St. Paul MN Scanning Update

I was recently in St. Paul, Minnesota for some preliminary meetings regarding broadcast coverage of the Republican National Convention in September. While there I found some activity in the downtown area.

164.3375 MHz, 167.9 - US Postal Service operations
165.2375 MHz, 100.0 - DHS Customs & Border Protection NET1
167.2625 MHz, P-25 - Clear testing of what might be some new radio system. probably FBI
167.4375 MHz, P-25
167.6375 MHz, P-25
167.8875 MHz - VA Paging
170.6250 MHz - P-25
170.7375 MHz - P-25
170.7625 MHz, D271 - Unknown agency
171.6875 MHz, P-25
173.8125 MHz, P-25
407.0000 MHz, P-25 - DHS Federal Protective Service

Most of the VHF P-25 was encrypted or too short to confirm it's use. The clear traffic was a lot of testing. I don't know if these are new to the St. Paul area or not.

McCain Campaign Update

As I posted a couple of weeks ago, Sen. John McCain has recently been confirmed as having Secret Service protection as he campaigns across the US. He had previously dismissed the security detail from the Secret Service, but apparently reconsidered as the conventions draw closer.

Now, I have received word of Sen. McCain's Secret Service call sign. It is reported as "PHOENIX", which is appropriate in several ways. This now joins the list of other candidate call signs listed below.

Hillary Clinton - EVERGREEN
Bill Clinton - EAGLE

John McCain - PHOENIX
Cindy McCain - ?

Barack Obama - RENEGADE
Michelle Obama - RENAISSANCE

And even though they are not running for office, there may be convention or campaign apperiances:

President Bush - TRAILBLAZER
Vice President Cheney - ANGLER

Thanks to all the blog readers and listeners in the field for this information!

When Federal Frequencies Get Hijacked?

I was recently working near the location of a Championship Off Road Racing event in Nevada. I discovered that someone at this event was using 169.1125 MHz, simplex, for what sounded like race officials. I don't know exactly who this group was, but they used this frequency for quite a long time before, during and after the racing events. I wonder how they picked this channel and why...

You never know who might show up on some frequencies!

McCain Now With USSS

I was able to confirm today that Sen. John McCain is now accompanied by a security detail from the US Secret Service. There had been some speculation earlier in the campaign as to who was providing security for Sen. McCain, as he had previously refused Secret Service protection.

Sen. McCain was in Portland, Oregon on a campaign stop, and the Secret Service detail was using 165.3750 MHz (CHARLIE), P-25 mode. I was unable to snag the call sign for Sen. McCain.

Anyone Listening to 165.4250 MHz?

OK Fed Files fans, it's time to help track down a mystery frequency! If anyone has one of the presidential candidates coming for a visit soon, besides the known US Secret Service channels found here,

http://mt-fedfiles.blogspot.com/2008/02/secret-service-frequency-list.html

please check the frequency of 165.4250 MHz for activity. I have received reports of some activity on this frequency during some candidates visits and want to see if it has widespread use.

The frequency is interesting in that it is not a previously known Secret Service channel. In fact in most federal databases it has NO previous users noted.

So if you have room in your scan list, pop that frequency in and let me know what you hear!

Border "Virtual" Fence Scrapped

It appears that the virtual fence built by Boeing is not performing as expected. Details here:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352213,00.html

The story indicates that there will be some additional towers and surveillance devices set up to help control the border area in southern Arizona.

Pittsburgh - New FBI P25

Despite it's slow start in moving towards APCO P-25 digital radio systems, the FBI is starting to make the switch in different regions of the country. I've been spending some time in the Pittsburgh, PA area and can confirm that some new P-25 repeaters have started to make themselves heard here.

The new repeaters are on 165.8250 MHz, 165.8750 MHz, 168.8250 MHz and 168.9250 MHz. The repeaters all seem to have an input frequency of 163.7500 MHz. Mostly encrypted but a few clear transmissions have been heard, all showing a P-25 NAC of 167.

Not sure if these repeaters are replacing some analog equipment, or these are serving a new purpose for the Department of Justice in the Pittsburgh area.

