Wrecks, wrecks and more wrecks

[Stick0413]

The roads are a little slick and everyone is wrecking. Personally I saw 4 wrecks. One on I-85 Northbound just past Rt. 1 in Dinwiddie. I-85 Southbound a little north of the previous. I-295 Northbound at 460 (MM3), completely shut the interstate down. I-295 Northbound at Rt 36 (MM9), again completely shutting down the interstate. There are a million others I am listening to on the Interstates. One a trooper is trying to get to but MedFlight has landed in the middle of the Interstate and he can't get by until they take off.

 

[Stick0413]

I just heard the VSP dispatcher say they do not have the units to work all the accidents.

Edit: this confirms just that. There was a wreck on 95 (I believe), 7 cars, all moved to the shoulder, they said it was sitting there for an hour and a half without police assistance.

 

[runslow]

Hanover County was the same. They declared "code red" this morning due to an unbelievable number of accidents due to the ice. Rescue was NUA (no units available) several times.

 

[tuttleje]

A good site to track accidents is:

http://randolph.co.henrico.va.us/WebTraffic/WebTrafficPage/hpdtrafficCalls.aspx

This link is for Henrico, Chesterfield and Richmond. It does not necessarily include wrecks handled by the VSP. It gets data from the dispatch logs and is very current.

At one time this morning there were 39 accidents working in the three jurisdictions.

These do not include all the accidents reported to the VSP today.

If you are monitoring the Richmond area, it's a fun site because you can see the CAD entries as they make broadcasts on the radio (for accidents/disabled vehicles/some fire calls).

 

[rvawatch]

39 calls?? psh... check out this lol. i woke up this morning and looked at the accident site....and well, you know how theres normally like...2 to 10 usually...well yes i know some of them are duplicates..but well, ill just let the link talk

 

[rvawatch]

If you are monitoring the Richmond area, it's a fun site because you can see the CAD entries as they make broadcasts on the radio (for accidents/disabled vehicles/some fire calls).

jw, how are you able to monitor the Richmond area from Williamsburg? Or is it just an online scanner or only when you are in Richmond?

 

[tuttleje]

I can't hear the Richmond area systems, but STARS is solid. I can hear the Petersburg and Richmond STARS towers without any problem.

 

[rvawatch]

I can't hear the Richmond area systems, but STARS is solid. I can hear the Petersburg and Richmond STARS towers without any problem.

wow...is this with an external antenna or stock or what? ive been able to pick up some towers other than richmond and petersburg before with an external antenna late at night, but thats not too often. then again..i live in the middle of the woods lol.

 

[tuttleje]

It's a discone in the attic (three floors up). I can normally receive Hampton(3 bars), Williamsburg (5 bars), Petersburg(3 bars), Richmond (1 bar), Warsaw (1 bar), Franklin (1 bar) and sometimes Rumsford, Emporia and Chesapeake. I'm using a BCD-996T. I normally scan Hampton, Williamsburg, and Petersburg. I've discovered you can hear most transmission through those sites. However, if something is going on in the Richmond area, I'll scan Williamsburg, Richmond, and Petersburg.....and cut off Hampton.
When something is going on a specific talkgroup through a site, I'll "hold" on that talkgroup and site.

For example, the ABC Board was conducting operations on TG 1532 last night in the Norfolk area (Waterside, ODU, several bars, etc.) and I locked in the TG to copy all transmissions. It was through the Hampton tower.

 

[rvawatch]

It's a discone in the attic (three floors up). I can normally receive Hampton(3 bars), Williamsburg (5 bars), Petersburg(3 bars), Richmond (1 bar), Warsaw (1 bar), Franklin (1 bar) and sometimes Rumsford, Emporia and Chesapeake. I'm using a BCD-996T. I normally scan Hampton, Williamsburg, and Petersburg. I've discovered you can hear most transmission through those sites. However, if something is going on in the Richmond area, I'll scan Williamsburg, Richmond, and Petersburg.....and cut off Hampton.
When something is going on a specific talkgroup through a site, I'll "hold" on that talkgroup and site.

For example, the ABC Board was conducting operations on TG 1532 last night in the Norfolk area (Waterside, ODU, several bars, etc.) and I locked in the TG to copy all transmissions. It was through the Hampton tower.

man...i gotta figure out what my issue is. i just loaded all the control channels last night and could still only pick up richmond and petersburg. What type of discone are you using? Are the active control channels all primary control channels listed in the database, or are they using some alternates? thanks for your help

Andrew

 

[tuttleje]

A Radio Shack Discone.

Hampton is 152.7575 MHz SID: 019Eh-0111 (3 to 4 bars)

Williamsburg is 152.0675 MHz SID: 019Eh-0112 (5 bars)

Franklin is 152.7275 MHz SID: 019Eh-0116 (1 bar)

Petersbug 152.5325 MHz SID: 019Eh-0102 (2 bars)

Right now I'm not receiving Richmond, Warsaw, Emporia, Chesapeake or Rumsford (usually in the evening there is reception)

Depending on where you are located, I'd be suprised if you could receive Hampton or Chesapeake Towers.

 

[rvawatch]

i have that exact same antenna. mines outside about 2.5 stories high. im surrounded by trees tho...and the antenna in no way gets above the trees. i live in chesterfield...im like..halfway between the richmond and petersburg towers. i work about 30 mins north- in which im about 5-10 mins from the richmond tower, i go to school 35 minutes south- where i can touch the petersburg tower (aside from going over barbed wire)