Weekend Events

A weekend of festivals:

• The Caribbean Carnival and parade are tomorrow along Georgia Ave. The parade begins at 11 AM, and the festival continues until 8 PM. Look for the usual MPD 3/SOD and DCFD Special Events talkgroups to be active. Department of Health and Emergency Management talkgroups have also seen use for this festival.
• The National Barbecue Battle is Saturday from 11 AM to 9 PM and Sunday from 11 AM to 7:30 PM. It takes place on Pennsylvania Ave. between 9th and 14th Sts. Check MPD 3/SOD, DCFD Special Events, and Department of Health talkgroups. Organizers have used rented UHF radios in the past.
• DC United plays at 6PM Saturday at RFK Stadium.

New Talkgroup on Montgomery Trunked System

While monitoring the Montgomery County trunked system on Saturday, I found a new talkgroup. 18064 only had a brief transmission, but the person talking did mention a "kids area."

Another U.S. Open Update

I spent several hours monitoring the U.S. Open on Saturday. Frequencies and talkgroups have been updated. See the Special Events section of the Montgomery County page.

Major U.S. Open Update

Thanks to a source on the scene at Congressional, I've updated the Montgomery County page with numerous frequencies in use at the U.S. Open. Scroll down to the Special Events section, and then look for "U.S. Open (2011)."

Weekend Events

It's a very busy sports weekend:

• The U.S. Open continues at Congressional Country Club through Sunday. See previous posts for information on frequencies and talkgroups. I'll update this blog and my website throughout the weekend with more information.
• The Nationals play the Orioles at Nationals Park on Friday at 7:05, Saturday at 1:05, and Sunday at 1:35.
• The D.C. Triathlon is Sunday morning.
• The CONCACAF Gold Cup Soccer Quarterfinal is Sunday at 3:00 at RFK Stadium.

U.S. Open Update

Thanks to posts in the Maryland forum of RadioReference and on Scan-DC, I've been able to compile a list of talkgroups in use on the Montgomery County trunked system. Here is a list of what has been active yesterday and today:

1744 Special Events 1
1808 Special Events 3
7056 Traffic Management Center 1
15696 Special Events 5
17200 Special Events 6
32336 Regional Police Interoperability

Also, it's been confirmed that some of the tournament organizers are using MOTOTRBO on at least a couple of frequencies (452.3375 and 452.4125).

I'll continue to update this blog as well as my Montgomery County page throughout the weekend.

CapitalSource Finance FCC App

CapitalSource Finance, a financial company located at 5404 Wisconsin Ave. in Chevy Chase, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for a repeater on 461.8625.

Prince William County Juvenile Detention Center FCC App

The Prince William County Juvenile Detention Center in Manassas has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for four simplex frequencies: 159.5475, 159.6000, 160.2075, and 173.2750.

National Conference Center FCC App

The National Conference Center in Lansdowne, VA has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for a repeater on 461.2750 and simplex on 463.2500 and 463.2750. The Center was previously licensed under Aramark Corporation for the same frequencies.

Stafford Sheriff Unencrypted Talkgroup

Yesterday I monitored talkgroup 4533 in the clear on the Stafford County trunked system. This talkgroup falls in the range of the Sheriff talkgroups, of which the vast majority are encrypted. The transmission on the talkgroup was brief, and I was unable to identify a specific user.

U.S. Open Golf Tournament

The U.S. Open Golf Tournament begins tomorrow at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda. This is a major sporting event in the DC area, and should provide some excellent monitoring. Most of the radio traffic will likely fall into three areas: Congressional itself, tournament organizers, and the Montgomery County trunked system.

Congressional uses several VHF repeaters and simplex frequencies. Here is a channel line-up:

152.4050 [ d115] Security
151.8650 [ d115] Grounds (R)
151.5200 [ d115] Clubhouse/Food & Beverage
151.5200 [ d311] Golf
154.5150 [ d115] Athletics
151.9550 [ d311] Spare 1
151.7750 [ d311] Spare 2
152.4050 [ d311] Management

Tournament organizers will probably use numerous UHF repeaters and simplex frequencies, particularly in the 451-453 MHz band. Thanks to someone already at Congressional, they've been confirmed using 451.2125 [ d664] and 451.2875 [ d526]. MOTOTRBO radios have been observed, but it's unknown whether they are being used in that mode, or simply used for analog transmissions.

Look for the Special Events talkgroups to be active on the County trunked system with police and first aid/medical traffic. (Montgomery recently added three more Special Events talkgroups.) There are also four Coordination talkgroups on the system, but these are reportedly encrypted (and may not see use anyway).

Georgetown Day School FCC App

Georgetown Day School, located in Northwest Washington, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for five simplex frequencies. These frequencies may be used at both the high school and the lower/middle school.

461.5000

461.7000

463.8875

468.8875

469.5875

Westlake High School (Charles County) FCC App

Westlake High School in Waldorf (Charles County) has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for a repeater on 152.4350.

Montgomery County Schools New License

Montgomery County Public Schools was recently issued a license for the Shady Grove Bus Depot. The license is for a MOTOTRBO repeater on 151.9100.

