SW VA Federal Monitoring
Looking through the list of federal frequencies, I see tons of them, but how do I know, how can I tell which I can hear from here in VA?
I live in Bedford, right between Lynchburg and Roanoke. I have a lot of local frequencies plugged into the radio but none of them are federal. I'd like to sample some federal frequencies but I am not sure where to start in this area?
Can someone point me in the right direction?
Unfortunately per a monitoring friend in Roanoke there is less federal activity in the Roanoke than in the eastern part of the state. I can confirm that from my few monitoring effects when in Roanoke over the past few years. As others have posted, the BRP is active and you should have no problem receiving them from Apple Orchard Mtn. UHF fed activity is even more dismal than vhf. I never heard any UHF federal comms when in Roanoke.
One possible bright spot is this. For 20+ years the FBI has had a network of remote sites in state. Years ago I caught two radio techs doing a statewide system test. As they spoke I wrote. One of their remote sites is on Apple Orchard Mtn. at the common transmitter's site (i.e, FAA, etc.). As you know 99.9% of federal comms are encrypted but not all always are. Occasionally one or more transmissions may be in the clear such as I heard yesterday and some others this year. Since 9-11 the evolution of federal comms has and still is changing somewhat. Due to fiscal and interoperability constraints what used to be a dedicated FBI frequency at a remote site now may be a shared dispatch by other Homeland Security federal users. The recommendation to search 162-174 mhz. and 406-420 mhz. is a good one.
KEV360 encompasses 10 VA FBI field offices. One is in Roanoke. Here are some vhf frequencies which may or may not still be active for the RA there:
167.6250 ECC Poor Mountain
163.8875 ECC Poor Mountain
167.2875 Apple Orchard Mtn.
167.3125 Apple Orchard Mtn.
All NACs should be "167"
Yesterday on a dedicated vhf scan for federal users there was an in the clear hit on 168.9250 mhz. NAC 079 . The federal extract file of my master state frequency showed this to be a US Marshal frequency for DC and BWI Airport, MD. I live in central VA about 30 miles south of Richmond. Although I have a high tower and mast mounted preamped antennas and have excellent ground wave reception, this signal was quite strong and no inversion signal from the DC area. There is no 168.9250 US Marshal radio repeater in the Richmond area but yet I was hearing a US Marshal dispatch. He asked for a mobile's location. I did not hear the mobile respond. I should have if local. Then I recalled hearing this same frequency and in the clear dispatch when visiting my son in Manassas Park, VA this past April. I concluded the US Marshals are dispatching at selected in state and possibly out state dispatching. The mobile's response most likely was heard at a remote site and land lined back to DC just like the FBI in state remote sites operation.
You never know when something might pop up. Another quick example is last Friday suddenly in the clear simplex comms poped up on 415.1000 mhz. NAC 000 simplex which is a SS Protection training frequency for the DC area. That made no sense. After researching and confiding with a few serious monitors we concluded whomever it was were "out of towners" by their simplex HT comms using a factory default NAC. This was the first comm I had heard on this frequency ever. Like I said you never know.
Good Luck.
John
W4UVV
