Guatemala Frequency Findings

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IcomIcR20

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***PART 1 OF 2***

Hello all,

I just recently returned from a trip from Guatemala and brought along a scanner and SDR to see what the scanning world was like down there. A few important notes:

1. Most of my scanning occurred at a high spot near Lake Atitlan so many of the systems I heard where quite a distance from my location. I did do some scanning in Guatemala City, but had very little time there so I didn't gather much data. I did do some monitoring while between and in Lake Atitlan and Guatemala City.
2. I have limited knowledge of Spanish so I was not able to identify the users of many frequencies.



With that said, lets get into my findings. I will start with trunking systems first (site locations are approximate):

System Type: DMR Tier III (HYT)
Network: L13
System Voice: DMR (Unencrypted)

Site 1.1 (Guatemala City) (DCC=1) -- 404.74875c; 404.99875 (LCN 801/802); 405.24875 (LCN 841/842); 404.49875 (LCN 881/882)
Site 2.1 (Guatemala City) (DCC=2) -- 404.77375c; 405.27375 (LCN 845)
Site 3.1 (Unknown Loc) (DCC=3) -- 405.26125c
Site 7.1 (Guatemala City) (DCC=7) -- 404.78625c; 405.28625 (LCN 822)
Site 9.1 (Guatemala City) (DCC=9) -- 404.79875c; 405.04875 (LCN 810)

Talkgroups:
6685675
6685679
6685000
6685819



System Type: DMR Tier III (HYT)
Network: L
System Voice: DMR (Unencrypted)

Site 2 (DCC=2) -- 417.050c (LCN 1129/1130); 417.300 (LCN 1169/1170); 417.5625 (LCN 1211/1212); 417.8375 (LCN 1255/1256)
Site 3 (DCC=3) -- 417.025c (LCN 1125/1126); 417.125 (LCN 1141); 417.275 (LCN 1165/1166); 417.375 (LCN 1182/1181); 417.5375 (LCN 1207/1208); 417.625 (LCN 1221/1222); 417.8125 (LCN 1251/1252); 417.875 (LCN 1261/1262)
Site 4 (DCC=4) -- 417.0625c (LCN 1131/1132); 417.425 (LCN 1189/1190); 417.575 (LCN 1213/1214); 417.850 (LCN 1257/1258)

Talkgroups:
6684684
6684685
6684686
6684687
6684688
6684689
6684704
6684875
6684975
6684980



System Type: LTR
System Voice: Analog FM

Site 1 (Lake Atitlan area) -- 866.6875 (LCN 5); 867.1875 (LCN 9); 868.4875 (LCN 10); 868.3625 (LCN 17)

Talkgroups:
0-05-065
0-10-080
0-10-098
0-10-123
0-10-128
0-17-131
0-17-152


System Type: Motorola SmartZone 851
System Voice: Unknown
Connect Tone: 105.88

Site 003 (Unknown Loc) = 854.53125c; 854.9375a; 860.0375a; 860.2875a



System Type: DMR CAP+
System Voice: DMR (Unencrypted)
Notes: Seems to have a wide coverage footprint

Site 2 (DCC=2) -- 433.775 (LCN 1); 430.525 (LCN 2); 432.550 (LCN 3)

Talkgroups:
9
10
11
12
26
27
33
34
35
37
39
42



System Type: DMR CAP+
System Voice: DMR (Unencrypted)

Site 1 (DCC=5) (Guatemala City) -- 433.150 (LCN 1); 436.8125 (LCN 3); 437.675 (LCN 5)

Talkgroups:
10
12
15
16
17
18



System Type: DMR CAP+
System Voice: DMR (Unencrypted)

Site 1 (DCC=2) (Guatemala City) -- 436.975 (LCN 1); 437.975 (LCN 2)

Talkgroups:
42
 

IcomIcR20

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***PART 2 OF 2***

Here are the conventional frequencies that I made note of although I know I wasn't able to write them all down:

Identified Users:

Received in Lake Atitlan Area:

