USAF Trunked System Expands in Colorado

It appears that the US Air Force is expanding their regional trunked radio system and will have Buckley Air Force Base moving off of the federally managed Front Range system.

The discussion of the recent changes can be found here:
http://forums.radioreference.com/colorado-radio-discussion-forum/317446-new-air-force-trunked-site-south-denver-metro.html

Indications from local listeners show that Buckley AFB will join Peterson AFB, Cheyenne Mountain and the Air Force Academy as part of a VHF/UHF, multi-state P-25 trunked radio system. You can see the system details here:
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=3593

For many years Buckley AFB was a subscriber to a UHF trunking system managed by the Federal Protective Service and shared with federal and military users. It appears that the military is consolidating their activity on their own radio system.

We will have to see what becomes of the UHF trunked sites that served Buckley to see if they are re-purposed for federal use or retired.

"New" trunked system in Southern California

On a recent trip the Los Angeles area, I stumbled upon a P-25 trunking control channel on 411.4500 MHz. I was located just south of the LAX airport in the Manhattan Beach area.

Using PRO96COM, I discovered that this trunked system was showing three frequencies, 411.4500, 412.4500 and 413.4500 MHz. The system showed a System ID of 001, Site 101 and WACN of 00001. The site status showed that it was in site trunking, and not networked to any other sites.

All of these seem to point to a site or system that was under test. While I monitored this control channel, there were no radio affiliations or other activity.

I have not seen activity on these frequencies in my past visits, but hopefully some of the folks living in the area can keep an ear on this and see what develops.

Portland Rose Festival Fleet Week 2015

   I'm usually out of town for most of the annual Rose Festival Fleet Week, but I just made it back to get a chance to watch some of the US Navy ships that were docked in Portland depart the area this morning.

   When heading across the river on Sunday evening, I was searching the 390-400 MHz band for any possible shipboard trunking systems, I came across an EDACS control channel on 397.6 MHz. This was coming from the USS Chosin, CG-65. I decided to try and come back to the area for the ships departure on Monday morning and see if I could figure out the trunked system setup.

   Came back early on Monday morning before the bridge lifts to let the ships head out to the Columbia River screwed up traffic too much, I found a good parking spot where I could see and hear the ships. I noticed right away that these shipboard trunked systems are not designed to carry very far, so even with the ship in sight, the signal strength from theses systems was pretty weak, but readable. I also discovered a second EDACS control channel belonging to the USS Cape St. George, CG-71.

   I monitored and searched the bands for a couple of hours as both the Chosin and the St. George departed and think I figured out the two Hydra systems. I was unable to fully confirm the system for the Chosin, so this is a best guess, but was able to scan and track the system for the St. George before she left port.

USS CHOSIN CG-65

LCN 1 – 397.6000

LCN 2 – 397.7500

LCN 3 – 399.1500

LCN 6 – 399.3000

LCN 7 – 399.5500

LCN 8 – 399.7500

USS CAPE ST. GEORGE CG-71

LCN 1 – 397.5500

LCN 3 – 397.9500

LCN 5 – 399.2500

LCN 6 – 399.4000

LCN 7 – 399.6500

LCN 8 – 399.8500

Other frequencies in use:

143.4750, 156.7 PL – Coast Guard Auxiliary  - repeater out

156.5500 – Marine Channel 11

156.6000 – Marine Channel 12

156.6500 – Marine Channel 13

156.8000 – Marine Channel 16

157.0500 – Marine Channel 21A

157.1000 – Marine Channel 22A

163.0500, N293 – USCG NET 112

Federal Acitvity at Mayweather Pacquiao Fight

On Saturday, May 2nd, what was touted as the Fight of the Century between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao took place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Due to the intense attention this event was bringing, there were some extra security measure taken, involving local law enforcement and even some federal agencies.

The TSA at McCarren Airport in Las Vegas was prepared for the onslaught of visitors to Las Vegas for the weekend of the event, as well as the flood of travelers leaving on the Sunday after the fight.

And it appeared that the FBI was maintaining some presence at the fight. On Friday, May 1, I heard several radio checks that seemed to come from near the fight location at the MGM Grand. I heard some references to downlink video being set up and heard one station ID as "Command Post". On fight day, I also hear some additional radio checks but nothing more. Fredquencies heard were 163.8875 MHz, N167 and 167.7375 MHz, N167.

I also heard some TSA units that were possibly on location at the fight venue, possibly members of the Behavioral Detection Unit (BDU). They were on 169.3000 MHz, N013.

Collecting Federal Radio ID's

In the May 2015 issue of The Spectrum Monitor, the Federal Wavelengths column featured my first attempts at collecting federal radio identification numbers or RID's. I've started a page here on the Fed Files Blog to collect and catalog the RIDs that have been collected. You can see a link to this page in the top bar of the blog home page, or follow this link:

http://mt-fedfiles.blogspot.com/p/federal-p-25-radio-identifications.html

I've just recently acquired a new Whistler WS-1080 scanner that displays RID's effortlessly, so hopefully I can add to this list more in the near future.

If you have any federal radio ID's that you would be willing to add to this catalog, just email me at the address on the blog front page.

