In the July and August columns, I published the frequencies I had logged while spending some extended time in Las Vegas. Here are those frequencies for future reference;
162.8500 N167 FBI
162.9750 N167 FBI
163.0000 N196 TSA Input to 172.9
163.1250 N4CE Hoover Dam NPS -always TG 10636, RID
1
163.2125 N100 Possible IRS TAC - RID 583xxxx
163.3375 N47C BLM law enforcement - input to173.6750
163.6500 N167 FBI
163.7000 N169 ICE
163.7125 114.8 pl Simplex, chat about where to eat
163.8125 N167 FBI
163.8625 N167 FBI
163.8875 N167 FBI
163.9625 N167 FBI
163.9875 N167 FBI
164.3500 Weak analog voice traffic
164.4500 Weak analog voice traffic
164.4750 110.9 pl USFS daily weather reports, input to 172.2750
164.5000 123.0 pl USFS aircraft, fire related
164.5000 146.2 pl USFS aircraft, fire related
164.5000 156.7 USFS
aircraft, fire related
164.7000 N68F BLM law enforcement, input to 173.1500
165.0000 103.5 USFS aircraft, fire related
165.3750 N001 US Secret Service CHARLIE, Las Vegas
Office
165.4125 D754 Old EPA Lab maintenance, still active
165.7250 N293 US Marshals Service – input to
170.7500
165.7625
165.8250 N293 RID 344xxxx
166.2375 Weak analog voice traffic
166.2750 100.0 Simplex, talking about where to eat
again
166.3000 CSQ National Parks Service, Lake Mead
NRA Admin
166.3750 110.9 Fire suppression aircraft,
NIFC Air-to-Ground 66
166.3750 123.0 Fire suppression aircraft, NIFC Air-to-Ground 66
166.3750 136.5 Fire suppression aircraft, NIFC Air-to-Ground 66
166.4000 US Secret
Service GOLF
166.7250 146.2 National Interagency Fire Center,
TAC 5
166.7375 N314 RID 515xxxx, 517xxxx
166.7625 CSQ BLM Las Vegas, NIFC Air-to-Ground 23
166.8000 CSQ NIFC Air-to-Ground 06
166.8875 N293 RID
522xxxx
167.0500
167.1375 CSQ Federal
Itinerant - fire suppression aircraft
167.1500 107.2 NPS Lake Mead NRA - input to
170.0500
167.2625 N167 FBI A-1
167.3625 N167 FBI
167.4375 N167 FBI A-8
167.5375 N167 FBI D-5/D-6
167.5500 CSQ NIFC
Air-to-Ground 42?
167.6625 N167 FBI A-3
167.6875 N167 FBI A-6
167.7125 N167 FBI
167.8625 CSQ VAMC Medical paging
167.8875 Weak analog voice traffic, NIFC Air-to-Ground 48
167.9000 NIFC Air-to-Ground 38
168.0000 NIFC
Air-to-Ground 75
168.0250 N61F
168.0250 156.7 Analog
voice, radio check
168.2000 146.2 National Interagency Fire Center,
TAC 2
168.4000 NIFC Air-to-Ground 22
168.5875 N169 ICE Nationwide TAC 2, RID 628xxxx
168.6125 110.9 Federal Itinerant, fire related
168.6500 110.9 National Flight Following, USFS
168.6750 167.9 NIFC Air-to-Ground 71
168.7750 103.5 USFS
SOA (Scene of Action), fire related
168.7750 131.8 USFS SOA (Scene of Action), fire
related
168.8375 N293
168.9250 Weak analog voice traffic
169.1500 CSQ NIFC
Air-to-Ground 72
169.9125 N300 DHS,
RID 628xxxx
170.0500 CSQ NPS Lake Mead NRA
170.4750 110.9 USFS Mt. Charleston
170.6000 N3E8 BLM,
Mt. Potosi
170.6000 N68F BLM
170.6250 N167 FBI
170.6625 N167 FBI
170.7500 N293 US Marshals Service, Federal
Courthouse, RID 828xxxx
170.8000 N293 US Marshals Service, RID 828xxx
171.4750 103.5 NIFC Air-to-Ground 64
172.2750 CSQ USFS Humbolt-Toiyabe National Forest,
Angel
172.6000 N064 BLM, Mt Potosi
172.7500 146.2
172.8750 N293 FAA, Angel Peak
172.9000 N196 TSA @ McCarren Airport - RID 760xxx,
764xxx
173.0500 114.8 BLM,
Hayford
173.6250 79.7
173.6750 N47C BLM
law enforcement
406.3375 N482 US Postal Inspectors, RID 110xxxx,
871xxxx, 873xxxx
406.9375 DMR US Postal Service, Color Code 1
407.9375 DMR US Postal Service, Color Code 1
409.4000 N940 Federal Protective Service, RID
673xxxx, 675xxxx
413.3125
419.5000 156.7 DEA
Local Option repeater
In addtion to these frequencies, here are some Las Vegas Mystery Frequencies to keep and ear on:
118.7000
The frequency of 118.7 MHz is not much of a mystery, but
what this frequency is used for can be a mystery. This channel is used as a
“company” channel for the JANET flights arriving and departing from Las Vegas
McCarran airport that ferry workers to the Groom Lake area, sometimes referred
to as Area 51. These white 737 aircraft flights have been the subject of many documentaries
concerning Area 51. The flights are operated by a contractor for the U.S. Air Force
and are easily monitored as they come and go from Las Vegas. Once they leave
the Las Vegas area and head for Groom Lake, the frequencies they switch to are still
a mystery to me.
