MESAC personnel took the Costa Mesa Police Mobile Command Vehicle (MCV) to Huntington Beach to participate in the Southern California communications exercise known as the “Radio Rodeo”
On November 15, 2016, public safety personnel from all over southern California participated in the annual Radio Rodeo, a training and testing exercise for mobile communications vehicles. During the exercise, specific radio channels are tested in roll call fashion. It is likely our Orange County participants were familiar with the 800 MHz channels tested, but may not have been as familiar with the channels tested in the VHF and UHF bands.
Unlike a typical first responder vehicle, many have more than an 800 MHz radio. In general, public safety agencies across the nation operate on one (or more) radio bands, commonly called VHF Low Band (30-50 MHz), VHF High Band (150-170 MHz), UHF (450-512 MHz), as well as the band familiar to Orange County, 800 MHz (our Countywide Coordinated Communications System (CCCS). Since the VHF and UHF channels are not used day to day, the annual Radio Rodeo allows an opportunity for testing these interoperable resources.
