Amateur Radio Band Plan for Black Rock Desert

Amateur Radio Band Plan for Black Rock Desert

Reviews of Band Plan Proposal
AeroPAC
Stratofox
Nevada Frequency Coordinators
Black Rock Amateur Radio Association
ARRL Pacific Division
BLM Winnemucca

Please use this band plan at the Black Rock Desert when possible. Please report if you find any conflicts with existing users or local residents! Continuing maintenance of the plan is important to keep it relevant!

An Amateur Radio Band Plan is an arrangement of how to use radio frequencies. This page is intended to drive consensus about Amateur Radio usage at least among the rocketry groups who use Amateur Radio at the Black Rock Desert. It is important to make sure to include the Nevada Frequency Coordinators and Hams who reside in Northern Nevada in this plan, and we do. Other groups in the area may also choose to join in so that we can...

Avoid interfering with each other when we're at Black Rock on the same days.
Have common frequencies to call in an emergency.
Know a small number of frequencies to find other groups' base camps.

There are two kinds of issues in coordinating frequencies at Black Rock. Typically on voice frequencies in the desert, there's rarely a concern about interference but more about how to find other people. So a priority of this plan is to list frequencies to use in an emergency.

But at Black Rock, there are various recreational uses of the dry lakebed which are scheduled through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). At those events, there can be isolated areas of radio congestion. At rocketry events in particular, data and telemetry frequencies have opportunities to receive or cause interference with each other. So another purpose of this is to promote discussion and identify areas where interference can happen at events.

Note that this band plan is not in effect during the annual Burning Man event. In effect, they take over the area when their event is on. And our band plan's assumptions of Black Rock as an unpopulated wilderness aren't applicable when tens of thousands of people suddenly show up. So coordinate any radio usage/conflicts with them during their event, which takes place somewhere in the last week of August and first week of September.

Anyone who's subscribed to any Stratofox mail list can participate inmodifying/updating the public wiki. However, the band plan page has the expectation that we need to discuss and reach consensus on the mail list before making changes. We can lock down the page if there's a problem following that expectation.

Public discussion mail list

Stratofox hosts a public mail list for discussion of this band plan. Send feedback or join the discussion.

http://www.stratofox.org/mailman/listinfo/br-bandplan

Mail list archives are at

http://www.stratofox.org/pipermail/br-bandplan/

Repeaters in the Black Rock Area

Frequency/Offset	PL tone	Callsign	Location	Notes
147.39+	123.0	W7TA	Toulon Peak 7001' (W of Lovelock in the southern Trinity Range)	overlooks I-80, sometimes linked to other I-80 corridor repeaters
441.7+	146.2	K7UI	Fox Mountain 8300' (NW of Black Rock Desert in northern Granite Range)	located at Washoe County radio tower, overlooks northern Black Rock playa
440.175+	100.0	N6TCT	NW of Gerlach in Granite Range	Black Rock Amateur Radio Association, best coverage of Black Rock playa

2m Band (144-148MHz)

Frequencies	ARRL Band Plan	Black Rock Band Plan
144.00-144.05	EME (CW)	no change
144.05-144.10	General CW and weak signals	no change
144.10-144.20	EME and weak-signal SSB	no change
144.200	National SSB calling frequency	no change
144.200-144.275	General SSB operation	no change
144.275-144.300	Propagation beacons	no change
144.30-144.50	New OSCAR subband	144.390 - US/Canada APRS frequency
144.50-144.60	Linear translator inputs	no change
144.60-144.90	FM repeater inputs	no change
144.90-145.10	Weak signal and FM simplex (145.01,03,05,07,09 are widely used for packet)	145.010 - High-altitude Two-way Packet 1 145.030 - Low-altitude Two-way Packet 1 145.050 - High-altitude Two-way Packet 2 145.070 - Low-altitude Two-way Packet 2 145.090 - High-altitude Tracking Beacon 1
145.10-145.20	Linear translator outputs	no change
145.20-145.50	FM repeater outputs	no change
145.50-145.80	Miscellaneous and experimental modes	145.590 - High-altitude Two-way Packet 3 145.650 - High-altitude Tracking Beacon 2 145.690 - Low-altitude Tracking Beacon 1 145.710 - 9600bps Packet (from NCPA band plan) 145.770 - High-altitude Tracking Beacon 3
145.80-146.00	OSCAR subband	no change
146.01-146.37	Repeater inputs	no change
146.40-146.58	Simplex	146.520 - Black Rock Desert Calling Channel, also National 2m FM simplex calling frequency (call here if you have nowhere else in emergency, enter this in all scanners on the desert) 146.460 - Black Rock Base Camp 1 (JPA enroute/camp simplex)
146.61-146.97	Repeater outputs	no change
147.00-147.39	Repeater outputs	no change
147.42-147.57	Simplex	147.005 - Black Rock Base Camp 2 147.420 - Misc Simplex 147.435 - Black Rock Base Camp 3 147.450 - Misc Simplex 147.470 - Black Rock Base Camp 4 (AeroPAC enroute/camp simplex) 147.485 - Black Rock Base Camp 5 147.500 - Black Rock Low-power Simplex 1 147.515 - Black Rock Low-power Simplex 2 147.530 - Black Rock High-power Simplex 1 147.545 - Black Rock High-power Simplex 2 147.560 - Black Rock High-power Simplex 3 "Low-power" = 5W or less, in or near camp "High-power" = more than 5W, across the playa or around mountains
147.60-147.99	Repeater inputs	no change

