Shenandoah National Park

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Atown11

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Hello,

I'm planning a trip to Shenandoah NP, looking at staying at Big Meadows for a few days. How much encryption does the park use? Can I expect to hear some DC area agencies? How is FM reception? I've been high up in mountains in PA before, so I am hoping a 3500' mountaintop will provide some nice surprises.

Leo
 

QDP2012

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Hello,

I'm planning a trip to Shenandoah NP, looking at staying at Big Meadows for a few days. How much encryption does the park use? Can I expect to hear some DC area agencies? How is FM reception? I've been high up in mountains in PA before, so I am hoping a 3500' mountaintop will provide some nice surprises.

Leo

In case you might find it useful, take a look at the Travel Reference (VA) B.R.P.#Skyline Drive RR Wiki page, which contains a a table that lists which STARS tower covers the different segments of the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park. Big Meadows is listed at mile marker 51.0.

It is not likely that you will hear many signals from very-far outside of the park, (though usually you can hear the adjacent county's emergency services), because most of the camping or lodging areas are surrounded by lots of trees and hills. You might hear more signals if you stop at a scenic-overlook where you have clear line-of-sight for miles. As wfrd140 noted, the NPS LEOs are usually encrypted.

Hope this helps,
 

Ghstwolf62

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I pick up three of there frequencies which are SNP according to my sheet.

166.900 is P25 and about 70% encrypted.

173.7625 is P25 and about 80+% open

and 172.650 which is P25 and about 80+% open

Hope this helps.
 

dlwtrunked

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I pick up three of there frequencies which are SNP according to my sheet.

166.900 is P25 and about 70% encrypted.

173.7625 is P25 and about 80+% open

and 172.650 which is P25 and about 80+% open

Hope this helps.

Note that all the sites are simulcast even though they are on different frequencies so in actuality all the above percentages are exactly the same.

This page has all 7 sites.
Federal Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference
The control point is on Hogback Mt. and linked to all the other 6 sites with links in 406-420 MHz. Though the repeaters are P25, the links to/from Hogback are non-P25 digital.) Some overlooks near there (like Rattlesnake Point Overlook) give great reception of the entire N VA area
 

Ghstwolf62

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I was not aware of that but I get a lot more encrypted traffic on 166.9 than on the other freqs even so.

I can't explain it but its true
 

dlwtrunked

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I was not aware of that but I get a lot more encrypted traffic on 166.9 than on the other freqs even so.

I can't explain it but its true

I watch the frequencies simultaneously on a spectrum analyzer so I know all 7 are always simultaneously keyed. It could be that you have trouble receiving some of the locations so that when they are not encrypted, they are often so corrupted that they sound encrypted--that can happen.
 

Ghstwolf62

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I don't know. Its coming in clear here especially on my 600. Encrypted stuff doesn't register on my 436 of course but it does on the 600 and the 668
 
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