Upcoming Norfolk Trip

[n4jri]

Just FYI if you look into the Radio Shack thread and go to the 668 firmware thread you'll find procedures to upgrade your 668, Pro18 and 800 to WS1088 which will give you full DMR capability plus the scanners work a whole lot better and do more stuff. That would give you another to play with on DMR stuff.

Thanks, I'll investigate that. It would make a huge difference on a number of projects. One big issue I have with that radio is that recordings don't log CTCSS, DCS, NAC's etc. on conventional channels, which is why I'm aiming it at rail, marine & trunks. Has that been upgraded as well?

73/Allen (N4JRI)

 

[n4jri]

Vantage Points for Chambers (NAS Norfolk)

Now that I've looked at the IAP's for Chambers, I'm trying to see if there are other vantage points. I used to watch from the Strawberry Banks Motel in Hampton, which is no longer accessible, and the boat ramp/parking on the south side of Willoughby Spit, which I no longer see on the map, but hope is still there.

It looks like Captains Cove Park should have visibility, and Forest Lawn Cemetery and Bayview Community Center may be under approaches to runway 28. For runway 10, it looks like the NEX complex and I wonder about it's accessibility. If I remember right, all that stuff along Terminal Ave., Hampton Blvd & Admiral Taussig is bordering NNB and you're pretty much stuck on the road.

Hate to go across HRBT, but am thinking of trying Fort Monroe, someplace along Chesapeake Ave in Hampton, or if in total desperation that park at the end of Jefferson Ave in Newport News. (no visibility from the parking lot, but I seem to remember them having a porta-john which is nice) Most of that's way north of approaches to runway 10, but looks like good port watching.

Any comments or suggestions appreciated.

73/Allen (N4JRI)

 

[K4APR]

Don't know if any of you are rail listeners. There isn't much info in the database here, but I posted in the Rail forum what I was using in the early to mid '90's. If you can shed newer light on anything, much appreciated. If you're curious, it's on there for the taking. I wouldn't want to enter it in the database without some idea that it's still accurate. Last I really chased any trains down there was '97 at the latest.

I love listening to rail. I have gotten to the point where all of my scanners have a bank loaded with all of the standard rail channels and I just scan the whole thing wherever I go.

 

[GROCKSHD]

Now that I've looked at the IAP's for Chambers, I'm trying to see if there are other vantage points. I used to watch from the Strawberry Banks Motel in Hampton, which is no longer accessible, and the boat ramp/parking on the south side of Willoughby Spit, which I no longer see on the map, but hope is still there.

It looks like Captains Cove Park should have visibility, and Forest Lawn Cemetery and Bayview Community Center may be under approaches to runway 28. For runway 10, it looks like the NEX complex and I wonder about it's accessibility. If I remember right, all that stuff along Terminal Ave., Hampton Blvd & Admiral Taussig is bordering NNB and you're pretty much stuck on the road.

Hate to go across HRBT, but am thinking of trying Fort Monroe, someplace along Chesapeake Ave in Hampton, or if in total desperation that park at the end of Jefferson Ave in Newport News. (no visibility from the parking lot, but I seem to remember them having a porta-john which is nice) Most of that's way north of approaches to runway 10, but looks like good port watching.

Any comments or suggestions appreciated.

73/Allen (N4JRI)

There is a Parking Garage at 8100 Diven Arch, at Iowa Estates Homeport. It over looks Chambers Field and I-564. I go there often, the top is fairly vacant.

 

[n4jri]

There is a Parking Garage at 8100 Diven Arch, at Iowa Estates Homeport. It over looks Chambers Field and I-564. I go there often, the top is fairly vacant.

Just looked at it on Google. That's fantastic placement. I would've thought that area would be on the base. Gotta give that a try!

73/Allen (N4JRI)

 

[Ghstwolf62]

Thanks, I'll investigate that. It would make a huge difference on a number of projects. One big issue I have with that radio is that recordings don't log CTCSS, DCS, NAC's etc. on conventional channels, which is why I'm aiming it at rail, marine & trunks. Has that been upgraded as well?

73/Allen (N4JRI)

That I don't know. I've never used recording on these radios. I'd suggest going here

https://forums.radioreference.com/r...ded-whistler-dmr-firmware-52.html#post2756335

and asking them there. They seem to know all about what the upgrades do. Since it becomes a 1088 you end up with instead of the RS models it may well have these things working. I know it got a lot of stuff which the newer model 1088s have that the older models didn't. DMR works great down in Roanoke and in Lexington. The only issue I ever had was in Lex where there were two transmissions occurring at the same time on one freq and the display sort of freaked out dealing with it. Still heard everything though.

