"Historic" Federal Photos

While going through some files yesterday, I came across a couple of photos I shot back in 1983 on a driving trip through El Paso, Texas. These are some of the antennas that were on top of the El Paso Intelligence Center, or EPIC. EPIC was and is still a major coordination center for the border interdiction efforts of the DEA, Coast Guard, Customs and other agencies. At the time I took these photos EPIC was located along I-10 in mid-town El Paso, but since has been moved on to the Fort Bliss military base.

http://www.dea.gov/programs/epic.htm

You can click on the photos for a closer look at the UHF satcom antennas.

Postal Inspectors Continue P-25 Upgrades

While searching through the federal UHF band (406.1 to 420 MHz), I often run in to frequencies used by the US Postal Inspection Service. The most common channels used by the Postal Inspectors have been 414.7250, 414.7500 and 415.0500 MHz. However many cities are in the process of upgrading to P-25 digital radio systems and many cities have changed frequencies. The Postal Inspection Service has also moved to 2 regional dispatch centers that they are calling NLECC, or National Law Enforcement Control Centers. Many listeners have reported hearing NLECC (heard as"En-Leck") calling various "IDA" units in the field.

This week I am hearing NLECC Fort Worth doing some radio tests in the Portland, Oregon area on 407.1375 MHz. This frequency has been noted in the past with occasional traffic, but was always encrypted. So far most of these tests with NLECC Fort Worth and Portland have been in the clear, but we'll see how long that lasts.

Also have confirmation of the Postal Inspectors repeater in the Boston area, 409.9375 MHz with an input of 418.9375 MHz.

Detroit Federal Scanning - Updated!

Here's what I've been finding active in Detroit the past few weeks. I'll be updating this list as I find more active frequencies:

162.2375, CSQ - Unknown
163.6250, 107.2 - DHS Customs and Border Protection
163.9875, P-25 - Encrypted, most likely FBI
164.3875, 110.9 - Probably US Postal Service truck operations
164.4000, P-25 - USSS Papa, Detroit Field Office?
164.6000, P-25 - DHS CBP or ICE
164.9625, CSQ - US Postal Service, referenced BMC (Bulk Mail Center)
165.1875, 123.0 - Unknown, mentioned FIRE units - Canadian?
165.2375, 100.0 - DHS Customs and Border Protection
165.5500 - Unknown, sounded like DES
165.9125, P-25 - Clear, probably ATF
166.5875, 100.0 - DHS Customs and Border Protection
166.7375 - Unknown
167.6375, 167.9 - FBI
169.0000, 103.5 - Unknown, simplex or repeater input
169.9125, 167.9 - Possible input to 170.8250 repeater
169.9500, 110.9 - Probably USPS, referenced "A Dock"
170.5500, P-25 - Encrypted, likely FBI
170.8250, 167.9 - FBI repeater
170.9500, P-25 - Encrypted, likely FBI
172.9000, P-25 - TSA
173.8000, P-25 - Clear but not enough traffic to identify
406.2250, P-25 - FCI Milan, MI trunked system
406.7000, P-25 - Clear, talking about score of Tigers / A's game
407.0500, P-25 - FCI Milan, MI trunked system
408.1000, P-25 - FCI Milan, MI trunked system
408.3250, P-25 - FCI Milan, MI trunked system
411.0750, ? - Strange digital mode, doesn't sound like DES, but not P-25
415.2000 - DHS Federal Protective Service
417.2000 - DHS Federal Protective Service
418.7500, 156.7 - DEA F3 aerial surviellance

173.8125 MHz and ROSS / JENA Call Sign

I recently posted that 173.8125 MHz was a mystery frequency in my home base area of Portland, OR. The frequency is P-25 digital with almost 100% of the transmissions encrypted. I was finally able to positively identify the frequency as the FBI with the help of ROSS 25.

On Monday morning, October 9th, I caught ROSS 25, an FBI observation aircraft, calling Portland International approach control, telling them they would be working over downtown Portland at 4000 feet. Shortly after that transmission, 173.8125 MHz came alive with CLEAR P-25 traffic from "25", indicating they were having a tough time following the target on the ground! So don't give up on those encrypted channels!

Speaking of ROSS aircraft call signs - A poster on the MILCOM e-mail list is reporting that in his area the FBI aircraft have started using the call sign JENA (GINA, JEANA?) for flight operations. I've also received confirmed reports from the Seattle area of an aircraft previously heard as a ROSS flight now using the JENA call sign. And a message from South Florida indicates a JENA or JEANNA flight has been heard regularly down there. Anyone else hearing this call sign change for the FBI surveillance flights?

