Bill's Site
(Bill's Nova Scotia Radio Site)
Opening page last updated May 25, 2013
    e-mail me:  marscan1 AT gmail.com  

keywords: Nova Scotia, frequencies, scanning, radio, aeronautical, air to air refueling, marine radio

FORMERLY THE MUCH LARGER "MARITIMES SCANNING SITE", CREATED IN 2000 & FEATURED IN THE AUGUST 2003 EDITION OF POPULAR COMMUNICATIONS.

This downsized site includes just a few of my special interest radio topics, including some that are historical in nature.  Other than that I have happily conceded most radio topics to the forum sites ScanMaritimes and RadioReference and ScanPEI.  In addition to the remaining radio topics I have other topics one or two degrees separated from radio, and some that are far away.  Much of this is for my own convenience, to cater to my many other interests, but you of course are welcome to read these pages, and use the links.   My thanks to the many contributors over the years,  some of you very major back in the formative years and some in the later ones... you know who you are, and as well those who contributed once or a few times.   I have heard from some of you that this site was what really got you going in scanning back when we were still trying to figure out the TMR, and in the years since.  I am very pleased to hear that the site was of some use and inspiration to you.  It was a pleasure!

Message to the contributor who sent earlier this year updates on the fire dispatch centres on the south shore of Nova Scotia.  Please contact me as I have by mistake deleted your updates and contact information.

Current status of my Flight Simulator Tour of the Americas:   As of May 25, 2013 I am on a northbound leg from Stennis, Mississippi to Hancock County, Michigan and have landed at Cairo Regional A/P in Illinois, at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.  This zigzag northbound leg may take several months to complete.  For more info on my tour check the description at the bottom of this page.

 

My Primary Areas of Interest.  I try to maintain complete public safety frequency information for Nova Scotia,
but am also interested in PEI, NB and Maine.

My daily checks: Shipfax  & Tugfax,    Halifax weather    Recent Broadcast Decisions from the CRTC     Steve Boyko's Cdn Railway Blog

Hbr camera Piers 20 to 22, showing cruise ships (if any)     A/P cam: view from the terminal towards Jct 05 and 14      Webcam view at Qualicum Beach, BC

The following are a few key reference pages:

www.ScanMaritimes.com
Discuss radio in our region with fellow listeners. Join (free) in order to access this forum site and of course to post your own comments. ScanMaritimes also contains a database for our region.  

www.radioreference.com 
is the premiere North American forum site for a wide range of radio topics. The forum includes a section for Atlantic Canada.  The database for our region is maintained by a very knowledgeable Halifax area scanner enthusiast.

Hepburn's DX Information Centre,
including predictions for tropospheric ducting, and much more. If you are looking for a lift, this is where to go!   Bill Hepburn is the idol of VHF/UHF dx'ers everywhere.  His reception logs and lists are a must to be seen!

For Bill’s own convenience:

G
H
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Radio Scanner Guide

This site has descriptions of current and past scanners.  If you are thinking of buying a scanner, new or used, check here for a quick overview of capabilities. Also with overviews of various aspects of scanning.

See the world's current daylight and darkness: daylight.com

Industry Canada's TAFL
lists all radio licences in Canada by frequency and other criteria. Excludes law enforcement and military.
For a monthly digest of changes in TAFL click here.  This will give you the previous month's changes.
Jonathan's TAFL Search with Google Maps

Looking for a scanner, antenna, cable, computer or more? Check out this local small business whose owner is an active member of the Maritimes radio hobby. His primary business is deejay services but may be able to help you get the equipment you want!   www.littlemac.ca

THE FOLLOWING ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT OF BILL'S OWN PAGES (Some pages may include links to external sites)

Very Brief Intro to Scanning in Nova Scotia. Thinking of visiting N.S.?   Live here but thinking of getting a new scanner? Meant for someone who is familiar with radio and scanning but not with the NS scene.

BELL MOBILITY'S TMR. The Nova Scotia Trunked Mobile Radio System (revised section on alphatagging control frequencies Apr 2)

NS GOVERNMENT OWNED SYSTEMS (IMRS, MRCI, PSFCO, GSAR, DEPTS, ETC)

NOVA SCOTIA FIRE (Dept lists, with frequencies. Dispatch Ctrs.)

