.0500         N744   K9

409.3375         N447   K10

418.3375         N744   K12

412.8250         N447   K13

412.8500         N447   K14

412.8375         N447   K15

412.8625         N447   K16

412.8500         N068   HHS NTAC 1

413.0500         N068   HHS NTAC 2

413.8125         N068   HHS NTAC 3

417.7000         N068   HHS NTAC 4

In addition to the HHS channels, be sure and listen for activity on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Here are some of the confirmed UHF channels, although FEMA has equipment that can use any VHF or UHF band channels as needed:

138.0250

138.4625

138.6625

138.8875

140.5125

140.7125

141.4500

143.4625

143.8875

148.3000

149.0250

150.4500

150.5125

150.6625

406.2625           N421     FEMA 01/02

406.4500

406.4625

406.8625                         National Disaster Medical System (NDMS)

407.0625           N421     FEMA 03/04

407.1250                         NDMS

407.2625

407.4500           N421     FEMA 11/12

407.4625

407.6625           N421     FEMA 05/06

408.0625

408.2625

408.8625           N421     FEMA Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) 01

409.0000           N447     FEMA NDMS

409.0500           N447     FEMA NDMS

409.0625           N421     FEMA 07/08

409.0750                         NDMS

409.2625                         USAR

409.3375

409.4625           N421     FEMA 11

409.6625                         USAR

409.8625           N421     FEMA 05

410.2625                         USAR

410.3375           N447     FEMA NDMS

410.4625           N421     FEMA 09/10

410.6625                         FEMA Urban Search and Rescue (USAR)

410.8625           N421     FEMA 14

412.4375

412.8250

412.8375

412.8500

412.8625

412.8750

412.8875

412.9000

412.9125

415.2625

415.4625

415.8625

416.2625

416.4500           N421     FEMA INPUT

416.4625

416.6625

417.2875

418.0625           N421     FEMA 08 INPUT

418.3375

418.4625           N421     FEMA 11 INPUT

418.8625           N421     FEMA 05 INPUT

419.2625

419.4625           N421     FEMA 02 INPUT

419.6625           N421

419.8625           N421     FEMA 14 INPUT

In addition to these frequencies, the National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA) has allocated a number of VHF and UHF channels for federal agency interoperability. This allows different federal agencies some common radio channels where none had previously existed. Here are the current NTIA allocated Federal Interoperability frequencies, and these can be found in the NIFOG document I mentioned earlier:

162.0875         1FCAL-35

162.2625         1FCAL-36

162.8375         1FCAL-37

163.2875         1FCAL-38

163.4250         1FCAL-39

164.7125         1FCAL-40

165.2500         1FCAL-41

165.9625         1FCAL-42

165.5750         1FCAL-43

167.0875         1FCAL-35D

167.0875         LE-1

167.2500         1FLAW-36D

167.2500         LE-2/LE-6

167.3250         1FCAL-44

167.7500         1FLAW-37D

167.7500         LE-3/LE-7

168.1125         1FLAW-38D

168.1125         LE-4/LE-8

168.4625         1FLAW-39D

168.4625         LE-5/LE-9

169.5375         1FCAL-40D

169.5375         NC-1

170.0125         1FTAC-41D

170.0125         IR-1/IR-6

170.4125         1FTAC-42D

170.4125         IR-2/IR-7

170.6875         1FTAC-43D

170.6875         IR-3/IR-8

173.0375         1FTAC-44D

173.0375         IR-4/IR-9

           

409.9875         4FLAW-46D

409.9875         LE-10/LE-16

410.1875         4FLAW-47D

410.1875         LE-11/LE-17

410.2375         4FCAL-52D

410.2375         IR-15

410.4375         4FTAC-53D

410.4375         IR-10/IR-16

410.6125         4FLAW-48D

410.6125         LE-12/LE-18

410.6375         4FTAC-54D

410.6375         IR-11/IR-17

410.8375         4FTAC-55D

410.8375         IR-12/IR-18

413.1875         4FTAC-56

413.1875         IR-13

413.2125         4FTAC-57

413.2125         IR-14

414.0375         4FCAL-45D

414.0375         LE-B

414.0625         4FLAW-49

414.0625         LE-13

414.3125         4FLAW-50

414.3125         LE-14

414.3375         4FLAW-51

414.3375         LE-15

419.1875         4FLAW-47

419.2375         4FCAL-52

419.4375         4FTAC-53

419.6126         4FLAW-48

419.6375         4FTAC-54

419.8375         4FTAC-55

419.9875         4FLAW-46

Some areas have had National Guard units activated to provide mostly logistical support for areas heavily affected by the COVID-19 virus. In addition to their normal unit communications, they could be using the frequencies listed above, and you might consider the following frequencies, which are allocated to federal government itinerant use by any federal government agency:

