2009 Presidential Inauguration

The Presidential Inauguration is fast approaching, planned for Tuesday, January 20th. Unfortunately I will not be in Washington DC for the event, but have some sources that will help provide some insight to what is happening as far as scanning and monitoring the events. And because of the publishing schedule of Monitoring Times, I won't be able to do any sort of article on the Inauguration until the May issue! So if you don't want to wait that long, keep checking here at the Fed Files blog, and I'll post what I find out.

Here are some useful links to the various agencies that will be involved in the Inauguration and the related activities. This may give you some information on where to what to program in your scanners for the events:
http://www.inaugural.senate.gov/

http://www.afic.northcom.mil/participation.html

http://www.secretservice.gov/

http://www.wmata.com/inauguration/

http://www.pic2009.org/content/home/

http://www.inauguration.dc.gov/index.asp

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone!

I got to spend my New Years Eve freezing my rear end in Times Square. I was working as part of the NBC coverage of the events. I was too busy working & shivering in the biting cold winds to really concentrate on scanning and federal stuff.

While many of the NY area FBI channels were busy with some encrypted activity, I did manage to catch some activity on the NY Federal Interoperability repeater on 167.7875 MHz, N653. And I did hear the security detail for President & Senator Clinton, who were on scene to help start the ball drop. The EAGLE security detail was on 165.3750 MHz, N001 simplex.

Blue Ridge Parkway-Updated!

Listeners along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia and North Carolina have started to report that the US Park Police that patrol the BRP have switched over to new P-25 digital repeaters for their patrol operations.

While vacationing in North Carolina I came across at least one new P-25 frequency that appears to be the Blue Ridge Parkway patrols. I heard 172.7250, N120 while traveling from Charlotte to Asheville, NC. They appear to have stopped using their old frequency of 167.1750 MHz that used to be heard all over the area.

Here are a list of the frequencies that have been reported as active along the route of the Blue Ridge Parkway:

172.4500
172.7250
172.7500
173.7625

UPDATE 1: While in Asheville, I believe I heard the BRP Patrols on 172.5000 MHz, N4c5. Also, traffic on 172.7250 MHz was alternating between P-25 and analog while listening on December 27th.
UPDATE 2: The 172.7250 MHz P25 channel has been confirmed as Great Smokey Mountain National Park, not the BRP.

Merry Christmas!

A very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all the Monitoring Times and Fed Files readers out there.

Holiday travel has been a challenge for me this year, due to the snow and ice in the Pacific Northwest. But things look like they are starting to settle down and hopefully return to a normal, wet winter!

New GAO Report on IWN

The latest GOA report on the current progress of the federal Integrated Wireless Network (IWN) has been released, and you can find a copy here:

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d09133.pdf

In a nutshell, the latest report says that the cooperation between the Justice Department, Treasury and Homeland Security has collapsed. The original vision of a shared, nationwide radio communications network for federal agencies has turned out to be not exactly what everyone wants and probably can't be deployed as hoped.

A few more key points:

The original pilot project in the Pacific Northwest continues to operate and is growing, but users still report that some of their requirements have not been met. These agencies continue to utilize their legacy radio systems outside of the IWN.

The pilot project appears to be too costly to be expanded nationwide and still fulfill the needs of Justice, Treasury and DHS. While the Treasury Department has been signed on as a participant of the project, they appear mostly as observers and seem to be waiting to see what happens, while Justice and DHS have moved off on their own.

The Justice Department has begun upgrading it's land mobile communications system on it's own, outside of the IWN project. They are calling it the Law Enforcement Wireless Communications Solution. This appears to include recent upgrades to the FBI, US Marshals and other radio systems that listeners have reported over the last year or so. I cover some of this activity in the January issue of Monitoring Times.

Customs and Border Protection has been upgrading their own radio network since 2005. Listeners along both the Northern and Southern US have reported these changes to APCO P-25 over the last two years or so.

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has also been upgrading their radio communications network, referred to as the Tactical Communications Modernization Project. This project is not geared towards building their own communications network. Instead, ICE is looking to partner up with other federal agencies and utilized existing infrastructure to accomplish what they need. Again, this is what we have been hearing over the last few years on the radios.

