Weekend Events

• Reagan National Airport hosts an aircraft emergency exercise Saturday morning from 9 AM until noon.
• The White House Correspondents' Dinner is Saturday at 7:30 PM at the Washington Hilton.
• The Caps play Saturday at 8 PM at Verizon Center.

West Broad Apartments FCC App

The West Broad Apartments in Falls Church have an application for an analog/DMR repeater on 463.3125 pending before the FCC.

150.7375 [ $293] Active in Fredericksburg

150.7375 [ $293] was active today in Fredericksburg. A Close Call hit on the frequency was received in Central Park. Most of the users were encrypted, but one or two were in the clear. It was difficult to figure out what the users were talking about, but it may have been multiple vehicles traveling from Central Park west on Route 3 to Spotsylvania.

Spotsylvania P25 System Active

Spotsylvania has their Project 25 system on the air. The system is in testing; it's probably several months from seeing regular use. One talkgroup has been seen so far: 5950, which is a simulcast of Fire/Rescue Dispatch. All transmissions on the talkgroup use radio ID 4110913.

The EDACS system remains the primary system for the county for now.

DCFD Encrypted Talkgroups Listed on RadioReference

DC Fire has four primary radio zones; only the first is unencrypted. Now, the encrypted talkgroups from the other three zones are listed on RadioReference. It doesn't do anything as far as monitoring the groups, of course, but it's nice to have a complete reference.

One Franklin Square License

One Franklin Square, an office building located at 1301 K St. NW in DC, was recently licensed for an analog/DMR repeater on 464.7250.

L'Enfant Plaza Update

Property management at L'Enfant Plaza recently began using an additional DMR frequency. These two frequencies may actually simulcast each other, possibly using MOTOTRBO IP Site Connect. Here's the latest lineup:

463.9000 [         ] Engineering (DMR - Color Code 7, Slot 1, Group 12)
463.9000 [         ] (DMR - Color Code 7, Slot 2, Group 11)
464.5250 [         ] (DMR - Color Code 7, Slot 1, All Call)
464.5250 [         ] Security (DMR - Color Code 7, Slot 2, Group 11)

The license for 463.9000 was issued in June 2015. The license for 464.5250 expired in September 2014.

Marriott Marquis System Changes

The Marriott Marquis Hotel in DC now has a third site on its Capacity Plus system. The two-frequency site is only receivable in the immediate area of the hotel. The three sites are covered under a single license.

Convention Center System Changes

The Walter E. Washington Convention Center Capacity Plus system has gained an additional frequency, giving it a total of six (for a total of twelve talkpaths). The center also now has an additional two-frequency site. This site may only be "turned on" for select events. It's covered under a license to Communications Direct out of Batavia, Illinois.

USA Science and Engineering Festival Finds

Here's what was found last Saturday at the USA Science and Engineering Festival:

461.5125 [ d152] CSC Event Staff (S)

The RadioReference Wiki page for convention center events groups has the groups that were active for organizers. Several of the regular groups on the system were also active. The convention center leases radio channels to select events at the center. With a six-frequency, twelve-talkpath Capacity Plus system, they have plenty of room on their system to do so.

Weekend Events

• The Caps play Friday at 7 PM at Verizon Center.
• The Nats play Friday at 7:05 PM, Saturday at 1:05 PM, and Sunday at 1:35 PM at Nationals Park.
• DC United plays Saturday at 7 PM at RFK Stadium.

Downtown Crown FCC App

Downtown Crown, a retail area in Gaithersburg, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for an analog/DMR repeater on 461.6000.

Missing Person Search in Shenandoah NP

Several agencies are conducting a missing person search for Fairfax County firefighter Nicole Mittendorff in Shenandoah National Park, after her car was found in the park. Yesterday, STARS talkgroup 6131 was being used for the search. The talkgroup is labeled as "Command Post 2" in RadioReference, but it was referred to today as "LEO 2" or "Interop LE 2."

New STARS Talkgroup - 6703

A new STARS talkgroup (6703) was used briefly today for a radio check. The radio IDs of the units on the talkgroup were in the form of 37xxx. The talkgroup falls between those for the Virginia Port Authority, and those for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, but it may have nothing to do with either agency.

Flaggers Using DMR in Fredericksburg

Some road flaggers were using a DMR simplex frequency (456.8125 - Color Code 1, Group 16776414) in the Central Park area of Fredericksburg today. It's unknown which company provided the flaggers. As DMR radios steadily fall in price, expect to see more use of the digital mode for itinerant/temporary use.

Update: this frequency/group was also monitored June 7 near GEICO in Stafford County.

CareFirst of Maryland FCC App

CareFirst of Maryland, located at 1280 Maryland Ave. SW in DC, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for DMR simplex on 451.3375, 452.0875, 452.1125, 456.3375, and 457.1125.

4 Service Pros FCC App

4 Service Pros, a contractor in Northern Virginia, has an application pending before the FCC. The app calls for simplex on 467.3375, 457.6875, 462.3875, 456.6875, and 467.4625.

