The Fed Files Blog

THE FED FILES - Welcome to The Fed Files blog! This blog was originally built to support the "Fed Files" column in Monitoring Times magazine. Although the Fed Files, as well as Monitoring Times, ended with the December 2013 issue, this blog continues and is associated with the new federal monitoring column, Federal Wavelengths, in The Spectrum Monitor magazine. If you would like to make a comment, pass along a tip or frequency you can send it to my email address, chrisparris @ thefedfiles.com

Monday, April 13, 2020

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