On Board Marine One

[ericcarlson]

There was an interesting show on the National Geographic Channel last night about Marine One. I think it will rerun next on January 28. If you can watch it in HD, I recommend DVRing it. Be prepared to pause it around 8 minutes in for a shot of the frequency lists in the helicopter, including VHF, UHF, HF and SATCOM.

The transcribed VHF/UHF channel plan is here:
Marine Corps Base Quantico Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference
Those of you that can or do monitor these frequencies regularly may want to check it for any mistakes or new discoveries.

-Eric

 

[ka3jjz]

Some of those freqs look very questionable, I'm afraid. They don't even list the Reagan, Dulles and BWI freqs as Potomac TRACON, which is a dead giveaway. I'm betting this program used a pic from years ago.

* Ch 5 and 6 attributed to Reagan are incorrect

* Andrews tower UHF is 349.0 according to Airnav and our db, not 289.6 (ch 7). It's always possible they've moved, so this one probably needs more than a look

* 231.6 (ch 18) hasn't been used for BWI for years now.

* Andrews tower (ch.29) is 118.4, not 118.3 (transcription error?)

* Ch 31 could well be shared with ADW, but it's really TRACON Reagan's ADWAR sector frequency

Here are the 2 database entries for Dulles and Reagan;

Dulles airport (RRDB)

Reagan National (RRDB)

No doubt there are more errors there, hopefully from transcriptions rather than actual usage. If those were really used, their radio plan is woefully out of date. I would strongly recommend editing the erroneous values out of the listing, or perhaps removing the listing entirely.

Here is the Andrews listing which we've been somewhat painfully trying to get cleaned up. It's understandably hard to get accurate info here...

73 Mike

 

[avguy]

The future presidential helicopters fly over my house daily.

 

[freqhopping]

In black are good. In blue I can't vouch for them but many are new to me so I will plug them in. Red are incorrect. Corrections and notes are in bold.

318.90000 Ch. 1 BASE
340.10000 Ch. 2 MCB Quantico Ground NYG GND 121.75000
127.05000 Ch. 3 MCB Quantico Approach VHF-High NYG APP
360.20000 Ch. 4 MCB Quantico Tower UHF NYG TWR
229.40000 Ch. 5 Davison Army Airfield Tower UHF DAA TWR
257.60000 Ch. 6 Reagan National Airport UHF DCA TWR
289.60000 Ch. 7 Andrews Air Force Base Tower UHF ADW TWR 349.00000
275.80000 Ch. 8 Andrews Air Force Base Ground UHF ADW GND
231.30000 Ch. 9 Pentagon Army Heliport? Tower UHF JPAN TWR
375.00000 Ch. 10 Navy Heliport Anacostia NDV Known for Camp D
344.60000 Ch. 11 Andrews Air Force Base Metro ADW METRO
335.50000 Ch. 12 Andrews Air Force Base Radar UHF ADW RDR
378.10000 Ch. 13 Andrews Air Force Base Special Air Missions Desk SAM DESK
267.60000 Ch. 14 EETH-H
277.17500 Ch. 15 CONTROL
273.45000 Ch. 16 OUTSIDE BTWY May actually be 273.95 which is a known freq.
388.00000 Ch. 17 Dulles International Airport Tower UHF IAD TWR 348.6/317.8
231.60000 Ch. 18 Baltimore/Washington International Airport Approach U HF BWI APP
257.80000 Ch. 19 Baltimore/Washington International Airport Tower UHF BWI TWR
268.00000 Ch. 20 White House? WH
305.80000 Ch. 21 Sikorsky Heliport JSD In Connecticut
381.80000 Ch. 22 Coast Guard Air Station New York CGAS NY
241.00000 Ch. 23 FEMA Mount Weather? UHF FEMA
236.30000 Ch. 24 RFLUSH Known for HX-21 Base Ops at Patuxent
290.37500 Ch. 25 MCB Quantico Approach UHF NYG APP
118.60000 Ch. 26 MCB Quantico Tower VHF NYG TWR
126.30000 Ch. 27 Davison Army Airfield VHF DAA TWR
120.75000 Ch. 28 Reagan National Airport Tower VHF DCA TWR replaced on 1/15/09 by 134.35
118.30000 Ch. 29 Andrews Air Force Base Tower VHF ADW TWR 118.40000
121.80000 Ch. 30 Andrews Air Force Base Ground VHF ADW GND
119.30000 Ch. 31 Andrews Air Force Base Radar VHF ADW RDR
143.10000 Ch. 32 Pentagon Army Heliport Tower VHF JPN TWR
119.10000 Ch. 33 Reagan National Airport Tower VHF Alternate DCA TWR ALT
132.65000 Ch. 34 Reagan National Airport Automatic Terminal Information DCA ATIS
142.75000 Ch. 35 NIGHTHAWK
120.10000 Ch. 36 Dulles International Airport Tower VHF IAD TWR For 1R/19L. Also use 128.425 for 1L/19R
119.70000 Ch. 37 Baltimore/Washington International Airport Approach BWI APP
123.05000 Ch. 38 Washington Hospital Center MedSTAR MED STAR Standard helo to helo
126.20000 Ch. 39 FEMA Mount Weather? VHF FEMA
263.15000 Ch. 40 MCB Quantico (ATIS) NYG ATIS
30.15000 Ch. 41 BASE
41.95000 Ch. 42 MCB Quantico Tower VHF-Low NYG TWR
34.35000 Ch. 43 Navy Heliport Anacostia NDV
38.70000 Ch. 44 MCB Quantico Range Control RANGE CNTRL
41.00000 Ch. 45 Walter Reed Army Medical Center W. REED
41.10000 Ch. 46 Sikorsky Heliport? JSD