Political Campaign Acitvity - McCain to get Secret Service Detail

News media outlets are reporting that Senator John McCain will discuss Secret Service protection with DHS officials next week. For some time now, candidate McCain has publicly said that he did not want the burden of Secret Service protection.

Despite claiming not to want the protection of the Secret Service, I have seen reports that Senator McCain might have actually had some sort of security detail with him on the campaign trail. But some have reported that he had the US Capitol Police with him, others claimed it was the FBI and one posting even seemed to think the US State Department was somehow involved with security for McCain. I haven't seen any hard data to support any of these theories.

The other political candidates, Clinton (both Bill & Hillary) and Obama, currently have Secret Service protective details. The big question now is what will Senator McCain's call sign be?

Presidential Campaign Activities

Is it just me, or does it seem like this presidential political campaign has been going on forever? Back in June of 07 (!) I mentioned that the media was reporting Senator Barack Obama had been given the call sign of "Renegade" by the US Secret Service:

http://mt-fedfiles.blogspot.com/2007/06/secret-service-call-signs.html

I can confirm this is still the case. During a recent visit to the state of Oregon, Senator Obama's security detail was using 165.3750 MHz, P-25 digital mode. And he is still being called RENEGADE.

The security details are using various USSS frequencies depending on the location and detail requirements:

http://mt-fedfiles.blogspot.com/2008/02/secret-service-frequency-list.html

Las Vegas NNSA Update

It would appear that the UHF federal trunked systems in the Las Vegas area have gone through some channel changes prior to the narrow banding deadline of January, 2008. Last time I was in the LV area I noticed some UHF trunked channels that were not heard before, and this trip I was able to sit down and analyze some of what I am hearing.

I was only able to grab a few of the sites, but here is what is currently in use:

National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Trunked System
System ID = 7526
Motorola Type II, with APCO P-25 voice

Site 004 - Las Vegas DoE Facility
406.9875 - Control Channel
407.3625
408.3625
409.5250
409.9250

Site 006 - Angel Peak, NV
406.1125 - Control Channel
406.5500
409.3000
410.2500

Site 009
407.3500 - Control Channel

Site 010 - Nellis AFB
407.9875 - Control Channel


It also appears that the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) EDACS system has changed some frequencies around. I was able to copy an EDACS control channel on 406.5625 MHz, 408.0500 MHz and 409.9625 MHz. I have not seen these frequencies listed as part of the NTTR system in the past.

More updates on this as I am able to figure them out...

US Geological Survey

After seeing some requests for frequencies for the US Geological Survey, I decided to post all that I had in my database. These were compiled for the March 2005 Fed Files column. I have included not only land mobile voice channels but also some very narrow band data channels that appear in the federal NTIA assignments.