I have the 668 and my scanner works much better, picks up more and scans faster too. It even has a feature to light up on unmute and go dark when traffic stops which apparently the RS and GRE models didn't have.

The Wiki with all the firmware links and instructions is here
Loading WS1080 Firmware to a PRO-668 - The RadioReference Wiki

I upgraded both of my 668s and have been very happy with the results.

Sorry I couldn't be more help.

 

[n4jri]

Norfolk Trip: preliminary loggings

Big fun in the Norfolk area today. Will take a while to sift through the recordings, but here' s from my written notes.

The most time-sensitive info is on Patrouille de France, which will perform Saturday at 12:30 at Waterside.

Thanks to GROCKSHD's vantage point, I confirmed that the group is stationed at Chambers. They are talking to ATC on VHF, and I've heard nothing on their published UHF freqs except what's either dead carrier or may be encryption on 266.175. I tried switching it to FM and got no audio, but it tried to read an NAC.

Anyway, published freqs include 143.1, 141.825, 242.65, 263.35 266.15, and I'm trying to remember the other. They didn't budge during my time on the roof, but I saw them go out at 4:45p from the Willoughby boat ramp and they returned at 6p. Their cargo plane (looks like a C130 with a T-tail) flew out and back with them, using c/s Tango Mike 2010. (legit French prefix). Alpha jets were addressed as "French Air Force Flight 609".

I could've swore they were given 125.2 to depart, but wherever they went, I missed it. Didn't hear them at all during their hour and a quarter flight, except on 124.3 returning.

Other Chambers stuff:
457.600 [186.2] foreign language, maybe a repeater. Maybe something onboard a foreign ship or may be ground crews for PDF. Loud and clear at Chambers.
279.525 - the only GCA freq I heard. There were two landings on this.
148.300 [203.5] - refueling. Gallons sound more like planes than ships.
138.650 [206.5] - Very strong, possibly a ground crew. Could be more than one tone on this freq
148.575 - heard 'Delta 8' addressed
262.900 - VRC40...same as 20+ years ago
350.800 - similar noise to what I heard on 266.175. Used to belong to a squadron that's now decommissioned.
149.050 [85.4] heard at Chambers, but could be anywhere. None of the traffic gave me any real clues.
140.8375 [123.0] repeats Ground Control...for vehicles?
140.700 [123.0] use unknown
148.575 [241.8] use unknown. Not positive about this PL.
142.075 - various PL's, not as strong around Chambers
467.550 [$100] unknown

I did a steady search of 138-144 & 148-150.8, and the above was all I found. Didn't try 406-420 this time.

Marine Band was interesting.
156.700 - Port control. Lots of asking clearance to move around. Navy?
156.625 - Navy port navigation? Heard a ship call out on 13 doing something near Craney Island, and said he'd be standing by for concerned traffic on 13, 16 and 72.
156.675 - Ch.73. Appeared to be used by Navy vessels transiting out to sea. Hmmm...
156.400 - Ch.8 strong at Chambers. sometimes with 233.6 PL
162.000 - Ch.28 'automated radio checks' with commercials, no less
156.575 - ch.71 very strong in downtown Portsmouth
157.225 - PL of 173.8
157.175 - PL of 136.5 frequently. On this channel, I heard someone warn a vessel multiple times that he was violating a 1000yd zone around a Navy vessel and needed to change course. This was repeated and more and more strident. It finally got to the point of 'you WILL be fired upon.' I hope this was a training exercise. If this were for real, I'd expect to hear it on 13 or 16. We have an RCO for this freq in Richmond. It's generally a lot more calm.
156.65 - ch.13. Heard a boater tell the Spirit of Norfolk that he was in their way, and had engine trouble

Rails were slow:
160.905 - NPBL, exact use unknown
160.710 - NS? heard DTMF and some auto voice. Distant from Chambers
161.385 - May have heard from downtown or Portsmoutth
160.335 [d156] - not sure of this
161.025 - no telltale traffic, but I think I had it as the hump at Lamberts Point
160.305 - brief, couldn't ID

It's going to take a while to go through all the recordings from the TRX-1 and the PSR-800. The only port trunks I'm hearing active are the NIT LTR system and the VIT connect plus. Not picking anything up so far on the Motorola SmartNet trunks. Will try again tomorrow from Waterside.

