Loggerhead Turtle Nesting

Last night, I listened to US Fish and Wildlife personnel monitoring and tracking Loggerhead Turtles nesting along the Georgia Coast. Here at home in Savannah, the activity was most easily monitored on the US Fish and Wildlife Skidaway repeater on 172.450. Others may pick up better activity on other repeaters in the linked system: 169.825, 171.650, and 172.650 (Onslow). If you are a night owl and have a scanner that can monitor P25 digital communications, this can be interesting and definitely something different to listen to; the majority of the Loggerhead Turtle related communications are at night because the turtles nest and lay their eggs at night.

Loggerhead Turtle Research Communications

Most nights lately, the Savannah NWR Complex Skidaway Repeater on 172.450 (P25 Digital) has been active with loggerhead turtle researchers working on Wassaw Island at the Wassaw Island NWR. You can hear them passing turtle counts, turtle movements, and information about nests.

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Loggerhead Turtle Nesting

On the way home from work tonight, I heard activity on the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge Complex repeater system from personnel tracking Loggerhead Turtle Nesting. Apparently they had sighted 7 turtles nesting and were going out to the nesting area (possibly on Wassaw Island, the location was never mentioned). The traffic was multicast on the Onslow Repeater (172.650 P25) and the Skidaway Repeater (172.450 P25).

Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Savannah NWR Complex Radio System Update

On Thursday I found another frequency for the US Fish and Wildlife Service's Savannah NWR Complex Radio System. While 172.450, 169.825, 171.650, and 172.650 were active, 171.750 was also active. Due to the very weak signal strength, I have to think that is probably one of the more southern transmitters, probably in the area of Blackbeard Island or Wolf Island (near the Darien area).

Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex Digital Repeater System

Back on April 27, 2007 I posted about a VHF digital repeater system that I heard the US Fish and Wildlife service using in the coastal Georgia area. After doing some research and listening to the system more, I'm convinced that it is used by the Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex. This complex of NWRs is spread out over a large area and the linked repeater system enables them to have better communications both within and between the individual NWRs within the complex. It is comprised of seven National Wildlife Refuges that stretch from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina to Darien, GA including Pinckney Island NWR, Savannah NWR, Tybee NWR, Wassaw NWR, Harris Neck NWR, Blackbeard Island NWR, and Wolf Island NWR. Headquarters for the Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex are located in Savannah, GA.

So far I've heard four sites for the system, although there could very well be more. At this point, I've only been able to identify one of the sites, the one at Skidaway which is closest to Savannah.

169.825

171.650

172.450 - Skidaway Site

172.650

Mac McCormick, KF4LMT

kf4lmt@comcast.net

US Fish and Wildlife Repeater System?

I spent the afternoon doing some searches on various bands and found what sounds like a US Fish and Wildlife P25 VHF linked repeater system. There were mentions of a Skidaway site (near Savannah), a Blackbeard site (Blackbeard Island National Wildlife Refuge), and a Eulonia site (McIntosh County near Blackbeard Island NWR).

169.825
171.650
172.450 - Skidaway Site? (very strong in Savannah)
172.650

I am fairly certain that none of the above frequencies are repeater inputs. All stations heard on the frequencies were of equal signal quality/strength. The same traffic was multicast on all 4 frequencies. 172.450 was very strong here in Savannah and should be the Skidaway site mentioned above. The other three were practically equal in signal strength, so it is difficult to tell where they might be. Apparently it is a new system, conversations I monitored indicated that the system is not fully functional yet.

Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net