Demonstrations in D.C. this week — anyone planning to record?

[footage]

Is anyone living or working near downtown DC planning to record traffic on FRS, GMRS, MURS, Baofeng factory defaults and other similar freqs this week? I'm not interested in LE traffic (which will mostly be encrypted) but would very much appreciate recordings of demonstrators' communications. This is for my academic research.

 

[maus92]

One should also watch frequencies in the amatuer radio service, as modded ham equipment is used by some of the militia groups.

 

[Chris52]

Just listen to the GMRS and ham bands .....

 

[footage]

I would do this but I'm in California.

 

[maus92]

Lots of Baofengs and fake AN/PRC-152s. The militia were geared up and threatening the cops - I heard one say: "You better keep your head on a swivel tonight." I staged my truck a few blocks away and set the radio to record MURS, GMRS, Marine radio, and FRS. I'll check to see what traffic I recorded, but as you can imagine, people were constantly stepping on each other.

 

[spacellamaman]

feel free to post the recordings

 

[maus92]

Didn't happen - user error

 

[spacellamaman]

ARGGGHH

 

[maus92]

ARGGGHH

I got it working now - I just never use the recording function. From the few minutes that I listened to live traffic, it was mostly people coordinating where they were and where to meet. There was a ton of traffic, so it was difficult to follow full conversations. As one could expect, cellular service was overwhelmed and unreliable (at least using Verizon.) I did hear one sequence where one person instructed another to switch to "Papa" - a tourist family typically doesn't use the phonetic alphabet. Another "event" is scheduled for the 17th starting at the Washington "Memorial" (no such thing btw.)

On a side note. The Capitol Police comms are encrypted. However, when I was standing next to a Capitol Police vehicle last Wednesday, I will never forget what I heard a dispatcher say on their radio: "We cannot guarantee the security of the Rotunda." Chilling.

 

[spacellamaman]

well good time to practice recording so you are ready for the next round. recording set to on or off? its worse than an alarm clock AM or PM setting.

 

[maus92]

well good time to practice recording so you are ready for the next round. recording set to on or off? its worse than an alarm clock AM or PM setting.

The menu system does not reference a recording function, other than replay on and off. Turns out that recording is activated by keypresses. I have a test running since yesterday.

 

[maus92]

I did a test run yesterday in DC - works. Mostly business related. Some scrambling. Caught a few transmissions using callsigns, but then the control point started talking about lunch breaks, so prob private security.

 

[footage]

I did a test run yesterday in DC - works. Mostly business related. Some scrambling. Caught a few transmissions using callsigns, but then the control point started talking about lunch breaks, so prob private security.

Can you focus on GMRS, FRS and the like? Would be interested to hear those.

 

[maus92]

Can you focus on GMRS, FRS and the like? Would be interested to hear those.

Yup, these are the services in the scan set, and where most traffic resides. The recording is predicated on where any vehicle can be staged in relation to the Capitol: most nearby streets are closed, the Mayor does not want visitors, The Mall is now closed, and there might be vehicle checkpoints entering the city. We'll see.

 

[spacellamaman]

Yup, these are the services in the scan set, and where most traffic resides. The recording is predicated on where any vehicle can be staged in relation to the Capitol: most nearby streets are closed, the Mayor does not want visitors, The Mall is now closed, and there might be vehicle checkpoints entering the city. We'll see.

there was some discussion of the common default channels in the Cheap Chinese Radios this summer that i thought might be worth running thru for situations like this. or at least the Channel 1's.

 

[maus92]

there was some discussion of the common default channels in the Cheap Chinese Radios this summer that i thought might be worth running thru for situations like this. or at least the Channel 1's.

It makes sense, but to do it right, I would need multiple radio recording monitors to cover all the channels. As it was, traffic was non-stop during the insurrection, so following any one conversation was just about impossible.

 

[spacellamaman]

It makes sense, but to do it right, I would need multiple radio recording monitors to cover all the channels. As it was, traffic was non-stop during the insurrection, so following any one conversation was just about impossible.

yeahhh, thats a problem. drinking from a firehose.

 

[chrismol1]

I'm sure theres multiple programs out there but I use often use SDRTrunk's scanning and recording function of individual channels as they are received. With more tuners and ports I dont know but the possibilties seem endless. SDR Sharp also has a butt load of addons to achieve the same result with scanner and recording addon

 

[maus92]

I'm sure theres multiple programs out there but I use often use SDRTrunk's scanning and recording function of individual channels as they are received. With more tuners and ports I dont know but the possibilties seem endless. SDR Sharp also has a butt load of addons to achieve the same result with scanner and recording addon

I does seem like 2 airspys (1 VHF 1 UHF) each with several VFO could do the job if one had a workstation class laptop with the horsepower and thermal load capability, and sufficient 12v power. Sadly, my Dell tends to overheat and shut down when asking it to do too much continuous processing.

 

[PrivatelyJeff]

You would think the government would find a way to create interference on those bands during that time.