73/Allen (N4JRI)

 

[n4jri]

Norfolk trip: More preliminary loggings

From Town Pointe Park:

156.875 - Voice inversion - wasn't expecting THAT
156.950 - not sure the nature of it
156.925 - talking about swinging a bucket but trying not to hit a tent. Metro Machine, maybe?
462.225 [DMR] - fairly terse traffic, maybe security-related. Thought I heard a tunnel being called. Unfortunately, I had programmed this in the field (the result of a band search) and must've forgot to activate recording.This one might be worth watching.
464.000 - constant digital signal, sounds kinda low & slow like NXDN
464.900 - sounded like DMR. Programmed into the TRX-1, but it never registered or recorded.
464.500 [179.9] mention of grease and a turntable
461.600 [d125] traffic unknown
461.9375 - sounded like NXDN, but I didn't get a hit on the TRX.

I have about 1000 recordings on the TRX, and haven't even looked yet at the contents of the PSR800. But some general observations.

Navy ELMR: Judging from the Naval Station and both Little Creek sites, the only things I'm seeing cross-site right now are the centralized fire dispatch, and the "Channel 1" for security at Naval Base, Naval Shipyard and Oceana. Little Creek security didn't show up on any sites but 282 (pretty active) and 296, which only recorded once. (296 may be at Ft. Story, I dunno) There were some wildcard hits that I haven't yet compared to the entirely of 14C's talkgroups. More on that as I analyze.

NIT LTR: Very active, but there may be a few questions about the LCN's. Have found a boatload of TG's I probably want to lock out for my next visit.

VIT Connect Plus: Haven't had a chance to really look at yet. Did hear a great conversation where a female supervisor had set some sort of timer to prove to a mail subordinate that you CAN go to the bathroom and get back in 5min.

Norfolk Trunk: This wasn't high priority for me, but they used 1st Pct TAC for the parade, and what I think was parking control around the Scope. The Special Event TG (962) was pretty active, and may account for all the traffic I heard from people in NatoFest t-shirts riding around in golf carts.

Norfolk Parking: Great listening as attendants called for 'rovers' to chase down people who had slipped in without paying, or with some other issue. Was amused to see one of their 'smart cars' parked illegally in the Waterside Deck. Maybe it just doesn't have the power to get above Level 1, I dunno.

Rails: Heard 161.385 all over (repeater?) and 161.28 mostly around Coleman Place and headed back towards Ocean View.

Norfolk Festevents: Nothing heard on published freqs, except maybe DMR on 464.475--if that was the user. Could've been somebody else. Are they actually involved with NatoFest?

Massive QRM around Willoughby Spit in the early evening. As I started heading home around 5:30 or 6, I heard a huge DMR-sounding signal on 456.45, and all sorts of QRM on Chambers air freqs. So bad I had to turn the radios off. No idea what the source frequency may have been. It had not been present the day before, or on Saturday morning when I left around 8am. So powerful, it made the mobile scanners completely useless.

Thanks to Eugene for coming out to the park! Had a nice talk after the performance.

Hopefully more info as I digest what's in the TRX, and open the Pandoras box of the PSR800.

Still never heard the French guys on anything other than 124.3

73/Allen (N4JRI)

 

[GROCKSHD]

Cool Stuff. I really should listen to more than just Public Safety. Seems like there is plenty of interesting things out there. Thanks for the Info

 

[n4jri]

Cool Stuff. I really should listen to more than just Public Safety. Seems like there is plenty of interesting things out there. Thanks for the Info

Norfolk is a train/boat/plane amusement park for a guy like me. I like it, and the Willoughby Spit Super 8 so much that I'm going to do the first few days of my vacation there at the end of the month. Hopefully, they'll be finished dredging the beach by then.

BTW, your NGU observation spot was great. One nervous moment when a guy who had been on a scissor-lift changing lightbulbs drove up to my van, and asked if I was okay. I said "no prob., just watching planes--am I in the way?" He replied no, you're fine--I just needed to check...at which he pulled up his shirt tail to reveal a gold badge with blue inlay--very federal-looking. I told him that I had come to see the French in action, and could he give me a clue. He said he had no idea, and drove the scissor-lift on down.

A few questions for anyone:

1 - I found a shipping schedule on the VIT website, but it only covers VIT terminals. Is there a more complete one somewhere? Years ago, I'd check the Virginian-Pilot but had no luck online. One thing I'd love to try is to chase a ship from Cargill or Atlantic Energy (or whatever they're called now!) up or down the Elizabeth River. This time I listed to what I assume is Moran on 156.275 to alert me to ship movements, and it helped a little.

2 - There would be at least some ship-watching from the Super 8, and I also like Fort Monroe, Town Point Park and thought about the seawall in Hampton or Monitor-Merrimac Park in Newport News. Have also done the Bridge-Tunnel and First Landing State Park in the past. Any other suggestions? Looks like there's a park where 337 crosses the Elizabeth River near NNSY. Am trying to find vantage points in-port as much as possible, because there's more of a show going on. Any other suggestions appreciated.