163.1000

163.7125        

167.1375

168.3500

168.5500        

168.6125        

173.6250        

407.5250        

409.0500

409.0750

409.3375

412.8250

412.8375

412.8500

412.8625

412.8750

412.8875

412.9000

412.9125

416.5250

418.0500

418.0750

418.3375

FEMA Deploys to Texas Wildfires? -UPDATE

In a rare move, FEMA has declared the Texas wildfires a "Major Disaster" and deployed a mobile command post to the Mineral Wells, Texas area.

Monitors report that the FEMA CP is probably one of the MERS Teams vehicles. They have spotted a mobile truck with two pneumatic masts that support communications antennas. No mention was made in the reports I saw of any satellite dishes, but most if not all of the FEMA mobile units carry satellite dishes.

Only frequencies heard so far that might be connected to the FEMA deployment were 163.1000 MHz and 866.0125 MHz. More as reports come in...

UPDATE - It appears that the original source now says this may not be FEMA's mobile command post operating on location in Texas, despite that fact that Texas has requested FEMA assistance in the fires:

http://texas.onpolitix.com/news/44593/femas-major-disaster-declaration-rare-for-texas-fires

The mobile units spotted in the Mineral Wells area has been described as not looking like the FEMA MERS vehicles I mentioned above. However, reports continue to indicate plenty of state and federal frequencies are in use in the firefighting efforts. You can follow the updates at this link on Radio Reference:

http://forums.radioreference.com/texas-incidents-breaking-news/141626-n-texas-wild-fires.html#post1523455

UPDATE II - Here are some additional frequencies passed along to me by a source on the ground. These were monitored near the Possum Kingdom Lake fires:

163.1000 MHz, CSQ - Aircraft/direct
166.9375 MHz, CSQ - Air-attack to ground units/main/direct/VERY active
168.0125 MHz, CSQ - Aircraft/direct
168.0500 MHz, CSQ - Ground units/direct
168.1000 MHz, 123.0 PL - Command/operations/repeater and direct/heard from
70 miles away either east or west.
168.2000 MHz, CSQ - Ground units/direct

Upcoming Events - NLE09

FEMA's National Level Exercise 2009 (NLE09) is scheduled for July 27th through July 31st, 2009;

http://www.fema.gov/media/fact_sheets/nle09.shtm

NLE is the new FEMA designation for what were the TOPOFF exercises. This exercise is scheduled to involve FEMA Region VI, which includes the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. Additional detail will be coming as the exercies planning continues.

Sandy Recovery NYC Area

I have been in the Brooklyn/Staten Island area for the last few days have have been monitoring some of the federal recovery efforts. Federal agency activity has started to increase on Saturday, with FEMA finally setting up some communications along with some DoD assets. Some FEMA communications were heard in the clear.

I have been monitoring mostly from the Ft. Wadsworth area on Staten Island. Ft. Wadsworth is the location of the US Coast Guard Sector New York. They have had numerous fly overs by USCG helicopters and have been landing some at the baseball field on Ft. Wadsworth. I've also been seeing many other military and other helicopters flying over the area over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

The National Guard and active duty military units have begun to arrive and are staging at various locations, one of which is Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. I have not been able to confirm any military or National Guard communications yet, but the National Parks Police are very busy supporting operations in their areas.

Here is what has been busy:

-->

162.3250	N293	USCG NET 111
164.3125 164.4000	N293 N001	USCG NET 115 USSS PAPA
165.1750	N225
165.2375	N301	DHS CBP DNET 1
166.0500	100.0	FORT WADSWORTH NPS OPERATIONS/SECURITY
166.3250	136.5	US PARK POLICE - NEW YORK AREA F1
167.7875	N653	FEDERAL I/O
168.9125	N935
169.7250	N824
169.8250	N225	NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, GATEWAY NATIONAL RECREATION AREA
173.6625	N167	FBI
345.0000	AM	USCG AIR OPERATIONS
406.3375	N482	USPS POSTAL INSPECTORS
407.6625	N421	FEMA
408.2000	N270	FEDERAL PROTECTIVE SERVICE
408.8625	N421	FEMA DMATS

UPDATE:
During the evening I heard multiple communications on 123.1 MHz from "AVIATION BASE". They were apparently directing inbound helicopters to landing and parking areas somewhere. There was mention of parking on a baseball field near a flight line. I thought it might have been at the old airfield at Floyd Bennett, but haven't been able to confirm that. Reports on Radio Reference have 242.2 MHz and 283.0 MHz being used by the National Guard helicopters operating in the area.

