Horry County/Myrtle Beach Update

[wa3ysu]

I have been logging the Horry County Trunk system for 1 week with trunker software. (So far, I have a 4k log file, from Trunker, to review when I get home to see if I can help identify some of the talkgroups, based upon the radio affiliations that have taken place.)


Of note: all Mrytle Beach traffic appears to be on here now, as previously noted on RR. The MB TRS is mostly silent except for an apparent County Fire TAC-02 simulcast. No MB PD traffic noted at all.

Also: This system makes heavy use of I-Calls, most of which are public works / local government related


This talkgroup is confirmed:

36176 = 'Crescent Beach' Beach Patrol - numerous calls to 'Crescent Beach' lifeguards regarding lost children - I am guessing this is the 'Crescent Beach' section of North Mrytle Beach, around 17th Street South.


Talkgroups 1552 and 1584 are listed as Misc., but are the Fixed Base Operations (FBO)talkgroups for the airport.


Each of these talkgroups has seen multiple calls. I also have large listing of other unidentified talkgroups that have seen an affiliation, but not multiple calls as these have:


880

1872

2000

6864 (very active)

8304

11856 (very active)

11888 (very active)

12592 (very active)

12624 (very active)

13584

20592

34096

34128

34160

34192

34224

36208 (very active)

45136

57392

<end of list>

 

[wa3ysu]

Also noted talkgroup 36752 is very active.

In addition, talkgroup 34096 is used for a tone-out dispatch of an EMS or Fire station (I missed the full dispatch.)

 

[fpo701]

I was listening to 37176 while I was down there this week also. I also heard 'North Beach' on that same TG. I talked with some of the Lack's lifeguards. They think it might be North Myrtle Beach. It is definately not Lack's.

 

[wa3ysu]

I can't seem to find Lack's this year. In the past I always had them on 461.15, but I don't hear anything there this year. I also see they are licensed on 461.400, 463.675, 462.350 and 463.525, but again I don't hear anything on these repeater outputs.
(They are still carrying their UHF portables too, so I am at a loss this time.)

 

[wa3ysu]

Also Re: Mrytle Beach EMS/Fire Dispatch: It appears that their fire and medic dispatch calls go out on the County Fire Dispatch Talkgroup 7216, then also go out about 30 seconds later on the MB Fire Dispatch Talkgroup 12816. Most OPS seem to be on TAC-02 Fire Talkgroup 7344, but also on the MB Fire 12816 Talkgroup too.

It is odd to me, but medics get dispatched into MB on the County channel, respond to county on TAC-02, then also call MB on their talkgroup to tell them they are responding. When they are available again, the same thing happens in reverse, with MB called on this 12816 talkgroup and advised, and then county called on TAC-02 to tell them the same.

I guess this could be due to the fact that the medics are not 'municipality specific', but rather are 'county' assets??

 

[wa3ysu]

I found Lack's Beach Service/Lifeguard repeater: 464.05 with a DPL of 411.

http://www.lacksbeachlifeguards.com/

 

[fpo701]

I found Lack's Beach Service/Lifeguard repeater: 464.05 with a DPL of 411.

Sure. Now you tell me. Now that I'm back home. I tried the Lack's freqs earlier this week also. No luck. You've found just one of the freqs. The guards tell me there are three channels they use. One for the middle of town, north of Springmaid (L-x towers and unit numbers). One from Springmaid, south (S-x). One for the north end of the city (N-x).

The radios also have a fourth position on them that may be supervisors.

Here's the FCC license for that freq (Strand Communications, Inc):
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&action=fcc&cs=WPQD851

Let us know what else you find.

 

[gmt0000]

I was down a week ago, Lack's operations south of Springmaid, including all of the campgrounds are on 463.600. I can confirm the use of the call signs "S-x, such as S-1 to S-4 and so forth".

GMT0000

 

[fpo701]

I'd like to get some of the locals to check out some of these findings. I tried to cross-reference both of the freqs we've listed and can't find anything in common in SC. Either way, I sure wish we had this conversation about a week and a half ago.

I know I didn't get any useful information when I posted the Lack's question in this forum a short time ago. At least we are hearing things and helping the local crew get a start.

