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Saturday, April 13, 2002
Review: Southwest Frequency Directory 7 [Source: Freq Of Nature]  While I don't make a habbit of writing reviews on radio scanning products once in awhile something will jump up, grab me by the colar and force my fingers to make contact with the keyboard, sharing my thoughts on the thing. The Southwest Frequency Directory 7 is such a beast.A few times a year we make a pilgrimage to Mesa, "Aridzona" to visit my parents and of course my radio scanner comes with us. The journey is documented with printed out lists of frequencies I find on outdated web sites that follow my ethereal journey from point A to point B and back. "You know you’re a radio scanning nut when .. you arrive at the airport three hours early not because you want to make sure you make your flight but to give you ample time to monitor the radio traffic." Like most of my purchases, this was an impulse buy. After seeing the frequency guide, called the SWFD-7 (Southwest Frequency Directory version 7), mentioned in the Yahoo ArizonaScanner group I thought it might come in handy for my upcomming journey to Arizona. I figured I had a 50/50 chance of it arriving ontime for this trip but figured it would come in handy for next time. Placing the order was easy enough since they accept orders through PayPal, which allows you to securely pay for products by several different means. The order confirmation arrived in my e-mail box in moments and was even followed up with a 'thank you' e-mail. It made my day when I came home from work to find a package in a plain brown wrapper in my snail-mail box. After discovering it wasn't my SI Swimsuit Edition magazine (joke) it was opened to reveile an 8 1/2" x 11" plastic wire bound book with a colorful cover photo of a helicopter being dwarfed by goliath red and white radio towers (I'm a bit of a shutter bug so this impressed me). Between the translusant protective celophane and the front cover was a 'thank you' note complete with an e-mail address to forward any pesky questions or comments to. On the inside cover is a well organized table of contents to quickly direct you through the 185 page maze of frequencies and information. For those who don't know a PL tone from an Input Frequency a "How To Use This Book" guide is included. This did help by explaining that shadded text denotes new information that was not included in the previous issues. The next few pages are similar to Gene Hughe's Police Call - Southern California Edition introduction to radio scanning. The SmartZone and SmartNet Trunking Systems guide explains the technology quite well. It was refreshing to see aviation radio monitoring represented in the guide since that's one of my favorites to monitor (See the Aviation Monitoring Guide on Freq Of Nature). After thumbing through the entire guide I was quite impressed. The layout is easy to read and it seems that no frequency had been left unturned. As if that wasn't enough, a list of frequencies for popular destinations outside of Arizona are included in the back of the book and even my small town police department (Simi Valley, CA) was correctly represented, though they did not include police channel 3. That's pretty good for covering these popular coast to coast destinations in a local frequency guide. Each of the major sections of the book is divided by different colored cardboard paper making it easy to flip to the section of interest. What really sets this frequency book appart from most others is the narratives, not only on general radio scanning but on each of the radio systems. Even the most rural radio systems are represented with detailed information. Some frequency guides stop after giving you frequencies regurgetated from FCC licensing databases and some go the extra yard by giving you radio plans and even some unit codes. This frequency guide goes the extra mile by including detailed maps and narration by those who monitor these frequencies both professionally and as a hobby. Now I will know what frequencies to monitor as I travel around the suburbs of Phoenix and beyond. Real World Results: Prior to traveling to Arizona I had programmed my Uniden BC245XLT radio scanner with the frequencies for Burbank Airport and Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport along with the City of Mesa fire and police frequencies. Since the comfort of a good night rest takes priority over my hobby, my wife and I decided on arriving at the airport with just the allocated time it takes to check our bags and board the aircraft. We had just enough time to purchase a gift at the gift shop before we heard the call over the airport intercom system announcing that our flight was boarding.  