Baltimore Metro and Inner Harbor Help Requested

[mondaro]

Hello Everyone,

First off I would like to thank everyone through the years that has given me help on scanning in the Baltimore Area. My question is this year what freqs w/ tones are must have's for the Baltimore Metro Area, so far I have the routine stuff Police, Fire, EMS etc etc. some questions I have is what are some of the more active freqs for the marine and aviation community, what is the freq for Captain Roy and Sky Team 11, what do the water taxi's operate on, is there a special tac channel the Police operate in the Inner Harbor like the cops who patrol the inner harbor proper and the Police Marine Unit, who responds to Route 95 incidents in the Baltimore Metro Area area ? the Baltimore City Police or the Maryland State Police, I noticed many agencies now on Maryland First, are all those agencies posted over there like the Fort McHenry Tunnel Police and Syscom and speaking of Syscom when I am monitoring in the city what are the best medevac and system freqs and tones to follow and helicopters are flying in and out of shock trauma and what are the Baltimore Orioles using these days ? Finally is there anything worth listening to on there Transit radio system and does any have any into on what the Hilton hotel is using now a days in the inner harbor. Anyone traveling through NJ and I can ever return the favor e sure to PM me I'll be more then happy to help you in anyway I can.

Thanks Again.

Tony M.
NA EMS Chief
Bergen County, NJ

 

[ocguard]

Hello Everyone,

First off I would like to thank everyone through the years that has given me help on scanning in the Baltimore Area. My question is this year what freqs w/ tones are must have's for the Baltimore Metro Area, so far I have the routine stuff Police, Fire, EMS etc etc. some questions I have is what are some of the more active freqs for the marine and aviation community, what is the freq for Captain Roy and Sky Team 11, what do the water taxi's operate on, is there a special tac channel the Police operate in the Inner Harbor like the cops who patrol the inner harbor proper and the Police Marine Unit, who responds to Route 95 incidents in the Baltimore Metro Area area ? the Baltimore City Police or the Maryland State Police, I noticed many agencies now on Maryland First, are all those agencies posted over there like the Fort McHenry Tunnel Police and Syscom and speaking of Syscom when I am monitoring in the city what are the best medevac and system freqs and tones to follow and helicopters are flying in and out of shock trauma and what are the Baltimore Orioles using these days ? Finally is there anything worth listening to on there Transit radio system and does any have any into on what the Hilton hotel is using now a days in the inner harbor. Anyone traveling through NJ and I can ever return the favor e sure to PM me I'll be more then happy to help you in anyway I can.

Thanks Again.

Tony M.
NA EMS Chief
Bergen County, NJ

Here's a few answers to your inquiries.

All police activities downtown occur on the Central District talk groups of the Baltimore City P25 system. The talk group labeled "Central" is the dispatch and the talk group labeled "Central C" is their talk-around car-to-car stuff. Marine and Foxtrot (aviation) mainly monitor Citywide 1 but will switch to the district's talk groups when supporting district units. Foxtrot is always scanning. Obviously, the marine units also make use of Maritime VHF. I'm not 100% sure of this, but I believe BPD marine units are only active during events or when called out. They don't routinely patrol at any/all hours. This was a budget-saving measure a few years back. Downtown Partnership Patrols (courtesy/guides) have a talk group on the city's P25 as well. They aren't police, but do occasionally report onview police issues.

MSP helos in and out of shock trauma are still operating on 44.74 (SYSCOM dispatch) and 47.66 (helo-to-hospital patient reports). You'll hear plenty of chatter on 44.74 if you're downtown, but you'll need a decent antenna to hear the helos approaching Baltimore. You may also want to listen to the MD First system for SYSCOM activity, but so far, it seems they're still 100% on low band. Eventually, MSP helos will transition to 700mhz P25 conventional channels found here. You can also find private medevacl frequencies on this page that frequent Shock Trauma and Johns Hopkins, and may be worth a listen. Incoming private medevacs give patient reports to UMMC on 155.325, which is monitored by Maryland ExpressCare dispatchers within the UMMC building, and coordinate all referrals (inter-facility) to the UofMD Medical System, both air and ground.

Interstates 95 and 895 WITHIN CITY LIMITS are patrolled by MdTA Police, and using the MD First system. Those same highways outside of city limits are patrolled by their respective MSP barracks, and I believe that all Baltimore Metro MSP barracks are up on FIRST.

