Motorola trbo and nascar

[nascar29]

Question!

I know the teams are using digital radios as I have connections to one. They have to use an analog radio for driver to spotter and driver to crew chief communications BUT, most of them are using seperate digital radios to talk to the crews and for the crews of one company to talk among their teams without other teams (or NASCAR) being able to hear them. My question is how can we find the frequencies and what scanner do I need to hear them? I know the analog frequencies and I tried to look them up here on radio reference but I cannot find any of them for any of the teams. Does anyone know who actually holds the licenses for the freqs. used by NASCAR or any of the teams? I don't find them under the obvious names such as Racing Radios, Hendrick Motorsports etc. When I pull up a known freq. in the states of NC or FL (Corp. headquarters for NASCAR) the freqs. show up with a lot of license holder but none resemble anything close to a racing or radio electronics company.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[KG4KHQ]

Mototrbo

Sorry to bring up an old thread but I wanted to share some things I heard at Martinsville the other week.

At the events I have attended this year, I have noticed that the audio on 461.200 ( NASCAR Race Control) sounds like a patch between an analog channel and a digital channel. It sounds similar to patches one hears on a VHF or UHF simulcast of a P25 digital 800 mhz talkgroup in Public Safety radio but the audio seems more "underwater" or washed out" (subjective terms, I know). I would assume the difference is that between what P25 sounds like and what Mototrbo sounds like.

During the Martinsville race, some race team spotters were complaining to their drivers and crew chiefs about not being able to copy NASCAR while they were monitoring Race Control. I personally heard what sounded like digital breakup at one point while I was listening. (We call it going R2D2 at work). I also heard Race Control call Racing Radios on the frequency and asking how they copied the "rebroadcast" and also heard them doing test counts. It appears that NASCAR is conducting their business on Mototrbo but is allowing a patch ("rebroadcast") to the analog channel for race teams and the fans to hear. It should be noted that all race team communications that I heard were straight analog.

I really don't mean this as a criticism of Mototrbo, I think it was more of technical issue with the patch itself. I agree with the other posters that listening to scanners at NASCAR and other series races has become a big moneymaker and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

 

[nascar29]

Nice information to know. As for your hearing all the broadcasts. I know for a fact that most of the teams are using digital radios now for everything EXCEPT driver to spotter and crewchief. Nascar mandated that the radio for the driver must remain open. I understand the reasoning as thousands of fans listen to their favorite driver and Nascar does not want to upset anymore fans by locking down these transmisssions. That said, the crews are using two radios for most teams. They listen to the driver/spotter/ crew chief traffic over the open channel but talk among themselves over the digital radios and talk to other teams of the same car owner over them as well. My problem is that while I have contacts with in the teams, I cannot find all the digital frequencies and am wondering how they are licensing them.
Any ideas? I realize most people won't want to hear this traffic however, they might be very surprised at what is being said. If you have any ideas on how to find the actual frequencies let me know.

 

[Forts]

I brought a tapped scanner and a laptop with me to Charlotte for the All Star race back in May, but unfortunately I wasn't able to get very good RX in the campground. I was able to locate several TRBO frequencies in the 450/460mhz range (including a Capacity Plus system) but didn't get much further than that. For all I know some of that traffic may have been from unrelated systems in the area. I'm hoping to head to Michigan next year and give it a twirl there (and since MIS is sort of in the middle of nowhere there should be very little other activity in the area). I would be highly surprised if the team/crew channels, as well as NASCAR, were in the clear though. I fully expect they will have Privacy enabled.

 

[trumpetman]

If you've still got your notes from Charlotte in May, you could pass them this way. I live right down the road from the speedway and could see what I could figure out. I've never researched much for NASCAR, but having some information to start with might help me add to my notes.

Thanks!

 

[Forts]

Ummm.... I think I do! I will check my laptop later today and get back to you...