And I forgot to include in the list above the Red Cross frequency of 47.42 MHz, which I caught some transmissions Saturday.

FEMA Net in NY/NJ Area?

Back in November, 2012 when I was in the Staten Island area right after hurricane Sandy hit, I noted several UHF FEMA frequencies that had P25 radio traffic right after federal aid started moving into the area. The one frequency that seemed to show the most "hits" was 407.6625, N421.

I'm back in the NYC area and am still hearing a lot of short transmissions on this frequency, but I'm not sure if this is a permanent FEMA repeater in the area, perhaps part of a wide-area FEMA network. I have also heard these same key-ups with no voice on the same frequency in the Atlantic City, NJ area.

The key-ups with no voice may be the repeaters being in a "vote-scan" mode that allows field radios to select the nearest repeater automatically.

UPDATE: Just to clarify, there is encrypted voice traffic on these repeaters, not just voiceless key ups...

UPDATE 2 - On my last two trips to the Atlantic City area, the key ups on 407.6625 are no longer being heard.

FEMA Mobile Units

Saw this web page on a recent list posting and thought it was interesting;

http://www.core77.com/blog/transportation/a_tour_of_femas_fleet_19969.asp

It's a nice look at FEMA's Mobile Emergency Response Support (MERS) command units and the various versions and sizes that they come in.

UPDATE: Fixed the messed up link I had earlier.

FEMA Moves From Nextel

As we have known, many federal agencies were heavy users of the Nextel "Direct Connect" push-to-talk radio and mobile phone service. With the demise of the Nextel network, at least one agency is moving to Sprints newest version of the Direct Connect service:

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/10/3755321/fema-moves-from-nextel-to-sprints.html

Hurricane Ike Recovery

I have been monitoring the situation in southeast Texas and hurricane (now tropical storm) Ike. In addition to the news networks and the Weather Channel, DirecTV is providing a feed of the Houston CBS affiliate full time on channel 361.

It appears that an amazing number of state, federal and military resources, called "Task Force Texas", are being poured into the Houston/Galveston area to help with recovery and restoration of services and power. I had received word from friends in Houston before the storm hit that FEMA was already staging equipment and vehicles in the old Astrohall, near Reliant Stadium.

Although this is certainly an amazing monitoring opportunity with all the activity going on, most folks in the area either have other, much more important things to worry about, or they have no power. But if you are in the area and want to search for any recovery communications, don't overlook the federal UHF band, 406 to 420 MHz. FEMA and associated groups such as DMAT and Urban Search and Rescue crews are almost certainly utilizing radios in that band as they were at the two recent political conventions. Plus national guard units have been known to utilize this band for short range, simplex communications.

FEMA Phone System Hacked

According to new reports, FEMA had someone hack access to the federal agency's internal phone network and placed calls to the Middle East and Asia.

The story can be found HERE.

Atlantic City NJ - Sandy Recovery

I just spent some time in the Atlantic City, NJ area after Hurricane Sandy went through a couple of weeks ago. I was able to spot some debris and beach cleanup operations south of the hotels and casinos.

On the way into Atlantic City, I did catch some traffic from FEMA on 407.6625 MHz, N421. And as with the FEMA communications I heard in New York City, some were in the clear.

Once in the city, I came across several trucks with federal government license plates that were apparently with the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA). In addition to the WAPA vehicles, there were some additional power service trucks that were contractors working to restore power. All the vehicles carried VHF-hi band antennas, but I was never able to catch any radio transmissions from them.

But things must be getting back to normal, as both the FBI and the DEA were busy in the area during my time on the boardwalk!

TOPOFF 4 Radio Usage

Since the TOPOFF 4 exercise is now finished, at least on the public side, I thought I would share what I found as far as radio communications in the Portland area...

Tuesday's initial operations were mainly on the 800 MHz Portland area public safety trunked system, as well as trunked systems used by neighboring Clark County Washington and Washington County Oregon. Several fire and Emergency / Incident Command talk groups were utilized.

Wednesday brought in more federal agency response, and more activity on the 800 MHz systems. It did appear that there was use of the federal IWN VHF trunked radio system. I noticed a "spike" in the number of radios that were affiliated to the trunked system on Tuesday and Wednesday. Voice activity that I was able to catch on the IWN sites was all encrypted, so I can't confirm who exactly was using the system.

