Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Nike Women's Half Marathon Finds

Here's what I found for the Nike Women's Half Marathon, which took place this past Sunday:

451.8000 [ d627] Organizers (R)

DC Trunked System Talkgroup:
2112 DCFD Special Events 2

Marriott Marquis Using DMR Frequencies

The Marriott Marquis, which opens tomorrow, is already using some of the DMR frequencies they've applied for. Here's what was found on Sunday:

463.6125 [         ] (DMR - Color Code 7, Group 6)
463.9250 [         ] (DMR)
464.2625 [         ] Security? (DMR - Color Code 3, Slot 2, Group 2)

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Tysons Tower FCC App

Tysons Tower, located at 7900 Tysons One Place in Tysons Corner, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for an analog and DMR repeater on 462.1750.

Sibley Hospital FCC App

Sibley Hospital has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for DMR and analog repeaters on 461.9500 and 464.2000.

The hospital was previously licensed for repeaters on 153.1850 and 153.6650.

Friday, April 25, 2014

Recent DC Business Finds

Here are some new/updated DC business frequencies:
  • 461.8875 [         ] ABC (DMR) (R)
  • 452.3625 [ d263] Dupont Circle Hotel - Security (R)
  • 154.5700 [  74.4] Gap
  • 464.0750 [156.7] Renaissance Mayflower Hotel - Security (S)
  • 463.4000 [         ] Washington Square (DMR) (R)

Weekend Events

  • The Nationals play Friday at 7:05 PM, Saturday at 1:05 PM, and Sunday at 1:35 PM at Nationals Park.
  • The Wizards play Friday at 8:00 PM at Verizon Center.
  • The USA Science & Engineering Festival is Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
  • DC United plays Saturday at 7:00 PM at RFK Stadium.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Manassas Utilities DMR System

Manassas Utilities is using a MOTOTRBO Capacity Plus trunked system. I was only able to confirm the LCN for one of the frequencies. According to the license, the system has another site, which I did not monitor.

Interestingly, the license does not indicate that the system is trunked. This system seems like overkill for a relatively small utility provider, but maybe the large capacity is for data transmissions.

Fairfax County Encrypted Talkgroups

While monitoring the Fairfax County Project 25 system yesterday, encrypted talkgroups 1214 and 1216 were fairly active. These talkgroups fall in the range of the fire talkgroups.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

George Mason University LTR System

George Mason University is running an LTR system, as previously suspected. Surprisingly, the system was quiet for a weekday. This may be because the system is new, and users are still migrating to it. However, I didn't monitor traffic on GMU's legacy UHF repeater frequencies either.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Charles County Modifies Trunked System

Charles County recently modified the license for its trunked system to add an additional frequency (856.5625).

Hyatt Regency Bethesda Modifies License

The Hyatt Regency Bethesda recently modified its license. The 464.7750 repeater was given a DMR emission designator. Five simplex frequencies were added: 466.5000, 468.2500, 468.3500, 468.7750, and 469.1250. These frequencies are coded for analog and DMR.

The hotel has previously used these frequencies:

462.1875 [ d351] Housekeeping? (S)
464.5125 [ d263] Banquets (S)
464.7750 [ d263] Security/Engineering (R)

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Maryland Trade Center FCC App

The Maryland Trade Center, located in Greenbelt, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for DMR simplex on 456.7125, 457.8125, 457.8625, 462.1125, and 467.1125.

Bishop McNamara High School FCC App

Bishop McNamara High School, located in Forestville, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for simplex on 466.6500, 468.7750, 469.4500, and 469.8625.

Friday, April 18, 2014

University of Maryland University College FCC App

University of Maryland University College has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for DMR repeaters on 461.2250, 461.7500, 463.3500, and 464.2250.

These frequencies were previously licensed. 461.2250, 461.7500, and 464.2250 were all confirmed in use, with DCS of 311.

Weekend Event

  • The Nationals play Friday at 7:05, Saturday at 1:05, and Sunday at 1:35 at Nationals Park.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Prince William Project 25 System Update

Testing continues on the Prince William Project 25 system. A unit was monitored on talkgroup 2003, which was called "5 Bravo." This talkgroup number corresponds to the 5B talkgroup on the Project 16 system (32048 / 16 = 2003). Based on some of the other talkgroups seen on the P25 system, the radio system engineers are setting the new system up so that the new talkgroups correspond to the old talkgroups. This process is common with Motorola systems that are replaced by P25 systems, as Alexandria, DC, and Fairfax did the same thing.

Marine Corps 17.75K

The Marine Corps 17.75K was this past Saturday in Prince William Forest Park. Organizers were using talkgroups 63033 and 63034 on site 402 of the Department of Defense trunked system. (There may have been additional talkgroups in use; I monitored only a short time.) The 63xxx talkgroups are typically used by organizers for Marine Corps Marathon series events.

Fairfax County Business Update

Here are some new business frequencies:

441.1250 [156.7] Courtyard by Marriott Dunn Loring Fairfax
464.5500 [110.9] Homewood Suites (Merrifield)
464.0375 [ d465] The Parliaments (R)

The frequency for the Courtyard by Marriott is actually an amateur radio frequency, but it does appear to be correct.

Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy FCC App

The Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy, located in Fort DuPont Park in Southeast DC, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for DMR simplex on 457.1000, 458.0000, 466.2500, 467.0000, and 469.7375.

