At the end of this month (July 26 - 29) the Democratic National Convention will be in Boston. On the positive side it is a chance for me to do some scanner listening. But on the negative side my homeward travel is likely to be slow and put me in a bad mood.
I thought I would share some information about Boston. I do not have any inside information but I have listened to Boston area public safety for some time although not an expert.
The event has alot of coverage in the local media. There are a number of websites that have information.
http://www.boston.com/
http://www.boston04.com/home.asp
Websites with area scanning information
http://www.scanboston.com/
http://lynx.dac.neu.edu/s/stjohnso/ematrunk/
http://home.comcast.net/~garys2/scanguide/Scan60.htm
It appears that traffic helicopters can not fly within 30 miles of Boston. Traffic will likely be a mess so I am planning on listening to the State Police talkgroups in my car for traffic info. My commute is mainly state highways so it may help. Road closures will generally be from 4 PM to 1 AM.
I guess the first piece of advice is to search around. There may be some special use frequencies that are not published. The national TAC channels on both UHF and 800 may be used. The Public Safety agencies involved use VHF, UHF, and 800 MHz.
The main venue, The Fleet Center, is in the northern part of the downtown area. The Boston rail station for rail lines lines north of Boston is adjacent. The City of Cambridge is just across the river. The major city artery, Interstate 93, is close by. As you can see from the news websites the public safety agencies will be very active because major parts of the transportation infrastructure will be closed.
The Fleet Center has a low power Motorola trunked radio system.
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=TRSDB&sid=2966
I am able to pick it up 8 miles away with a discone or an indoor 900 MHz beam.
Currently they are setting up for the convention. Traffic on the system may only consist of rest room floodings and cues for balloon drops but you never know.
The Boston Police use a number of conventional frequencies in the 460 MHz range. Downtown is in area A. I assume that TAC channels will be used but the main Area A channel may be interesting because it covers alot of the area affected by the road closures in Boston proper. The Public Safety agencies have talkgroups on the Boston City Services but they are seldom used.
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=TRSDB&sid=166
This event will affect the cities and towns north of Boston so listening to Cambridge, Somerville, Malden, Medford, Everett, and Revere may be interesting. Cambridge has a trunked system that just converted from Motorola Type 1 to Type 2. Cambridge also has some UHF and 800 simplex TAC frequencies. Boston and the other locations I mentioned are part of BAPERN. BAPERN 2 is a set of regional interagency channels. BAPERN 3 and BAPERN 4 are systemwide interagency channels. BAPERN 2 North, BAPERN 3, and BAPERN 4 might be interesting listening.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts trunked system has been very active in past big Boston events. The State Police patrol the major highways that will be closed and will provide troopers for security.
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=TRSDB&sid=736
Troop A covers the area north of Boston. Troop H covers Boston and south of Boston. Troop E covers the Massachusetts Turnpike (Interstate 90) and the Boston Tunnels. Troop F covers Logan Airport (East Boston). Boston is covered by two smartzones on the trunked system. Zone 5 covers the Greater Metro Boston area and is likely to be the most active. It has the State Police talkgroups. The SOPS and LOCPS talkgroups are likely to be used. Zone 1 covers the immediate area around Boston and is used for the Big Dig, MWRA, and MDC talkgroups. The MDC Ranger talkgroups might be interesting in Zone 1. Troop F is mainly on the Massport Trunked System.
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=TRSDB&sid=165
The new underground sections of roadway (Liberty Tunnel, I-90) and Ted Williams Tunnel have their own smartzones. Unfortunely if you are stuck in one of these places because of a traffic jam you can only hear state police talkgroups if a state police car is affiliated with the same zone.
Some state police cars still have low band capability and the old VHF-Low frequencies are sometimes used as a car to car channel.
MBTA Police frequencies may be interesting since the MBTA will be closing stations and conducting ramdom searches of passengers.