70cm Band (420-450MHz)

Frequencies	ARRL Band Plan	Black Rock Band Plan
420.00-426.00	ATV repeater or simplex with 421.25 MHz video carrier control links and experimental	421.250 - Black Rock ATV Video Channel 1 425.750 - Black Rock ATV Audio Channel 1 (receivable with "Cable Channel 57" connected to an antenna)
426.00-432.00	ATV simplex with 427.250-MHz video carrier frequency	427.250 - Black Rock ATV Video Channel 2 431.750 - Black Rock ATV Audio Channel 2 (receivable with "Cable Channel 58" connected to an antenna)
432.00-432.07	EME (Earth-Moon-Earth)	no change
432.07-432.10	Weak-signal CW	no change
432.10	70-cm calling frequency	no change
432.10-432.30	Mixed-mode and weak-signal work	no change
432.30-432.40	Propagation beacons	no change
432.40-433.00	Mixed-mode and weak-signal work	no change
433.00-435.00	Auxiliary/repeater links	433.92 - numerous brands of manufactured low-power tracking transmitters use this frequency 434.000 - Black Rock ATV Video Channel 3 438.500 - Black Rock ATV Audio Channel 3 (receivable with "Cable Channel 59" connected to an antenna) Existing ATV equipment on 434.000 is "grandfathered in". No new transmitters should be obtained for this frequency for use at Black Rock due to the conflict with 433.92 tracking transmitters.
435.00-438.00	Satellite only (internationally)	no change
438.00-444.00	ATV repeater input with 439.250-MHz video carrier frequency and repeater links	439.250 - Black Rock ATV Video Channel 4 443.750 - Black Rock ATV Audio Channel 4 (receivable with "Cable Channel 60" connected to an antenna)
442.00-445.00	Repeater inputs and outputs (local option)	no change
445.00-447.00	Shared by auxiliary and control links, repeaters and simplex (local option)	445.000 - Black Rock Low-power Simplex 3 445.030 - Black Rock Low-power Simplex 4 445.060 - Black Rock Low-power Simplex 5 445.450 - Black Rock High-power Simplex 4 445.480 - Black Rock High-power Simplex 5 445.510 - Black Rock High-power Simplex 6 446.000 - National 70cm Simplex Calling Frequency 446.015-446.485 - Simplex Channels (15kHz spacing) 446.500 - Black Rock Base Camp 6 (Stratofox enroute/camp simplex) 446.530 - Black Rock Base Camp 7 446.560 - Black Rock Base Camp 8 446.590 - Black Rock Base Camp 9 446.610-446.985 - Simplex Channels (15kHz spacing) "Low-power" = 5W or less, in or near camp "High-power" = more than 5W, across the playa or around mountains
446.00	National simplex frequency	see 446.000 above
447.00-450.00	Repeater inputs and outputs (local option)	no change

Update history

Jan 29, 2001	Initial proposal distributed to ERPS, JPA and AeroPAC. It has since been adopted by Stratofox when the group was formed in 2003.
Jan 30, 2001	ATV channel added at 434.0 for existing equipment. No new ATV equipment recommended on this frequency due to conflict with 433.92 tracking transmitters.
Feb 12, 2001	Suggestions from JP Aerospace... Clarified that 146.52 is also the national 2m FM calling channel. Also added e-mail contact address. Added check marks following initial positive review comments from JP Aerospace, ERPS and AeroPAC.
Sep 21, 2004	No changes to the band plan - added a list of nearby repeaters as a reference.
Dec 15, 2005	Added Stratofox KS2R Repeater to repeater list. Added clarification that this band plan is not in effect during the Burning Man event.
Sep 1, 2007	Moved Black Rock Desert Band Plan page from Ian Kluft's site to Stratofox's site. The former location redirects to the new one.
May 26, 2011	updated w/ Black Rock Amateur Radio Assn repeater

Topic revision: r2 - 2011-05-26 - IanKluft