The GAO report asks Congress to try and get these agencies working together again. To pursue their individual projects risks a lot of wasted time and money by duplication, according to the GAO audit.

Interesting to see what becomes of the IWN project in the coming months.

Arizona Scanning

I was in the Phoenix & Tucson areas after Thanksgiving, so I had some time to scan the bands for activity...
162.0625 MHz, N001 - CBP Border Patrol BP WEST repeater
162.3125 MHz, N001 - CBP Border Patrol BP EAST repeater
163.7000 MHz, N001 - CBP Border Patrol WHITE TANK repeater
163.7250 MHz, N001 - CBP Border Patrol LEMMON 1 repeater
163.7750 MHz, N001 - CBP Border Patrol
164.0625 MHz, 206.5pl
164.6000 MHz, 100.0pl - CBP Customs NET 5
166.3500 MHz, N111 - Unknown, possibly VAMC in Tucson?
167.8250 MHz, N293
168.9750 MHz, N001 - CBP Border Patrol LEMMON 2 repeater
169.6000 MHz, 114.8pl - Coronado National Forest
169.6875 MHz, 167.9pl - Department of the Interior - BLM?
170.1250 MHz, 100.0pl - ?
170.5875 MHz, 162.2pl - Unknown analog repeater in Phoenix area
171.2625 MHz, N293
172.2125 MHz, N167 - FBI Tucson area
172.9000 MHz, N001 - TSA at Tucson International
409.3625 MHz, P-25

And we made a quick side trip up to Kitt Peak. The National Science Foundation vehicles all carried VHF hi-band antennas and I may have caught some of their radios with the Close Call, along with other transmitters located up on the peak:

155.6250, D343 - May be some sort of bus service or school district.
164.3500 - NSF Operations at Kitt Peak
165.2375 - Definitely a CBP Customs NET 1 repeater up there!
168.5250 - NSF operations on Kitt Peak
859.0000, D025
860.0000, D025 - Don't know who these two conventional repeaters belong to, but they were definitely located up on Kitt Peak.

White House Operations?

I caught an interesting program on the History Channel the other night. It was sort of a companion program to the inside look at Air Force One that aired a few months ago. This program was an inside look at the White House.

Although the program focused mainly on the history of this building and had some interesting stories of what goes on behind the scenes, there were some subtle clues to communications that goes on within the White House fences.

There were several camera shots of various maintenance workers doing things like vacuuming or moving furniture around. Many seemed to have radios on their belts. Unfortunately, even in high-definition, I couldn't tell what band they were on.

That got me thinking about all the various Washington DC scanning resources that have logged many of the security & Secret Service channels used at the White House, but I don't recall seeing anything identified as being maintenance or operations (non-security) related. I would guess that even these communications may be secure, as there is all kinds of interesting intelligence that might be gleaned from routine maintenance communications.

Is there anyone out there that may have some information on what the routine operations & maintenance folks at the White House might use for communications?

I also noticed that the program dealt extensively with the layout and history of the first and second floors of the White House, but only mentioned the later-added third story in passing. Any idea what is up on the third floor?

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all the Fed Files fans out there. This holiday weekend finds me working in Ontario, CA. I haven't had a lot of time for listening to the scanner, but here are a few things I have heard from my hotel location:

164.9375 MHz, 103.5 - Angeles National Forest
166,9125 MHz, N245 - CBP Border Patrol "MA-4 SP", part of the So Cal EVRP network
167.3125 MHz, 167.9 - FBI
171.4750 MHz, 103.5 - Unknown
172.1500 MHz, N002 - DHS TSA at Ontario Int'l
172.6750 MHz, 146.2 - Unknown, running 10-28's
173.7375 MHz, 167.9 - FBI, simplex

Nashville Now

Caught some interesting traffic from the Federal Reserve Branch Bank in Nashville last night. I don't know if anything made the news wires, but they had a fire alarm go off and had to evacuate the building.