At the Burbank Airport passengers board the old fashioned way by walking across the apron to climb a set of stairs to the aircraft (I love the smell of jet fuel in the morning). When it came our turn in line to hand our boarding passes to the gate attendant she stoped us to inquired about the Ventura County Search & Rescue hat I was wearing. With a tone of excitement in her voice she proclaimed, "That helicopter saved my life!". She went on to explain that she had been involved in an accident in Thousand Oaks where she was air lifted to a local hospital by a Ventura County Sheriff helicopter.The frequency guide came in handy on our visit to the Grand Canyon State. Most of our time in Mesa is allocated to spending much needed quality time with my family in a rural part of Mesa where, even if we had spare time to monitor, the reception is poor so my radio scanner spent most of it's time silently connected to it's AC umbilical cord. We did have a chance to visit the Champlin Fighter Aircraft Museum where we monitored the few aircraft flowing through the airspace.  On our way to a Saturday evening Easter program we ran across a major accident near downtown Mesa. Since I didn't have the responsability of driving I took some photos out the passenger side window of a helicopter landing at the scene. By the time we arrived at our destination, about a block from the scene of the accident, we heard a report of a suspect down, shot in the arm, just a block or two away from our location. While everyone else at this event could only speculate what all the commotion was about we had the benifit of first hand information from the police and fire calls on the radio scanner. Since Arizona police and fire codes are much different than their California counter parts much of the radio traffic I could only guess at but when we arrive back at our home base in east Mesa I could look up these codes in the SWFD-7 book. On our journey back to the Golden State we had about an hour to wait for our flight in the Phoenix Skyharbor airport so we found a bar/restaurant where we could sit down and monitor the radio traffic. The SWFD-7 sure came in handy here. The airport uses an EDACS trunked radio system which is fully documented in the book so instead of spending our time figuring out the talk groups we were able to punch in just the talk groups we wanted to hear. The radio traffic was much more mundane than when we last visited back in November so we ended up moving out into the terminal to a location where we had a clear view of the landing aircraft and listened to them as they received their landing and take off approvals. I found the Southwest Frequency Directory 7 to be an excellent resource, not only during my visits to Arizona but for general radio monitoring here at home. It is missing one thing and that's an index of frequencies in the back of the book. These type of indexes can sure come in handy when you run across some traffic on a frequency and you don't know who it belongs to. Maybe we'll see that in the next issue? Click here for more information on SWFD-7 from Scannerstuff Thursday, April 11, 2002
Military, civilian acts lined up for Point Mugu Air Show [Source: Naval Base Ventura County]  Ventura County, Calif., Feb. 20, 2002… The 2002 Point Mugu Air Show is scheduled for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, April 19, 20 and 21. The gates will open at noon on Friday, with flight demonstrations scheduled to start at 1 p.m. Gates will open at 8 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, with flight demonstrations scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Admission and parking is free. Military flight demonstrations will include the F-14 "Tomcat," FA-18 "Hornet," E-2C "Hawkeye," and C-130E "Hercules." Military static displays will include a B-1B "Lancer" bomber from the Georgia Air National Guard. Civilian performers will include John Collver and his AT-6 "War Dog," Russian Thunder's Yak-54 aircraft, Steve Stavrakakis flying his Wild Thing aircraft, Bill Cornick's Pitts S-2C and John Nash's Edge 540. The air show will feature the latest in aviation simulators, current and vintage aircraft on display, food and beverage booths and great souvenirs. Open air seating is available free of charge. Reserved seating is available for purchase for all three shows. For ticket information contact the Airshow Network at airshow network.com or call 800-367-5833. NBVC has heightened security measures in place. All vehicles and personnel entering the base are subject to search. Coolers, backpacks, bicycles, skateboards, glass containers and pets are prohibited. The base will not hold prohibited items for guests. The cooperation and patience of guests is greatly appreciated. Carpooling is strongly encouraged to avoid traffic delays and ensure adequate parking. For more information please contact Vance Vasquez at NBVC Public Affairs Office at (805) 989-8095, or call the air show hotline at (805) 989-8786 or visit the web site at www.nbvc.navy.mil. Tuesday, April 09, 2002
Simi Settlers guest speaker; John Russell of KCAL 9 [Source: Simi Settlers Amateur Radio Club] The Simi Settlers Amateur Radio Club will have John Russell, director of engineering at KCAL 9, as the featured speaker at their Thursday meeting. The meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Hospitality Room of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 1736 Sinaloa Road, Simi Valley. Doors open at 7 p.m. Russell will demonstrate the television station's mobile news truck and its equipment, and explain how it gets stories back to the station. The meeting is open ot anyone interesting in ham radio. Children should be accompanies by an adult. For more information call John Beckers at (805) 526-3989.
