National Spelling Bee

The National Spelling Bee concludes tonight from 8-10 PM at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center at National Harbor. National Harbor uses MOTOTRBO frequencies (unmonitorable), but the Gaylord uses an LTR trunked system.

National Capital Historical Museum of Transportation FCC App

The National Capital Historical Museum of Transportation, located in Silver Spring, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for a repeater on 452.8875.

Woodlake Towers Condominium FCC App

Woodlake Towers Condominium, located at 3100 S. Manchester St. in Falls Church, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for repeaters on 461.5750 and 461.9875. The frequencies are coded for both analog and NXDN digital.

National Aquarium (Baltimore) Switched to MOTOTRBO

The National Aquarium in Baltimore has switched their four UHF repeaters (461.1000, 464.4750, 464.8250, and 464.9750) to MOTOTRBO.

Weekend Events

• DC United plays Saturday at 7:30 at RFK Stadium.
• The National Memorial Day Parade is Monday at 2:00 on Constitution Ave. from 7th to 17th Sts. Look for organizers to use UHF business frequencies, DCFD to use one of their "Special Events" talkgroups, and military ceremonial units (usually the 400-series talkgroups) to be active on the Pentagon sites of the Joint National Capital Region trunked system.

CenturyLink FCC App

CenturyLink, an IT services provider located in Sterling, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for repeaters on 461.8250 and 464.2250. The frequencies are coded for both analog and MOTOTRBO digital.

7799 Leesburg Pike FCC App

7799 Leesburg Pike, an office building in Tysons Corner, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for a repeater on 463.6000.

Prince George's Trunked System - Talkgroup 9001

Does anyone know who's using talkgroup 9001 on the Prince George's system? It's some kind of law enforcement agency, and it may be a patch into the PG system. The talkgroup appeared to be running in FDMA mode today.

Frequencies/Talkgroups Found at JSOH

Here's what I found today at the Joint Services Open House:

Joint Base Andrews Trunked System Talkgroups:
301 "mules to radio trailer"
321 "bus driver lost marshal"
501 Media?
503 Director
513 Tech
515 Flightline Security
519 First Aid/Medical
533 Announcer/Airboss
535 "get in tower"
705 "pickup at squadron"

Prince George's County Trunked System Talkgroups:
2001 PGPD at FedEx Field
2013 PGPD around Andrews
2015 PGFD at Andrews

461.0875 [ d606] Concessions
461.1625 [ d116] Concessions?
464.5000 [ d023] Shuttle Bus Coordination at Andrews
466.1375 [ d732] Food

Preakness Stakes

The Preakness Stakes is Saturday at 6:18 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. This event routinely draws over 100,000 people, and so there is plenty to monitor. Most of the frequencies used by Pimlico are under a license for the Maryland Jockey Club.

In 2009, 162.6125 [127.3] (S) was active for the congressional security detail, and 453.3500 [118.8] (S) was active for the governor's security detail.

Baltimore Police and Fire used the city's Project 16 trunked system in 2009, but this year they'll be using the Project 25 trunked system. Look for the the Fire "Event" talkgroups to be active, as well as the Police "Special Events" talkgroups.

Here are the conventional frequencies monitored in 2009:

451.3000 [179.9] Baltimore Police?
452.1250 [ d223] Facilities (R)
452.8000 [179.9] "Security 2"
452.9750 [ d174] (R)
456.3000 [179.9] Food
457.8000 [179.9] Food
461.6250 [ d174] SAFE?
462.3250 [ d174] Betting Operations (tickets, totes, programs, etc.)
463.4250 [ d174] Ticketing/Track Access?
463.8000 [141.3] Audio/Visual
464.3750 [ d174] Preakness Organizers?
464.4750 [179.9] Housekeeping (R)
464.7250 [ d174] Parking
464.9750 [ d174] Security
469.3750 [ d174] First Aid
469.7250 [ d174] "Lifestar"
469.9750 [179.9] Horse Operations

1100 First St. NE FCC App

1100 First St. NE, an office building, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for simplex on 467.1875, 456.5375, 457.7125, and 451.5375.

Weekend Events

• The Joint Services Open House is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Andrews Air Force Base.
• The Nationals play Friday at 7:05, Saturday at 7:15, and Sunday at 1:35 at Nationals Park.
• The Preakness Stakes is Saturday at 6:18 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.
• DC United plays Saturday at 7:30 at RFK Stadium.

Joint Services Open House

The Joint Services Open House (JSOH) is this weekend at Andrews Air Force Base. Friday's show is only open to DoD personnel, school groups, and media, but the public is welcome on Saturday and Sunday. At an event this large, there is plenty of radio traffic to monitor. In previous years, I've focused mostly on land-mobile users. The Andrews 380 MHz system and the Prince George's 700 MHz system provide most of the action. (To monitor the PG system, which uses TDMA talkgroups, one needs a PSR-800 scanner.)

Air show personnel typically use more than a dozen talkgroups on the Andrews system, most of them in the 500s. Security/law enforcement personnel use many talkgroups in the 150s and 160s.

Beginning with last year's show, Prince George's moved from 490 MHz conventional frequencies to the 700 MHz system. Talkgroup 1055 was used for first aid/medical, and 2015 was used for traffic control around the base. 2001 was used for parking/traffic at FedEx Field, which is one of two locations for people to catch shuttles to the base.

Other land-mobile users are typically found in the UHF business bands. 464.5500 [ d023] was active last year with shuttle bus coordination at the base. 464.5000 [ d023] was active in 2010 with shuttle bus coordination at the Branch Avenue Metro Station. 463.3250 [ CSQ] was active in 2010 with concessions.

For specific frequencies and talkgroups used from 2007-11, see my Prince George's County page.

A RadioReference Wiki page has information about the 2006-11 shows, including military and civilian air frequencies.

The Monitoring Times 2012 Air Show Special (which was in the March issue of the magazine) is apparently not available for free as a PDF this year. Grove is selling it for $0.99 in the Kindle format.

Scanners Permissible at JSOH?

The Joint Services Open House (JSOH) at Andrew Air Force Base is this weekend. According to a post on RadioReference, it looks like scanners will be allowed at the show this year. (It would be a good idea to bring along this message to show to security personnel if one encounters any problems.)

Weekend Event

• The DC101 Chili Cook-Off is Saturday from 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM at RFK Stadium. Look for organizers on UHF business frequencies, CSC Event Staff on 461.5125 or 461.3875, and DCFD on one or more of the Special Events talkgroups (2096, 2112, 2128).

Virginia Gold Cup Talkgroups Found

The Virginia Gold Cup was this past Saturday at Great Meadow in The Plains, VA. Here are the talkgroups monitored on the Fauquier County trunked system:

16 Sheriff/Fire Coordination
26256 Medical (primary)
26288 Medical

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children FCC App

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, located at 699 Prince St. in Alexandria, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for a repeater on 452.3500, and simplex on 461.7125, 463.4875, 463.5500, and 464.8500.

Embassy Open Houses

This Saturday and next Saturday, many embassies will be open for public tours. See this post on Scan-DC for frequencies found in past years.

Weekend Events

• The Nationals play Friday at 7:05, Saturday at 1:05, and Sunday at 8:05 at Nationals Park.
• The Capitals play Saturday at 12:30 at Verizon Center.