http://www.usgs.gov/aboutusgs/

162.0500
162.0750
162.089375
162.1250
162.1750
162.2000
162.809375
163.0250
163.0750
163.1250
163.1750
163.3000 NATIONWIDE
163.3250
163.3500 NATIONWIDE
163.396875
163.606225
163.609375
163.792875
163.793775
163.796875
164.009375
164.0500
164.0750 NATIONWIDE
164.1250
164.1500
164.1750
164.2500
164.4250
164.4375
164.5250
164.5500
164.5750
164.6625
164.6750 NATIONWIDE
164.7250 NATIONWIDE
164.7750
164.8000
164.8250
164.842875
164.846875
164.9125
164.9375
164.9875
165.3375
165.4875
165.5375 NATIONWIDE
165.806225
165.809375
165.9750
166.0000
166.0500
166.0750
166.1250
166.1500
166.1750
166.2000
166.2250
166.2750
166.3000
166.3250
166.3500
166.3750
166.418725
166.421875
166.6125
166.6375
166.659375
166.7500
166.7625
166.7750
166.8000
166.8125
166.8250
166.8500
166.8750
166.8875
166.9000
166.9125
166.9250
166.9375
166.9500
166.9500
166.9625
166.9750
167.0250
167.0750
167.1250
167.1500
167.193775
167.196825
167.806225
167.809375
167.9000
167.9500
168.1250
168.2250
168.2750
168.3000
168.3750
168.4000
168.4250
168.4750
168.5000
168.5250
168.5500
168.5750
168.7500
169.0000
169.0250
169.0375
169.1000
169.2250
169.2500
169.3750
169.4000
169.5000
169.5500
169.5750
169.6000
169.6250
169.6500
169.7000 NATIONWIDE
169.7250
169.7750 NATIONWIDE
169.8250 NATIONWIDE
169.8750
169.9250
170.0000
170.0250
170.0500
170.0750
170.1000
170.2000
170.3000
170.3750
170.4750
170.5250
170.6000
171.1750
171.4060
171.406225
171.4250
171.5750
171.6250
171.6750 NATIONWIDE
171.7000
171.7250 NATIONWIDE
171.7750
171.8250
171.9750
172.2250
172.3000
172.3250
172.4250
172.4500
172.5000
172.5250
172.5750
172.6250
172.6750
172.7500 NATIONWIDE
172.7750
173.193725
173.193875
173.1940
173.197925
173.6375
173.7625
173.9625
173.9875
406.1500
406.4750
408.0750
408.6250
408.6750
411.6500
411.7250
411.7750
411.8750
411.9000
411.9500
411.9750
412.0000
412.0750
412.2750
414.8250
415.0250
415.0750
417.4000
417.6750
417.7750
417.8250
419.6250
419.8750

NOAA WP-3D in Portland

While waiting at Portland International Airport (KPDX) for a commercial flight, I spotted a NOAA WP-3D aircraft taxing out for takeoff. The aircraft was NOAA 42, N42RF.

NOAA often flies research missions out of the Pacific Northwest doing wind and storm research out along the Pacific coast. Here is a link to the NOAA web page describing what the annual missions are all about this year:

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20080211_p3.html

March Fed Files Correction

Before I get too many more emails, I want to post a correction of something that was in the March 2008 Fed Files column regarding the federal use of Network Access Codes or NAC's on P-25 digital radio systems.

I incorrectly stated that NAC 293 will act as a digital carrier squelch on professional P-25 radio equipment. I should have said that NAC F7E will operate as a digital carrier squelch on P-25 radio equipment, although I have also been told that this only applies to repeaters and not radios in the field.

The NAC value of 293 is what some are calling a "default" NAC that seems to be used by quite a few agencies.

I have to confess that I don't' own any professional P-25 equipment yet, so I rely on the kindness of strangers for this information...

Secret Service Frequency List

I've started to have some requests for Secret Service frequencies during the height of the '08 political campaign season. Here is what was published in the July 2007 Fed Files column.

Remember that at this time, only Senators Clinton and Obama have full time Secret Service protection. I have heard, but not confirmed, that Senator McCain may have US Capitol Police with him, or private security. But McCain has publicly refused Secret Service protection.

Also note that it is highly unlikely that the White House Communications Agency would be involved with any visits other than for the President or Vice President.

US Secret Service VHF Allocations
162.0750 USSS Uniformed Division
162.2875 Laurel, MD Trunked System
162.3125 USSS Uniformed Division
163.3125 USSS Uniformed Division
163.4500 Laurel, MD Trunked System
164.1000 X-RAY, New York City Field Office 1
164.1750 USSS Uniformed Division
164.4000 PAPA
164.4375 USSS Uniformed Division
164.6500 TANGO
164.7500 X-RAY
164.8000 X-RAY
164.8875 OSCAR
164.9875
165.2125 MIKE
165.2625 X-RAY
165.3375 X-RAY
165.3625
165.3750 CHARLIE
165.3875
165.4125 X-RAY
165.4875
165.5125 X-RAY
165.5250 Laurel, MD Trunked System
165.6500 X-RAY
165.6875 X-RAY - Washington DC Field Office
165.7875 BAKER
165.8500 X-RAY
165.9000 X-RAY
166.0000 Dignitary Protective Division 5
166.0250 Laurel, MD Trunked System
166.0500 X-RAY
166.2000 X-RAY - USSS Uniformed Division
166.2625 Laurel, MD Trunked System
166.4000 GOLF
166.4625 DHS Common
166.4875
166.5625 X-RAY
166.5875 X-RAY
166.6375 X-RAY
166.6500 Laurel, MD Trunked System
166.8000 X-RAY
167.0125 Reported POTUS / VPOTUS Protection Details
167.0375 Reported POTUS / VPOTUS Protection Details
167.4000 Laurel, MD Trunked System
167.9000 X-RAY – Dallas Field Office
168.0000
168.1250
168.2375 Diplomatic Protection Division 1
168.5875 Diplomatic Protection Division 2
169.9375 USSS Uniformed Division
170.0000 JULIET – Washington DC Field Office Alternate
170.0875 Diplomatic Protection Division 3
170.4375 USSS Uniformed Division
170.9875 USSS Uniformed Division
171.3875 New York City Field Office 2
171.7625 USSS Uniformed Division
172.0625 Diplomatic Protection Division 4
172.2250 New York Field Office 3
172.5625 USSS Uniformed Division