Chicago Federal Monitoring

While no means a complete list of federal activity in the Chicago metro area, here's what I've been hearing the last few days of my visit:

162.7875 P-25 US Marshals
164.1000 100.0 DHS CBP
165.1500 D546 USPS truck operations
165.2375 100.0 DHS CBP
165.2875 P-25 ATF NET 1
165.3750 P-25 USSS Chicago
165.7125 136.5 FAA @ ORD
166.1750 136.5 FAA @ ORD
166.3750 CSQ USPS Airside ops @ ORD
166.5875 100.0 DHS CBP Operations @ ORD
166.7125 127.3 North Chicago VAMC Police
167.0375 P-25 ?
167.7875 167.9 FBI Chicago FO
167.9250 156.7 DoE Fermi Labs
168.8250 100.0 DHS ICE/CBP Operations @ ORD
169.3000 P-25 DHS TSA repeater in
169.5500 100.0 DHS CBP TAC 19
169.8375 D223 ?
170.0000 D116 VAMC Operations
170.6250 167.9 FBI Chicago FO
172.1500 P-25 DHS TSA @ ORD
172.9000 P-25 DHS TSA @ ORD
411.3500 D114 VAMC Police
414.5125 103.5 USPS
414.7500 82.5 USPS Postal Inspectors NLECC
415.0500 82.5 USPS Postal Inspectors
415.2000 103.5 DHS FPS Chicago

Goings On

It was noted on Friday, September 29th by an Los Angeles area listener that he heard a new P-25 repeater being tested on 172.7375 MHz. I was in the area on Friday and Saturday but was unable to catch any traffic on this frequency. Anyone else in the SoCal area heard this frequency active?

And in my home base of Portland, OR there continues to be a "mystery" operation taking place on 173.8125 MHz. This is a P-25 simplex net, and they are encrypted 99.9% of the time. I've only managed to catch 1 or 2 transmissions in the clear.

Got any mystery frequencies in your list? Please let us know about them at the Fed Files and Monitoring Times!

What's Coming Up in MT

Coming up in the November Fed Files will be a look at the new FAA VHF nationwide communications system frequencies, a close look at New York City federal trunked systems and some additional Pittsburgh monitoring information.

In January we're going to run a Fed Files contest. Details will be coming soon!

We're also working on a project to organize all the Bureau of Prisons facilies with information on their UHF trunking systems. If you monitor any of these federal prisons systems, please feel free to pass along that data to the Fed Files!

DHS ICE in DFW

I've received some reports from the Dallas Ft. Worth Metroplex of a new DHS Immigration and Customs Enforcement repeater in operation.

The P-25 repeater is on 163.7000 MHz with apparently two input frequencies, 162.8500 MHz and 168.9750 MHz.

I am currently working on an "Up Close" look at ICE and their radio systems for a future Fed Files column, so if you have any frequencies of interest, feel free to pass them along!

Atlanta Trip

I made a very short trip through Atlanta this past week. I wasn't in town long enough to do much monitoring, but did catch a couple of hits...

164.6500 MHz - P-25, US Secret Service TANGO
167.3375 MHz - P-25, FBI in Atlanta
167.7875 MHz - DES, Heard this near the town of Auburn, Alabama. I don't know if this is the local area FBI repeater, but was active while I was there.

9/11 Anniversary Visit

On Saturday, September 9th, I was preparing to leave Pittsburgh and happened to catch some of the preparations for a 9/11 Anniversary visit from President Bush. Apparently Pittsburgh International Airport was used as a jumping off point for the POTUS visit to Shanksville, PA, the site of the United flight 93 crash.

I first caught the tower clearing a flight of 3 CH-53 Marine helicopters were all painted in the "United States of America" colors. All three landed and taxied directly over the a hanger at the AF Reserve ramp. Shortly after these was a flight of 2 UH-60 helicopters using the "Nighthawk" call sign landed, also taxied over to the AF Reserve ramp and inside a hanger.

While watching all this I did catch some P-25 comms on USSS Oscar
(164.8875), WHCA Sierra (166.5125) and some DES on WHCA Zulu (171.2875). Seems like I have noted on other Presidential events I've been around, the WHCA hasn't switched over to P-25 entirely yet...

