A quick overview of USFS radio systems in California

A  quick overview

there are 18 national forests (NF) in california - and LTBMU which a
mini natl forest of sorts

generally speaking - each of the 18 natl forests have 2 repeaterized
radio channels - 1 is for fire units - the 2nd channel is for everyone
else - each of these 2 channels has multiple repeater sites - and each
repeater site has a different PL on the input - dispatcher to field
unit comms happen on these 2 channels

the fire net is called the 'forest net' - the 'everyone else' channel
is called the 'admin net'

the only statewide channels are - 168.625 Guard - 168.65 Flight
Following - 171.7875 R  for Law Net - 168.05 - Law Tac - 168.6625
Project Channel - each aircraft has a dedicated receiver on 168.625 -
each USFS LEO presumably has access to the Law Net and Law Tac -
(Guard and Flight Following are also used in just about every Natl
Forest in the USA) - the Project Channel is used for engineering jobs
iirc

there are no regional channels to speak of besides the Service Nets -
if they are still used - Service Nets are a 3rd repeaterized channels
that exist at a few sites in each natl forest - historically they have
been used to link fire camps to dispatch centers at the biggest fires
(before the days of sat phones and cell phones)

In addition to the primary channels - there are also firescene
channels, airtac channels, and air/ground channels, and common
channels

- the firescene channels are 5 simplex channels that are available
across California - typically 1 is assigned as the primary tac channel
for each Ranger District - (each Natl Forest is divided into 3 to 6
Ranger Districts - they are similar to Battalions in a big city FD)

- air tac channels are used by fixed wing aircraft and lead planes -
there are usually 2 assigned for each NF - some are shared around
Calif

- seven air to ground channels are used for fire aircraft to talk to
ground units - there are usually 2 assigned for each NF - some are
shared across Calif

- common channels are typically federal itinerant channels like 163.10
and 168.35 and 163.7125 and 168.6125 - they are used for non emergency
work projects - they are also shared with other federal agencies

the major exceptions to this overview are - Inyo NF has 2 admin
channels and no fire channels - Klamath NF has 1 admin/forest channel
and five 2ndary repeater channels - Shasta Trinity NF has 1
admin/forest net and 4 secondary simplex nets - Sequoia NF has 1 fire
net and 1 emergency net and 1 simplex admin net - Tahoe NF has 1
forest net and 1 fire net (not sure what that really means) - its
possible that Klamath NF and Shasta Trinity NF has 1 fire net - and
that all of their other traffic is done on the multi local nets