DEA Changes In The Works?

Recently there have been some possible changes to the DEA's UHF channel plan. It's been long expected as the DEA original frequencies were not going to be compliant with the NTIA's new UHF federal channel plan, including a 9 MHz repeater offset.

There had long been rumors and some confirmation that the DEA was headed towards VHF to be more interoperable with other Justice Department agencies. But after a recent Justice Department budget stated that the DEA was going to remain on UHF for "tactical" considerations, there has been some guessing as to what would happen with DEA frequency assignments. The original best guess at the DEA's assignements can be found here:

http://mt-fedfiles.blogspot.com/2006/09/dea-update.html

Recently in the Houston area, it has been reported that 418.6750 MHz, which has been a simplex DEA surveillance frequency, is now being repeated on 409.6750 MHz. Both signals were reported as using a NAC of 156. The 409.6750 frequency is a new assignment to the DEA, and seems to be based on being 9 MHz from the original simplex channel.

Also from the same area, probable DEA operations are being heard on 413.9750 MHz, also N156. This frequency has been used as a repeater input channel in some areas, but in the new NTIA channel plan this would be a simplex frequency.

So keep searching the 406-420 MHz band for more changes!