I am not familiar with Federal frequencies. I assume there will be secret service agents. I need to do some research as to possible frequencies.
73 Eric
I thought I would share some information about Boston. I do not have any inside information but I have listened to Boston area public safety for some time although not an expert.
The event has alot of coverage in the local media. There are a number of websites that have information.
http://www.boston.com/
http://www.boston04.com/home.asp
Websites with area scanning information
http://www.scanboston.com/
http://lynx.dac.neu.edu/s/stjohnso/ematrunk/
http://home.comcast.net/~garys2/scanguide/Scan60.htm
It appears that traffic helicopters can not fly within 30 miles of Boston. Traffic will likely be a mess so I am planning on listening to the State Police talkgroups in my car for traffic info. My commute is mainly state highways so it may help. Road closures will generally be from 4 PM to 1 AM.
I guess the first piece of advice is to search around. There may be some special use frequencies that are not published. The national TAC channels on both UHF and 800 may be used. The Public Safety agencies involved use VHF, UHF, and 800 MHz.
The main venue, The Fleet Center, is in the northern part of the downtown area. The Boston rail station for rail lines lines north of Boston is adjacent. The City of Cambridge is just across the river. The major city artery, Interstate 93, is close by. As you can see from the news websites the public safety agencies will be very active because major parts of the transportation infrastructure will be closed.
The Fleet Center has a low power Motorola trunked radio system.
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=TRSDB&sid=2966
I am able to pick it up 8 miles away with a discone or an indoor 900 MHz beam.
Currently they are setting up for the convention. Traffic on the system may only consist of rest room floodings and cues for balloon drops but you never know.
The Boston Police use a number of conventional frequencies in the 460 MHz range. Downtown is in area A. I assume that TAC channels will be used but the main Area A channel may be interesting because it covers alot of the area affected by the road closures in Boston proper. The Public Safety agencies have talkgroups on the Boston City Services but they are seldom used.
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=TRSDB&sid=166
This event will affect the cities and towns north of Boston so listening to Cambridge, Somerville, Malden, Medford, Everett, and Revere may be interesting. Cambridge has a trunked system that just converted from Motorola Type 1 to Type 2. Cambridge also has some UHF and 800 simplex TAC frequencies. Boston and the other locations I mentioned are part of BAPERN. BAPERN 2 is a set of regional interagency channels. BAPERN 3 and BAPERN 4 are systemwide interagency channels. BAPERN 2 North, BAPERN 3, and BAPERN 4 might be interesting listening.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts trunked system has been very active in past big Boston events. The State Police patrol the major highways that will be closed and will provide troopers for security.
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=TRSDB&sid=736
Troop A covers the area north of Boston. Troop H covers Boston and south of Boston. Troop E covers the Massachusetts Turnpike (Interstate 90) and the Boston Tunnels. Troop F covers Logan Airport (East Boston). Boston is covered by two smartzones on the trunked system. Zone 5 covers the Greater Metro Boston area and is likely to be the most active. It has the State Police talkgroups. The SOPS and LOCPS talkgroups are likely to be used. Zone 1 covers the immediate area around Boston and is used for the Big Dig, MWRA, and MDC talkgroups. The MDC Ranger talkgroups might be interesting in Zone 1. Troop F is mainly on the Massport Trunked System.
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=TRSDB&sid=165
The new underground sections of roadway (Liberty Tunnel, I-90) and Ted Williams Tunnel have their own smartzones. Unfortunely if you are stuck in one of these places because of a traffic jam you can only hear state police talkgroups if a state police car is affiliated with the same zone.
Some state police cars still have low band capability and the old VHF-Low frequencies are sometimes used as a car to car channel.
MBTA Police frequencies may be interesting since the MBTA will be closing stations and conducting ramdom searches of passengers.
I am not familiar with Federal frequencies. I assume there will be secret service agents. I need to do some research as to possible frequencies.
73 Eric
