Weekend Events

A variety of events this weekend:

• The Capitals begin their playoff series against the Lightning on Friday at 7:00 at Verizon Center. Game 2 is Sunday at 7:00.
• The Nationals play the Giants Friday at 7:05, Saturday at 4:05, and Sunday at 1:35 at Nationals Park.
• The Redskins are holding a Draft Day Party at FedEx Field on Saturday beginning at 11:30.
• The White House Correspondents' Association Dinner is Saturday evening at the Washington Hilton.

Nordstrom Rack FCC App

Nordstrom Rack, located at 5333 Wisconsin Ave. in DC, has an application pending before the FCC. This store will open May 19.

463.8375S

464.6125S

464.0875S

464.2625S

467.7625S

Culpeper County Trunked System Rebanded

Culpeper County has rebanded their trunked system. This means all the frequencies have been shifted down 15 MHz. Some scanners will no longer be able to track the system, and others will need to be reprogrammed.

Weekend Event

A quiet Easter weekend:

• The Capitals continue their playoff series against the Rangers on Saturday at 3:00 PM at the Verizon Center.

University of Maryland FCC App

The Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Maryland has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for one repeater and four simplex frequencies.

464.9125R

461.9875S

463.4875S

463.6750S

464.4625S

Pinnacle Towers FCC App

Pinnacle Towers, an office building at 1751 Pinnacle Dr. in McLean, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for a repeater on 452.4625.

American Girl Place FCC App

American Girl Place, which is opening this summer in Tysons Corner, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for ten simplex frequencies.

462.2125

467.2125

462.3125

467.3125

462.4125

467.4125

462.3875

462.3375

467.2875

467.2375

Southern Management FCC Apps

Southern Management, an apartment manager, has several applications pending before the FCC for various apartment complexes in the Washington/Baltimore area. All frequencies are repeaters.

App 0004694267

464.8125 Carriage Hill (Prince George's County)

462.1625 Deertree (Baltimore County)

461.5625 Gateway Gardens (Prince George's County)

461.7375 Graduate Hills (Prince George's County)

464.0375 Kent Village (Prince George's County)

461.6875 Liberty Place (Baltimore County)

App 0004693843

464.9125 Vienna Park (Fairfax County)

464.7375 Graduate Gardens (Prince George's County)

464.0375 Fountain Club (Prince George's County)

464.8125 Palisades of Towson (Baltimore County)

App 0004693842

463.4375 Marlboro Square (Baltimore County)

464.9625 Middletowne (Prince George's County)

464.0375 Parliaments (Fairfax County)

463.4375 Southview (Prince George's County)

464.8375 Summit Hills (Montgomery County)

464.0375 University Gardens (Prince George's County)

US Airways Switching to MOTOTRBO?

US Airways has several pending applications at various airports for MOTOTRBO frequencies. The airports are not in the Washington area, and they are mostly smaller, regional airports, but it might be something to watch at the DC-area airports. They may link up the MOTOTRBO sites around the country using something called Connect Plus, which connects sites using Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity.

United Airlines has already switched many of their systems around the country to MOTOTRBO. It's unknown if United is using Connect Plus.

Weekend Events

A mix of events in the District this weekend:

• The Capitals play Game 2 of their playoff series against the New York Rangers at Verizon Center on Friday at 7:30.
• The Nationals play the Brewers this weekend at Nationals Park. Game times are Friday at 7:05, Saturday at 1:05 (may be rained out), and Sunday at 1:35.
• The spring meetings of the IMF/World Bank are this weekend.

Brookfield Properties FCC App

Brookfield Properties has an application pending before the FCC for 701 South 12th Street in Pentagon City. (Brookfield owns the buildings at 701 S. 12th and at 601 S. 12th, which house the headquarters of the Transportation Security Administration.) The app calls for a repeater on 464.5875.

Boston Properties FCC App

Boston Properties has an application pending before the FCC for its building at 2200 Pennsylvania Avenue. The app calls for one repeater and five simplex frequencies.

463.9125R

457.2625S

463.5750S

466.7125S

468.5750S

469.5875S

AirCare Helicopters

AirCare provides commercial medical helicopter transport in Northern Virginia. On Saturday, I monitored AirCare on 462.9625 [229.1]. Here's the current line-up:

• AirCare 1: Based at Manassas Regional Airport, uses 462.9625 [229.1] (R). (Transmitter located at Inova Fairfax Hospital.)
• AirCare 2: Based at Shannon Airport (Fredericksburg), uses 460.1125 [71.9] (R).
• AirCare 3: Based at Leesburg Executive Airport, uses 462.9625 [192.8] (R).
• AirCare 4: Based at Winchester Regional Airport, probably uses 460.1125 (R).
• AirCare 5: Based at Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport, uses 460.1125 [156.7] (R).

ExpressCare is affiliated with the AirCare system. ExpressCare 1 is based at Martin State Airport (Baltimore), and according to this license, should be using 453.4250 (R).

