Maryland Aviation Admin BWI Tower

[bear105]

Thought a new thread was in order now that the new tower is in Comms testing.

I submitted a few talkgroups that heard the "possible" channel ID. But there were a host of other talkgroups today with only "testing testing" heard on the audio.

TG40 - refered to as TAC1
TG42 - TAC2
TG45 - maybe TAC3
TG16 - "this is the radio tech"
TG38 - ALOT of hits but no specifics

Others being tested:
TG13, TG14, TG41, TG43, TG46 and some I-Calls.

 

[bear105]

Testing on talkgroup 25 today. 5 by 5 from tthe CDC. Anybody know what that is???

 

[troymail]

Testing on talkgroup 25 today. 5 by 5 from tthe CDC. Anybody know what that is???

Heard that ID mentioned for the first time during the activity surrounding the flights from Cyprus (Lebanon). I assumed Center for Disease Control (CDC) [since all these people came into the US with little or no notice/planning] I'm probably way off...

:roll:

Ah! Made me look -- and I was right!

http://www.airportbusiness.com/article/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=7311

 

[TinEar]

Can someone tell me what those talkgroups really are....if I'm programming them into a Uniden scanner? Thank you.

Edit: Nevermind...this is an APCO 25 system, right? So the talkgroups are exactly as stated.

 

[troymail]

Can someone tell me what those talkgroups really are....if I'm programming them into a Uniden scanner? Thank you.

Edit: Nevermind...this is an APCO 25 system, right? So the talkgroups are exactly as stated.

yeah - always something new to get used to.... and that's the fun in it!

 

[troymail]

Fianlly - I heard the grid testing today on TG25... sounded like they are going through some acceptance testing.... I was on Fort Meade close to 295/32 and they sounded pretty good - particularly for digital. The overall signal still seems somewhat weak but I could hear them.

I was sitting outside in Severn yesterday and the signal was pretty strong but it drops off pretty badly as soon as I walk inside the house.

 

[scansomd]

System frequencies

Sorry to jump in on this - but what are the system frequencies? Is this a new trunked system? I fly out of BWI often enough that it's worth my time to program the PRO 96 for it....

 

[TinEar]

Freqs were in the first message on this thread....
http://www.radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42476

Believe they are also in the database now.

Alan

 

[troymail]

More grid (acceptance?) testing today -- units up on TG 27 (possibly refered to as "BWI Event") testing grids like "echo 1", "echo 2", "echo 3", etc..... testing radios in the MAA system on TG 27 and then switching to the AA County system and doing the same grid location on TAC-2 and then a test on Howard "COM4" and then Baltimore County "Radio Repair" and then Baltimore City TG 30976

Mobile unit told to try to go to "ATAC4" but they couldn't get that to work.

 

[TommyP]

Grid testing is part of the system acceptance testing. It is accomplished by dividing the service area of the system in to grids/squares (size can very) and testing radios in each grid. The tests are usually voice quality tests and is judged by a team of people from both the agency and the vendor (Motorola in this case). A certain percentage of squares must pass based on the negotiated contract.

ATAC4 was probably 8TAC4.

TP

 

[troymail]

Although acceptance testing seems to be continuing, there appears to be some small amount of regular activity on TG 28 -- can't really identify it yet but it was active during yesterday's testing and they're active again today...


Yesterday's testing sounded like it wasn't going too well (I heard them fail alot of zones). They tested on BWI TG 27, then AA County 4-C, Howard County, Balt City and County, and the 800 Mhz Interop I-TAC4.... They mentioned some case where they couldn't even affiliate into the some of the county systems... sounded like the tests were from inside the terminal building this time.

 

[troymail]

I heard what seems to be more routine traffic today on this system... TG 25 sounds like facilities or something.... comms re: clogged drains, overflowing toilets, etc.; also had activity on another TG (46?) where one side was encrypted and the other was not....