2023 Nascar Thread

[batdude]

ok. a few things. I made an update to the 436 HPE file (attached) and used @chocolate_nault 's (awesome) excel spreadsheet as a base tool for this post.

BLUE HIGHLIGHT in the excel spreadsheet are changes or "confirmations" of in use frequencies and PL/DPLs in use at the Coke Zero 400 last night.

Now, the fun part. here is a list of frequencies found in manual search or close call mode at the track from the grandstands. These were "hand copied" - not auto logged. Some of these come back in the RR database associated with other NASCAR tracks, but most of them do not. My setup was a 436 with one of the racing radios super stubby antennas connected to it. I doubt I was hearing much outside of the radius of the track, so I'm discounting a lot of normal business traffic that may be present - keep in mind these were logged on a Saturday night - not exactly high radio use periods for business itinerant channels. These are the unknowns that I logged, along with the tone noted.
Unfortunately, I do not have a lot of info to share on the exact users of the freqs below ---- I was in collection mode, not "sit on a freq and figure out the user" mode.... so perhaps these can be listened to in the spring at the next race weekend in 2024

CAVEAT: I am not a die-hard NASACR fan or master of all things NASCAR radio. This is just what I heard and observed - and scribbled on a notebook during the race yesterday. YMMV.

Frequency	Tone
451.3750​	97.4​
451.5625​	115​
451.8250​	306​
451.8750​	411​
451.9000​	445​
452.1125​	311​
452.2375​	174​
452.3500​	343​
452.6250​	731​
452.8000​	245​
453.6875​	none
453.7750​	131.8​
464.1875​	226​
467.3750​	261​
467.6125​	67.0​
467.6875​	311​
468.7125​	79.7​
468.7500​	156​
468.9250​	146.2​
469.4500​	146.2​
469.5625​	162.2​
469.7625​	506​

 

[chocolate_nault]

This is fantastic information @batdude !

For the driver names that are in blue but not the subtone, are those confirmed as frequency only or frequency/subtone together?

I'll plug in these extras when I have time and reupload my spreadsheet. I have Racing Electronics data as early as 2007 and added a column of the last time tones were changed.

Trends show Trackhouse, Penske, and some Gibbs tones have been changing almost yearly or at random times. Others every 5 or so years, possibly when licenses are renewed. Some teams use the exact same frequencies and tones as the mid-2000s.

 

[batdude]

This is fantastic information @batdude !

For the driver names that are in blue but not the subtone, are those confirmed as frequency only or frequency/subtone together?

I'll plug in these extras when I have time and reupload my spreadsheet. I have Racing Electronics data as early as 2007 and added a column of the last time tones were changed.

Trends show Trackhouse, Penske, and some Gibbs tones have been changing almost yearly or at random times. Others every 5 or so years, possibly when licenses are renewed. Some teams use the exact same frequencies and tones as the mid-2000s.

when the driver is in blue, the freq and tone were correct.

 

[chocolate_nault]

The data from Daytona is fantastic. For the unknown frequencies, below are likely uses after referencing my spreadsheets.

Niece Craftsman Truck #42 (Used by Trackhouse on Sunday?)	468.7125	79.7
UNKNOWN & Nascar Related. Same subtone at IMS.	451.3750	97.4
UNKNOWN & Nascar Related. Same subtone at MIS.	451.5625	115
LOGANO CAR #22 SECONDARY	451.8250	306
NASCAR OPERATIONS (same frequency & subtone @ MIS) (GATE SECURITY?)	451.8750	411
NASCAR OPERATIONS (same frequency & subtone @ MIS) (SHUTTLE OPERATIONS?)	451.9000	445
UNKNOWN	452.1125	311
HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS	452.2375	174
UNKNOWN	452.3500	343
UNKNOWN	452.6250	731
NASCAR OPERATIONS (same frequency & subtone @ MIS)	452.8000	245
UNKNOWN	453.6875	none
UNKNOWN	453.7750	131.8
CINDRIC CAR #2 PRIMARY	464.1875	226
RCR	467.3750	261
UNKNOWN	467.6125	067
UNKNOWN	467.6875	311
Niece Craftsman Truck #42 (Used by Trackhouse for Cup race?)	468.7125	79.7
UNKNOWN	468.7500	156
UNKNOWN	468.9250	146.2
UNKNOWN	469.4500	146.2
SPIRE MOTORSPORTS	469.5625	162.2
JOE GIBBS RACING	469.7625	506

 

[chocolate_nault]

Thanks to @JCar24 for paying to program a Uniden SC230 with RE and posting the file.
@INDaviation for confirming tones in Indiana
@batdude for confirming tones in Florida

37 tones changed in 2023, gives a good idea for 2024 which ones could change for those that don't pay RE to program their scanners.
There's a lot of data in here. Have fun!

 

[rsrocket1]

Thanks to @JCar24 for paying to program a Uniden SC230 with RE and posting the file.
@INDaviation for confirming tones in Indiana
@batdude for confirming tones in Florida

37 tones changed in 2023, gives a good idea for 2024 which ones could change for those that don't pay RE to program their scanners.
There's a lot of data in here. Have fun!

Thank you for the updates. I’ve never turned on the tones and 99% of the times it hasn’t made a difference in listening to the cars at the races. A time or two, there have been collisions where you hear janitorial staff or parking staff talking on the same frequency as a car but not much.

Do other race fans program in the tones?

 

[chocolate_nault]

Thank you for the updates. I’ve never turned on the tones and 99% of the times it hasn’t made a difference in listening to the cars at the races. A time or two, there have been collisions where you hear janitorial staff or parking staff talking on the same frequency as a car but not much.

