FPS Updates

A couple of updates on the Federal Protective Service, part of the Department of Homeland Security.

The FPS had been active on 417.2000 MHz in the Los Angeles area for some time, but recently the frequency went silent. They have moved to 410.8000 MHz, 127.3 PL, part of the reorganization of the federal 406-420 MHz band. They still have not moved to P-25 digital as of this week, when I heard them on the new frequency. Other cities in the Southern California area are reported to be using 406. 2000 MHz, also in analog. The inputs to these new repeater frequencies are +9 MHz, part of this new organization of the UHF band.

In the Pacific Northwest, the FPS has long been active on 408.2000 MHz, in P25 digital and not encrypted. At some point last week, nearly all the transmissions in the Portland, OR area on the FPS primary frequency have been encrypted. An occasional unit will transmit in the clear, but the response from the FPS MegaCenter dispatcher is encrypted.

Word was out that encryption was coming for some time. Some mobile units were occasionaly using encryption, but the dispatchers would usually respond in the clear. Some areas of the country have had encryption on the FPS channels since the switch over to new frequencies or P25 digital. But some areas remain in the clear.

Atlantic City NJ - Sandy Recovery

I just spent some time in the Atlantic City, NJ area after Hurricane Sandy went through a couple of weeks ago. I was able to spot some debris and beach cleanup operations south of the hotels and casinos.

On the way into Atlantic City, I did catch some traffic from FEMA on 407.6625 MHz, N421. And as with the FEMA communications I heard in New York City, some were in the clear.

Once in the city, I came across several trucks with federal government license plates that were apparently with the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA). In addition to the WAPA vehicles, there were some additional power service trucks that were contractors working to restore power. All the vehicles carried VHF-hi band antennas, but I was never able to catch any radio transmissions from them.

But things must be getting back to normal, as both the FBI and the DEA were busy in the area during my time on the boardwalk!

UHF Changes in Oak Ridge?

A recent posting in the Radio Reference forums has some information on what appears to the an additional P25 UHF trunked site from the National Nuclear Security Administration facility in Oak Ridge, TN. You can see the posting here:

http://forums.radioreference.com/tennessee-radio-discussion-forum/252895-i-found-p25-trunked-system-i-cant-identify.html

The original poster did not list any system information, other than it is reporting as Site 002. The control channel frequencies he was hearing were 408.7125 & 410.1125 MHz. He also reported a voice channel of 408.2250 MHz. My suspicion is that this is an additional site to the already existing Oak Ridge DoE NNSA P25 trunked system:

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=4446

If anyone has any additional information you want to pass along, please do!

UHF Changes in Pittsburgh?

I recently spotted an entry to the Radio Reference database showing a "new" federal UHF trunked system. You can check out the entry here:

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=7445

The system is not new, and for you Fed Files readers, it appeared in the March, 2006 column. It belongs to the  National Nuclear Security Administration Bechtel Bettis Navy Reactor Facility in West Mifflin, PA a suburb of Pittsburgh. You can see more about this facility at these web sites:

http://www.nnsa.doe.gov/siteoffices.htm#pittnaval 

http://www.bettislab.com/

The entry in the Radio Reference database indicates that they may have changed some frequencies in the system since I last monitored it. Originally I had it using these channels:

406.9750 MHz

407.1375 MHz

407.3875 MHz

407.7875 MHz

408.1750 MHz

New new listing has added a frequency of 406.3375 MHz and deleted the 407.1375 MHz channel. Probably some additional re-shuffling of the federal UHF assignments.

Sandy Recovery NYC Area

I have been in the Brooklyn/Staten Island area for the last few days have have been monitoring some of the federal recovery efforts. Federal agency activity has started to increase on Saturday, with FEMA finally setting up some communications along with some DoD assets. Some FEMA communications were heard in the clear.