Here's what we know so far:
Horry800 37392 - possible North Myrtle Beach Lifeguards
464.050 DPL411 - possible Lack's Beach Service (unknown use)
463.600 (? PL/DPL) - possible Lack's (South towers)

Can we get some local help?

 

[fnnm400]

I will be heading there on the 12th of August. I will check out those freq's.

I'd like to get some of the locals to check out some of these findings. I tried to cross-reference both of the freqs we've listed and can't find anything in common in SC. Either way, I sure wish we had this conversation about a week and a half ago.

I know I didn't get any useful information when I posted the Lack's question in this forum a short time ago. At least we are hearing things and helping the local crew get a start.

Here's what we know so far:
Horry800 37392 - possible North Myrtle Beach Lifeguards
464.050 DPL411 - possible Lack's Beach Service (unknown use)
463.600 (? PL/DPL) - possible Lack's (South towers)

Can we get some local help?

 

[KWs]

Regardng Horry/Myrtle Beach dispatch comment ...

As best as I understand it, Horry Dispatches all fires in the County and all EMS in the county unless the call comes into MB communications and it is a response within MB.
If the call comes into Horry communications for a MB EMS response, Horry dispatches the alarm on their talkgroup, MB re-tones it on their talkgroup. MB Fire provides two EMS units (60 & 61) for MB responses as part of the overall Horry EMS operations. MB Fire also provides first responder units on all EMS calls within MB as required.

Fire calls dispatched by Horry may include MB Fire units in the announcement as part of auto-aid agreement, but Horry does not dispatch MB fire units on calls strictly within MB.

It's an odd system for sure.

 

[wa3ysu]

I have previously copied Lack's on 461.15 with a DPL of 411. Last week I thought I copied traffic on here several times, but the signal was not very strong, and I thought I heard the use of "N" identifiers. Could this be the 'north' channel now??

I can personally confirm that 464.05 with a DPL of 411 is the channel used in the south end of MB. I copied the repeater as well as watched the guards use their HT's and listened on the repeater input.

Also, County TG 36176 = 'Crescent Beach' Beach Patrol - I am guessing this is the 'Crescent Beach' section of North Mrytle Beach, around 17th Street South. These were young sounding guards on here, and lots of kids playing sounds in the background when they transmitted each time.

Kel

 

[wa3ysu]

I am currently reviewing my Trunker logs from last week and found that these 6 talkgroups are always associated with talkgroup patches that are activated with some MB police, MB fire, or both MB police and fire talkgroups:

34096

34128

34160

34192

34224

34256

<end of list>

 

[wa3ysu]

Unidentified County Talkgroup Comments after reviewing my log files:

11856, 11888, 12592 and 12624 are affiliated frequently by Surfside Police radios

8304 and 36208 are affiliated frequently by Fire TAC-02 radios

3024 is affiliated very frequently by just 1 radio that does not affiliate with any other talkgroup

14352 is affiliated frequently by Fire radios

6672, 6736 , 6800, 6864 and 6896 are affiliated by Conway Fire radios

6096 is affiliated by Conway Police radios

20592 is affiliated by Coastal College radios

12240 and 13584 are affiliated by MB Fire radios

13744 and 20656 are affiliated by MB Police radios

32304, 32432 and 36752 are affiliated with North MB Police radios

34128, 34160 and 34320 are affiliated with North MB Fire radios

36208 is affiliated with N MB Crescent Beach radios (that are on TG36176)(TG36176 is very busy and I am guessing that 36208 may be the T/A TG for it)

35280 is affiliated with North MB Public Works radios (that are on TG35216)

10864 is affiliated with Loris Police radios

1776 is affiliated by Jetport Police radios

<end of list>

 

[ScanDaBands]

Unidentified County Talkgroup Comments after reviewing my log files:

11856, 11888, 12592 and 12624 are affiliated frequently by Surfside Police radios

8304 and 36208 are affiliated frequently by Fire TAC-02 radios

3024 is affiliated very frequently by just 1 radio that does not affiliate with any other talkgroup

