Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association License Mod

Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, which occupies a building at 1900 K St. NW in DC, has a modification pending to its license. The emission designator for DMR has been added to the repeater on 463.2750.

New BCD436HP Firmware Released

Yesterday, Uniden released a major firmware update for the BCD436HP scanner. This is the first firmware release since March of last year, when a minor maintenance release was issued. The firmware adds the "Analyze" feature, displays Close Call hits immediately (without prompt for a key press), speeds up conventional scanning, and provides a workaround for a failing real-time clock battery. Users have also reported that P25 reception has been improved.

The firmware update follows a similar update (released April 10th) for the BCD536HP.

Baltimore Protests

This RadioReference thread has lots of information on talkgroups/frequencies in use for the protests in Baltimore over the past several days.

LinkedIn FCC App

LinkedIn has an application pending before the FCC for use at a data center at 43940 Digital Loudoun Plaza in Loudoun County. The app calls for analog/DMR repeaters on 451.8625 and 463.3375.

General Dynamics License Modification

General Dynamics, located at 2941 Fairview Park Dr. in Falls Church, recently modified its license to add analog and DMR simplex on 466.6500, 468.9000, and 469.7000. The property already was licensed for an analog and DMR repeater on 452.2125.

DOT Headquarters License Modification

JBG Commercial, which manages the Department of Transportation Headquarters building at 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE in DC, recently modified its license to add a DMR repeater on 463.2250. The property was already licensed for a DMR repeater on 461.9375.

Saturday Special Events

Yesterday, there were several special events. Here's what was monitored:

• DC Fire used Special Events 1 (talkgroup 716) from the DC system for the Kingman Island Bluegrass & Folk Festival.
• Charles County and Prince George's County (and possibly other counties) used 8 Tac 94 (853.0125) for the funeral procession of James Herbert, Jr.
• Spotsylvania Sheriff used A Tac (talkgroup 02-024) and Incident (talkgroup 02-027) from the Spotsylvania system for the Wounded Warrior Benefit.

DCFD ELO - Channels A13/A14

DC Fire has a mix of clear and encrypted channels on the DC P25 system. The 0 zone is in the clear, and the A/B/C zones are encrypted. Often, medics will call the ELO (EMS Liaison Officer) on channel 013, and are told to switch to A13. This indicates A13 is for the ELO, although the talkgroup number is unknown. (The mix-up also occurs on 014, and medics are told to switch to A14, which is another encrypted ELO talkgroup.)

DC Project 16 System Deprecated

The DC Project 16 trunked system is no longer in use. As such, the system has been deprecated on RadioReference. The Project 25 system is the only system in use now.

Weekend Events

• The Wizards play Friday at 8:00 PM at Verizon Center.
• The White House Correspondents' Dinner is Saturday evening at the Washington Hilton.
• The Wizards play Sunday at 6:30 PM at Verizon Center.

King George High School Adds DMR Repeater

King George High School recently modified its license to add a DMR repeater on 461.2250.

Crystal Gateway Marriott Applies for DMR Repeater

The Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Arlington has a modification to its license pending to add an analog/DMR repeater on 461.6875. The frequency may replace the "local control" frequency of 464.6750, although that frequency remains on the license.

Johns Hopkins University DC Campus FCC App

The DC campus of Johns Hopkins University has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for an analog and DMR repeater on 463.7750, and analog and DMR simplex on 467.3250 and 469.0750.

Carlyle Dupont Hotel FCC App

The Carlyle Dupont Hotel, located at 1731 New Hampshire Ave. NW in DC, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for simplex on 452.6875, 456.6625, 457.1625, 457.6875, and 462.4875.

Weekend Events

• The Caps play Friday at 7:00 at Verizon Center.
• The Nationals play Friday at 7:05, Saturday at 1:05, and Sunday at 1:35 at Nationals Park.
• The Global Citizen Earth Day rally is Saturday from 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM on the National Mall.
• DC United plays Saturday at 7:00 at RFK Stadium.

DC FedSMR Update

With the DC FedSMR transitioning from Passport to IDAS, I checked some of the frequencies for activity on Saturday from downtown. 406.5875 had IDAS data bursts on it. 408.5500 still has Passport data bursts every couple of seconds. 409.8500 had IDAS data bursts, as well as what appeared to be voice traffic. The traffic was not decoded by DSD+, so it may be encrypted. 410.3125 had IDAS data bursts, but they didn't seem to be as strong as those on 406.5875 and 409.8500.

Sandy Spring Friends School FCC App

The Sandy Spring Friends School, located in Montgomery County, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for fifteen UHF simplex frequencies.

Sakura Matsuri Finds

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

452.4875 [ d412] (S)
452.8625 [ d412] (S)
DC Fire used talkgroup 717 (Special Events 2).

The two UHF simplex frequencies were also used in 2013, the last year the festival was monitored.

