Monday, September 29, 2014

Friday, September 26, 2014

Weekend Events

  • The Nationals play Friday at 1:05 and 7:05, Saturday at 4:05, and Sunday at 1:35 at Nationals Park.
  • The Capitals play Friday at 7:00 at Verizon Center.
  • DC United plays Saturday at 3:00 at RFK Stadium.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Neiman Marcus DC New License

Neiman Marcus, located in the Mazza Gallerie in DC, was recently licensed for analog and DMR simplex on 451.3125, 451.3375, 456.3375, 464.2625, 464.3625, 464.5750, 464.9250, and 469.3625. (These frequencies seem to be licensed at most Neiman Marcus locations.)

This store location has previously used 464.5750 [ d131] for loss prevention, and 464.9250 [127.3] for general operations.

Friday, September 19, 2014

Linked Capacity Plus Systems in North-Central VA

A couple of communications providers have built Linked Capacity Plus systems in north-central Virginia. Communication Specialists has one with sites in Fredericksburg, Independent Hill, and King George. There is also a strong possibility of another site in Warsaw (Richmond County). The company is also licensed for a site in Madison County, but this site may actually belong to Teltronic. As far as is known, all transmissions on the Communication Specialists system use Privacy. The company has coverage maps for its network.

Teltronic has a site in Linden (Fauquier County). A group seen on this site was also seen on the supposed Madison County site of Communication Specialists. (This is why the ownership of the Madison site is in question.) The group seen did not use Privacy. Teltronic has a coverage map for its Washington-Baltimore network, but it does not show a site in Madison County.

Baltimore Recent Finds

Notes from a trip to Baltimore last Saturday:
  • A couple more groups were found on the Johns Hopkins Hospital Capacity Plus system.
  • Johns Hopkins University appears to be using MOTOTRBO conventional repeaters, probably linked with IP Site Connect. Group 10 on these repeaters is security and group 40 is a Baltimore Police simulcast (unknown which District).
  • The recently-opened Horseshoe Casino is using a five-frequency Capacity Plus system. Many groups were identified.
  • The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore appears to have abandoned their UHF-T repeaters in favor of a Capacity Plus system. Only one group was identified in brief listening.

Star-Spangled Spectacular Finds

Here's what I found last Saturday at the Star-Spangled Spectacular in Baltimore:

Baltimore Trunked System talkgroups:
9017
9018 Inner Harbor?
9123
9133 "shuttle to Fort McHenry" "Hanover"
9150 "shuttle"
9299
9310
9312 Shuttle Buses
9314 "Blue Angels"
9316 "Blue Angels"
9317 "Locust Point"
9318 "rover" "pier 2" "pier 3"
9320 "rover"
9321
9322

451.8000 [ d026] Organizers - Inner Harbor (S)

Weekend Event

  • The Capitals play a preseason game Sunday at 5 PM at Verizon Center.

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Marriott International FCC App

Marriott International, located at 10400 Fernwood Rd. in Bethesda, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for DMR repeaters on 461.0750 and 461.2500.

The application address is Marriott's corporate headquarters, but the app description indicates the frequencies will be used for hotel operations. There is a Marriott Suites nearby.

Friday, September 12, 2014

Weekend Events

  • Maryland plays Saturday at noon at Byrd Stadium.
  • The Nation's Football Classic is Saturday at 3:30 at RFK Stadium.
  • The Redskins play Sunday at 1:00 at FedEx Field.
  • Baltimore hosts the Star-Spangled Spectacular this weekend. See this RadioReference forum post for more information.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

More Evidence DCFD May Encrypt Soon

The rumors of an impending switch to encryption by DC Fire are increasing. FOX 5 TV and Statter911 ran stories yesterday. Several officials claim mutual aid to the District would be negatively impacted by a move to encryption.

Allied Aviation Fueling FCC App

Allied Aviation Fueling, located at Reagan National Airport, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for simplex on 451.6250.

Arlington Police & Fire Memorial 9/11 5K Race

Arlington trunked system talkgroups active this past Saturday for the Arlington Police & Fire Memorial 9/11 5K Race:

7 Police - District 1
21 Police
47 Fire - National Medical Response Team - Command
57 Police - SWAT units

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Nationals Park-Area Finds

Over the past few days, I've found a few new items in the Nationals Park area. The Yards development is using a DMR repeater on 461.6375. Three groups have been identified:

461.6375 [         ] (DMR - Color Code 11, Slot 1, Group 501) (R)
461.6375 [         ] (DMR - Color Code 11, Slot 2, Group 502) (R)
461.6375 [         ] (DMR - Color Code 11, Slot 2, Group 503) (R)

The Courtyard Capitol Hill/Navy Yard is using 461.2125 [ d754] (S) for engineering.

DC Fire was using 851.8375 [156.7] (patched to Project 16 trunked system talkgroup 2096) for operations at Saturday's Nationals game.

Monday, September 8, 2014

Unknown MWAA P16 Talkgroups

A couple of MWAA Project 16 talkgroups monitored recently:
  • 2704 patched to 2112 - May be police units on Dulles Toll Road.
  • 2720 - Maintenance?

Unknown DC P25 Talkgroups

A few unknown DC Project 25 talkgroups monitored recently:
  • 708 - Encrypted.
  • 2205 - Mentioned "train" and "check exhaust fan."
  • 2208 - Spanish/English speakers.

Sunday, September 7, 2014

NXDN in the DC Area

NXDN doesn't seem to be as popular in the DC area as DMR, but there are a few entities using it, and that number should increase in the future. Some of the identified users:
  • Butler Medical Transport, a medical transportation service at Children's National Medical Center, uses a repeater on 464.0625.
  • Constitution Center, an office building in DC, uses four repeaters (452.0000, 461.9000, 462.2250, and 464.1000).
  • Virgin America, an airline at Reagan National Airport, uses a repeater on 452.7625.
With the coming DSD+ update, users should be able to get more information on NXDN, such as RANs and group codes.

Friday, September 5, 2014

Weekend Events

  • The Nationals play Friday at 7:05 PM, Saturday at 4:05 PM, and Sunday at 1:35 PM at Nationals Park.
  • The Nation's Triathlon is Sunday at 7:00 AM in the area of the National Mall.

Pew Charitable Trusts FCC App

Pew Charitable Trusts, located at 901 E St. NW, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for a DMR repeater on 463.8625, and DMR simplex on 457.1375, 457.1625, 457.1875, and 457.8625.

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Metro Silver Line Using Ops 2

Metro's new Silver Line is using Ops 2 (talkgroup 32816 on the WMATA trunked system).

More DC Agencies Migrate to P25

University of the District of Columbia Police and the Traffic Management Center have recently migrated to DC's P25 trunked system. As of a few days ago, however, the respective talkgroups also remained active on the P16 system.

Fairfax P25 Talkgroup 1041

As was suspected, talkgroup 1041 on the Fairfax County P25 trunked system appears to be a patch to VSP Fairfax 1.

Westin Crystal City Confirmed Using DMR

The Westin Crystal City is using DMR on one of its recently-licensed frequencies. No activity was heard on the simplex frequencies.

463.9875 [         ] Engineering/Housekeeping (DMR - Color Code 14, Slot 1, Group 11) (R)
463.9875 [         ] (DMR - Color Code 14, Slot 2, Group 11) (R)