450.525 DCS=125 -- Work Crew (Panajachel)
470.500 DCS=073 Policia Municipal de Transito (Panajachel)
467.850 DCS=025 -- City of San Marcos

Received in Guatemala City:

409.9125 CTCSS=114.8 - La Aurora International Airport - Operations
450.275 DCS=023 - La Aurora International Airport - Baggage Screening?
462.6625 DCS=032 - La Aurora International Airport - Unknown User

Unidentified Users:

Received in Lake Atitlan Area:

151.6200 FM CTCSS=203.5
152.61875 DMR DCC3 TG=1100
154.6000 FM DCS=251
156.1200 DMR DCC2 TG=17021
156.3000 FM CSQ
156.4850 FM CTCSS=146.2
158.6400 FM CTCSS=110.9
159.0250 FM CTCSS=210.7
159.4700 FM CTCSS=203.5
159.9850 FM CTCSS=156.7
160.0200 FM CTCSS=131.8
161.10625 FM CTCSS=97.4
405.5000 FM DCS=047 - Unknown Sololá User
408.2250 DMR DCC4 TG=100
417.0125 FM CTCSS=146.2 - Possibly Taxi/Transportation Service?
417.2375 DMR DCC1 TG=41/42 **ENC**
417.3125 FM CTCSS=146.2 - Possibly Taxi/Transportation Service?
417.3375 FM CTCSS=146.2 - Possibly Taxi/Transportation Service?
419.6500 FM CTCSS=118.8
421.4875 DMR DCC2 TG=1200/1300
424.9000 FM CTCSS=74.4
427.3125 FM CTCSS=146.2 (INPUT?)
455.0500 DMR DCC9 TG=8936/1300
455.0875 DMR DCC3 TG=61307/61310
460.1125 DMR DCC1 TG=1100/1600
465.0000 FM CTCSS=67.0
465.1250 FM DCS=073
466.2250 FM CTCSS=107.2

Received in Guatemala City:

411.4375 NX4 TG 1 RAN=10
412.0375 FM CTCSS=127.3
430.8500 FM CTCSS=77.0
453.0625 DMR DCC? **ENC** TG=?
454.0750 FM DCS=036
464.5250 NX4 RAN=10 TG=?
464.9625 FM CTCSS 94.8
466.8750 DMR DCC5 TG=600
468.6250 FM DCS=114
470.1625 FM CTCSS=203.5
470.6000 FM CTCSS=173.8
473.3875 FM CTCSS=103.5


Other Notes:

The PMT personnel that I saw were carrying Kenwood HTs in Panjachel and a PMT unit I saw in Sololá was carrying a Baofeng UV-82.

At least in the Lake Atitlan area, the police that I saw were not carrying HTs. The trucks each had a small mag-mount on the roof, but I was not able to see if there was a radio inside.

I did not note any P25 or TETRA traffic. 800 MHz usage was mostly sparse. I did not note any VHF Lo band activity after a few hours of scanning it in the Lake Atitlan area.
 

BC_Scan

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Aug 26, 2006
Messages
664
Location
Vancouver BC
You are a brave person, I would not contemplate bringing a receiver to a country I think might be confiscated or put into jail because of restricted equipment ? But it's great none the less to have an idea of what is going on in a given area, perhaps not knowing the local language or having a translator. Its great to visit new places and discover something previously unknown. Thanks for that.
 

Rishayan

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Messages
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Location
Hershey, Pa.
Thank you so much for the information, and yes indeed, you are very brave. But the great discoveries of the world were often made by brave foreigners who risked a lot and often did not obey local laws, to bring back important or interesting information. I recently complied quite a bit of information of VHF and UHF communications in southern Mexico, and it is interesting to see the similarities in frequency usage with Guatemala. Great report, just don't let anyone see your equipment, and make sure it is well hidden if you pass any checkpoints.
 

jaspence

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Messages
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I have been to Guatemala several times. I received a permission letter from the radio society there (ARRL equivalent) and have had no problems taking an HT and scanner. The only obstacle I encountered was my lack of fluent Spanish, and I heard no comms in English. I would be careful in the cities, but haven't had any customs problems entering or leaving the country.
 
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