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
There have been some changes to the March Air Reserve Base VHF P-25 trunked radio system in Riverside, California. These changes might not be obvious to listeners in the area. The system is still P25 Phase 1, but it has had a change in some of the frequencies and now is part of the larger US Air Force 3D6 trunked system.
Here are the specifics of the current system: System ID : 3D6 System Name : March ARB WACN : BEE00 Tower Number (Decimal): 1-13 Tower Number (Hex) : T010D Tower Description : Single Site Flavor : Phase 1
The system information on March ARB on the Radio Reference site has not been updated to reflect these changes, but here is some information on the USAF 3D6 trunked system: https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=7769
I had a chance to stop by the Federal Correctional Institution in Sheridan, OR this week, so I could check on what type of radio system is in use there. It turns out to be the same system I found last time I was there 6 or 7 years ago. Even with some federal prison facilities now upgrading or replacing systems with P-25 digital trunked systems, many are still using the Motorola type II trunking. In this case, they are still type II with digital voice. Here are the goods on their current trunked system:
Sheridan Federal Correctional Institution Sys ID - A81C Voice NAC - $1C5 408.8125 409.0125 409.4125 409.9500 410.5250
Scanner Band Plan Base - 408.8125 Step - 12.5 KHz Offset - 380