14352 is affiliated frequently by Fire radios

6672, 6736 , 6800, 6864 and 6896 are affiliated by Conway Fire radios

6096 is affiliated by Conway Police radios

20592 is affiliated by Coastal College radios

12240 and 13584 are affiliated by MB Fire radios

13744 and 20656 are affiliated by MB Police radios

32304, 32432 and 36752 are affiliated with North MB Police radios

34128, 34160 and 34320 are affiliated with North MB Fire radios

36208 is affiliated with N MB Crescent Beach radios (that are on TG36176)(TG36176 is very busy and I am guessing that 36208 may be the T/A TG for it)

35280 is affiliated with North MB Public Works radios (that are on TG35216)

10864 is affiliated with Loris Police radios

1776 is affiliated by Jetport Police radios

<end of list>

I'm stumped..............I ran these for two days now in a scan mode - control channel only and haven't heard one thing on them ???????????????

Everything that's in the database I have in my BR330T and they all are being used , Myrtle Beach I have just like the database - hear them all the time....Conway , just like the database.....NMB - Same ,,,,,,am I missing something ??

 

[wa3ysu]

The affiliation may be indicative that the noted talkgroups are programmned into the referenced radios, but they may not be used routinely, or even frequently.

The trunker logging software I used captures every affiliation that every radio makes with any talkgroup. This means that a radio could have numerous talkgroups that the user has programmed into his radio, but rarely, or never, uses. It gets captured as an affiliation as the user changes 'channels' on the radio, and can get captured if he has a rotary 'channel' selector that he is slowly changing the channels with, to get to the 'channel' he really wants. I have frequently seen radios where the user changes to zone B or zone C in the radio, and then slowly steps through each 'channel' while looking at the display. This slight time delay, while the user looks at the display, is usually enough time for the trunked radio system to take note of an affiliation between that radio, and that 'channel'(talkgroup), and thus gets logged, even though that 'channel' may not really be used.

The affiliations I noted above are based upon looking at the radio ID's for those radios that are on an identified talkgroup 95% of the time, but then are seen affiliating numerous times to these various unidentified talkgroups. The affiliated talkgroups may not actually be their talkgroups, but just talkgroups that are programmed in their radios and that they have capability to use. (For example, I saw hundreds of radio affiliations with the various county police talkgroups by nearly all MB police radio ID's.)

As I noted, these were unmanned computer recorded affiliations that occured over the course of nearly 200 hours of continuous logging, and I did not personally hear traffic on all of these.

Unidentified talkgroups that I personally monitored with traffic on them were 36176 (with lots of life guard activity) and 34096 (with tone alerting for fire or ems).

The talkgroups I noted as very active in the affiliations list, means that they had a large number of affiliations, not that I monitored a lot of traffic on them.

The trunker computer log for the system patches is where I discovered that the 34096, 34128, 34160, 34192, 34224, and 34256 talkgroups all are patched with other MB primary police and fire talkgroups at various times. If you try to monitor these 6 patched talkgroups, you need to be sure to take into account the patch status bit on the talkgroup ID, depending upon what radio model you are using and how your options are set. I have no answer for why they patch these talkgroups with the primary talkgroups from time to time, since it is not all the time. My past experience is that this is usually indicative of one of the following 3 situations: 1) old talkgroups that have migrated to new ones but not all radios are programmed yet, 2) new talkgroups that are being mograted to and not all radios have been programmed, or 3) talkgroups that have some periodic need to be aware of traffic on another talkgroup and get patched together. Having said that, there could be some other explaination as well..

Hope that helps to clarify the talkgroups noted above.

Kel

 

[wa3ysu]

Regarding the lifeguards and beach umbrella/chair services provided by Lack's Beach Services, general information about them can be found at
http://www.lacksbeachlifeguards.com/ .

In past years, I always monitored the lifeguards and their supervisors on 461.15 with a DPL of 411 used while at the south end of MB, near the Springmaid Pier. This year I did not hear them, so I did a license search and found that they are licensed on the following 4 freqs, at these 3 sites:

KNFT883 - Lack's Beach Service Inc., 531 Robert Grissom Parkway, MB
461.400 Repeater at 1803 South Ocean Blvd, MB
463.675 Repeater at 1803 South Ocean Blvd, MB

WNXX815 - Randy Lack, 531 Robert Grissom Parkway, MB
462.350 Repeater at 9800 Lake Drive, MB
463.525 Repeater at 9800 Lake Drive, MB

WPJM268 - Lacks Outdoor Furniture, , 531 Robert Grissom Parkway, MB
463.675 Repeater at 4 KM from SC HWY 90

Ironically, I did not really hear anything from the lifeguards on any of these freqs. What I did find though was that the lifeguards were now using a repeater on 464.050 with a DPL of 411.