US Secret Service UHF Allocations
406.2750
407.6750 WHITE
407.7500 GRAY
407.8000
407.8750 GREEN
407.9000
407.9250 INDIA
408.0250
408.5000
408.9750
414.6750 YELLOW
414.8000 BLUE
414.8500 BROWN – Technical Security Division
414.9500 ORANGE – Technical Security Division
415.1000 BLACK
415.6500 SILVER
415.6750 GOLD – Technical Security Division
415.7500 GREEN
415.8000 VIOLET
415.9750 RED
418.1250 LAVENDER
418.1500 YELLOW
418.3250 BLACK
418.3500 GRAY
418.7750 ORANGE – Technical Security Division
418.8000 BROWN – Technical Security Division
419.0750 GOLD – Technical Security Division
419.1000 SILVER
419.7250 RED

White House Communications Agency (WHCA) VHF Allocations
162.6875 YANKEE
165.2125 MIKE
165.3750 CHARLIE
165.7875 BAKER
166.2000 Reported in use at Camp David Presidential Retreat
166.4625 DHS Common
166.5125 ALPHA / SIERRA
166.7000 NOVEMBER
167.0250 WHISKEY – Paging, reported no longer in use
167.9000 HOTEL
169.5125 SIERRA
169.9250 DELTA
170.0000 JULIET
171.2875 ZULU

White House Communications Agency (WHCA) UHF Allocations
406.4500 Transportable Trunking System
407.1250 Transportable Trunking System
407.4750
407.6750 Wideband UHF reported
407.8000 Transportable Trunking System
407.8500 ECHO – No longer in use
408.8500 Transportable Trunking System
408.8750 Transportable Trunking System
408.9250 Transportable Trunking System
415.6750 Wideband UHF reported
415.7000 FOXTROT – No longer in use
415.8000
418.2750 Transportable Trunking System
418.3750 Transportable Trunking System
418.4000 Transportable Trunking System
418.5000 Transportable Trunking system
418.5250 Transportable Trunking System

Phoenix Fedcom

Well, it's Super Saturday and I finally have a minute to post a quick note. I had meant to post some federal communications updates related to the Super Bowl activities in Phoenix, but have been just too darned busy to keep up with it!

I have had the scanner running with me and have collected some new federal operations here at the event and I promise to share them after the show is over on Sunday.

Needless to say, the Customs AMD UH-60's have been flying around U of P Stadium all week in preparation for the big event. Several other local, state and federal agencies have been flying around as well, along with the Goodyear blimp. The Blue Angels have made some brief appearances as well, getting ready for the fly-by on Sunday.

Gotta get back to work, but keep checking and I'll update the scanning stuff soon. And a special thanks to some of the Phoenix area scanner listeners for their email updates to me the last couple of weeks!

South Carolina Campaigns

I've seen some reports of Secret Service operations on 165.7875 MHz, USSS BAKER in South Carolina in regards to the political campaigns. Unknown if this is related to the Clinton or Obama campaigns. More as it becomes available...

DHS NRF Resource Center

The DHS National Response Framework presents the guiding principles that enable all response partners to prepare for and provide a unified national response to disasters and emergencies – from the smallest incident to the largest catastrophe. The Framework establishes a comprehensive, national, all-hazards approach to domestic incident response.