NOVA SCOTIA POLICE  (law enforcement agencies in NS) (added Historical Perspective on NS Police Forces 1973 to now)

NOVA SCOTIA AMBULANCE SYSTEM       Current highest known Truck # :    380   (May 9, 2013)

NS BUS AND TRANSIT

NS MUNICIPAL WORKS  (also lists all municipalities in NS)

MARITIMES RAILWAYS (see also Steve Boyko's Blog "Confessions of a Train Geek")

AERONAUTICAL LISTENING PAGES (huge)

MARINE LISTENING PAGES

VHF AMATEUR RADIO PAGE (my list of 2 m rptrs is here)

WEATHER AND WEATHERADIO PAGES (map of xmtrs in our region & much more)

BROADCAST LISTENING PAGES (getting out of date but lots of interesting stuff)

BILL'S DX LOG  (Bill posts listening events here)
 

Other Radio Pages and Links

A. Pages from Bill

Canada's Band Plans:   800 MHz  (with specific local use)   VHF 138 174 MHz
 

Atlas of NS showing TMR and IMRS radio sites 
 

Bill's Radio History   Bill's Call Letters page (A peculiar fascination of mine)   

Codes used in radio.. ten, Q, CW etc

About GMRS, FRS and MURS    The old Mobile Telephone Service and the introduction of the cell phone


B. Links to others' pages

 Read how a Motorola Smartzone system like the TMR works
(Description by Jim Walls K6CCC)

Easier to Read Manual for 396XT

Radio Mobile   About the program that allows you to produce radio propagation maps.  Used by "Nick"

See the chart of US frequency allocations by service.  This is the whole radio spectrum.  Some differences from Canada, but mostly the same.

    Calculating bearings and distances  

 

Equipment Suppliers (THIS LIST IS NOT ACTIVELY UPDATED)

Littlemac Custom Computers & Electronics (see top of page) Local seller of scanners, antennas, computers, etc

Radio Shack (USA)  (For many this is the easiest option if you happen to be going to the US anyway)

Solid Signal   A1 Components   Durham Radio

Scanner World  Scanner Master  Grove Enterprises

Ham Radio Outlet (HRO)

DPD Productions - Antennas & Accessories for the RF Professional & Radio Hobbyist

 

Local Military Links
Non-radio but of interest to many

Link to Land Force Area Atlantic website.   This is the Canadian Army in the Atlantic area.  Onward links to all units.

Link to Canadian Forces Military Police Group website.  Will link you onwards to the organization and units of the entire MP system in the Canadian Forces.

Link to MARLANT (the RCN on the East Coast)

Link to 14 Wing Greenwood      Link to 12 Wing Shearwater  




FLIGHT SIMULATOR

Description of My Flight Simulator Project:      I am in the middle of an ambitious plan to tour North and South America on Flight Simulator!   This is no ordinary tour that visits a few airports around the continent.   My plan is to visit not only all major airports, i.e. those currently with control towers, but also all airfields in North America still in existence that are or were at one time military airfields, including those in use during World War II.   Some of those wartime fields no longer exist so I can't visit those, but all in all I will be visiting well over a thousand airfields.    I am using Flight Simulator 2002 and flying the basic aircraft, the Cessna 172.   While I like the idea of adding in rain and wind and flying at night I do not usually do so because I do not want to miss any of the scenery!  In fact I am mostly interested in visiting these airports and "seeing" the land along the way.  Sure the 172 is slow, so on long flights I double or quadruple the speed of the simulation!    I use radio aids when I can, e.g. NDB's, VOR's and ILS.   I have not been using GPS but plan to do so before I am through.    My plan is being carried out by way of long sections or legs.   I began at Inuvik, Northwest Territories and headed west along the north shore of Alaska, and down the west side with a side trip over to Siberia, then south and southwest to the tip of the Aleutians and again over to Siberia, then back up the Aleutians, over to Whitehorse and down along the Alaska Panhandle and BC coast.  Essentially after that I have flown south legs to the Mexican border then north legs into northern Canada, alternating.    As of May 2013 I have already covered the Western mountains (that was fun!) and most of the plains.   I am flying north now on a zig-zag leg from the Gulf of Mexico just east of New Orleans to Hancock County Airport near Lake Superior.   On the whole due to the flat terrain this area is not as enjoyable as in the mountains.  Some of what I did in the mountains was unrealistic for the real Cessna 172, such as flying via the 12000 foot Independence Pass  (that I have had the pleasure of driving over in real life) and landing at the highest airport in North America at Lead, Colorado (10000 feet).    When I eventually reach western Florida I will then start a major divergence to fly around the rim of the Gulf of Mexico counter-clockwise to visit only the very large city airports in Mexico, Central America and along the perimeter of South America and up the West Indies back to Florida and resume my north and south legs.  Eventually I will reach CFS Alert, Nunavut and will finish off with a south leg along Greenland to end at Keflavik, Iceland.   This will be a natural start for a European project; however that will be quite a while in the future.   I have already been flying this North American tour for over three years, off and on, mostly in the winter seasons and in terms of numbers of airports visited I am not yet half way through.   As I fly I usually just touch and go at most airports and land and stop only at the end of a daily session.   As I fly I use actual FAA and Nav Canada charts, as well as the website http://airportnavfinder.com.  I also in most cases read about the airports on wiki and historical sites, and use the air photos on line to see the land and airports, better than what appears on the rather rudimentary (though still amazing) detail of FS2002.   It is amazing how much I have learned in doing this, not that I am claiming it is important information, but for a traveller and geographer like me it has been a lot of fun doing this.

