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).