FSR roads and radio's

[jaredszakacs]

For everyone traveling on FSR roads please have a radio. WE were up the lodgepole and flathead over the weekend and luckily had our radios and were calling out but we noticed a few didn't have radios and luckily for them it was only the crew members and pickups not fully loaded haul trucks. We are on there roads and they are just trying to do there job so please be respectful and purchase a nice radio for different FSR's it goes a long way to help keeping areas open.

 

[X-it]

And learn the rules on how to call and when to call and when to just listen and get off the road.

 

[jaredszakacs]

you could tell the grader operator and the crew members must have been pretty frustrated with the guys with no radios they were cursing them pretty good but stopped to say thank you at a pullout for us having radios and calling in the pickups we were with. you don't wanna meet a loaded logging truck on a single lane road cause he's not stopping.

 

[Turts]

You were on sleds and calling out Kms? Or you were in your pickups?
I'm getting some radios in the near future and am trying to learn what is required.
I have spoken with the local radio club and will study and take my license exam with them soon.



Turts, typing on Tapatalk

 

[Shitfly]

Came across a similar thread, these radios were mentioned.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007H4VT7A

I bought them and was impressed how well they worked, no excuse to not have a radio to call Km's on FSR roads at that price..

 

[teeroy]

You were on sleds and calling out Kms? Or you were in your pickups?
I'm getting some radios in the near future and am trying to learn what is required.
I have spoken with the local radio club and will study and take my license exam with them soon.



Turts, typing on Tapatalk

which license? I think that exam is pretty involved, gotta know morse code and all kinds of stuff....or is that just for a ham license?

 

[Got boost want snow]

With road radios there is no exam to take to own or operate them. You purchase a federal license, if you are taking an exam that is for ham radio. When you purchase your radio your local two way dealer should know the channels required for your are. Also don't cheap out buy a radio with lots of room for future channels as you may want to expand your riding areas. JMO

 

[Turts]

Yes, it's the basic Ham operators license, no Morse Code required.
Allows you to access all bands above 30MHZ, whatever that means......
I was also told its wrong to program the channels into the radio your self.




Turts, typing on Tapatalk

 

[teeroy]

Yes, it's the basic Ham operators license, no Morse Code required.
Allows you to access all bands above 30MHZ, whatever that means......
I was also told its wrong to program the channels into the radio your self.




Turts, typing on Tapatalk

it's not wrong to program them yourself, it's against the law to possess a self programmable radio.

 

[LUCKY 7]

I was those roads last week and had radois with us. on the way out came we came up to a truck without a radio that was on the way in. had my trailer going side ways and barely made it past the guy. HAVE RADIOS OR DON"T GO ON THE ROADS!!!

For everyone traveling on FSR roads please have a radio. WE were up the lodgepole and flathead over the weekend and luckily had our radios and were calling out but we noticed a few didn't have radios and luckily for them it was only the crew members and pickups not fully loaded haul trucks. We are on there roads and they are just trying to do there job so please be respectful and purchase a nice radio for different FSR's it goes a long way to help keeping areas open.

 

[jaredszakacs]

ya just my truck has the radio in it I have a portable one and also a mobile one in the bush truck. You should get your local communications store to program them in as they know the channels I bought a kenwood handheld $400 has room for 180 channels I olnly have 25 programmed in it now and works awesome I have revy ones crowsnest ones cranbrook Tembec etc... it saved us twice on the weekend there would have been a collision forsure if it wasn't for radio activity. Sparwood Communications were HUGE HELPS I'd love to give a big thanks to them they had a stack of radios for programming for the mines to be done by Monday I came in on Friday at 1 pm by 5 pm I had my radio all programmed I was very thankful as my bush truck is not my sled truck so I had no radio until they came through. Some guys think it's the weekend there not hauling but a lot of times it's the cre going back in or the road maintenance guys in there and last thing we wanna do is get more areas shut down.

 

[moyiesledhead]

Also remember what these frequencies are for. They are NOT for bantering back and forth about the weather or where you plan on riding that day! They are for calling out your location so you can avoid collisions.....that's it! It's becoming a huge issue in some areas.

 

[SKDeuce]

I am probably not the only one out there that doesn't know all these rules so could someone give a quick rundown of what I am supposed to have and do in these situations? I am a relative newbie to hanging out in the mountains both summer and winter. I know in the past I have been on active FSRs in the summer when following directions to hiking trails found in guide books. They never mention having a radio.

 

[X-it]

Do not call going in or up unless it says Must Call, it is your job to get out of the way of the loaded truck and avoid it by being quiet. Going down or coming out call your miles and say pickup so they no it is not a loaded truck. Do not know where the pull outs are stay off the road, can't keep ahead of the empty trucks..stay off the road.

 

[Bnorth]

Generally up or down every 3km is a must call as well as whenver you enter onto a new road, you can call more often than that though. Traffic down has priority, clear loaded trucks. For example call "3km up road 20, pickup." Where road 20 is the name of the FSR.