Bill's Non-radio Links.  The following links are here mostly for me to easily access wherever I am, and will be of no interest to you, except if in some cases you have similar interests.  But you are certainly welcome to check these out.    Not necessarily kept updated.  Some of these you will think bizarre, as in who cares, but we all have our interest quirks!  Most people out there think the main interests shown above are pretty weird!

1.Professional:   Records      DMHS    Pearson Power School   www.drive-well.ca 

2.Hobby./Interest re Aircraft/Airfields/Radar Bases:  Canadian military a/c designations   Duplications in the US Series     Missing numbers in the US series  Airnav   Runway Finder  Skyvector.com       Abandoned and Little Known Airfields.    Joe McCusker's Air Force Base List    Globemaster Military Aviation    www.RCAF.com   Strategic Air Command.com   Scott Murdoch's database of WWII US Army Airfields and what became of them.    Global Security   Defunct WWII US Army Air Force Fields.    Listing of Airfields Open/Closed (in the US SW/SC states),    State by state pages such as Kansas WWII Army Airfields     Pinetree Radar Chain    Mid-Canada Radar Chain   

3. Hobby/Interest re aircraft movements:     Flytecomm     Airport Monitor      Flight Explorer     Aeroseek   

4. Railways of North America (Historical and Contemporary):    Abandoned Railroads.com    Cycling the Kettle Valley Railway.   ROCA Archives    SPV Railroad Atlas of North America

5. Astronomy and Satellites:  Stellarium (free program)   NASA's sightings site.   Heavens Above

6. Novel series etc.:   JACK RYAN UNIVERSE (novelist Tom Clancy) see Wikipedia Ryanverse       Novels from LINCOLN AND PRESTON  (their website)   The Hardy Boys   Enid Blyton.  Like the Hardy Boys, the novels from this children's author are panned by the literary experts but I enjoyed them very much as a kid. 

7. Music (particularly from the Top 40 era):   I have a good collection of the oldies, and like to know about the singers and groups.  I am not a musical snob, and am quite eclectic....  disco is fine with me, and I think Celine Dion is a good singer!   I also enjoy some classics and country...   Oldies Music   Fifties Web (not just music)   OldiesList (links, including to radio online)   Oldies Radio Online (list/links)   KRTH Los Angeles       Vancouver Radio Museum.

8. Canadian English/Linguistics etc:    I am very interested in the differences between Canadian and American standard English, and in preserving the Canadian version.  I like the USA and its people, and to travel there - having visited 49 of the 50 states, but I want to continue to speak and spell "Canadian", which is very difficult in today's computer and television world.  Links to follow some day.  
Long live Zed!     Long live "Sem ee" vs "Sem eye"     Long live Pakistan as in "black" rather than as in "block",  and I still pronounce Whale with the "h" so it isn't the same as "Wail".