DC United Update

After scanning at RFK Stadium for a couple of hours before Saturday's DC United game, I now have several additional frequencies. Here's the latest info:

461.2750 [ d152] DC United - Operations (Channel 1)
461.3250 [ d412] DC United - Guest Services (Channel 2)
461.6500 [ d156] DC United - Media (Channel 3)
461.7500 [ d172] DC United - Audio/Visual
462.3500 [ d223] DC United - "tailgate"; "field-level passes"
462.4250 [ d245] DC United - "where do ballkids check-in?"
463.2750 [ d263] DC United - Suites?
464.6250 [ d371] DC United - Merchandise
464.7250 [ d023] DC United - Housekeeping
464.8500 [ d606] DC United - Centerplate
Channel 10 - Emergency

The radio labels indicate that there are only ten channels, but I believe they referred to a "Channel 12," which may be 464.8500. They are licensed for a total of fourteen simplex frequencies, so it's certainly possible that there are more than ten channels. None of the "old" RFK frequencies for guest services, engineering, parking, etc. were heard, so everyone at RFK may now be using these DC United frequencies.

Centerplate, which took over food from Aramark at RFK, was found on 463.5750 [d664] and possibly on 464.7250 [d114]. No license exists for these frequencies.

Miscellaneous DC Updates

Here are a few DC frequency updates discovered on Saturday:

• The Warner Theatre was confirmed on a fourth channel (464.7625 [d664]). The user sounded like audio/visual techs.
• The Fairfield Inn & Suites Downtown (formerly the Red Roof Inn) was confirmed on 154.6000 [67.0].
• The Golden Triangle Business Improvement District (BID) is using 463.4750 [d205] again. They had previously switched to MOTOTRBO on 461.4375, but this frequency was quiet on Saturday.

Sakura Matsuri Frequencies Found

Here's what I found at the Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival on Saturday:

461.5125 [ d152] CSC Event Staff
469.1250 [ d026]
469.7250 [ d274]

DC Fire used talkgroup 2096 (Special Events 1).

I believe the organizers mentioned a "Channel 5," so there were probably several other channels in use. It's unknown who they rented the radios from.

Cherry Blossom Parade Frequencies Found

Here's what I found at the Cherry Blossom Parade on Saturday:

461.5250 [ d546]

463.7250 [ d306]

464.2750 [ d445] Seating
464.7500 [ d712] Cues/Coordination with TV
464.9250 [ d632] VIP
469.7500 [ d731]

154.4000 [ 77.0] DCFD? (S)
166.7250 [127.3] Park Police (Ch. 1)
461.3875 [ d152] CSC Event Staff

DC Trunked System talkgroups:
2096 DCFD Special Events 1

21232 MPD 3

Organizers were not using the "BearCom Rentals" frequencies that they've been using for the past couple of years. It's unknown who the radios were rented from this year. 154.4000 was a frequency that came up briefly. Based on the tone, I'm guessing it's an old DC Fire frequency that may be used for special events now. The MPD talkgroup known as "MPD 3" was formerly known as "Citywide 2."

Baltimore City PD Moving to P25 System

It's been reported that Baltimore City Police have transitioned to the City's new Project 25 trunked system. The Police talkgroups are in the 91xx series.

Prince George's County P25 Trunked System Updated on RadioReference

Many talkgroups have been added to the Prince George's County Project 25 trunked system page on RadioReference. Most of these talkgroups use TDMA modulation, which can only be monitored with the PSR-800 scanner.

Northern Virginia Community College Police on Fairfax Trunked System

According to this thread on RadioReference, Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) Police is using talkgroup 24832 on the Fairfax County Public Safety trunked system.

Weekend Events

Lots of events on this last weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival:

• The National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade is Saturday from 10 AM to noon. The Parade will go on even if there is a government shutdown, but it will probably run on Constitution Ave. from 7th to 14th Sts., instead of from 7th to 17th Sts. For the past two years, organizers have used UHF "BearCom Rentals" frequencies. Look for MPD on either SOD or MPD 3 (formerly Citywide 2). Look for DCFD on one of their Special Events talkgroups.
• The Sakura-Matsuri Japanese Street Festival is Saturday from 11 AM to 6 PM at 12th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. In 2009 and 2010, organizers used 468.2250 [d051].
• The Wizards play Saturday at 7 PM at the Verizon Center.
• DC United plays Saturday at 7:30 PM at RFK Stadium.
• The Blossom Kite Festival is Sunday from 10 AM to 4 PM on the grounds of the Washington Monument. Look for organizers to possibly use Family Radio Service (FRS) frequencies.
• Experimental Biology, a large (14,000 attendees) conference, runs from Saturday through Wednesday at the Convention Center.

Major Update to MPD on RadioReference

The Metropolitan Police (MPD) talkgroups have undergone major changes on the Washington, DC trunked system page on RadioReference. Outdated talkgroups have been removed, and additional "new" ones have been added. The talkgroups are also arranged in their proper zones.

Baltimore City Fire Prepping for Switch to Project 25

Baltimore City Fire is prepping for a switch to a Project 25 trunked system on Monday morning. Talkgroups have been added to the RadioReference database. It's unknown when Baltimore Police will be migrating to the system.

Another Weekend Event

The Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run is Sunday at 7:40 AM on the grounds of the Washington Monument. In 2009, organizers used a repeater on 461.4000 [173.8]. Look for Park Police, MPD, and DCFD to be active as well.

Weekend Events

Baseball returns this weekend:

• The Wizards play Friday at 7:00 at the Verizon Center.
• The Nationals play Saturday at 1:05 at Nationals Park. They also play Sunday at 1:35.
• The Capitals play Saturday at 7:00 at Verizon.
• The National Cherry Blossom Festival Fireworks Show is Saturday from 8:30-9:00 on the Southwest Waterfront.