Friday, April 11, 2014

Weekend Events

  • The Capitals play Friday at 7:00 PM at Verizon Center.
  • The National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade is Saturday from 10:00 AM to noon on Constitution Ave. between 7th and 17th Sts.
  • The Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival is Saturday from 10:30 AM to 6:00 PM at 12th St. and Pennsylvania Ave.
  • The Wizards play Saturday at 7:00 PM at Verizon Center.
  • DC United plays Saturday at 7:00 PM at RFK Stadium.
  • The Capitals play Sunday at 3:00 PM at Verizon Center.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Boeing FCC App

Boeing, located at 929 Long Bridge Dr. in Crystal City, has an application to its license pending before the FCC. The app calls for a repeater on 451.3250.

Another George Mason App

George Mason University has an application pending to another license. The app adds a repeater on 452.9750 at the Manassas campus, and a repeater on 452.0250 at the Arlington campus.

George Mason Adds Frequencies, Converts to Trunked

George Mason University has an application to its license to add several frequencies and convert to a trunked system. 451.9000 and 452.8500 will be maintained, and 452.2000, 451.4500, 461.7250, 462.2750, and 463.6500 will be added. As the application maintains an analog emission designator, the type of trunked system may be LTR.

Gallaudet University Adds DMR Emission Designators

Gallaudet University has an application to its license to add DMR emission designators to its repeaters on 451.5000 and 461.8875.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Medieval Times Arundel Mills FCC App

Medieval Times at Arundel Mills Mall has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for simplex on 451.4375, 451.6625, 451.7125, 451.7625, and 452.6875.

Medieval Times has previously been monitored using 465.8750 [ d174] and 467.9875 [ d174] unlicensed.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Alexandria Business Update

Here are updates to a couple of Alexandria business frequencies:
  • 463.9500 [         ] Crowne Plaza Old Town Alexandria - Front Desk Requests (DMR - Color Code 7, Slot 1, Group 1) (R)
  • 463.9500 [         ] Crowne Plaza Old Town Alexandria - Housekeeping/Engineering (DMR - Color Code 7, Slot 2, Group 1) (R)
  • 461.7750 [ d226] Landmark Mall (R)

US Airways (DCA) Update

I was able to determine more specific usages for US Airways' DMR frequencies at Reagan National Airport on Friday. Here's the latest line-up:
  • 451.6000 [         ] Express Gates (DMR - Color Code 1, Slot 1, Group 1006)
  • 452.3250 [         ] Buses (DMR - Color Code 1, Slot 1, Group 1005)
  • 460.7000 [         ] Mainline Ramp (DMR - Color Code 1, Slot 1, Group 1003)
  • 460.7750 [         ] Express Ramp (DMR - Color Code 1, Slot 2, Group 1007)
  • 460.8000 [         ] Mainline Gates (DMR - Color Code 1, Slot 1, Group 1002)
  • 460.8750 [         ] Shuttle (DMR - Color Code 1, Slot 1, Group 1004)

Fashion Centre at Pentagon City Update

Here are some updated frequencies for the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City:
  • 464.0875 [173.8] Nordstrom Housekeeping? (S)
  • 467.8750 [225.7] Foot Locker
  • 467.8750 [241.8] Champs
The Sony store has closed; its frequency has been deleted from the Arlington County page.

American Association of Community Colleges 94th Annual Convention

The American Association of Community Colleges 94th Annual Convention is using 451.8000 [ d432] (R). The repeater is fairly strong, as I was able to easily copy it from Pentagon City.

DC Property Management Update

A couple of updates to DC property management frequencies:
  • The Constitution Center is using 452.0000 (NXDN) for security.
  • Federal Gateway I is using 452.3875 [ d116]. This frequency was recently licensed for DMR use, but was being used in analog mode on Friday.

Nationals Park Update

Nationals Park was using 463.6625 [ d431] (S) for what sounded like seating on Friday. (This is the first time I've heard this in use.) The frequency is on the Nationals' license, but it only has a DMR emission designator.

Other than this new frequency, most of the Nationals radio operations were the same as in previous years. The MOTOTRBO conventional frequencies were busy. CSC Event Staff was using 464.7500 [233.6]. People coordinating the fireworks displays were using 464.5500 [167.9].

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Crystal City 5K Friday

Yesterday was the first Friday of the Crystal City 5K Fridays series. Arlington County Police were using talkgroup 11 for traffic control. Events staff didn't appear to be using radios.

Embassy Suites Springfield Seeks Additional Simplex Frequencies

Embassy Suites Springfield, which was recently licensed for a repeater on 461.4750, has an application pending before the FCC for simplex on 461.9500, 463.2500, 464.1000, and 452.0250.

George Mason University FCC App

George Mason University has an application pending before the FCC for "security for emergency shelter." The app calls for an analog trunked system using 453.2500 and 460.1625.

Friday, April 4, 2014

Weekend Events

  • The Wizards play Saturday at 7:00 PM at Verizon Center.
  • DC United plays Saturday at 7:00 PM at RFK Stadium.
  • The Nationals play Saturday at 7:05 PM and Sunday at 1:35 PM at Nationals Park.
  • The Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run is Sunday at 7:30 AM on the grounds of the Washington Monument.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Washington Harbour FCC App

Washington Harbour has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for DMR repeaters on 452.4375 and 464.3125. The development previously used unlicensed repeaters on 463.3500 [ d116] and 463.5750 [ d116].

Springfield Mall FCC App

Springfield Mall, which is being redeveloped into Springfield Town Center and is scheduled to open this summer, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for a DMR repeater on 451.9250. The mall previously used a repeater on 464.3250 [ 77.0], but the license for that frequency has expired.