I did catch some conventional federal frequencies in use during the week. While near the area that the dirty bomb explosion was staged, I caught some simplex P-25 traffic on 167.3875 MHz, most likely FBI units on scene. While parked near the TOPOFF operations center in Portland, I did catch quite a bit of P-25 encrypted traffic on 138.225 MHz, most likely FEMA. They were a big presence at the ops center, as well as the Federal Protective Service. They were active on 417.2000 MHz, P-25 in the clear.

I am certain that there was more activity going on the federal bands, but I wasn't able to catch it. I'm also surprised that there was not more activity on any of the federal interoperability channels. I thought that this exercise might be a good time to catch some interop between the local 800 MHz trunked systems and some federal channels, but didn't catch any.

An interesting side note - I have seen no postings or any information on line about the TOP OFF exercises in Phoenix or in Guam. I don't know how many listeners there might have been in Guam, but I'm suprised that no one heard any of the events in Phoenix I'll have more in a future Fed Files column...

TOPOFF 4 Exercise Unfolds

I had a chance to do some monitoring and observations of the TOPOFF 4 exercise in the Portland, Oregon area this week and thought I would post some information.

The events started Tuesday, with the simulated explosion of a dirty bomb in downtown Portland on the Steel Bridge. The staged event took place on a simulated bridge with wrecked cars and a bus, all located at the Portland International Raceway along I-5 north of town. They had a large compound of tents and support vehicles for this event, but they kept the gawkers away by prohibiting any parking where you could sit and watch.

The radio traffic on Tuesday was primarily local public safety first-responders. Lots of active talk-groups on the Portland area 800 MHz trunked system carried traffic from this simulation.

The activities on Wednesday focused on recovery, decontamination and criminal investigation of the event. Lots of federal and military presence during the exercise on Wednesday. Some EPA air monitoring vehicles were staged at the Portland airport. Several very interesting FEMA vehicles were spotted around the city, including a mobile commmand post located at the TOPOFF Command Center, which was at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Portland. Many DHS and military vehicles were parked around the hotel and clogged the entrance to the parking ramp. :-)

I'll update this blog with more info as I find it...

DHS NRF Resource Center

The DHS National Response Framework presents the guiding principles that enable all response partners to prepare for and provide a unified national response to disasters and emergencies – from the smallest incident to the largest catastrophe. The Framework establishes a comprehensive, national, all-hazards approach to domestic incident response.

A new series of PDF files is available at the NRF site, with some communications information:

http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nrf/aboutNRF.htm

NYC FBI Interop Check-In

I finally had a chance to catch the weekly (I think) test of the Federal Interoperability repeater in the New York City area. The test started at 10AM with "FBI Operations" calling a list of participating agencies on 167.7875 MHz, P-25 digital. The agencies that checked in with FBI Control included:

ATF New York
ATF Newark
US Attorney Eastern District
DEA New York
DEA Newark
FEMA
US Marshals Southern District
US Marshals Eastern District
US Marshals New Jersey
ICE New York
ICE New Jersey
CBP New York
CBP Tactical JFK
Coast Guard Sector New York
Secret Service New York
Secret Service New Jersey
IRS New York
Park Police Manhattan
Park Police Brooklyn
Postal Inspectors New York
Postal Inspectors New Jersey
US Attorney Long Island
Air Marshals New York
Essex County SO
Nassau County Police

Previous reports that I had received on this interop repeater said that they had heard this repeater tied to 414.750 MHz during these tests, but I did not hear any activity on the UHF frequency during this morning's test.

Earlier in the morning, I caught two FBI radio techs checking coverage of this repeater with a hand held radio. The gentleman that was mobile was north of the NYC area on I-287 near the White Plains area, which is apparently the northern limit on this repeater.

BLM LE USING SATCOM

 On my recent travels through Arizona, I spotted a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Law Enforcement vehicle that had a large SATCOM antenna on the roof. There was also what appeared to be a multi-band land mobile radio antenna as well.

The large, platter shaped antenna is on the left side, over the drivers head. It is labeled with a number of warning emblems, probably telling you to not touch the antenna while in use.

 

I did not know that BLM had satellite capabilities, but it makes sense as they often operate in very remote areas, many miles from cell sites.

This is an additional agency that has been confirmed to have access to satellite voice and data communications. This list includes other Department of the Interior agencies, such as US Geological Survey, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), FEMA, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Army Corps of Engineers and Health & Human Services. 

There are likely more agencies that can use mobile satellite gear. The NIFOG does list some federal interoperability channels/networks that are available on satellite.