If by transit, you're asking about public transportation, MTA buses and Light Rail use the MD Transit Administration Smartnet system found here. This includes MTA police who are responsible for patrolling the light rail right of way and responding to any incident involving an MTA asset. MTA Metro (subway) use conventional VHF channels found on this page.

You can listen to WJZ and WBAL helicopters on their respective IFB channels found here about two thirds of the way down under "media." You'll also hear their field reporters preparing live broadcasts.

I'm not aware of the water taxis using any radio other than Marine VHF. Orioles and most downtown hotels are DMR.

 

[ocguard]

Addition/correction. Baltimore Orioles franchise operations are on DMR, but the stadiums themselves still seem to have some conventionals. Check out Attractions Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

 

[ocguard]

One more. Baltimore Helicopter Unicom 123.025 is used by all helos (BPD, MSP, news, BCoPD) operating in and around Baltimore to coordinate altitudes, etc., both routinely and during major incidents where multiple aircraft are working in close proximity.

 

[mondaro]

Matt,

Thanks for taking time out and relaying this information, Awesome stuff, also a buddy of mine (BCPD) who works the Baseball games tells me they use 11A Tac 2 on the Baltimore City system when working details at Camden Yards. Hope that info helps, again thanks for all the info,

Tony

 

[ocguard]

Matt,

Thanks for taking time out and relaying this information, Awesome stuff, also a buddy of mine (BCPD) who works the Baseball games tells me they use 11A Tac 2 on the Baltimore City system when working details at Camden Yards. Hope that info helps, again thanks for all the info,

Tony

Yep. Any of the non-district talk groups on the BPD radio template are eligible for some pretty cool stuff to hear. Many of the vice/narc guys apparently think they're encrypted because they have no filter on their talk groups. There are also a new set of talk groups on the city's P25 (ECALL/ETAC) that are suppose to be available in every public safety/public service radio on the city's system. You can put them in your scan list, but I can tell you that as of now, I have never heard them used, including during the riots and the blizzard.

 

[ThePhotoGuy]

There are also a new set of talk groups on the city's P25 (ECALL/ETAC) that are suppose to be available in every public safety/public service radio on the city's system. You can put them in your scan list, but I can tell you that as of now, I have never heard them used, including during the riots and the blizzard.

They were used during the Sailabrations in 2012 & 2014. They were very active.

One thing that is great about the City system is lack of widespread encryption.

 

[baydog]

Another helo freq with some activity is 159.7050 DCS 503,

 

[mondaro]

Thanks, this thread should serve as a great primer for anyone looking for the same info.
I found on another thread the Shock Trauma radios that the doctors carry are 463.1125
PL 167.9 for incoming notifications can anyone confirm that ?

 

[ocguard]

They were used during the Sailabrations in 2012 & 2014. They were very active.

One thing that is great about the City system is lack of widespread encryption.

I just looked back at the IAPs for the blizzard and they were apparently used then, too. I guess I was too busy/indifferent/tired to notice.

Thanks, this thread should serve as a great primer for anyone looking for the same info.
I found on another thread the Shock Trauma radios that the doctors carry are 463.1125
PL 167.9 for incoming notifications can anyone confirm that ?

I can confirm this. But I was the one who posted it in the other thread, so I'm not sure that counts!

 

[mondaro]

Thanks Again for everyone that responded, I head down on Friday for the opening weekend of Baseball I hoped my brother requested a high room, I also request the highest floor when I stay in downtown Baltimore.

 

[marksmith]

I just looked back at the IAPs for the blizzard and they were apparently used then, too. I guess I was too busy/indifferent/tired to notice.



I can confirm this. But I was the one who posted it in the other thread, so I'm not sure that counts!

Command and control for snow clearing operations were in the etac channels. They were fairly busy for about a week.

Sent from my LG-V410 using Tapatalk

 

[skyteam11]

For the most part, we use 123.025 to talk about what is going on. That is place to go to see what is happening. Most of the helicopter traffic uses that freq. to communicate.

 

[mondaro]

I am down over this weekend at the Inner Harbor, THANK YOU so much everyone for helping with the information, Captain Roy send me an email address I will forward you a shot I took of your helicopter flying over Oriole Park on Friday evening.

All the best everyone !!

Tony