Cherry Blossom Parade Finds

Here's what I found at Saturday's National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade:

461.0375 [         ] Organizers (DMR - Color Code 1, Slot 1, Group 5004) (S)
461.0625 [         ] Organizers (DMR - Color Code 1, Slot 1, Group 5005) (S)
461.2375 [         ] Organizers (DMR - Color Code 1, Slot 1, Group 5001) (S)
461.4375 [ d152] CSC Event Staff (S)
DC Fire used talkgroup 717 (Special Events 2). DC EMA used talkgroup 2117.

CSC Event Staff had MOTOTRBO radios, but were using their frequency in analog mode.

Organizers had several more channels available than the three I found. According to information found about the radio zones, the event used two zones. One was comprised of two "citywide" channels, which were probably repeaters, and may have been leased channels on a DMR trunked system, such as the FleetTalk Partners system. The other zone was comprised of eight (simplex?) channels.

Zone 1:
Event Ops - City Wide
TV - City Wide

Zone 2:
Production
15th Street
Tickets/Ushers
Talent
Assembly
Private
Dispersal
Volunteers

1850 M Street FCC App

1850 M Street, an office building in DC, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for DMR simplex on 466.4750, 466.8500, 468.8250, 469.0500, and 469.7000.

The building is already licensed for two UHF simplex frequencies.

FBI Police Using VHF Radios

The FBI Police, often seen near FBI headquarters in DC, are now using VHF radios. The frequency is unknown, but they may be using the Integrated Wireless Network National Capital Region system.

Previously, the FBI Police used 419.2500 [167.9].

Kiewit Infrastructure License

Kiewit Infrastructure, which may be doing contracting work at the Possum Point Power Station in Prince William, holds a license for DMR/analog repeaters on 452.7250, 463.8125, and 464.2125.

Dulles Aviation Modifies License

Dulles Aviation, a fixed-based operator at Manassas Regional Airport, recently modified its license. 462.4750 and 462.5250 were added. The frequencies will be used in a base/mobile configuration.

Weekend Events

• The National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade is Saturday at 10:00 AM on Constitution Ave. from 7th to 17th Sts.
• The Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival is Saturday at 10:30 AM on Pennsylvania Ave. from 9th to 14th Sts.
• The Caps play Saturday at 12:30 PM at Verizon Center.
• DC United plays Saturday at 7:00 PM at RFK Stadium.
• The Cherry Blossom 10-Mile Run is Sunday at 7:20 AM on the grounds of the Washington Monument.
• The Wizards play Sunday at 6:00 PM at Verizon Center.

West Lanham Hills VFD & Rescue Squad FCC App

The West Lanham Hills Volunteer Fire Department & Rescue Squad, located in Hyattsville, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for a repeater on 451.2625. This frequency is for non-emergency business communications.

Downtown DC Hotel Updates

Here are new/updated frequencies for three downtown DC hotels:

462.3750 [ d032] Hilton Garden Inn (S)
462.4750 [ d032] Hilton Garden Inn (S)
451.5125 [ d212] St. Regis - Housekeeping (S)
451.6625 [ d212] St. Regis - Engineering (S)
456.6625 [         ] Sofitel (DMR - Color Code 1, Slot 1, All Call)

The Hilton Garden Inn does not have a license for its frequencies. The St. Regis is licensed. The Sofitel holds a license, but it indicates NXDN, not DMR.

Stafford Coordinating Escort

Stafford Sheriff motor units are coordinating an escort with Prince William and Fredericksburg units. They are using Motor Ops (talkgroup 4512), which is one of the few unencrypted sheriff talkgroups on the county's trunked system.

French International School Modifies License

The French International School recently modified its license. A DMR repeater on 152.4275 was added at the Bradley Blvd. campus.

RINS/COG Frequencies Active

In the past few days, a couple of the Regional Intersystem/Council of Governments frequencies have been active. These are 800 MHz frequencies primarily used for interoperability in the DC area. 852.2375 [192.8] was active in Fredericksburg. 852.4875 [ 91.5] was monitored on I-95 near Potomac Mills. The units talking on this frequency may have been from Maryland. The conversations were brief; specific users could not be identified.

Mount Vernon 452.3875 Switched to NXDN?

Mount Vernon's 452.3875 frequency may have switched to NXDN. The digital format was heard near the estate, and no other licenses for the frequency are in proximity. The license has not been modified for digital; it still indicates analog voice.

Holocaust Museum Switches to Capacity Plus

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is now using a MOTOTRBO Capacity Plus system. The museum was previously using the DC Area Federal SMR system. With that system being converted to an IDAS system, it was evidently decided to take a couple of frequencies from it and devote them to the museum.

Omni Shoreham Hotel Using Capacity Plus

The Omni Shoreham Hotel in DC is using a MOTOTRBO Capacity Plus system. In brief monitoring, only one talkgroup was identified, but two others were seen (104, 105).

The license has emissions designators for DMR, but does not indicate a trunked system.

Weekend Events

• The Wizards play Friday at 7 PM at Verizon Center.
• The Nationals play an exhibition game Saturday at 1:05 PM at Nationals Park.
• The Southwest Waterfront Fireworks Festival is Saturday from 1-9 PM. The fireworks begin at 8:30 over the Washington Channel.