DEA Update

Since some DEA channels were recently discussed on the FEDCOM mail list, I thought I'd post my list of DEA UHF frequencies that was originally appeared in Fed Files and published in the November 2005 in Monitoring Times. Here are all the UHF DEA frequency allocations I have in my database:

408.2750
408.3000
408.3750
411.1250 – input to 419.2500
411.1750
412.0000 – HIDTA Ch 6
412.1250 – HIDTA Ch.10
412.4500
412.4750
412.5250 – input to 414.5500
412.5500
413.6250
413.6750
413.7000
413.7500
413.9750 – input to 417.7500 & 419.2250
414.0000 – simplex
414.0250 – HIDTA Ch.3 simplex
414.0500 – HIDTA Ch.4 simplex
414.0750
414.1250
414.1500 – HIDTA Ch.5 simplex
414.1750
414.2000
414.2250
414.2750
414.3250
414.3500 – HIDTA Ch.7
414.4000
414.4250 – input to 419.2750
414.4500 – HIDTA Ch.8
414.4750 – HIDTA Ch.9
414.5000 – HIDTA Ch 2
414.5250 – input to 419.3000
414.5500 – HIDTA Ch 1
414.5750
414.6000 – input to 419.2000
415.5000
415.6000 – input to 418.8250
416.0500 – input to 418.6250
416.1000
416.1500
416.2000 – input to 418.9500
416.2750
416.3250 – input to 418.9000
416.3750 – input to 418.7750
417.0250 – input to 418.9750
417.0500
417.0750
417.1000
417.1250 – input to 412.0000
417.1500 – simplex
417.1750 – input to 412.1250
417.2750 – simplex
417.3250 – simplex
417.4000 – input to 419.0000
417.4500 – simplex
417.5000 – simplex
417.5500 – simplex
417.7500
418.0000
418.0500 – simplex (federal itinerant)
418.0750 – Interagency Common
418.1250
418.1750 – simplex
418.2000 – simplex
418.2250 – simplex
418.3250
418.5000 – simplex
418.5750 – simplex (federal itinerant)
418.6250 – DEA Ch.1
418.6500 – simplex
418.6750 – DEA Ch.4 simplex
418.7000 – simplex
418.7500 – DEA Ch.3 simplex
418.7750 – simplex
418.8000 – simplex
418.8250 – DEA Ch.5
418.8500
418.8750 – simplex
418.9000 – DEA Ch.2
418.9250
418.9500 – DEA Ch.6
418.9750 – DEA Ch.8
419.0000
419.2000
419.2250 – simplex
419.2500
419.2750
419.3000
419.3250 – input to 414.3500
419.3750 – input to 414.4500
419.4000 – input to 414.4750
419.4250 – input to 414.5000
419.4500
419.5000
419.5250 – DEA Ch.10

HIDTA stands for High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area and is a program that concentrates resources on major drug trafficking areas in the United States. HIDTA operations normally involve federal support of local police operations that are involved in drug enforcement, www.usdoj.gov/dea/programs/hidta.htm.

Coast Guard UHF Frequencies

Officially the US Coast Guard moved it's UHF airband frequencies at the beginning of 2006. This was done to move their frequencies out of the 380-400 MHz DoD Land Mobile band. Here are the new frequencies:
237.9 MHz - Operations (secondary)
326.15 MHz - Air-to-Ground (primary)
345.0 MHz - Operations (primary)
379.05 MHz - Air-to-Ground (secondary)

However, don't take out the old Coast Guard UHF frequencies! It appears that some units are still using them for air-to-air tactical and training ops:
381.7 MHz
381.8 MHz
383.9 MHz

Federal Interoperability - Updated

Some new federal interoperability frequencies have become active in the Lone Star state recently.

170.7250 MHz, P-25 is known as "Dallas East" in the DFW Metroplex,
171.4375 MHz, P-25 is known as "Dallas West".

The same frequencies have been heard in the Houston area, but they were called "L-1" and "L-2".

I've also received information that the 171.4375 MHz frequency is used as a federal interop channel in the Philadelphia area. It is referred to as the "FIO" channel.

Anyone else hearing activity on either of these frequencies?

Twin Cities Fed Scanning

I'm in the Minneapolis / St. Paul area for the next couple of weeks, so I thought I'd post a few things I've been hearing up here. Unfortunately the hotel I am staying at is in the middle of RF hell and it's tough to get much of anything there...