3 - There used to be a little park near Oceana where you could watch the jets. I think it was on Oceana Blvd, but am not seeing it on Google Maps. Is it still there, or are there any other possiblities?

4 - Any suggestions on busy times or vantage points for Felker AAF or Langley AFB? I have never had success trying to see anything at either base. Looks like the end of Poquoson Ave. may be a possibility for Langley.

5 - Any recommended train spots? Visited Carolina Junction on Saturday but it seemed dead, and ditto for Coleman Place. I heard that Bay Coast RR has stopped running the barge from Little Creek. True? Would love to get a picture or two of Norfolk-Portsmouth Belt Line. I seem to remember seeing NPBL trains (possibly using NPBL freqs) near Wards Corner back in the 90's.

Learned a lot of stuff on this trip to update my approach from what I knew and did in the early 90's. Also learned better ways to program the scanners for vacuuming up metadata. Am hoping that some good planning might let me integrate some good watching/scanning with visits to places like Nauticus, Mariners Museum, Army Transportation Museum, Air & Space Center, etc.

Thanks to all who helped make my work trip more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Any suggestions appreciated.

73/Allen (N4JRI)

 

[GROCKSHD]

Glad you enjoyed the spot. I'm a little concerned about your encounter though. I'm a DOD Police Officer and that's my zone, and I certainly don't have any counterparts that were changing light bulbs... I'll have to check up on that.
Hampton Roads is surely a Mecca for radio enthusiasts. I'm slowly expanding my interests in other fields of communication. Lately I've been on an Air Band kick, so when it's slow at work and Chambers is buzzing with activity, I like to go up on the parking garage and watch and listen.

 

[n4jri]

Glad you enjoyed the spot. I'm a little concerned about your encounter though. I'm a DOD Police Officer and that's my zone, and I certainly don't have any counterparts that were changing light bulbs... I'll have to check up on that.
Hampton Roads is surely a Mecca for radio enthusiasts. I'm slowly expanding my interests in other fields of communication. Lately I've been on an Air Band kick, so when it's slow at work and Chambers is buzzing with activity, I like to go up on the parking garage and watch and listen.

He was there when I arrived, and had most of the upper deck blocked off with cones while he worked for quite a while at the exact same light fixture around the SW end of the top level. I had picked up a sandwich at Wawa, and was nursing that and watching the field for around 60-90 minutes in the vicinity of 12:30-2:00p. The badge was gold, much in the shape that I expect to see with federal (or even VSP) and had some of the info in a horizontal blue oval in the center of the lower section. I think also a blue inlaid horseshoe around the bottom edge. He asked for just about zero information, and I didn't volunteer anything other than my purpose. No questions or conversation about where I was from, how I knew about the place, etc. No notes written down, no ID asked for. Didn't ask to see any of my stuff, and didn't even get off of the scissor-lift. Given how casual and consensual the encounter was, I'm surprised he even showed me the badge--in fact, it was nearly at the end of the encounter.

73/Allen (N4JRI)

 

[n4jri]

NIT LTR System - one good TG

Okay, I've got a lot of data left to crunch on that trunk, but you might enjoy TG 0-07-032. Ongoing extremely colorful conversation all Friday afternoon. I am pretty sure that no females and no supervisors monitor this talkgroup. So far, only one business-related transmission. Crane 7 reported that his cable snapped.

73/Allen (N4JRI)

 

[GROCKSHD]

The park near NAS Oceana is still there, it's called the "Flame of Hope", off Oceana Blvd.
You're right, a good spot for LAFB is in Poquoson.at the end of Poquoson Ave, the field is just across Back river. I've never tried FT. Eustis, and really the only activity I'm aware of is Help Ops.

 

[Eugene]

Enjoyed talking to you. Thanks. For watching shipping....there is no better place than Ft. Monroe now that it has been decommissioned. Go in the main entrance and drive back to the back and past the Chamberlain and drive along that street until you get to the boardwalk. Then park and stay pretty much in that area.......the channel is almost at the beach so when ships coming in or going out come through....you will swear you could touch them.

Eugene

 

[GROCKSHD]

Enjoyed talking to you. Thanks. For watching shipping....there is no better place than Ft. Monroe now that it has been decommissioned. Go in the main entrance and drive back to the back and past the Chamberlain and drive along that street until you get to the boardwalk. Then park and stay pretty much in that area.......the channel is almost at the beach so when ships coming in or going out come through....you will swear you could touch them.

Eugene

Good information. Ft. Monroe is a great place to watch ships transiting to and from port. It's still a hidden gem and you can enjoy all the benefits it has to offer undisturbed. The boardwalk is quite peaceful and Paradise Ocean club is a great treat too

 

[Eugene]

Amen..............

Eugene KG4AVE