SCANNING: Back to school means back on the air
It's time to start checking for new school frequencies and systems in your area on VHF and UHF
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The new school year is under way in most areas of the United States — unless there are year-round schools in your area. This means it’s the perfect time to search for new frequencies that might have come on the air over the summer for local schools.
School radio systems are used inside and outside buildings in an effort to coordinate students and to keep them safe.
The fall back-to-school season usually means new radio systems installed over inactive summer months are now being used. It works out best for public school districts, private schools and even colleges and universities to replace aging radio systems with new gear before students walk through the doors for another year of school. This allows proper testing, installation and training for employees.
Over the past month or two, we have seen the Federal Communications Commission process many new licenses and modified licenses for school districts and colleges. Some of the typical upgrades you will see in school radio systems include:
Switching from analog FM to either NXDN or DMR (Digital Mobile Radio) digital modes.
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Adding repeaters to extend the range of handheld radios at school buildings for security, maintenance, athletics and instructional teams.
Adding simplex frequencies to be used in handheld radios for internal school operations such as security or maintenance.
Clock synchronization systems that send data signals to ensure all buzzers and bells ring throughout a school building at precise times on either the 72- or 461- to 465-MHz bands.
Upgrading school bus radio systems to digital modes such as NXDN or DMR or even moving them to regional and statewide 700- and 800-MHz public safety trunked systems.
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Adding paging systems on a variety of frequencies.
New itinerant frequencies used by athletic teams when traveling to away games for coordination and coaching.
The addition of unlicensed radios as simple as Family Radio Service handhelds for non-emergency schoolwide communications.
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Moving school bus systems from VHF high band single-channel simplex systems to wide-range UHF repeater systems. This helps extend coverage for buses on the road, especially those traveling for athletic events and other activities.
The addition of trunking systems for larger districts or even colleges and universities. Trunking typically would be on analog or digital P25 700- or 800-MHz systems, UHF NXDN or DMR trunking systems or even perhaps digital VHF trunking systems. The trunking systems most likely would include most, if not all, users within a school district, ranging from building security (different talkgroups for each school and perhaps a dedicated talkgroup for contacting police directly), maintenance, buses, meal delivery trucks, paraprofessionals, athletics, administration and more. In a college or university system, a trunked system, or even multiple systems, may very well not encompass all campus users. For instance, a trunked system may be used only by public safety, such as campus police, fire, EMS, campus escorts and emergency teams. Regular analog or digital simplex or repeater systems might carry the traffic of other campus users such as physical plant, maintenance, campus buses, food service staff, health facilities, athletics, library staff and other users.
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How do you find out whether your local schools made changes to radio systems over the summer months? One method is to keep an eye on new frequencies issued for your area on a weekly basis. There are a variety of regional and statewide email lists and websites that post new and modified FCC licenses on a weekly basis. Search Google for phrases such as “FCC license updates” and your state’s name.
You also can search FCC licenses for your local schools and colleges on the FCC’s website or even RadioReference.com. On the FCC’s site, you can simply enter your local ZIP code or other area ZIP codes to find a list of area frequencies. Check the licenses for nearby districts and schools and see whether they made any changes to their licenses over the summer. You’ll see a date on the license that might indicate it was issued or modified recently.
While some schools may change frequencies and bands (VHF to UHF or UHF to 800 MHz), others may just change the mode. For instance, a school district in my county changed their license one year from analog to DMR, but they kept the same frequency on UHF, just changing to digital. The district was operating year round back then, and when I no longer heard them coming through on analog with their CTCSS tone, I knew they had moved. But they actually hadn’t moved, they just changed their mode. Monitoring their frequency without CTCSS revealed the new digital system quickly after I confirmed that the frequency hadn’t changed in the FCC’s database.
School buses often can be found using a variety of radio systems ranging from old VHF low-band frequencies right up to the 900-MHz band, including analog and digital systems. Upgrades usually move bus radios to higher frequencies and digital communications. | Photo courtesy of JVCKenwood Corp.
If you were hearing local schools on their frequencies last school year and you’re not hearing them now, there’s a good chance something has changed. If you monitor their frequencies with CTCSS or DCS, turn off the tone code and see whether you are hearing digital communications now. If not, check for a new license. It’s very unusual for a school or district to be using radios and then stop using them. They usually wind up somewhere if they aren’t on the frequency you have heard them using.
If you find newly licensed frequencies, go ahead and plug them in to your scanner and try to determine their usage now that school has started up. Some frequencies may not be heard unless the school is in your neighborhood. That’s because schools, both public and even colleges, use a variety of low-power frequencies for various services within their buildings and campuses. The signals from handheld radios used by administrative staff may not travel more than a few blocks off the school campus.
Lastly, if you don’t know of radios being used by local schools, at least search FRS frequencies because that’s an inexpensive way to communicate among administrators, security guards and maintenance workers. There is a school in my neighborhood that uses FRS on a daily basis. Be sure to check it out during the school day.
See if you find any new frequencies being used by your local schools. If not this year, perhaps next year!
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