The Perfect Storm of Scanning

This weekend is shaping up to be a busy one for scanning in DC. On Saturday, we've got the National Marathon, the Opening Ceremony of the Cherry Blossom Festival, the Smithsonian Kite Festival, and a Nationals exhibition game. On Sunday, the Nationals play their first real game at Nationals Park. There will be plenty to listen to on the scanner.

The organizers of the National Marathon have relied on cell phones/Nextel the previous two years. I'm not sure if they'll be using radios this year. Most of the good listening has been DC Police and Fire. Several hams also help out with the race, so look for some amateur radio frequencies to be active.

The Opening Ceremony of the Cherry Blossom Festival will again be at the National Building Museum. Last year, the organizers used FRS/GMRS radios. I believe NBM security uses a low power simplex business frequency.

The Kite Festival is on the grounds of the Washington Monument. The one previous time I've attended, organizers were using FRS/GMRS.

Finally, there will be lots to listen to with the opening of Nationals Park. Unfortunately, we won't be able to listen to stadium personnel, because they've installed a digital radio system called MOTOTRBO for the stadium. No scanner can decode this digital format. But there's still the DC Police and Fire to monitor. Last year, MPD used talkgroup 21232 (Citywide 2) and DC Fire used talkgroup 2096 (Special Events 1). Also, CSC (an outfit which provides security/crowd control) might continue to use analog radios. Look for them on 461.5125 [ d125].