CoreSite FCC License

CoreSite, a data center, was recently licensed for a DMR/analog repeater on 462.0750 at both 1275 K St. NW in DC, and 12100 Sunrise Valley Dr. in Reston.

National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade Finds

Here's what was found at Saturday's parade:

450.1625 [ CSQ] TV IFB/Cues
451.1875 [         ] Organizers (DMR - Color Code 1, Group 10) (S)
461.3875 [ d152] CSC Event Staff (S)
DC Fire used talkgroup 717 (Special Events 2).

The 450 MHz frequency may have been used by a crew from outside the area. There appeared to be a TV crew from Philadelphia at the parade. The organizers had portable radios with what appeared to be at least a dozen channels, but only one was found. Blanchard Communications licenses the frequency in DC, but it's unknown if they were the radio provider.

DC Spare 2 Talkgroup Used for Metro Testing

The DC "Spare 2" talkgroup (2355) was in use on Wednesday for radio testing in the Metro system. A talkgroup on the WMATA system (42224) was also in use around the same time for radio testing; these may have been related.

Weekend Events

• The National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade is Saturday beginning at 10 AM at 7th St. and Constitution Ave.
• The Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival is Saturday from 10:30 AM to 6:00 PM in the Capitol Riverfront area (new location this year).
• The USA Science and Engineering Festival is Saturday and Sunday at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
• DC United plays Saturday at 5:00 PM at RFK Stadium.
• The Caps play Saturday at 7:00 PM at Verizon Center.

Four Seasons Hotel Using Capacity Plus

The Four Seasons Hotel in Washington is using a Capacity Plus system. Three groups were identified. The hotel was licensed for the system in January. The system probably replaces the hotel's analog frequencies, which are still licensed.

DSD+ Fast Lane 2.5 Released

DSD+ is a software program that decodes many digital formats, such as Project 25, DMR, NXDN, and ProVoice. For a one-time fee of $25, the developers offer "Fast Lane" releases, which offer early access to features. Fast Lane 2.5 was released a few days ago, and offers several notable features:

• P25 simulcast support
• Auto-center tuning
• P25 control channel decoding

The current public release of DSD+ is 1.101, which was released on Christmas. Public releases appear about once every six months.

Weekend Events

• The Nats play Saturday at 4:05 and Sunday at 1:35 at Nationals Park.
• DC United plays Saturday at 5:30 at RFK Stadium.
• The Wizards play Sunday at noon at Verizon Center.
• The Caps play Sunday at 7:30 at Verizon Center.

Arlington Talkgroup 37 Active Last Thursday

Last Thursday, Arlington talkgroup 37 (Fire 1K - Incident 3) was active. It's unknown what specific incident the talkgroup was used for, but "Center Court" was mentioned. This may be a location inside the Pentagon, and there was a smoke incident at the Pentagon on Thursday. Arlington units and a unit with a 125xxxx radio ID (likely federal) were active.

College of Southern Maryland Using DMR

The College of Southern Maryland (La Plata campus) was recently found to be using DMR on 461.0250. The community college system is licensed for several UHF analog/DMR repeaters at three locations.

GWU System Update

I was able to update a couple of groups on the George Washington University Capacity Plus system recently. Group 60 is used for personnel conducting building security checks, and group 140 is used by Marvin Center setup and housekeeping.

Hertz (DCA) Update

Here's an update to Hertz's DMR frequency at Reagan National Airport:

451.7250 [         ] Customer Service (DMR - Color Code 3, Slot 1, Group 11)
451.7250 [         ] Buses (DMR - Color Code 3, Slot 2, Group 21)

The licensed 25-watt repeater can only be heard in the vicinity of the airport.

Eaves Glover Park Using DMR

Eaves Glover Park, an apartment building in DC, is using DMR on its repeater on 452.2125 (Color Code 9, Slot 1, Group 1). The recently-issued license only indicates analog.

Target (Falls Church) New License

The Target store in Falls Church (Skyline) was recently licensed for low-power repeaters on 461.4875, 461.7625, and 463.9625. The store was also licensed for several other UHF simplex frequencies.

Possible Tour Group Frequency Found

Yesterday, I monitored what may have been a tour group in the downtown DC area using a DMR repeater. Here are the details:

451.075 "Supreme Court" "Command" "buses out to Capitol from White House" "officers" "guests" "students" "David Townsend" (DMR - Color Code 10, Slot 1, Group 9645)
451.075 "radio check" (DMR - Color Code 10, Slot 2, Group 9745)

The only entity that licenses this frequency in the DC area is Pepco.

Weekend Events

• The Nats play Friday at 6:05 PM and Saturday at 12:05 PM at Nationals Park.
• The Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run is Sunday beginning at 7:30 AM on the grounds of the Washington Monument.

Potomac Center North FCC App

Potomac Center North, an office building located at 500 12th St. SW in DC, has an application for a DMR repeater on 463.5625 pending before the FCC.

Nuclear Security Summit Finds

Here are a couple of things found for the event:

DC Trunked System talkgroup:
716 DCFD Special Events 1 (Convention Center Command)

Integrated Wireless Network National Capital Region talkgroup:
35632 "JHAT" "convention center" (356xxxx unit) (clear/encrypted)