406.6625 MHz, NAC 293 - This frequency appears to be common amongst all the FRB Branches that I have come across so far.

New In New York

I just spent a few days in Mid-Town Manhattan and was able to confirm some P-25 NAC info, and had a few new things pop up.

167.7875, P-25 NAC 653 - This is the Federal Interoperability repeater that is linked with 414.750 MHz. Finally caught the NAC they were using. Also heard some encrypted P-25 traffic during the time I was there.

167.8875, 127.3 pl - Analog simplex operation or a repeater input. Don't know who this is or where they are but I do hear the dispatch side often. Anyone in NYC heard this?

171.6875, P-25 NAC 9c5 - Unknown user on this one.

172.6625, P-25 NAC 615 - Unknown user here, but heard lots and lots of key ups, as if the repeater was getting hit with some noise or interference.

406.1500, P-25 NAC 293 - VAMC Brooklyn

406.3375, P-25 NAC 482 - This is a US Postal Inspectors frequency. Traffic was encrypted.

408.1000, P-25 NAC 0f0 - State Department Security Detail.

408.1250, P-25 NAC 293 - VAMC Manhattan

417.2000, P-25 NAC 293- Federal Protective Service

417.5500, P-25 NAC 156 - DEA

And finally, has anyone in the NYC area confirmed the use of 409.9250 MHz? I have seen a report of some P-25 activity on this channel. One poster on RR said that it was a State Department frequency at the UN, but I have never seen or heard of this frequency in the State Department pool of frequencies before. I'm wondering if they were thinking of 409.6250?

More Fed Files Posts Coming!

Sorry for not much new on the Fed Files blog lately. Unfortunately, my primary job has been keeping me so busy, I haven't had much time to post much.

I have recently acquired some new hardware that will allow my to start collecting P25 NAC information on the federal frequencies I run in to. Starting in 2009, there will be more NAC data posted here and in the Fed Files column in Monitoring Times.

IWN Moving Ahead in Arizona?

Reports are beginning to surface of strange digital signals starting to appear on federal VHF frequencies in the Phoenix / Tucson areas of Arizona. The signals resemble Motorola trunking control channel data, but no one was able to decode or read these data channels.

The frequencies that were active with these signals were 167.6500 MHz, 167.7375 MHz, 170.7625 MHz, 173.0500 MHz, 173.2375 MHz and 173.7625 MHz. 163.8375 MHz was also heard, but very weak. It could have been an image or perhaps a mobile that was broadcasting the signal in to the repeaters.

Most likely these are digital "test patterns" used to check system coverage and signal propagation on digital radio systems. This V.52 test signal is used to check Bit Error Rate (BER) which is an important consideration in digital radio coverage. This may indicate that new trunked sites on the Justice Department's Integrated Wireless Network (IWN) P25 radio system are about to start appearing the Southwest US.

The prime contractor for the IWN is General Dynamics. Their web site, and the DoJ web site for the IWN reveal no new updates on the status of the IWN, so no idea when these new sites will be up and running, but keep searching the federal VHF band for new P-25 activity!

Campaign '08 Secret Service Call Signs

It is post convention campaign time and the candidates are traveling across the country for more and more events. Here is an update on the candidates and their Secret Service call signs, confirmed from multiple sources:

John McCain - PHOENIX
Cindy McCain - PARASOL

Barack Obama - RENEGADE
Michelle Obama - RENAISSANCE

Sen. Joe Biden - CELTIC
Jill Biden - CAPRI

Gov. Sarah Palin - DENALI
Todd Palin - DRILLER

Other family members of each of the candidates may have code names assigned to them as well.

Hurricane Ike Recovery

I have been monitoring the situation in southeast Texas and hurricane (now tropical storm) Ike. In addition to the news networks and the Weather Channel, DirecTV is providing a feed of the Houston CBS affiliate full time on channel 361.

It appears that an amazing number of state, federal and military resources, called "Task Force Texas", are being poured into the Houston/Galveston area to help with recovery and restoration of services and power. I had received word from friends in Houston before the storm hit that FEMA was already staging equipment and vehicles in the old Astrohall, near Reliant Stadium.

