Department of Agriculture Frequencies

Department of Agriculture

 

Because of the vast areas that the Department of Agriculture has responsibility over, it has a long history with radio. It started experimenting with wireless communications as far back as the early 1900’s with an early network covering eastern Arizona and western New Mexico. It wasn’t until 1931 that the Forest Service officially adopted an HF radio system for communications. That system used the frequencies of 3114 KHz, 3172 KHz, 3250 and 3286 KHz. Since the early days, the USDA has expanded its use of the federal spectrum to many frequencies in the 30 to 50 MHz, 162 to 174 MHz, and 406.1 to 420 MHz bands.

The USDA is divided into eight distinct mission areas:

 

*Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC)

FPAC Business Center

Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)

Risk Management Agency (RMA)

Farm Service Agency (FSA)

Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services (FNCS)

 

*Food and Nutrition Service (FNS)

Food Safety (FS)

 

*Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)

Marketing and Regulatory Programs (MRP)

 

*Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS)

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)

Natural Resources and the Environment (NRE)

 

*Forest Service (FS)

Research, Education, and Economics (REE)

 

*National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS)

National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)

Agricultural Research Service (ARS)

Economic Research Service (ERS)

Rural Development (RD)

 

*Rural Utilities Service (RUS)

Rural Housing Service (RHS)

Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS)

Trade and Foreign Agriculture Affairs (TFAA)

 

*Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS)

U.S. Forest Service

 

 

Probably one the most monitored agencies of the Department of Agriculture is the US Forest Service. The United States Forest Service is an agency under the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). They maintain responsibility for national forests and for fighting forest fires in many areas, not only on federal property, but also assist state and local agencies when fighting fires that threaten large areas.

 

 As with the National Parks, U.S. Forests will often have several repeater sites set up to cover the large areas of the park, as well as some channels set aside for fire prevention and forest management operations. If you do some sleuthing on the Internet, you can sometimes find regional fire fighting guides for coordination of fire fighting communications. These guides are often updated yearly, and contain frequencies that are set aside for each federal forest or wildlife areas in case of wildfires. You can sometimes find them available for download, but in recent years, many have been stored behind password-protected web sites.

 

Most U.S. Forests are still using analog radio systems, but APCO P-25 digital is on the way. Here are the currently known U.S. Forest Service VHF and UHF frequency allocations. Give these a listen and see what comes up as active:

 

