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Bristow SAR Frequencies?

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cosmosboy
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu Sep 23, 2010 1:38 pm
Location: East Anglia

Bristow SAR Frequencies?

Post by cosmosboy » Mon Dec 11, 2017 4:14 pm

What frequencies do Rescue 190 and 199 use?

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rhubarb
Posts: 41
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2015 4:31 pm

Re: Bristow SAR Frequencies?

Post by rhubarb » Fri Aug 14, 2020 5:43 am

Hi All,
I find the best way to monitor the new Bristow / Coastguard SAR operations is to follow their local A.T.C.interactivity. They have air wave caperbility on board to talk to the police, fire brigade and mountain rescue teams. As for Air Wave monitoring you can forget it ! It's good and so it should be in these uncertain times. However Air Wave is expensive as they have to pay Motorola for the service unlike the old UHF repeater systems that cost only the electric bill and a few home office communications engineers wages. Oh yes you also have digital drop out to contend with plus lack of coverage away from the towns due to no masts. They do have the caperbility to set up air wave portable repeaters on the ground but this all takes time which they dont allways have. Many mountain rescue operators have been sold the idea of Digital DMR systems. The audio readability on DMR systems is poor at best. Digital communication is more secure but at a price ! By this I do not mean just the money on the infrastructure . Drop out is all to common and could occur at critical moments. Narrow band Frequency Modulation (nfm) signals fade but the readability will carry on far past the point of any digital transmission. Amplitude Modulation is even better than nfm at fading but retains readability. I can understand the reasons for the police and security services using (T.E.T.R.A) "the international name for Air Wave" but was it realy a good idea for SAR operations often out in the sea or in mountain valleys ? I was told once by a proud Scottish LNI coxwain "we have air wave now laddie ! Yel no be able to hear us on yon scanner"
I said " no but will you always be able to hear each other" !
That said the Helios still use the 5 metre international spot frequencies on usb as before when the magic systems fail.
So that's progress in SAR communications. Time will tell if its for the better.
What do they do to communicate after an earthquake where the mobile phone masts are destroyed or their interconnections have been broken ?
Good old portable usb or nfm radio's :D
Cheers
"A Rhubarb is a sortie of opportunity "

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