Although this is certainly an amazing monitoring opportunity with all the activity going on, most folks in the area either have other, much more important things to worry about, or they have no power. But if you are in the area and want to search for any recovery communications, don't overlook the federal UHF band, 406 to 420 MHz. FEMA and associated groups such as DMAT and Urban Search and Rescue crews are almost certainly utilizing radios in that band as they were at the two recent political conventions. Plus national guard units have been known to utilize this band for short range, simplex communications.

TSA Trying "Calmer" Radios

The TSA is apparently moving towards the use of speaker mics and earpieces with their radios at airport checkpoints. The move is intended to help keep the checkpoints "calmer" by eliminating the yelling across the checkpoint areas. You can read the story here:

http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-ctbradley0912.artsep12,0,7802412.story

I had noticed the new blue TSA uniforms when I travelled through Minneapolis / St. Paul airport a week ago after the Republican convention.

RNC Opening Day

Just a quick update from St. Paul and the Republican National Convention. As has been reported by the news media, President Bush and VP Cheney will not be making an appearance at the convention center, but may do a video presentation.

Security operations continue to build, and we have had flights of both military and Coast Guard helicopters overhead. No sign of the Customs air assets yet, and no idea if there will be a combat air patrol overhead.

Since this event is designated as a National Security Special Event, all sorts of agencies are involved with the convention security, from the Secret Service to the FBI, US Marshals, Postal Inspectors and the military.

I'll have more as the convention continues.

RNC Build Up

Now that the dust has settled in Denver, the focus shifts towards the eastern half of the Twin Cites, St. Paul, Minnesota.

The radio spectrum has started to get busier and more new and unusual frequencies are being seen and heard here. This morning the Coast Guard flew 2 HH-65 Dolphin helicopters around downtown St. Paul and the Xcel Energy Center and the site of the Republican National Convention. No sign of any Customs air assets yet. Secret Service and other federal frequencies are starting to come alive with radio tests and encryption.

There are rumors flying about that if Hurricane Gustav makes a beeline for New Orleans, the RNC may be delayed by a few days or perhaps a week. The situation is being monitored and we'll find out if anything changes soon.

Denver DNC Ramps Up

The radio spectrum in the Denver area is becoming increasingly filled with communications related to the Democratic National Convention, which starts tomorrow at the Pepsi Center.

As we reported in an earlier blog post, the Multi Agency Communications Center started operations on Saturday, and reports of all sorts of federal activity in the VHF and UHF bands continue to pour in. Much of the activity is reported as using APCO P-25 digital with encryption, especially the US Secret Service channels, which is the lead agency for this event.

Also, reports are coming in that more new talk groups are being spotted on the Colorado State P-25 800 MHz system as well as the federal "Front Range" UHF trunked system. Most of these new talk group users are using the encryption feature, so identifying the channels will be difficult at best. Some conventional UHF federal activity is being heard in the downtown Denver area as well, some even in analog.

There are some web sites hosting live feeds of the Denver area public safety communications, including this one: http://co.scanamerica.us:80/index.php?county=Denver

Tom Kneitel, 1933-2008

I received word this morning that Tom Kneitel, author of many scanning and monitoring related books and writer for Popular Communications magazine, has passed away at the age of 75.

As many long time "Fed Heads" will remember, Tom was the author of the CRB books series "Top Secret Registry of US Government Frequencies". The last edition was the 8th edition, printed in 1993. These books were the bibles of the federal scanning hobby and provided much of the basis of all federal scanning & monitoring well before the Internet age.

Denver MACC Opens For DNC

The Multi Agency Communication Center for the Democratic National Convention has begun operations in Lakewood, CO this morning. The MACC is set up in the Denver Federal Center to support all the federal agencies involved in the DNC. The lead agency for this National Security Special Event is the US Secret Service, a division of the Department of Homeland Security.

http://www.9news.com/news/elections/dnc/article.aspx?storyid=98166&catid=348

A similar communication center will be established in St. Paul, MN for next month's Republican National Convention.