 

[Modman]

I am probably not the only one out there that doesn't know all these rules so could someone give a quick rundown of what I am supposed to have and do in these situations? I am a relative newbie to hanging out in the mountains both summer and winter. I know in the past I have been on active FSRs in the summer when following directions to hiking trails found in guide books. They never mention having a radio.

It entirely depends on the road. a lot of the forestry roads will have a frequency sign at the bottom that indicates which freq to use. Normally there are call out points and you should listen to the radio frequency to determine where other people are. If you are in an unfamiliar road/area, get the frequency at the bottom, and then politely ask if there is activity on the road. Wait for a response, and ask some questions about where the call out points are, what the protocol is, etc. There are also pull outs in the winter where you may have to wait if the road is only wide enough/passable for 1 truck or traffic direction at a time (along a rock cliff, etc). Most of the time guys will be helpful because no one wants an accident.

Generally you will call out "empty/unloaded" (i.e. you are coming in) or "loaded" (you are coming out) and what KM marker you are at. For example: heading into a riding area in the morning at km 15 on the road, you would call out "empty pickup km 15". Even if there is no "apparent" activity, its still good to call out every now and then, when going up the road, since the range of you radio may be limited in the valleys and around mountains. If unsure, best to call out anyway and if the truckers want you to shut up they will tell you what the protocol is. Also same deal for going down at the end of the day. Met lots of local guys going for a late afternoon burner, checking their trap lines, or to the cabin for an overnighter, coming up the road at like 4:30-5 pm.

If its a plowed logging road you should always assume there will be activity. Keep in mind that even though the road might have fresh snow on it and not look like there was overnight activity, there could be someone coming out. Where some of these guys are talking about, there is a camp at 82 kms where they are logging and the crew stays in for the week and there is multiple access points to this areas so you still might meet traffic coming out in the morning (even if it snowed overnight and there are no tracks ahead of you) where you wouldn't expect someone to be staying in the bush.

As someone mentioned, getting a fully loaded logging truck or lowbed hauling equipment, stopped on the skinny snow-covered forestry road can be challenging, don't expect to be given any lieniency by the guys hauling, they plowed the road and are using it for commercial purposes, you are only there as a guest on their plowed road.

 

[Bnorth]

It entirely depends on the road. a lot of the forestry roads will have a frequency sign at the bottom that indicates which freq to use. Normally there are call out points and you should listen to the radio frequency to determine where other people are. If you are in an unfamiliar road/area, get the frequency at the bottom, and then politely ask if there is activity on the road. Wait for a response, and ask some questions about where the call out points are, what the protocol is, etc. There are also pull outs in the winter where you may have to wait if the road is only wide enough/passable for 1 truck or traffic direction at a time (along a rock cliff, etc). Most of the time guys will be helpful because no one wants an accident.

Generally you will call out "empty/unloaded" (i.e. you are coming in) or "loaded" (you are coming out) and what KM marker you are at. For example: heading into a riding area in the morning at km 15 on the road, you would call out "empty pickup km 15". Even if there is no "apparent" activity, its still good to call out every now and then, when going up the road, since the range of you radio may be limited in the valleys and around mountains. If unsure, best to call out anyway and if the truckers want you to shut up they will tell you what the protocol is. Also same deal for going down at the end of the day. Met lots of local guys going for a late afternoon burner, checking their trap lines, or to the cabin for an overnighter, coming up the road at like 4:30-5 pm.

If its a plowed logging road you should always assume there will be activity. Keep in mind that even though the road might have fresh snow on it and not look like there was overnight activity, there could be someone coming out. Where some of these guys are talking about, there is a camp at 82 kms where they are logging and the crew stays in for the week and there is multiple access points to this areas so you still might meet traffic coming out in the morning (even if it snowed overnight and there are no tracks ahead of you) where you wouldn't expect someone to be staying in the bush.

As someone mentioned, getting a fully loaded logging truck or lowbed hauling equipment, stopped on the skinny snow-covered forestry road can be challenging, don't expect to be given any lieniency by the guys hauling, they plowed the road and are using it for commercial purposes, you are only there as a guest on their plowed road.

You should also state the road you are on. Many forestry companies use the same frequencies on multiple roads that are within radio range of each other.

 

[jaredszakacs]

ya we were using the Tembec N channel for the lodgepole area by fernie

 

[moyiesledhead]

Generally you will call out "empty/unloaded"

Radio protocol changed last year Bart...at least in the East Kootenays. We're now supposed to call "UP" or "DOWN" instead of loaded or unloaded. Probably some bureaucrat with nothing better to do. They have new signs up all over the place with FSR protocol on them now.

 

[medler]

Any idea when the resource road channels will be used? ex rr20? i thought they were gonna try and stanardize things?


I have never had a problem as long as we have a radio. they are happy some do..My opinion is if theres logging on the road and a frequency is posted you should have a radio or stay away