165.4125
This analog repeater
has long been heard with various maintenance operations at what sounds like a
federal facility. I was never able to catch enough information to place it, but
local listeners heard enough to pinpoint to location to the Environmental
Protection Administration (EPA) laboratories near the UNLV campus. However, the
EPA has since shut down their labs at this facility, but the maintenance radio
traffic continues. Could another agency or company be leasing the building? It’s
unknown and will probably require a drive by of the facility to see if there
are new signs up.
167.3625
For probably ten
years now, this frequency has been broadcasting an analog carrier continuously for
no known purpose. It is an active FBI frequency here in Las Vegas, and the agency
does use it in the P-25 digital mode, but that appears to be a separate transmitting
location or simplex use. The signal has been known to vanish for a short time,
but it always comes back. During my stay in Las Vegas, I noted the analog
carrier was off the air twice, but it returned within a couple of hours. Why is
this happening? Some had speculated it is a stuck transmitter, others have
suggested a spur or harmonic of another radio transmitter somewhere. Why
it has a constant carrier on it is unknown.
167.8625
In many areas of the
country, the frequency of 167.8625 MHz is likely carrying some form of medical
paging data or voice traffic. This was noted some years ago as a nationwide
assignment to the Veterans Affairs Medical Centers across the country. And Las
Vegas had quite a bit of paging traffic on this frequency for some time, but my
most recent visits revealed that the paging transmitter is still operational
and identifying itself every so often, there are no paging data or voice messages
being broadcast. What happened? Did they move to a commercial paging service,
or perhaps found pagers redundant now that everyone has a cell phone?
413.2125
This frequency has
been noted by local listeners as emanating from Nellis Air Force Base and is referred
to as GIANT VOICE. It is linked to numerous public address speakers around the
base and is used for emergency announcements. Reports are various voice tests
and data bursts are heard here, but during my stay here in Las Vegas, I did not
catch anything on that frequency. It’s possibly too low powered, but I was
hearing aircraft on the ground at Nellis, so I think I would have heard that.
413.3125
I came across activity
on this frequency during my searches of the UHF band and found something unusual.
The frequency seems to carry traffic that sounds a lot like AEGIS encryption. However,
this encryption mode is very old and probably not supported by Harris anymore. But
who could it be and why are they using an old, outdated digital encryption mode?
The old UHF trunked system used by the Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR)
did use AEGIS encryption on frequencies in the 400 MHz band, but that system
has been replaced by a new, P-25 digital system in the 380 MHz band. Did someone
inherit some older UHF radios and still use them?
419.5000
This frequency was
long noted as the local Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) repeater for the
Las Vegas area. For many years it could be heard in use, quite often with little
or no encryption. Around 2015, the activity on this repeater stopped, and after
some time, everyone assumed it had been taken out of service. But over the last
year, several signals have been heard on this repeater that sound like someone
playing with a radio and doing test counts. In some cases, the radio was heard using
voice inversion, and sometimes you could hear DTMF dialing tones being sent.
Local monitors have not determined if someone is knowingly trying to utilize
this repeater, or perhaps someone has the input frequency accidentally programmed
in an amateur transceiver. In any case they have never apparently offered a
call sign when transmitting.