Michelle Bertsch, D.A.R.E. Officer of the Year [Source: Ventura County Star] By Staci Haight Students at Park View Center School in Simi Valley swarm around Michelle Bertsch as if the Simi Valley police officer were a Hollywood celebrity. But instead of autographs, they ask Bertsch for guidance or a simple hello. The Simi Valley D.A.R.E. officer is accustomed to such requests and answers them with a gentle smile and some kind words, usually intertwined with the Drug Abuse Resistance Education lesson of the day. The mother of two young children, Bertsch was recently honored with the prestigious California D.A.R.E. Officer of the Year Award. She received the award last week during the California D.A.R.E. Officers' Association annual conference in Concord. Bertsch was chosen from a field of more than 4,000 D.A.R.E. officers. "It's nice to be rewarded, but I've never been big on being singled out," Bertsch said Monday. A 12-year police veteran, Bertsch began her law enforcement career with the Los Angeles Police Department after watching an older brother enter the force. She transferred five years later to Simi Valley on the recommendation of several academy classmates. Bertsch is one of three Simi Valley Police D.A.R.E. officers and has been with the program since 1996. She has instructed more than 3,000 students in the Simi Valley Unified School District. Jane Troy, a sixth-grade teacher at Park View, nominated Bertsch for the award because the officer "goes above and beyond" what is required of her. "She's the best," Troy said. "Everything she does is focused on what is good for the kids." Troy said Bertsch spends countless hours of her own time working on programs and ideas that might benefit the D.A.R.E. program. She's also been known to spend her own money to help a child who can't afford to attend a D.A.R.E. activity. Bertsch also helps out in her community by coaching AYSO soccer and coordinating events that have taken D.A.R.E. participants to Dodger Stadium or the Los Angeles Coliseum. Lt. Rex Jones said Bertsch is a great example of what a D.A.R.E. officer should be. She brings to the program what she practices in her personal life, including strong values, self-confidence and a good work ethic, Jones said. "This isn't just a job for her." Bertsch --who was treated to surprise visits by Chief Randy Adams, Capt. Tony Harper, Sgt. Danny Dunbar and her husband, Martin, at the conference -- takes everything in stride. "I just love working with kids -- and the things I learn from them I use as a parent," Bertsch said. "You don't know if you've touched them or whether you've made a difference. You won't know that until the future, but I like to think I've touched them." 2001 © The E.W. Scripps Co. Sunday, April 07, 2002
Radio system, parkland plan on Oceanside council agenda [Source: San Diego Union-Tribune] OCEANSIDE – The City Council will discuss two controversial issues Wednesday: a new $8 million emergency radio system and a proposed alternative to the El Corazon Dedicated Parkland Initiative. A staff report suggests taking $1.5 million out of its General Fund Capital Reserve Account to help pay for the radio system. Staff then suggests a number of options for the rest of the money: selling land known as the Collins property, selling other city-owned parcels, increasing developer fees and looking for grants. The Oceanside Police Officers Association has sued the city over the poor condition of the current radio system, and the California Occupational, Safety and Health Administration has warned the city it could pose a danger to city employees. While staff suggests the Collins property as a way to pay for the radio system, the citizens' El Corazon initiative includes the property and says proceeds from the sale or lease of any of the city's 544 acres at El Camino Real and Oceanside Boulevard must be used for a public park on the land. City staff has drafted a ballot measure extracting the Collins property and permitting proceeds to benefit all parks. By law, the citizens' initiative will go to the voters in November. |