I have been monitoring mostly from the Ft. Wadsworth area on Staten Island. Ft. Wadsworth is the location of the US Coast Guard Sector New York. They have had numerous fly overs by USCG helicopters and have been landing some at the baseball field on Ft. Wadsworth. I've also been seeing many other military and other helicopters flying over the area over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

The National Guard and active duty military units have begun to arrive and are staging at various locations, one of which is Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. I have not been able to confirm any military or National Guard communications yet, but the National Parks Police are very busy supporting operations in their areas.

Here is what has been busy:

-->

162.3250	N293	USCG NET 111
164.3125 164.4000	N293 N001	USCG NET 115 USSS PAPA
165.1750	N225
165.2375	N301	DHS CBP DNET 1
166.0500	100.0	FORT WADSWORTH NPS OPERATIONS/SECURITY
166.3250	136.5	US PARK POLICE - NEW YORK AREA F1
167.7875	N653	FEDERAL I/O
168.9125	N935
169.7250	N824
169.8250	N225	NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, GATEWAY NATIONAL RECREATION AREA
173.6625	N167	FBI
345.0000	AM	USCG AIR OPERATIONS
406.3375	N482	USPS POSTAL INSPECTORS
407.6625	N421	FEMA
408.2000	N270	FEDERAL PROTECTIVE SERVICE
408.8625	N421	FEMA DMATS

UPDATE:
During the evening I heard multiple communications on 123.1 MHz from "AVIATION BASE". They were apparently directing inbound helicopters to landing and parking areas somewhere. There was mention of parking on a baseball field near a flight line. I thought it might have been at the old airfield at Floyd Bennett, but haven't been able to confirm that. Reports on Radio Reference have 242.2 MHz and 283.0 MHz being used by the National Guard helicopters operating in the area.

And I forgot to include in the list above the Red Cross frequency of 47.42 MHz, which I caught some transmissions Saturday.

167.2500 At LAX

I was near the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) for a few days this past week, and was hearing someone using 167.2500 MHz, 100.0 PL for some sort of general communications. The traffic appeared to be simplex, construction related and occurred over several days. Finally on Sunday, while waiting at LAX for a flight, I heard traffic that indicated they were painting the edge lines on new taxiways at LAX.

I have no idea who this might be and why they are using this frequency. This frequency is part of the federal interoperability pool of channels set aside for federal/local communications. This particular frequency is known as "LE-2", if a repeater, or "LE-6" if simplex.

This frequency is part of the federal interoperability channel plan found in the DHS National Interoperability Field Operations Guide (NIFOG), which can be found here: http://www.dhs.gov/national-interoperability-field-operations-guide

Post IWN, Justice Moves On

Here is an article about what the Justice Department intends to with updating their communications systems, now that they have cancelled the Integrated Wireless Network (IWN) project;

After IWN's cancellation, DOJ continues to push for radio modernization - FierceGovernmentIT

Contained in the body of the article is a link to a PDF file that was obtained from the Justice Department with some related (and some redacted) information on the future of DoJ communications.

Denver Presidential Debates

The first of a series of debates between the presidential candidates is tonight in the Denver, Colorado area. An anonymous source sent me an interesting photo taken at the debate site. This trailer has sprouted quite a few interesting antennas!

A similar setup has appeared at other large Presidential events, including political conventions and such. No indication as to who it belongs to, but the trailer itself appears military. I suspect the White House Communications Agency (WHCA) is probably involved.

LightSquared Continues Spectrum Quest

The broadband company that was thwarted by the FCC in its efforts to utilize spectrum near the GPS frequency band is now requesting permission to share some federal government spectrum.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2010843/lightsquared-asks-to-share-weatherballoon-spectrum-for-its-lte-network.html

"What LightSquared wants to do is take one 5MHz band that it already uses for its satellite service (at 1670-1675MHz) and combine that with the next band up (1675-1680MHz), which is used for federal purposes including National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration weather balloons."