I'll be updating this list as my stay up here continues...

162.2250 – Fort Snelling National Cemetery, US Department of Veterans Affairs
164.1000 – USPS
164.3375, 167.9 pl – USPS
164.5500, 167.9 pl – OCDETF, FBI
164.9875, CSQ – USPS
165.2375, 100.0 pl – DHS CBP Customs NET 1 with OTAR
165.2875 - ATF
166.5125, P-25 - WHCA "SIERRA" - POTUS Advance Team for visit on 8/22/06
166.5875 - DHS CBP
167.2625, 167.9 pl – FBI
167.4375, 167.9 pl – FBI
167.5375, 167.9 pl – FBI
167.6125, 167.9 pl – FBI
167.6375, 167.9 pl – FBI
167.7125, 167.9 pl – FBI
167.7625, 167.9 pl – FBI
168.7875 - ?
169.4500, 100.0 pl – DHS CBP Customs
170.7500 – US Marshals, Federal Court Security
172.9000, P-25 – DHS TSA at MSP (input = 169.3000)
406.1125, P-25 – VA Medical Center Police
407.7250, P-25 – USPS Postal Inspectors (input = 416.7250)
414.7500, 82.5 pl – USPS Postal Inspectors (input = 407.7750)
415.2000, 131.8 pl – DHS Federal Protective Service (input = 413.9500)
416.4250, 100.0 pl - ?
418.6250, 156.7pl – DEA F1
418.6750, 156.7pl – DEA F4
418.9000, 156.7 pl – DEA
419.1500, 118.8 pl – USPS repeater

TSA Busy!

With the security level at US airports now at ORANGE, the TSA has been extremely busy with the added security checks. If you live near an airport with commercial air service, try these frequencies and see what's going on:

166.4625 MHz - DHS Common
169.3000 MHz - TSA input to 172.9000 repeater
172.1500 MHz - TSA Simplex
172.9000 MHz - TSA Repeater or Simplex

All TSA communications are using P-25 digital mode. This channel plan should be used nationwide, with the exception of the DFW Airport in Grapevine, Texas. They are using a repeater on 169.1625 MHz, input of 165.0750 MHz. So far no encryption has been noted on TSA frequencies.

USCG "LANT" & "PAC" List

I've recently received some requests for information on the current status of the US Coast Guard "LANT" frequency lists. They have been floating around the Internet for a while but they seem to vary from source to source. The LANT designation appears to be short for ATLANTIC, however these frequencies are noted in use all over. Here's one of several versions of the LANT channels and some use notes:

155.4750 LANT 01
163.1750 LANT 02 USCG C3 Repeater (162.050 in)
162.1250 LANT 03 USCG TAC 1
162.2250 LANT 04
162.2500 LANT 05 USCG Operations
162.3250 LANT 06 USCG TAC 2
162.3500 LANT 07
162.6125 LANT 08
163.0500 LANT 09 USCG Enforcement (162.125 in)
163.1750 LANT 10 USCG Simplex
163.3750 LANT 11
164.3000 LANT 12 NYC
164.9125 LANT 13 NYC Repeater - Harbor Patrols
165.2375 LANT 14 DHS CBP Customs TAC 1
165.2625 LANT 15 USCG Law Enforcement C3
165.3125 LANT 16
165.3375 LANT 17
164.7750 LANT 18 US Army Corps of Engineers (165.975 in)
165.2375 LANT 19 DHS CBP Customs NET 1 (166.4375 in)
166.4625 LANT 20 DHS Common
165.2375 LANT 21 DHS CBP Customs NET 6 (166.4875 in)
166.5875 LANT 22 DHS USCG Tactical
167.9000 LANT 23 DHS USCG Portable Repeater Talk-Around
164.5500 LANT 24 DHS USCG OCDETF Repeater(168.8625 in)
171.3375 LANT 25 USCG Law Enforcement C4

There have been many variations of this LANT list, but this seems to be the most current. And yes, I have some frequencies that are identified as "PAC" channels as well. These are reported as allocated to the USCG District 11 (Southern California):

165.3375 PAC 01 (162.1250 in)

167.9000 PAC 02 (162.3250 in)

165.3125 PAC 03 (164.3000 in)

165.3125 PAC 04

164.3000 PAC 05 (165.3125 in)

165.3375 PAC 06

162.1250 PAC 07 (166.3375 in)

168.5000 PAC 08 (165.3125 in)

I have no current info on the use of these PAC channels. But I did hear from a listener in Southern California who heard two CG helos on 163.1750 MHz and referred to it as "LE-4".

