I've had some inquiries about where to listen when looking for the US Capitol Police. As mentioned in a previous blog post, they are one of the few remaining federal law enforcement agencies in Washington DC that are still analog.
Here is a quick rundown of what the US Capitol Police have been heard using in DC and when providing protective details around the country. Channels 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are all repeaters, and channels 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10 are simplex on the same frequency. Channel 11 is reported to be a repeater channel as well. The two TRAVEL channels listed are simplex. I have caught them on TRAVEL 3 with Representative Gabrielle Giffords when she was in rehabilitation.
169.2250 MHz, 110.9 PL - F1 / F6
165.5375 MHz, 146.2 PL - F2 / F7
170.1750 MHz, 156.7 PL - F3 / F8
162.2500 MHz, 173.8 PL - F4 / F9
162.6125 MHz, 127.3 PL - F5 / F10
173.5250 MHz, 167.9 PL - F11 & TRAVEL 2
173.8750 MHz, 094.8 PL - TRAVEL 3
163.1000 MHz - Federal Common channel
164.6000 MHz
164.6250 MHz, D023 & D074
164.8000 MHz
168.3500 MHz - Federal Common channel
In addition to these, you can check out the proposed new channel lineup that appeared a couple of years ago when they posted requests for bids for the new P25 radio system:
http://mt-fedfiles.blogspot.com/2011/09/new-uscp-radio-system.html
THE FED FILES - Welcome to The Fed Files blog! This blog was originally built to support the "Fed Files" column in Monitoring Times magazine. Although the Fed Files, as well as Monitoring Times, ended with the December 2013 issue, this blog continues and is associated with the new federal monitoring column, Federal Wavelengths, in The Spectrum Monitor magazine. If you would like to make a comment, pass along a tip or frequency you can send it to my email address, chrisparris @ thefedfiles.com
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Saturday, October 05, 2013
Radio Problems Cited in Capitol Shooting Incident
Media outlets are reporting stories of poor equipment performance and radio system incompatibility during the car chase and shooting that occurred near the White House and US Capitol this past week.
One article describes the older radios that the US Capitol Police are using and why they have not been upgraded:
http://www.nbcwashington.com/investigations/Capitol-Police-Radio-Modernization-Slowed-by-Cost-Overruns-Delays-226521891.html
A second article now states that the US Capitol Police and Secret Service were not able to talk to each other during the incident:
http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/04/20823007-secret-service-capitol-police-radios-couldnt-communicate-during-dc-chase?lite
The US Capitol Police have been utilizing analog radios now for many years. In these days of "federal interoperability" and P-25 radios, they had plans in place to upgrade to new radios with digital repeaters sometime soon. Rumors around the DC scanning list had the new radios being deployed for the presidential inauguration in January, but obviously that did not happen.
As far as the Secret Service and Capitol Police being able to talk to each other, I would bet that they do have some common channels in their radios, but they may not know it. This reminded me of the DHS report on radio training in the agency:
http://www.oig.dhs.gov/assets/Mgmt/2013/OIG_13-06_Nov12.pdf
I would also venture that normally they do not need to talk to each other directly. Standard procedure would most likely be that the dispatchers for each agencies would be talking to each other, either via land line or a common channel, and advising field personnel. Having the officers in the field switching around to different radio channels during this chase/shooting would probably not be recommended by most training curriculum.
One article describes the older radios that the US Capitol Police are using and why they have not been upgraded:
http://www.nbcwashington.com/investigations/Capitol-Police-Radio-Modernization-Slowed-by-Cost-Overruns-Delays-226521891.html
A second article now states that the US Capitol Police and Secret Service were not able to talk to each other during the incident:
http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/04/20823007-secret-service-capitol-police-radios-couldnt-communicate-during-dc-chase?lite
The US Capitol Police have been utilizing analog radios now for many years. In these days of "federal interoperability" and P-25 radios, they had plans in place to upgrade to new radios with digital repeaters sometime soon. Rumors around the DC scanning list had the new radios being deployed for the presidential inauguration in January, but obviously that did not happen.
As far as the Secret Service and Capitol Police being able to talk to each other, I would bet that they do have some common channels in their radios, but they may not know it. This reminded me of the DHS report on radio training in the agency:
http://www.oig.dhs.gov/assets/Mgmt/2013/OIG_13-06_Nov12.pdf
I would also venture that normally they do not need to talk to each other directly. Standard procedure would most likely be that the dispatchers for each agencies would be talking to each other, either via land line or a common channel, and advising field personnel. Having the officers in the field switching around to different radio channels during this chase/shooting would probably not be recommended by most training curriculum.
Wednesday, October 02, 2013
DEA, FBI & FPS Updates
I've added some additional information to the DEA frequency updates featured at the top of the home page of the Fed Files blog.
A source sent some confirmed frequency information from the northern Florida area:
410.4125, N156 - DEA repeater in Tallahassee, FL
411.1750. N156 - DEA simplex operations
410.8000, N201- Federal Protective Service, Pensacola, FL
167.7875, N167 - FBI, Orlando, FL
173.5000, N167 - FBI, Orlando, FL
A source sent some confirmed frequency information from the northern Florida area:
410.4125, N156 - DEA repeater in Tallahassee, FL
411.1750. N156 - DEA simplex operations
410.8000, N201- Federal Protective Service, Pensacola, FL
167.7875, N167 - FBI, Orlando, FL
173.5000, N167 - FBI, Orlando, FL