Do other race fans program in the tones?

Most people don't program tones. I use tones to set the squelch to maximum sensitivity and filter out the white noise when doing so.

It was useful at MIS when Truex was on CH2 with a relatively weak signal that kept cutting in and out without the DCS tone programmed and squelch set more sensitive.

It's not required since channel bleed over doesn't happen much anymore like the old days, but useful for a "set it and forget it" squelch setting. Racing Electronics has been programming a tone for most of their scanners for nearly 20 years.

 

[rsrocket1]

Thanks! I think I’ll try your method at TMS in a couple if weeks to see if it makes a difference. At a track like Texas, almost everything is in a clear LOS so receiving is usually not a problem. At the Indycar race at Mid Ohio this year, the scanner was almost useless as it is with many road courses.

 

[chocolate_nault]

Thanks! I think I’ll try your method at TMS in a couple if weeks to see if it makes a difference. At a track like Texas, almost everything is in a clear LOS so receiving is usually not a problem. At the Indycar race at Mid Ohio this year, the scanner was almost useless as it is with many road courses.

For races where I don't have the ability to attend practice, my Uniden SC230 and BR330T have the ability to set the tone to Search. I do this for teams that have a history of changing tones during the season and makes for quick verification during the pace laps. Particularly Gibbs, Penske, 23XI, and Trackhouse. This year I was surprised some Hendrick and SHR cars changed tones.

Some teams such as RFK, RCR, and some Gibbs cars haven't changed radio frequencies or tones since the Nextel Cup days so I'm confident in pre-programming tones.

 

[rsrocket1]

I just entered the CTCSS/DCS frequencies for all the cup drivers into my BC125AT software. My last update was for my son when he went out to the Indy road course race and the frequencies did not seem to change.

There seems to be a discrepancy on the #77 Ty Dillon tone however. Several databases show 223.6 Hz, but that does not correspond to a legitimate CTCSS frequency. There is a 223 DCS tone and a 233.6 CTCSS tone and the radio reference wiki shows 233.6 so I assume that this is the correct tone. I guess not too many followers of Ty Dillon to verify. I will try to do so next weekend.

 

[rsrocket1]

Just to ensure I contribute something, here is my BC125AT memory dump

Bank 1 Cup frequencies with tones
Bank 2 Xfinity frequencies
Bank 3 Truck frequencies
Bank 4 NASCAR, TMS, IMS, MRN,PRN, NBC frequencies
Bank 5 Indycar frequencies as of the IMS Road course weekend
Bank 6 DFW area FAA frequencies (ignore)
Bank 7 DFW Ham Repeater frequencies (ignore)
Bank 8 Indy NXT frequencies as of IMS Road course weekend

Instead of associating a channel to a car number, I program the car number into the label so there are fewer blank channels and I can get
up to 50 cars on one bank, when I want to listen to a particular car, I simply twist the dial on the BC125 and look for the car number in the label rather than the channel number. So with Ty Gibbs in the #54 programmed into channel 36, I simply dial the scanner and look for

"54 Ty Gibbs" in the label

some names require creative abbreviations
"19 Mrtn Truex Jr"
"6 Flx Rosenqvist"

Feel free to do with it what you please, I am just a scanner race fan and ham,
73

 

[chocolate_nault]

I just entered the CTCSS/DCS frequencies for all the cup drivers into my BC125AT software. My last update was for my son when he went out to the Indy road course race and the frequencies did not seem to change.

There seems to be a discrepancy on the #77 Ty Dillon tone however. Several databases show 223.6 Hz, but that does not correspond to a legitimate CTCSS frequency. There is a 223 DCS tone and a 233.6 CTCSS tone and the radio reference wiki shows 233.6 so I assume that this is the correct tone. I guess not too many followers of Ty Dillon to verify. I will try to do so next weekend.

Good observation. I can confirm from MIS manually in person and with search and store of a backup scanner that the tone is CTCSS 223.6

Even more confusing, the team in 2021 used the tone CTCSS 233.6 which can easily be confused for a database typo.

Apparently both are legit which is wild.

Continuous Tone-Coded Squelch System - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

PL/CTCSS Codes

 

[late_model_rock]

Just to ensure I contribute something, here is my BC125AT memory dump

Bank 1 Cup frequencies with tones
Bank 2 Xfinity frequencies
Bank 3 Truck frequencies
Bank 4 NASCAR, TMS, IMS, MRN,PRN, NBC frequencies
Bank 5 Indycar frequencies as of the IMS Road course weekend
Bank 6 DFW area FAA frequencies (ignore)
Bank 7 DFW Ham Repeater frequencies (ignore)
Bank 8 Indy NXT frequencies as of IMS Road course weekend

Instead of associating a channel to a car number, I program the car number into the label so there are fewer blank channels and I can get
up to 50 cars on one bank, when I want to listen to a particular car, I simply twist the dial on the BC125 and look for the car number in the label rather than the channel number. So with Ty Gibbs in the #54 programmed into channel 36, I simply dial the scanner and look for

"54 Ty Gibbs" in the label

some names require creative abbreviations
"19 Mrtn Truex Jr"
"6 Flx Rosenqvist"

Feel free to do with it what you please, I am just a scanner race fan and ham,
73

Hey there! I really like your system, but the download link doesn't seem to work for me. Do you have an updated one for 2024, perhaps?

 

[evilbrad]

Look at the 2024 nascar thread