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/10/lightsquared-still-wont-give-up-on-spectrum-near-gps-band/

http://www.scribd.com/doc/108594377/Lightsquared-Response

More Mexican Cartel Radio Towers Dismantled

An AP story on the discovery of more drug cartel radio towers in Mexico:

http://www.toledonewsnow.com/story/19671161/mexico-finds-cartel-radio-network-300-foot-tower

Rumor had it that the cartels were being supplied by radio communications dealers in Texas, but I haven't found any information to support that yet.

UPDATE:
Another interesting and more detailed story about this has appeared here:

http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2012/10/can-you-hear-me-now.html

NYC Activity

I'm in New York City and noted a marked increase in radio traffic on known Secret Service and Department of State Diplomatic Security channels this weekend. It is most likely due to the arrival of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, here to speak at the United Nations. Unknown if this radio traffic is related to any other VIPs in for this event. If you in the area, search the VHF & UHF bands and see what pops up...

UPDATE:
I now see that the UN General Assembly is gathering this week, as well as the "Global Initiative" with the Clintons happening today. So a true monitoring extraviganza in New York City this week!

Dallas Area DEA

As reported previously, there are a number of VHF frequencies in use around the Dallas/Ft. Worth area that are reported to be used by the DEA. All are using APCO P-25 and encryption, but all are using a P25 NAC of N156. Today I see reports of 163.2000 MHz, N156 being active, possibly being the input to the repeater on 173.7250 MHz.

I have updated the DEA frequency page, which you can find at the top of the Fed Files blog home page.

Portland TSA Off of IWN?

A while back I discovered that the TSA at Portland International Airport (KPDX) seemed to have moved their primary radio operations to 4 talk groups on the federal Integrated Wireless Network or IWN. I was able to confirm the TSA was using this system by scanning the IWN site at the airport in conjunction with some Close Call captures of transmissions at the same time.

Sometime over the last month of so, they seemed to have moved off of the IWN for their main operations and have gone back to 172.1500 MHz, N001 and 172.9000 MHz, N001, (The Icom analog radios have always been on 169.3000 and 172.1500 with voice inversion). 172.9000 is set up as a wide area repeater that covers the Portland metro area. I have heard some encrypted traffic on this repeater, as well as clear traffic that seems to be supervisors at PDX airport.

Why this move has taken place is unknown. Perhaps the TSA was being billed for the use of the system and it was eating up more system capacity than they expect.

More information as it becomes available.

USCG Astoria Using UHF

I recently caught one of the US Coast Guard helicopters out of Astoria, Oregon using 412.9750 MHz, N293 for position and ops normal traffic. This is the first time I've encountered the Astoria helos using the new USCG UHF nets. In this case, 412.9750 MHz has been identified as NET 409.

For the latest US Coast Guard channels, check the frequency page at the top of the Fed Files Blog home page.

DNC Convention Begins

The Democratic National Convention begins today in Charlotte, NC.

Some reports of convention related communications are filtering in. Many are posting on Radio Reference, but reports are mostly of convention traffic on the local and state 800 MHz trunked systems.

http://forums.radioreference.com/north-carolina-radio-discussion-forum/248168-official-dnc-char-meck-verified-monitoring-thread.html

Got any interesting federal frequencies related to the DNC? Send them along to the Fed Files!

Ryan Secret Service Code Name Revealed

News outlets are now reporting the Secret Service code name for GOP VP candidate Paul Ryan. The code name for Ryan is reported as "Bowhunter" and his wife Janna Ryan is reported as "Buttercup". The reports apparently originated with GQ Magazine.

As reported previously, Mitt Romney has the code name of "Javelin".

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/04/paul-ryan-secret-service-_n_1854019.html

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/247279-report-paul-ryans-secret-service-code-name-is-bowhunter-

http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/04/paul-ryan-selects-bowhunter-as-secret-service-codename/

New BoP Radio System - Atwater?

I recently saw a note on Radio Reference about a new UHF federal trunked radio system being heard on the air in central California. Listeners have stated that this is most likely the US Penitentiary Atwater. It is is located on a portion of what was Castle Air Force Base, approximately 130 miles from San Francisco.

Previously the Atwater facility was using a Motorola Type II trunked radio system:

System ID: 6a37

Base: 408.3500 / 412.4750 

Step: 12.5 / 12.5 

Offset: 380 / 612 

408.3750, 411.1750, 412.4750, 413.6750, 414.3000

The new radio system is now a pure P-25 digital system:

System ID: 4C7    
WACN: BEE00
408.3250,  409.0125,  409.2125

Tampa RNC Updates

As the powers that be mull a possible delay in the start of the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, due to Hurricane Isaac, some frequencies have been reported as active.

Secret Service and Coast Guard channels have been reported as active with both encrypted and clear communications.

I will not be in attendance this year, so hopefully some local monitors can pass along some active federal frequencies. And interesting updates will be posted here.

UPDATE:
I know it's a little late (but I tend to wait for these events to be over before posting), but here are a few active federal channels that were submitted by anonymous listeners in the Tampa area;

123.1000, AM - Intercepted civilian aircraft being warned out of restricted airspace
163.0500, N293 - USCG NET 112
163.0875, 131.8 PL
163.3125, N653 - Input to 171.6875 MHz
163.3625, 131.0 PL - VA Medical Center Police
164.3250, NE01
164.4000, N001 - USSS PAPA
164.4750, N167
164.6500, NAC 001 - USSS TANGO
164.8875, N001 - USSS OSCAR
165.2125
165.3750, N001 - USSS CHARLIE
165.5875
165.6375, N611
166.1875, N293  - USCG NET 124
166.4375, 100.0 - DHS CBP, input to 165.2375 MHz
166.4750, 94.8 PL - US Capitol Police
167.0375, N001 - USSS
167.0500, N1AF – Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
167.2500, N68F - Federal Interoperability LE-2/LE-6
167.4625, N167 – Tampa FBI
167.5375, N167 - FBI
167.5625, N167 - FBI
167.5875, N167 – Tampa FBI
167.6875, N167 – Tampa FBI
168.3500, 77.0 PL - US Capitol Police
168.4250, N001
168.5875, N001
168.8500, 151.4 PL - US Capitol Police
169.4500, 100.0 PL - DHS CBP NET 2
169.5125
170.3375, NF00
170.4375, NF00
170.5875, N131
170.8000, N293
170.8500, N864
170.8625
171.2000, N293
171.5750, 146.2 PL
171.6875, N653 - Federal Interoperability, TAM FIO
171.9500, NE01
172.9000, N001 - TSA @ Tampa International Airport
173.0125, N650 - BATFE Tac 3
173.8750, 94.8 PL - US Capitol Police
406.1375, D371 - US Postal Service
406.5625, N4A0 - USCG Base
407.0000, N201
407.1375, N482 - USPS Postal Inspectors
409.0000, N293 - USCG
409.3375, N293
410.6500, 100.0 PL
410.8000, N201
411.8500
413.2125, 167.9 PL - Nationwide Interoperability, IR14
417.5500, N254
417.6125, D165
418.2000, N744 - Federal Protective Service

Las Vegas, Southern Nevada List

In the September Fed Files, I listed frequencies from my scanning trip around Las Vegas and Southern Nevada. Here is the list as published, so if you have any updates or corrections, please feel free to pass them along.

118.3000, AM            Creech AFB Tower

119.6750, AM            DoE Mercury Airstrip AWOS

134.1000, AM            DUDLEY 62 (UAV) inbound Creech
135.1000, AM

138.3750, AM            Air-to-air

139.9250, CSQ           Creech AFB, alarm data

143.8250, AM            Air-to-air

162.7875, N167          FBI

163.1250, N4CE         Hoover Dam Police

163.2125, N100          Unknown agency

163.6250, N169          DHC ICE

163.7000, N169          DHS ICE

163.7500, N300          DHS ICE

163.8125, N167          FBI, input to167.6625?

163.9125, N167          FBI, input to 167.2125

163.9625, N167          FBI

163.9875, N167          FBI, input to 167.4375 MHz

164.4500, 114.8          Possible US Postal Service truck operations

164.6250, 146.2          BLM - Bumblebee Site (NV or AZ?)

164.6500, CSQ           Secret Service TANGO, body wire on someone doing surveillance near my location.

165.2375, 100.0          DHS CBP Net 1 - OTAR

165.2875, N650          BATFE NET 1

165.3750, N001          Secret Service CHARLIE

166.2375, 114.8          BLM, Mt. Charleston

166.2875, N002          TSA at LAS airport

166.3000, CSQ           Bureau of Reclamation, Lake Meade

166.3750, 100.0          Unknown agency, mentioned Kingston Wash

166.4625, N001          TSA at LAS airport

166.7875, N293          Unknown dispatch with radio checks

166.9000, CSQ           Lake Meade National Recreation Area

167.1250, 123.0

167.2125, N167          FBI

167.2625, N167          FBI (repeater on Mandalay Bay Hotel?)

167.3625, CSQ           Open carrier, with some P25 (N167) key ups

167.4375, N167          FBI

167.6625, N167          FBI

167.7625, N167          FBI

168.0875, N002          TSA at LAS airport

168.1625                     Unknown agency

168.5250, 107.2          BLM, Unknown Site, Weather Reports

168.6500, 110.9          USFS National Flight Following

168.4375, 114.8          Unknown agency

168.4875                     Unknown agency

168.5250, 107.2          USFS Fire/Weather reports

168.9625, N001          TSA at LAS airport

168.9625, N002          TSA at LAS airport

168.9625, N003          TSA at LAS airport

169.3000, N001          TSA at LAS airport

169.4000, 186.2          BLM, Southern Nevada - Hayford Peak

169.5500, N930          Unknown agency

169.6625                     Unknown agency

169.8000, 173.8          Lake Meade National Recreation Area (input to 170.050 MHz)

169.8750, 110.9          USFS Toiyabe NF, Mt. Charleston with LAS VEGAS (USFS HQ)

169.9125                     Unknown agency

170.0500, CSQ           Lake Meade National Recreation Area

170.0750, D051

170.1000, N300          Possible ICE operations

170.1000, NC03         Unknown

170.4750, 156.7          USFS, input to 169.8750 MHz

170.6250, N167          FBI

170.6625, N167          FBI

170.6750                     Unknown agency

170.7500, N293          US Marshals, Federal Courthouse Security

170.8000, N293          Unknown agency

171.3625, 88.5            Unknown agency

172.3500

172.6000, 173.8          Lake Meade National Recreation Area

172.6125, 156.7          Zion National Park South (analog)

172.6125, N637          Zion National Park South (digital)

172.7625, N301          Unknown, 14-xx units talking about heading to the office

172.9000, N001          DHS TSA at LAS airport

172.9000, N013          DHS TSA at LAS airport

173.2000, NCA6        Unknown agency

173.6750, N47C         BLM - “700” & “BLM Radio Maintenance” testing on “GRASS” or “BASS”

173.9875, CSQ           Data bursts

234.3250, AM             Air tactical, COYOTE Area

243.2750, AM             Creech AFB, approach?

281.0250, AM             Blackhawk helicopter departing Creech AFB

288.2250, AM

290.0000, AM

290.4500, AM             Creech AFB ATIS, mentioned 254.4 & 119.35 for Nellis Control

291.0500, AM

327.8000, AM

360.6250, AM             Creech AFB Tower

361.0250, AM

367.4000, AM             May be UAV Operations

377.8000, AM             UAV operations at Creech AFB

406.9375                     Las Vegas VA Medical Center, TRBO digital mode

407.3125, CSQ           Unknown, open microphone with PA in background

407.5250, D023          Unknown, conventional repeater

409.1125

409.1875, 100.0          Unknown agency

409.4000, N940          Federal Protective Service, Las Vegas

410.1000

410.3000, CSQ           Data bursts

410.9500, CSQ           Data bursts, LAS airport

413.6000, 103.5          US Postal Service

413.8000, CSQ           Data bursts

414.5250, 103.5          US Postal Service sorting facility

415.2750, 186.2          Unknown agency

415.5750, 186.2          US Postal Service, input to 418.1000

415.6500, CSQ           Possible DoE paging

416.0000                     Open carrier

418.6875

418.1000, 186.2          US Postal Service truck operations

418.7500, 156.7          DEA F3

418.9000, 156.7          DEA F2, OTAR data

419.5000, 156.7          DEA, Las Vegas local operations

NNSA Trunked System

Motorola Type II, System ID: 7526 NAC: 264

Site 01 - Mercury

406.5000, 406.7875, 407.1875, 407.3000, 407.5000, 407.8625, 408.1500, 409.1125, 409.5625

Site 02 - Red Mountain, Checkpoint Pass

406.9875, 407.3500, 408.3625, 409.3125, 409.5250, 409.9125, 410.1625

Site 03 - Yucca Pass

406.1375, 407.3625, 408.1875, 409.1250, 409.3500, 409.5500, 409.7875

Site 04 - Las Vegas DOE Facility

406.4000, 406.9875, 407.3625, 408.3625, 409.5250, 409.9250, 410.1625

Site 05 - Skull Mountain

406.1500, 406.9750, 407.5500, 408.1000

Site 06 - Angel Peak

406.1125, 406.5500, 407.4250

Site 07 - Rainier Mesa

407.1625, 407.4000, 407.7875, 408.3875

Site 08 - Shoshone Mountain

407.3875, 407.8125, 408.4250, 409.3750, 410.1750, 410.6500

Nellis AFB System

System ID: 00F WACN: 58544 NAC: 00F

Site 01 - Nellis AFB

406.5000, 406.7875, 407.1875, 407.3000, 407.5000, 407.8625, 408.1500, 408.9625, 409.1125, 409.5625, 409.7125, 410.6500

Site 02 - Creech AFB

406.3625, 407.0750, 407.5875, 408.1750, 408.7000

Site 10 - Angel Peak

409.3000, 409.6000, 410.5500

NTTR EDACS Trunked System

Site 01 – Tonopah

[1] 406.5625 [2] 409.5625 [3] 410.7000

Site 02 – Antelope Peak

[1] 406.1500 [2] 407.2500 [3] 407.9500 [4] 408.5875 [5] 410.1500

Site 03 – Cedar Peak

[1] 406.9625 [2] 407.5625 [3] 407.7625 [4] 408.1250 [5] 409.1625 [6] 409.8875

Site 04 – Halligan Mesa  

[1] 406.7625 [2] 409.3625 [3] 409.7625

Site 05 – Bald Mountain

[1] 406.7750 [2] 407.8875 [3] 408.9625 [4] 410.3500 [5] 410.7625

Site 06 – Papoose Mountain

[1] 406.1875 [2] 408.1625 [3] 408.5625 [4] 409.5875 [5] 410.7000

Site 07 – Angel Peak

[1] 406.5625 [2] 408.0500 [3] 409.0250 [4] 409.9625 [5] 410.9000

Site 08 – Black Mountain

[1] 406.3625 [2] 407.0750 [3] 407.5875 [4] 408.1750 [5] 409.6375

Site 09 – Creech AFB

[1] 406.1500 [2] 407.2500 [3] 407.9500 [4] 408.5875 [5] 410.1500

Las Vegas, Nevada Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center

System ID: 49D WACN: BEE00 NAC: 490

407.83750 408.23750 409.51250

TSA Frequencies - One Stop Shopping!

While preparing some information for an upcoming Fed Files column, I noticed that I had some "competing" blog posts with different updates on the various TSA frequencies used throughout the US. I decided to combine them all into one list, which can be found by clicking the "TSA Frequency Updates" button on the red bar running across the top of the Fed Files blog. From now on I will be updating that paget with any TSA updates.