A new series of PDF files is available at the NRF site, with some communications information:

http://www.fema.gov/emergency/nrf/aboutNRF.htm

New York Area Fedcom

Just a couple of quick notes from my last trip to the NYC area...

Once again, I was in town for the weekly Federal Interoperability radio check in. This check in occurs every Wednesday morning on a couple of federal frequencies. Last time I was only able to hear the repeater on 167.7875 MHz, P-25 digital and unencrypted. This time I was able to copy the UHF side of the check-ins on 414.7500 MHz, 82.5pl, analog mode. The input to this repeater is 407.7750 MHz, 82.5pl, analog mode.

Also, the last few times in town, I heard quite a bit of both analog and P-25 activity on 417.5500 MHz. The analog activity was all OTAR (Over The Air Re-keying) data, and the P-25 activity was pretty much all encrypted. My guess is this is a DEA repeater, as this is one of their allocations. Other DEA channels still show some analog activity.

And finally, I was hearing a lot of traffic on 413.4125 MHz, P-25. All the traffic was in the clear and sounded like some facility security operation. At times the traffic seemed to sound like a VA medical facility, but not sure where it was coming from.

UPDATE: A listener in the know informed me that 413.4125 MHz is indeed the VA Medical Center in East Orange, NJ. Thanks!

Super Bowl XLII Federal Monitoring

I'm headed to Phoenix this week to start work as part of the international coverage of Super Bowl XLII. Technically we will be in Glendale, west of Phoenix, where the University of Phoenix Stadium is located.

If past Super Bowls are any indication, there will be plenty of local, state and federal agency communications to search for during the next couple of weeks. I will be updating the Fed Files blog with interesting finds, and the May issue of Monitoring Times will have a more detailed look at what went on.

BTW, if there are any Phoenix area listeners that might want to keep in touch via email or IM, please feel free to contact me at the Fed Files email address.

More Campaign Communications

Some additional information on the political campaigns communications has started to surface. A post on the FEDCOM list indicated that at least one candidate's staff was using 462.6250 MHz for some of it's communications.

This might be a good time to review what they might be using for radio frequencies. If you have a chance, check these out at locations where some of the candidates are making appearances. These would most likely be used for staff operations, not security, but could still provide some interesting listening...

Multi-Use Radio Service (MURS)
151.820 MHz
151.880 MHz
151.940 MHz
154.570 MHz (shared with business band)
154.600 MHz (shared with business band)

GMRS Frequencies
Repeater outputs (inputs are +5 MHz):
462.550
462.575
462.600
462.625
462.650
462.675
462.700
462.725
Interstitial frequencies (simplex, not more than 5 watts):
462.5625
462.5875
462.6125
462.6375
462.6625
462.6875
462.7125

Common Business Frequencies
IS=Special Industrial
IB=Business
ZA=GMRS

027.4900 IB Itinerant
035.0400 IB Itinerant
043.0400 IS Itinerant
151.5050 IS Itinerant
151.6250 IB RED DOT Itinerant
151.9550 IB PURPLE DOT
152.8700 IS Itinerant
154.5700 IB BLUE DOT (also MURS)
154.6000 IB GREEN DOT (also MURS)
158.4000 IS Itinerant
451.8000 IS Itinerant
456.8000 IS Itinerant
462.5750 ZA WHITE DOT
462.6250 ZA BLACK DOT
462.6750 ZA ORANGE DOT
462.7125 ZA Radio Shack HTs (GMRS)
464.5000 IB BROWN DOT Itinerant 35w.
464.5500 IB YELLOW DOT Itinerant 35w.
467.7625 IB J DOT
467.8125 IB K DOT
467.8500 IB SILVER STAR
467.8750 IB GOLD STAR
467.9000 IB RED STAR
467.9250 IB BLUE STAR
469.5000 IB Simplex or input to 464.500 if
repeater. Itinerant 35 w. max
469.5500 IB Simplex or input to 464.550 if
repeater. Itinerant 35 w. max