Virginia Beach Oceanfront

[n4jri]

Getting ready for a few days in Virginia Beach next week. A couple of questions for locals:
1 - I see some analog freqs listed for talkaround among pd/fire/pw/aquarium -- are these still in use, or maybe gone digital?
2 - Anything you want me to check on? I'll be staying at the north end of the boardwalk and will be pretty bored if rain slows things down at Oceana
Have programmed in what licenses I could find for oceanfront coordinates, so we'll see if anything new pops up.

73/Allen (N4JRI)

 

[n4jri]

A few interesting things I see in the database:
1 - Licenses for AIS on 161.975 and 162.025. Individual callsigns for each offshore wind generator
2 - A Bearcom license for some sort of special event on the Oceanfront near the south end of boardwalk. Appears to be a DMR trunked system and the license expires on Memorial Day - FCC Callsign WSHX734 (Bearcom Operating)
3 - Possibly an NXDN trunk for Regent University on 451.075 and 451.275
4 - Possible UHF DMR radios for Verizon or Veterans Amphitheatre -- same thing? FCC Callsign WSHX311 (Live Nation Worldwide, INC)

Will hopefully be an interesting week

73/Allen (N4JRI)

 

[sdabbey]

Hey there. VB native and current Chesapeake resident here. I can take a stab at it.

1. Regarding AIS, aside from the wind farm itself, if you're lucky, you'll catch the gigantic crane ship (the Orion) they're using to place the pylons to support them. It comes in and out of the Portsmouth Marine Terminal every week or so to pick up more pylons. While you'll probably catch a few Navy vessels on AIS, most of them sail without their transponders on. Most of the ones you'll see are Military Sealift Command vessels.
2. There's always something going on at that part of the Oceanfront. It looks like the license was from just before College Beach Week to Memorial Day, which kicks off the main season. They try to make sure there's always something structured to do in that time frame to avert the trouble they've had in past years with Spring Break kids. It would make sense to bring in extra resources during that time, but I'm surprised they brought in a whole radio system. I'd be curious to see who's using it.
3. That is indeed Regent University/Christian Broadcasting Network's security radios. I'm pretty sure it's still LTR, but I don't know for certain. It's too far from my QTH to hear easily. It's at the opposite end of the city from the Oceanfront, and not a whole lot to hear, but it's there if you want to listen.
4. Locals just call it "the amphitheater". It's had so many sponsors over the years that it's hard to keep up with, but yes, Verizon and Veterans United Home Loans have both had naming rights to it. That one can be pretty interesting if there's a concert going on. I believe they're still conventional analog, but they may have gone digital since I was last down there.

As for the city's analog frequencies, I don't believe those have been used in a while. Everything is on ORION.

 

[richardbritt]

Hey there. VB native and current Chesapeake resident here. I can take a stab at it.

1. Regarding AIS, aside from the wind farm itself, if you're lucky, you'll catch the gigantic crane ship (the Orion) they're using to place the pylons to support them. It comes in and out of the Portsmouth Marine Terminal every week or so to pick up more pylons. While you'll probably catch a few Navy vessels on AIS, most of them sail without their transponders on. Most of the ones you'll see are Military Sealift Command vessels.
2. There's always something going on at that part of the Oceanfront. It looks like the license was from just before College Beach Week to Memorial Day, which kicks off the main season. They try to make sure there's always something structured to do in that time frame to avert the trouble they've had in past years with Spring Break kids. It would make sense to bring in extra resources during that time, but I'm surprised they brought in a whole radio system. I'd be curious to see who's using it.
3. That is indeed Regent University/Christian Broadcasting Network's security radios. I'm pretty sure it's still LTR, but I don't know for certain. It's too far from my QTH to hear easily. It's at the opposite end of the city from the Oceanfront, and not a whole lot to hear, but it's there if you want to listen.
4. Locals just call it "the amphitheater". It's had so many sponsors over the years that it's hard to keep up with, but yes, Verizon and Veterans United Home Loans have both had naming rights to it. That one can be pretty interesting if there's a concert going on. I believe they're still conventional analog, but they may have gone digital since I was last down there.

As for the city's analog frequencies, I don't believe those have been used in a while. Everything is on ORION.

Talking about Orion, I was looking in the database at Orion Talkgroups and I see a COV 5 listed for smart traffic. Anyone heard anything on it? Just wondering if this might be useful to listen to in lieu of VSP going encrypted? Might be a good source of accident and road congestion?

 

[sdabbey]

Talking about Orion, I was looking in the database at Orion Talkgroups and I see a COV 5 listed for smart traffic. Anyone heard anything on it? Just wondering if this might be useful to listen to in lieu of VSP going encrypted? Might be a good source of accident and road congestion?

The Smart Traffic channel is for coordination between public safety and VDOT. That's where they can ask if a bridge or tunnel is closed when transporting a critical patient, or get help finding an accident on the interstate when the caller doesn't know exactly where they are. It's not used very often, and VDOT's operations happen exclusively on STARS.

 

[richardbritt]

Ok thanks. I was hoping it was a TMS patch. I used to listen to it when they were on 47.3 and I could hear where all the accidents were when I worked in the area. Then I listened to them on STARS after they left low band. I still remember when VSP was on low band, seems like forever. Thanks for the reply

 

[sdabbey]

I still remember when VSP was on low band, seems like forever.

It can't be forever ago because I remember it too, and I'm still young

 

[LeSueurC]

Talking about Orion, I was looking in the database at Orion Talkgroups and I see a COV 5 listed for smart traffic. Anyone heard anything on it? Just wondering if this might be useful to listen to in lieu of VSP going encrypted? Might be a good source of accident and road congestion?

Norfolk Fire is probably the who I have heard use this channel pretty frequently. But I’ve heard VB Fire and even less times for Chesapeake Fire

 

[richardbritt]

Cool, thanks for the information