9. Canadian and Commonwealth Orders, Decorations and Medals:   Orders and Medals Research Society in the UK [I am a member].   The Orders and Medals Society of America -- my father was member #4 of this one.    Military Collectors Club of Canada.   Honours (decorations and medals) of Canada, at the Governor General's site.   Dept of Veterans Affairs Medal Page

10. British Royalty and Peerage:  Official site of the British Monarchy    Unofficial site re the British Monarchy    courtesy title    
Here is the descending order of the titled in Britain:
A. Royalty: King/Queen,  Prince/Princess
B. Nobility: Duke/Duchess, Marquess/Marchioness, Earl/Countess, Viscount/Viscountess, Baron/Baroness
C. Baronetage: Baronet
D. Knightage: Knight/Dame of orders of chivalry: Garter, Thistle, Bath, St Michael and St. George, Royal Victorian, British Empire, followed by Knights Bachelor.

Do you know the first 20 in line for the throne of Canada and the United Kingdom (and multiple other countries)?  Here they are as of May 2012 (this includes the 14 descendents of our present queen, as well as the 6 descendants of her deceased sister, Princess Margaret)  Note that in theory this is also the royal family of Canada but in practice we are only centrally concerned with the Queen herself and the Prince of Wales and his sons Prince William and Prince Harry, and any spouses they have.

  1.  HRH The Prince of Wales (The Prince Charles; b. 1948) B D W (first son of the Queen)
  2.  HRH The Duke of Cambridge (Prince William; b. 1982) B D W  (first son of the prince of Wales) (married to Kate Middleton, no children)
  3.  HRH Prince Henry ('Harry') of Wales (b. 1984) B D W (Second son of the Prince of Wales) (not yet married)
  4.  HRH The Duke of York (The Prince Andrew; b. 1960) B D W  (Second son of the Queen) (divorced from Sarah Ferguson)
  5.  HRH Princess Beatrice of York (b. 1988) B D W  (First daughter of the Duke of York) (unmarried)
  6.  HRH Princess Eugenie of York (b. 1990) B D W  (Second daughter of the Duke of York) (unmarried)
  7.  HRH The Earl of Wessex (The Prince Edward; b. 1964) B D W  (Third son of the Queen) (married to Sophie Rhys-Jones)
  8.  Viscount Severn (James Mountbatten-Windsor; b. 2007) B D W  (Son of the Earl of Wessex) (child) (by right he is HRH Prince James of Wessex)
  9.  The Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor (b. 2003) B D W (Daughter of the Earl of Wessex) (child) (by right she is HRH Princess Louise of Wessex)
  10.  HRH The Princess Royal (The Princess Anne; b. 1950) B D W  (Daughter of the Queen) (divorced from Mark Phillips - who refused a peerage, married to Timothy Laurence)
  11.  Mr Peter Phillips (b. 1977) B D W (Son of The Princess Royal) (married to Autumn Kelly)
  12.  Miss Savannah Phillips (b. 2010) B D W (First daughter of Peter Phillips)
  13.  Miss Isla Phillips (b. 2012) B (Second daughter of Peter Phillips)
  14.  Mrs. Michael Tindall (Zara Phillips; b. 1981) B D W (Daughter of the Princess Royal)   END OF THE QUEEN'S CHILDREN, GRANDCHILDREN AND GREAT GRANDCHILDREN. THE FOLLOWING ARE THE DESCENDENTS OF THE QUEEN'S SISTER MARGARET:
  15.  Viscount Linley (David Armstrong-Jones; b. 1961) B D W (Son of Princess Margaret, deceased younger sister of our present queen who was married to Anthony Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowden)
  16.  The Hon Charles Armstrong-Jones (b. 1999) B D W (son of Viscount Linley)
  17.  The Hon Margarita Armstrong-Jones (b. 2002) B D W (daughter of Viscount Linley)
  18. The Lady Sarah Chatto (b. 1964) B D W (formerly The Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones) (daughter of Princess Margaret) (married to Daniel Chatto)
  19.  Mr Samuel Chatto (b. 1996) B D W (first son of the Lady Sarah Chatto)
  20.  Master Arthur Chatto (b. 1999) B D W (second son of the Lady Sarah Chatto)
    FOLLOWING THIS GROUP, DESCENT GOES NEXT TO THE OTHER SURVIVING DESCENDENTS OF QUEEN ELIZABETH'S GRANDFATHER GEORGE V:  1) The descendents of his third son the Duke of Gloucester, followed by 2) the descendents of his fourth son, the Duke of Kent.

11. Links re my childhood and adolescence:   Qualicum Beach, BC       Parksville-Qualicum Beach News    Memories of my 1965 Honda Trail Bike:  CT200,

Others not yet classified: