MSP Frequency 39.10

[TinEar]

What have you heard on this freq? All I've ever come across on a somewhat regular basis is "MVA Communications" talking with various units about current driver information. The mobile units that contact this station are usually 4-digit numbers and not in the normal state police format. I guess I hear this so well because I'm in Glen Burnie just a few miles from the MVA. I've never heard anything but them on this freq.

 

[fourwd1]

Yeah, I hear that. Used to hear hear various Sheriffs depts around the state, DOC units. Have also heard units sitting in court parking lots running every tag looking for owners with outstanding warrants.

 

[doctordave]

Yep - very little use by MSP these days, since MSP cars can access all agency frequencies and usually just switch to the appropriate barrack channel if they are working out of their usual area.....and few agencies operate on low-band in MD now, so the benefit of a statewide low-band mutual aid freq is falling off a bit.....nonetheless, all MSP installations closely monitor 39.1.

39.26 MARNIS, as well, has not been used in recent years to my knowledge....formerly got regular use as a crosspatch freq into other freqs in the Balt metro area (via 2 barracks w/ the crosspatch equipment). It was rather akin to the use of 39.56 for patches into Balt Co PD talkgroups.

 

[TinEar]

I finally heard something other than MVA Communications on this frequency. Unfortunately, I came in close to the end of a roll call and only got the following stations being called:

House of Corrections (I presume Jessup)
Perkins State Hospital
MSP Waterloo (he called it with the letters M-S-P)
Detention Center Baltimore City
MCIJ

Any idea who/where MCIJ might be? (Maryland Correctional Institute, Jessup???) If so, this could be a jail net of some type. MSP Waterloo would be the responding unit for the Jessup prisons in case of trouble.

Alan

 

[n3bxv]

Any idea who/where MCIJ might be?

You are correct, sir, the Maryland Correctional Institution - Jessup.
http://www.dpscs.state.md.us/doc/mcij.shtml

Perkins State Hospital, aka Clifton T. Perkins Hospital, is the Max Security Prison and Psychiatric Hospital also located in Jessup http://www.dhmh.state.md.us/perkins/

Definately sounds like a corrections connection.

Chuck

 

[TinEar]

Yes, it sure does. I hope to catch this again to recover the full list within this net. As I've mentioned elsewhere, there is a base station control that operates on 158.97 and the full net with the base control and all the various guard posts on 153.905 for the Jessup prison complex. It's a fairly active net and also does a roll call at the beginning of each shift which provides a glimpse of just how many guard posts and roving guards are involved. Midnight shift roll is taken at 00:15-00:30 and ongoing shifts every eight hours thereafter.

Chuck, I was surprised to learn from that link you provided that Perkins is part of the Maryland Department of Health & Mental Hygiene as opposed to the Corrections arm of the state government. Interesting.

Alan

 

[doctordave]

Yep - Perkins is really a tremendously guarded mental hospital for super dangerous psych patients....home for the John Thanos types of the world. Had the opportunity to visit about a decade ago....very much has the feel of Alcatrez. Says a lot about the nature of the facility when they have a full-time counter-assault team standing by 24/7.

Dave

 

[Dispatcher308]

You all probably don't care but we have the Capability to Transmit on 39.10 up here where I work at. I have never had to use it up here but we just don't have things in our Orbacomms if we didn't for some reason or another need them.

Food for Thought

 

[TinEar]

A-haaa! Hint taken. Thanks Nathan.

 

[TinEar]

I heard part of the roll call for that "jail" net again so can add a couple more users. In addition to what I posted above:

Brockbridge Correctional Facility
Towson Boot Camp

The last time they called "Detention Center, Baltimore City." This time they called "Home Detention Unit, Baltimore City." I guess those are one and the same, right? And this time they used the full name for "Clifton T. Perkins Hospital."

A burst of noise just as they identified the net at the end of the roll call allowed me to only copy:
"----Justice Warning System"
So it's going to take yet another listen to get the identify of the net and the rest of the roll.

[Edit] Add MCIW to the roll. I guess that's Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in Jessup. Last night they signed off with a different name for the net that again I could not copy the whole thing. It ended with "...Emergency One Net" or "...Emergency Warning Net."

 

[ka3jjz]

I heard part of the roll call for that "jail" net again so can add a couple more users. In addition to what I posted above:

Brockbridge Correctional Facility
Towson Boot Camp

The last time they called "Detention Center, Baltimore City." This time they called "Home Detention Unit, Baltimore City." I guess those are one and the same, right? And this time they used the full name for "Clifton T. Perkins Hospital."

A burst of noise just as they identified the net at the end of the roll call allowed me to only copy:
"----Justice Warning System"
So it's going to take yet another listen to get the identify of the net and the rest of the roll.

[Edit] Add MCIW to the roll. I guess that's Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in Jessup. Last night they signed off with a different name for the net that again I could not copy the whole thing. It ended with "...Emergency One Net" or "...Emergency Warning Net."

Hmm, sounds like I need to make some annotations on the Grove MSP page and get that submitted posthaste...
Alan, it does sound like you have a job for Scanner Recorder or RecAll....73s Mike

 

[Dispatcher308]

Alan when does this net appear to take place and I will try to listen to the Net from hear at work Hopefully I will be able to hear them since this is a 39 mhz tuned radio and antenna. I am listening to it right now.

 

[TinEar]

Nathan, the roll call seems to be done most nights between midnight and 15 minutes after. It would sure help if you could fill in this net with a good receiver/antenna setup for 39 mHz. I'm trying to do it with just the radio whip. The base station/control station is far enough away that I receive it with noise and it's fairly weak. I'd appreciate whatever you can add.

Last night I only heard a single transmission that was:
MSP Waterloo - Patuxent 10-97.
And that was it.

 

[Dispatcher308]

Roger that I can listen. I am hear all night so I will listen and advise.

 

[ka3jjz]

Roger that I can listen. I am hear all night so I will listen and advise.

Nathan and others - you might be able to get by using one of the free recorders (such as Scanner Recorder), hook up the scanner and use Task Scheduler to launch the app at the appropriate time. That way, if you're called away for something, you won't miss much.

To be honest, I've never had to use Task Scheduler all that much; but in theory, it should work just fine. There is an article in the Sept MT (starts on pg.16) about using other freeware schedulers to download audio from the net on off hours, but the idea is almost the same....

73s Mike

 

[Dispatcher308]

No Roll Call while I was listening around midnight. However I have been hearing JFK HY saying their call sign KIL 718


I will be listening all night however

 

[ka3jjz]

No Roll Call while I was listening around midnight. However I have been hearing JFK HY saying their call sign KIL 718


I will be listening all night however

Actually, there was, I think - around 15 mins past, I caught someone saying Patuxent Institution 10-2...it was the only thing I heard. I live right behind the MVA, so it's possible I missed some due to desense. I wonder if the institutions rotate on a schedule for the role call?

There's an easier way than using Task Scheduler to capture this stuff. RecAll and RecAll Pro have the ability to sit and wait until a certain time, record for let's say an hour, then go back to sleep. In fact, the Pro version allows you to define multiple events to capture. You can set it up to start recording when it awakes.

They can be found, I believe, at http://www.sagebrush.com
The popular Scanner Recorder *might* have a similar capability. It's free, so you lose nothing by trying it. Heck, no sense losing any sleep...

73s Mike

 

[TinEar]

Okay, my hearing impaired friends. (just a bit of a lol)

The roll call took place beginning at 00:05. There are no additional units to add to those I've listed above. The only one I'm not entirely sure about is the Towson Boot Camp. The first time I heard it I was sure they said "Towson" but now I'm not so sure. The "Boot Camp" part is accurate though.

The unit doing the roll call is called Patuxent Control. In a couple of calls after the end of the roll call, he refers to himself as Patuxent Institution. The roll call last night began with no introduction as usual. He just comes on the air and starts the roll call with MCIW, MCIJ, etc. At the end of the roll call, he advised everyone to return their radios to Channel 1. Last night he did not use an identifier at the end of roll call to identify the net as I've heard in the past. It's purpose though is fairly clear. It's use is as a warning net should there be trouble at the prisons. The only thing we need to clear up is the name of the Boot Camp that's part of the roll.

Alan

 

[wadeless28]

How about the Tolson Boot Camp as in the Herman L. Tolson Boot Camp on Brockbridge Road. I believe it is Maryland's 1st Correctional Boot Camp.

Mike

 

[TinEar]

Bingo Mike! You've got it. Thank you. The "Herman L" part of the name was given last night that I couldn't pick out of the hash but it's exactly what made me question the "Towson" ID. So now we've got the full list of participants in the net.

(Edit) The actual time of the start of roll call was 00:07. My radio room clock was off by two minutes when I checked it against the Atomic Clock this morning. I imagine this net uses fairly low power since everything is in a tight diameter with the Home Detention Unit, Baltimore City being the farthest out from Patuxent Control. I was so intent on copying the full list of stations called that I failed to check for a PL/DPL tone. I'll do that next time.