The Pope's Visit to DC

Status
Not open for further replies.

dtscho

Member
Database Admin
Joined
Aug 7, 2001
Messages
1,823
Location
Fredericksburg, VA
I've posted three blog entries on suggestions of things to monitor this week. I won't reproduce them here, since taken together they're kind of long, but here is the link to the blog once again:

http://dcscanning.blogspot.com/

If anyone has suggestions of other things to monitor, by all means let us know!

Thanks,
Dave
 

ka3jjz

Wiki Admin Emeritus
Joined
Jul 22, 2002
Messages
25,361
Location
Bowie, Md.
Dave, just thinking out loud here, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Blackjack helos weren't out in force flying low cover. They've been heard on 139.7 (AM) coordinating with Huntress, and I think the USCG reserved VHF channel 21a (157.05) or channel 23a (157.15) - which I think is more correct, come to think of it 73 Mike
 
Last edited:

dtscho

Member
Database Admin
Joined
Aug 7, 2001
Messages
1,823
Location
Fredericksburg, VA
ka3jjz said:
Dave, just thinking out loud here, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Blackjack helos weren't out in force flying low cover. They've been heard on 139.7 (AM) coordinating with Huntress, and I think the USCG reserved VHF channel 21a (157.05) or channel 23a (157.15) - which I think is more correct, come to think of it 73 Mike

Good point, Mike. I was just focusing on land mobile radio, but I'm sure they'll be active protecting the water and skies.

Dave
 

dtscho

Member
Database Admin
Joined
Aug 7, 2001
Messages
1,823
Location
Fredericksburg, VA
mike_s104 said:
What about some of the 380MHz trunked systems?

I didn't include the 380 MHz systems, because I didn't think they'd be used much. (I figure they'd be more active for a state funeral or an inauguration.)

The one exception I can think of would be the Andrews 380 system, which will certainly be active this afternoon for the arrival of "Shepherd 1."

Dave
 

freqhopping

Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2004
Messages
6,890
Location
Lo Co VA/ FM19
Sounds like TG 59952 on the MPD system is being used for the Pope detail. The 'package' was just secured. They also refer to the vehicle as "Sheperd-1" just like the aircraft.

Got UniTrunker running now, 59952 is a patch with Spec Ops Div 16656.
 
Last edited:

Dewey

Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2002
Messages
1,024
Many times, you may find details on several channels (talkgroups). You could have one channel for the the "package" to talk amongst themselves, then you could have another channel to coordinate traffic on the parade route, and another channel for another task, and so on, and so on.
 

dtscho

Member
Database Admin
Joined
Aug 7, 2001
Messages
1,823
Location
Fredericksburg, VA
Here's a recent blog post.

Dave
http://dcscanning.blogspot.com/

Yesterday was a long day, but I got a ton of good monitoring in. I left Fredericksburg at 5 AM, and arrived at Gravelly Point an hour later. For the next thirteen-and-a-half hours (!), I monitored just about every frequency range or trunked system I thought might be in use for the events.

I brought four handheld scanners: the GRE PSR-500, Uniden BCD396T, BC246T, and BC250D. The 500 was searching 162-174 and 406-420 MHz. The 396 was monitoring a bunch of things, including the 800 and 460 DC trunked systems, the analog and P25 Arlington trunked systems, a bunch of "special" frequencies (itinerants, low-power, common public safety), the 461-465 band, and several miscellaneous frequencies such as Catholic U, the Red Cross, Park Police, etc. The 246 was searching the marine band. And the 250 was scanning the Metro trunked system and the Airport Authority trunked system. The 250 conked out after several hours, so I set the 396 to scan those two trunked systems.

What follows is a list of what I found. I was able to hear operations inside Nationals Park for the Mass, because apparently the organizers rented radios. The four repeaters they used made it to my location just north of Reagan National just fine. Judging by the frequencies they used, they may have rented the radios from Bearcom.

Since I was scanning for the entire day, I also logged 30-40 more frequencies unrelated to the day's events (mostly federal and business). I'm looking forward to sifting through these over the coming days.

157.0500 [ CSQ] Coast Guard (Marine Channel 21A)
157.1500 [ CSQ] Coast Guard - Primary Operations (Marine Channel 23A) (some DES encryption)
158.8500 [NAC 001] MPD Motorcade Detail (patched to DC Trunked System talkgroup 18480) (encrypted)
159.1500 [NAC 653] MPD Motorcade Detail (unencrypted)
166.7250 [127.3] Park Police (Channel 1) (street closures)
170.1750 [156.7] Capitol Police (Channel 3)
409.0000 [NAC 293] Disaster Medical Assistance Team (encrypted/unencrypted)
461.5000 [ d243] Pope John Paul II Cultural Center Security
462.3750 [ 88.5] Red Cross (unknown if used for event)
463.4375 [ d465] Catholic University Engineering
464.5750 [100.0] Catholic University Security
464.6000 [206.5] Mass at Nationals Park - Organizers (R)
464.6250 [210.7] Mass at Nationals Park - Organizers (R)
464.6500 [218.1] Mass at Nationals Park - Organizers (R)
464.7000 [225.7] Mass at Nationals Park - Organizers (R)
464.8125 [ d155] Mass at Nationals Park - Audio/Visual

DC Trunked System Talkgroups:
1952 DCFD ("radios to give out")
2160 DCFD (Medical)
2176 DCFD (Medical) (patched to 868.0125)
9840 DCFD (Hazmat, etc.)
10032 DCFD Unknown
18288 MPD Special Operations Division Alternate
18320 MPD Harbor Patrol
18416 MPD Protection Detail? (unknown if used for event) (encrypted)
18480 MPD Motorcade Detail (patched to 158.8500) (encrypted)
33840 Emergency Management Agency ("HHS" and "JTF-Med")
33904 Emergency Management Agency
34448 Department of Health
35536 Emergency Management Agency 1
35600 Traffic Management Center
36880 Hospital Roll Call
59952 MPD Special Operations Division (Simulcast)

Metro Trunked System Talkgroups:
50192 Transit Police Tac 6 (crowd control at Navy Yard station)
58032 "EM" units (coordination at Navy Yard station)

Arlington Trunked System (Analog) Talkgroups:
33840 Motor Units/Escorts
34096 Metropolitan Medical Strike Team

Arlington Trunked System (P25) Talkgroups:
34 "MMRT test"
 

listen13579

Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2004
Messages
118
Location
Alexandria, VA
Dave: Great blog and post! 13 hours is dedication!

I got an Opto Scout hit along the parade route (Penn. Ave near World Bank) on Wednesday of 169.937. Anybody have an ID on this freq.?
 

dtscho

Member
Database Admin
Joined
Aug 7, 2001
Messages
1,823
Location
Fredericksburg, VA
That would be the input frequency to the Secret Service Uniformed Division's White House 1 repeater. The output is 162.0750. Almost all transmissions on this frequency (and the rest of the UDSS and SS) are P25 encrypted. See this PDF for a great article on the UDSS, including frequencies:

http://henney.com/chm/1204/CHM1204.pdf

Dave
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top