The freq used by Lack's in previous years (461.150 with a DPL of 411) is actually licensed to Strand Communications, which is a business eligible under FCC Part 90.35 to provide radio service to Part 90 eligibles. Of greater interest is the fact that on 7/12/07 Strand was granted authorization to "PROVIDE MOBILE RELAY SERVICE TO ELIGIBLIES USING THREE PAIRED FREQUENCY CHANNELS, POOLED FOR SERVICE ON A CHANNEL AVAILABILITY BASIS" from a fixed site at 141 Grande Dunes Blvd, MB. These 3 freqs are 452.500, 461.150, and 464.050

Here we can see that the previously used freq of 461.15 and the currently used 464.05 are listed.

Based upon other replies in this thread, I would guess that we might see the 3 Lack's lifeguard channels lining up with the service provided by Strand Communications.

Interesting that they do not seem to use the 4 repeater freqs they have licensed themselves, but rather use the services of Strand. Of course, leasing is sometimes more cost effective than ownership.....

Kel

 

[wa3ysu]

I need to correct myself, as 'gmt0000' noted in this thread, 463.600 was heard as the Lack's south channel very recently.

 

[wa3ysu]

I just found another 7/12/07 license change for Strand's WPJI264, which now makes the 463.600 repeater use for 'South' make perfect sense! The transmitter site was modified from 4801 HWY 17 Bypass North, to 2007 South Ocean Blvd! In addition, they have requested authorization for phone interconnect capability on that freq as well.

Here is the list of licenses for Lack's and Strand with the 7/12/07 site change for 463.600 added:

KNFT883 - Lack's Beach Service Inc., 531 Robert Grissom Parkway, MB
461.400 Repeater at 1803 South Ocean Blvd, MB
463.675 Repeater at 1803 South Ocean Blvd, MB

WNXX815 - Randy Lack, 531 Robert Grissom Parkway, MB
462.350 Repeater at 9800 Lake Drive, MB
463.525 Repeater at 9800 Lake Drive, MB

WPJM268 - Lacks Outdoor Furniture, , 531 Robert Grissom Parkway, MB
463.675 Repeater at 4 KM from SC HWY 90

WPQD851 - Strand Communications
452.500 Repeater at 141 Grande Dunes Blvd., MB
461.150 Repeater at 141 Grande Dunes Blvd., MB (this freq was used in past years for middle area "L" Lifeguards with a DPL of 411)
464.050 Repeater at 141 Grande Dunes Blvd., MB (freq is in use for middle area "L" Lifeguards with a DPL of 411)

WPJI264 - Strand Communications
463.600 Repeater at 2007 South Ocean Blvd, MB (freq reported as in use for south area "S" Lifeguards)


Out of MB area licensed repeaters for Strand:

WPKV721 - Strand Communications
461.725 Repeater at Grace Ferry Road, Mullins, SC (Marion County)
461.900 Repeater at Grace Ferry Road, Mullins, SC (Marion County)
463.225 Repeater at Grace Ferry Road, Mullins, SC (Marion County)

WPPH940 - Strand Communications
452.300 Repeater at Grace Ferry Road, Mullins, SC (Marion County)
461.725 Repeater at Grace Ferry Road, Mullins, SC (Marion County)
461.900 Repeater at Grace Ferry Road, Mullins, SC (Marion County)
463.225 Repeater at Grace Ferry Road, Mullins, SC (Marion County)
464.575 Repeater at Grace Ferry Road, Mullins, SC (Marion County)
<end of list>

Kel

 

[brian]

Kel -

All of this is excellent information. Good work. It's quite amazing what a decent trunker log and the FCC database can tell you. It looks like you spend more time monitoring during vacation than I do, and that's saying something. Just ask my family.

Brian