Las Vegas Update

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.