162.0250                                            

162.2250                                                                    

162.6125                                                                    

163.0000                                            

163.0500                                            

163.1750                                                        

163.3750                                                                    

163.5375                                                                                

163.8375                                

163.8625                                

163.8875                                

163.9125                                            

164.0250                                

164.1000                                

164.1250                                

164.1500                                

164.1750                                            

164.3750                                            

164.6000                                            

164.6250                                

164.7000                                            

164.8000                                

164.8250                                

164.9125                                

164.9250                                

164.9375                                

164.9625                                

164.9750                                

164.9875                                

165.0375                                

165.0875                                            

165.2625                                

165.4125                                

165.5125                                            

166.0000                                

166.1250                                

166.2000                                

166.2250                                

166.2500                                

166.3750                                

166.4875                                

166.5625                                

166.5750                                

166.5875                                

166.6750                                

166.9750                                

167.4500                                

168.0250                    

168.0500                                

168.0625                                

168.0750                    

168.0875                                

168.1000                    

168.1250                                

168.1500                                

168.1750                                

168.2000                    

168.3250                                

168.6000        

168.6250        

168.6375                                

168.6500                                

168.6750                    

168.7000        

168.7125                                

168.7250                                

168.7375                                

168.7500                    

168.7625                                

168.7750                    

169.0250                    

169.0750                    

169.1000                                

169.1250                                

169.1375                                

169.1500                                

169.1625                                

169.1750                                

169.1875                                

169.2000                                

169.3250                                

169.4000                                

169.5500                                

169.5750                                

169.6000                                

169.6250                                            

169.6750                                            

169.7250                                

169.7750                                

169.8000                                

169.8750                                

169.8875                                

169.9000                                

169.9125                                

169.9250                                

169.9375                                

169.9500                                

169.9750                                

169.9875                                

170.0000                                

170.0500                                

170.1000                                

170.1250                                

170.1500                                

170.1750                                

170.3500                                

170.3750                                

170.4250                                

170.4375                                

170.4500                                

170.4625                                

170.4750                                

170.4875                                

170.5000                                

170.5125                                

170.5250                                

170.5375                                

170.5500                                

170.5750                                

170.6000                                

170.7000                                

170.7500                                

170.9750                                

171.1500                                

171.4250                                

171.4500                                

171.4750                                

171.5000                                

171.5250                                

171.5500                                

171.5750                                

171.6000                                            

171.7000                                

171.9750                                

172.0750                                

172.2000                                

172.2250                                

172.2375                                

172.2500                                

172.2625                                

172.2750                                

172.2875                                

172.3000                                

172.3125                                

172.3250                                

172.3375                                

172.3500                                

172.3625                                

172.3750                                

172.3875                                

172.4000                                

172.4250                                

172.5000                    

173.0250                                

173.0500                                

173.3375                                

173.7625        

173.7875                                

173.9125                                

173.9625                                

173.9875        

                       

406.2250                    

406.2500                                

406.2750                    

406.3000                                

406.3125                                

406.3250                                

406.3500                                

406.3750                    

406.4000                    

406.4250                    

406.4500                    

406.4750                                

406.4875                                

406.5000                                

406.5250                                

406.5500                                

406.5750                                

407.0125                                            

407.5375                                

407.8500                                

408.6500                    

408.9000                                            

409.1500                                

409.2250                                            

409.6000                                

409.6500                                

409.7000                                            

410.1500                                                        

410.2000                                     

410.2750                                

410.4000                                            

410.6500                                

410.7750                                

411.2250                                

411.2500                                

411.2750                                

411.3000                                

411.3125                                

411.3250                                

411.3500                                

411.3750                                

411.4000                    

411.4250                                

411.4500                                

411.4750                                

411.4875                                

411.5000                    

411.5250                                

411.5500                                

411.5750                                

411.9500                                            

412.4000                                

412.6000                                

412.8000                                            

413.9000                                

414.6500                                

415.2250                                

415.2500                                

415.2750                                

415.3000                                

415.3125                                

415.3250                                

415.3500                                

415.3750                                

415.4000                    

415.4250                                

415.4500                                

415.4750                                

415.4875                                

415.5000                    

415.5250                                

415.5500                                

415.5750                                

416.0125                                            

416.5375                                

416.8500                                            

417.6500                                

417.9000                                            

418.1500                                

418.2250                                            

418.6000                                

418.6500                                

418.7000                                            

419.1500                                

419.2000                                

419.2750                                

419.4000                                                                                

419.6500                                

419.7750                    

USDA OIG

 

Nearly every federal agency has an investigative over site unit called the Office of the Inspector General, or OIG. The OIG is responsible for many law enforcement and internal investigation of the parent agency and has armed agents that investigate criminal activities or malfeasance within the agency.

 

I have some frequencies that are used by the Department of Agriculture OIG. This group has a number of VHF frequencies allocated for their use. Here are some of the frequencies assigned for use by the OIG:

 

164.1375

166.1250

167.3500

167.3375

167.3625

167.3750

167.9750

168.0250

168.1000

168.1250

168.1500

168.1750

168.4125

168.6000

168.6750

168.7000

168.7250

168.7750

168.9750

169.1750

169.9500

170.4750

170.6000

170.7000

170.9750

172.2500

172.3250

173.2500

 

All of these frequencies can be used in analog or APCO P-25 digital modes. Encryption is certainly available for use by the OIG operations.