Celebrate Fairfax Talkgroups Found

Thanks to excellent tropospheric ducting last night, I was able to monitor both the Fairfax County Public Safety and Public Services trunked systems from Fredericksburg. Here are talkgroups that were in use for Celebrate Fairfax, which continues until 7 PM tonight:

Fairfax Public Safety Trunked System talkgroups:
16032 FCPD Motors
21200 Parking/Traffic
21232 Inside Security/Patrol
21264 Medical/First Aid
21328 Fireworks Safety

Fairfax Public Services Trunked System talkgroups:
24272 Organizers (Channel 1)
24304 Organizers (Channel 2)
36592 Fairfax Connector Shuttles (also may have used 36560)

Weekend Events

Relatively quiet for a summer weekend:

• Celebrate Fairfax begins Friday night and runs through Sunday at the Fairfax County Government Center. Look for some of the Coordination talkgroups on both the Public Safety and Services trunked systems to be active. Also check 159.1050, which may be used by the Government Center.
• DC United plays Saturday night at 7:30 at RFK Stadium.

Loudoun County Sanitation Authority

The Loudoun County Sanitation Authority was recently found on 452.1250 [151.4].

425 I Street FCC App

The Paramount Group, owner of 425 I St. NW, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for a MOTOTRBO repeater on 452.3625.

Race for the Cure Frequencies Found

Here's what I found at Saturday's Race for the Cure:

461.1125 [ 71.9] Materials/Logistics
461.2375 [ 67.0] Command
461.3625 [ 85.4]
461.4875 [ ] (probably uses [ 79.7])
462.1125 [ 94.8]
462.2375 [ 88.5]
462.3375 [ 97.4] Medical
462.3625 [110.9] Finish Line?
462.5625 [100.0]

166.7250 [127.3] Park Police (Channel 1)
464.8125 [ d023] Audio/Visual

DC Trunked System Talkgroups:
2096 DCFD Special Events 1

16656 MPD Special Operations Division

Note that the frequencies used by the organizers appear to be the same ones as those used at the 2009 race.

Union Station Railroad Frequencies Update

Spent some time at Union Station on Saturday, and was able to update the rail frequencies in use. Here's the latest list:

160.2900 [114.8] Yardmaster (input 161.3700)
160.3500 [114.8] Train Maintenance (input 161.1450)
160.4400 [114.8] Station Services (input 161.4450)
160.9200 [ CSQ] Amtrak - Northeast Corridor Road (also uses [146.2])
160.9950 [ d023] Amtrak - Engineering (R)
161.2050 [146.2] Amtrak Police - Car-to-Car
161.2950 [192.8] Amtrak Police - Dispatch (input 160.6650)

The four input frequencies were previously unknown. CSQ seems to be used more on 160.9200 than the listed tone. I was unable to find an input for 160.9950.

Kenny Chesney Concert Frequencies/Talkgroups Found

Here's what I found at Saturday's Kenny Chesney concert at FedEx Field:

Prince George's Trunked System Talkgroups:
2001 PGPD Parking/Traffic
2003 PGPD Inside Security
2005 PGFD Medical/First Aid

461.1375 [ d152] CSC Event Staff
461.3875 [ d152] CSC Event Staff
461.5125 [ d152] CSC Event Staff

In addition, most of the FedEx Field UHF repeater frequencies were active.

The PSR-800 scanner, which was necessary to monitor the Prince George's TDMA talkgroups, had problems with simulcast digital distortion in the area of the stadium. Many of the transmissions were difficult to understand.

Herndon Festival Talkgroups Found

The Herndon Festival, which was this past weekend, was using two of the analog "Coordination" talkgroups on the Fairfax County Services trunked system. 24464 was used for organizers, and 24496 was used for stage managers.

Catholic University FCC App

Catholic University has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for two new repeaters (462.1000 and 463.5500) to be added to the license for the current repeater on 464.5750.

New MOTOTRBO in DC

While in downtown DC on Saturday, I heard MOTOTRBO transmissions on two new frequencies: 463.7250 and 464.5750. A check of the FCC database for the former did not turn up any TRBO licenses. The latter may be the Marriott Wardman Park, which has had the frequency licensed for TRBO for some time, but has continued to operate in analog mode.

Other Weekend Events

In addition to the two events on Saturday already mentioned, there are three other notable events this weekend:

• The Capital Jazz Fest is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD.
• Vintage Virginia is Saturday and Sunday at the Bull Run Park Special Events Center in Centreville, VA.
• The Washington Folk Festival is Saturday and Sunday at Glen Echo Park in Glen Echo, MD.

Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel FCC App

The Renaissance Arlington Capital View, a recently-opened hotel in Crystal City, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for two repeaters and ten simplex frequencies.

Weekend Events

A couple of major events:

• The National Race for the Cure is Saturday at 8:00 AM. Events are centered on the National Mall between 3rd and 7th Sts. In 2009 (last year I attended), organizers used 16-channel UHF radios. Most of the frequencies were in the 461 and 462 MHz range. Also look for Park Police on 166.7250 [127.3], DCFD on one or more of their Special Events talkgroups, and MPD on talkgroup 16656 or 21232.
• Kenny Chesney performs at FedEx Field on Saturday beginning at 4:30. The Prince George's Project 25 TDMA system should see heavy use, particularly the FedEx Field and Special Events talkgroups. Also look for FedEx Field's UHF repeater frequencies to be busy; see my Prince George's page for these.