Some additional good ones not on the presets are 339.6 and 328.4 for Quantico Range Control.

 

[ericcarlson]

Transcription errors aside, it is what it is. I assume the current ATC stuff is well known but it's the non-ATC stuff that seems more interesting. I think the show was filmed in August for what's it worth.

-Eric

 

[ka3jjz]

Probably from a few years ago in August, since the TRACON came on line...anyway, it took some digging, but I finally found it on an old website. 231.6 used to be paired with 119.7 - that frequency is now 290.475

73 Mike

 

[SCPD]

avguy the potus helo looks like a h53 ? I thought I read somewhere its was going to be a British helo?

 

[mdulrich]

avguy the potus helo looks like a h53 ? I thought I read somewhere its was going to be a British helo?

PointNiner: New Presidential Helicopter Takes Flight

Mike

 

[avguy]

avguy the potus helo looks like a h53 ? I thought I read somewhere its was going to be a British helo?

US101 (VH-71A) All Weather Medium Lift Military Helicopter, USA / Europe - Air Force Technology

 

[CharlesDom]

I saw that show, it was pretty neat along with Air Force one. I'm in California so I envy you guys who are in NY and surrounding areas who are able to monitor some of the radio traffic there. Must be really interesting sometimes.

 

[MACKBOLAN05]

I agree with freqhopping that "OUTSIDE BTWY" is 273.9500 after looking closely at the list on the program.

 

[ka3jjz]

For that and other changes, click on the link below and use the 'submit' form at the top to get the changes entered into the database....73 Mike

Marine Corps Base Quantico Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

 

[jaymatt1978]

I'm surprised these are in the clear

 

[freqhopping]

I'm surprised these are in the clear

With ATC that's not possible. For everything else they have that option though there is no reason to unless the president is on board.

I heard them using encryption when I was in DC a few years back for the USAF memorial dedication. Bush was on the helo. He got a ride down from Camp David and back that afternoon.

 

[md_p97]

For what it is worth, when I was leaving work one evening last week...I heard on 292.2000, one pilot talking to another "push 133.775".

I hear them on 292.2000 all the time....surprised not to see it on the lists.

 

[freqhopping]

For what it is worth, when I was leaving work one evening last week...I heard on 292.2000, one pilot talking to another "push 133.775".

I hear them on 292.2000 all the time....surprised not to see it on the lists.

Those aren't Marines. They are USAF HS-1 from Andrews AFB, callsign MUSSELL.

 

[md_p97]

Those aren't Marines. They are USAF HS-1 from Andrews AFB, callsign MUSSELL.

Then that would explain why they aren't on the list!

 

[freqhopping]

267.6 is Bethesda Hospital. So the correct transcription of that preset ID would be BETH-H and not EETH-H. I just heard an Air Force HS-1 helo using it.