Any more additions or corrections? Let me know!

NASA SATS Frequencies

I found this list in my "IN" box from a while back. Seems I kept saving it for a rainy day in the Fed Files column, but now with the Blog, here they are!

These were issued in conjunciton with the NASA General Aviation Programs Office Small Aircraft Transportation Systems (SATS) Project;

136.1750 MHz - Digital datalink - 14KHz bandwidth
966.0000 MHz - Digital datalink

123.1750 MHz - Air to ground outside 300 km of KLFI (Langley AFB)
123.3750 MHz - Air to ground within 300 km of KLFI

166.1000 MHz - FM nationwide
166.2250 MHz - FM nationwide
167.8125 MHz - FM nationwide
168.3500 MHz - FM nationwide
171.0000 MHz - FM nationwide
171.1500 MHz - FM nationwide

162.8125 MHz - DGPS information transmission
170.1250 MHz - DGPS information transmission
170.3500 MHz - DGPS information transmission
173.3500 MHz - DGPS information transmission

Here is some information on the SATS Project:
http://sats.erau.edu/nationalsats/index.html

Customs and Border Protection AMID - Update!

Some new DHS Air and Marine Interdiction Division (AMID) frequencies have been noted as of late. There are 4 UHF airband frequencies that are allocated to the AMID operations:

282.4250 MHz
308.3500 MHz
350.0250 MHz
376.0750 MHz

These would probably NOT be the ONLY UHF frequencies that the CBP aircraft would be using, but these are exclusive to their use. Also, check the VHF bands between 136.0 MHz and 138.0 MHz for some additional "tactical" air frequencies.


A source up north has mentioned that the CBP Air Marine Interdiction Division aircraft based in Bellingham, Washington have now been heard using 350.025 MHz to contact HAMMER as well as 282.425 MHz. HAMMER is the call sign of the AMID nationwide command center at March AFB. Previously I had only heard HAMMER being contacted on the 282.425 MHz frequency via the national network of remote air-to-ground tranmitter sites. There are two CBP Pilatus PC-12s at Bellingham, N497PC and N593PC.


According to this page on the Customs & Border Protection website, they have received the first of their new EC-120 helicopters (link updated August 8th):

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/072006/07142006.xml

Federal Executive Board

These were recently posted on Radio Reference. They were listed as NYC area frequencies for the Federal Executive Board. To be honest, I hadn't even heard of the FEB until I saw this posting:

FEB F1 - 408.4000 MHz, 131 DPL
FEB F2 - 418.0750 MHz, 131 DPL
F3 - 408.4000 MHz, 023 DPL
NATIONAL F4 - 408.4000 MHz, 712 DPL
F5 - 408.4000 MHz, 244 DPL
F6 - 418.0750 MHz, 023 DPL
F7 - 418.0750 MHz, 712 DPL
F8 - 406.8000 MHz, CSQ

Interesting in that most of these frequencies are federal itinerants and would be available to almost any government agency. Also interesting is the use of all the digital squelch, unusual for federal operations.

Here's the lowdown on the Federal Executive Board, http://www.feb.gov/

Las Vegas Area Scanning - Updated!

All sorts of stuff to listen to here in Las Vegas. Unfortunately work kept me away from the radios for much of the time I was there. Also, the hotel we stay at is in some kind of weird RF whirlpool that seems to de-sense my radios with all kinds of noise and RF garbage. Anyway, here are some highlites:

166.3000 MHz, CSQ - Lake Mead National Recreation Area, F1 repeater, discussions on loading up helicopter to head for wildfire. Also mentioned being back "in the Park". Input to this repeater is reported as 166.9000 MHz.
167.4375 MHz, P25 - Always encrypted, most likely FBI.
169.4000 MHz, CSQ - BLM Dispatch for some fire units for a wildland fire northeast of the Las Vegas area. Reference to helicopter 7AW heading back from the fire. Input to this repeater is reported as 168.5250 MHz.
170.0500 MHz, CSQ - Lake Meade National Recreation Area repeater.
172.9000 MHz, P25 - TSA at McCarran Airport. I gotta give these guys credit for really moving the bodies through the checkpoints in near record time. They don't fool around in Las Vegas!