March 2015 TSM Update/Correction

The March 2015 issue of The Spectrum Monitor is now available for publication. You can get a copy here: http://www.thespectrummonitor.com/index.aspx

In this issue I have some information on federal use of aviation resources and the frequencies that might be used. Unfortunately, one frequency got mangled in the publication process. The list of CBP AIR frequencies should have AIR 9 as 163.4750 MHz, N293.

You can check out the entire list in the CBP Updates tab on the blog home page: http://mt-fedfiles.blogspot.com/p/cbp-frequency-updates.html

FPS Atlanta Mystery

I am seeing reports on Radio Reference that the multi-site UHF trunked system managed by the Federal Protective Service (FPS) is not longer on the are in the metro Atlanta, GA area. Folks are asking what happened and where did the FPS operations go.

I haven't been down in the Atlanta area in a few years, but when I was there last, the Federal Protective Service appeared to be running a 4 site UHF Motorola Type II trunked system with both analog and digital voice. One of the subscriber agencies appeared to be Dobbins Air Force Base.
Here are the system specs as I had them:

FPS Atlanta
Motorola Type II
System ID - 750d
Voice NAC - N0d0
Site 1 - Atlanta
406.4125, 407.2125, 408.5375, 410.1250
Site 2
406.5625, 407.1625, 408.5625, 410.3625, 410.5625
Site 3
407.3625, 408.3625, 408.7625, 409.3625, 410.7625
Site 4 - Dobbins AFB
406.7625, 406.9625, 407.5625, 407.8625, 408.9625

Since my last time monitoring the system, it appears that Dobbins AFB has built out their own 380 MHz P25 trunked radio system, so they were no longer using the FPAS managed system.

Reports on Radio Reference include some VHF channels (173.7125, 173.9125 and 173.9875 MHz) that claim to be "TRS control channels", but are very weak in downtown Atlanta.

I suspect that if the FPS decided to dismantle the trunked system, they have probably returned to conventional UHF channels, most likely APCO P25.

Can anyone in the Atlanta area offer any further information?

UPDATE:
A listener in the area reports that the FPS is using 410.8000 MHz, N201 for their operations and has been for some time now. I checked my logs from my last trip to the area in 2012 and I did not get any hits on that frequency.

October 2014 Federal Wavelengths Correction

A sharp-eyed reader just brought it to me attention that there were a couple of errors in my listing of the frequencies used by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the October issue of The Spectrum Monitor magazine.

By all means, if you spot something with any frequency lists either here on the Fed Files blog page or in the pages of The Spectrum Monitor magazine, please feel free to let us know about it.

Here is the corrected list showing the correct EPA repeater input and output frequencies:

ZONE 2 – EPA Repeaters

Repeater Output   Repeater Input    Channel Name

173.8750, D731    166.4750, D731    EPA REPEATER

170.9750, CSQ     168.7000, CSQ     NI/CG REPEATER 1

170.4500, CSQ     168.1000, CSQ     NI/CG REPEATER 2

170.4250, CSQ     168.0750, CSQ     NI/CG REPEATER 3

168.4000, CSQ     166.6125, CSQ     NI/CG REPEATER 4

169.7500, CSQ     167.1000, CSQ     NI/CG REPEATER 5

173.8125, CSQ     168.4750, CSQ     NI/CG REPEATER 6

170.9750, CSQ                       NI/CG SIMPLEX 1           

170.4500, CSQ                       NI/CG SIMPLEX 2

170.4250, CSQ                       NI/CG SIMPLEX 3   

168.4000, CSQ                       NI/CG SIMPLEX 4

169.7500, CSQ                       NI/CG SIMPLEX 5

173.8125, CSQ                       NI/CG SIMPLEX 6

South Florida FPS Changes

In addition to the upgrades to the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) radio network in Florida, it appears that the Federal Protective Service (FPS) has also upgraded to P25 digital.

410.8 MHz, N201 is now being used by the FPS in the Miami area. The same frequency is most likely used through out this FPS region. Some sites may have different NAC's.

You can read more about the CBP upgrades and frequency changes in the latest edition of The Spectrum Monitor, http://www.thespectrummonitor.com/index.aspx

CDC Frequencies

Some questions regarding the use of radios by the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been posted in regards to the confirmation of Ebola in the Dallas, Texas area.

I know that the CDC uses federal UHF trunking at their fixed facilities around the Atlanta area. But a while back I posted possible CDC field use frequencies that might have been in use for the Swine Flu outbreak:

http://mt-fedfiles.blogspot.com/2009/04/swine-flu-frequencies.html

Department of Health & Human Services (All frequencies are in MHz);

30.420
30.430
34.050
36.180
36.220
36.250
36.270
36.350
36.750
38.830
40.370
41.350
41.390
41.430 (Nationwide)
41.470 (Nationwide)
41.530 (Nationwide)
41.650 (Nationwide)
41.690 (Nationwide)
41.790 (Nationwide)
41.830

163.0000
163.0750
163.1750
163.2500 (Nationwide Medical Paging Allocation)
163.3000
163.3750
163.7000
164.3000 (Nationwide)
164.5250
164.7000
164.8000
164.9625
164.9875 (Nationwide)
165.0625
165.2625
165.3125
165.3375
166.1000
166.8250
168.0000
168.3250
168.5250
169.6250
170.1250
171.2375 (Nationwide – shared)
171.7250
172.3000
172.7750

407.7000 / 416.7000
408.0500 / 417.0500
409.0000 / 418.0000
410.0250 / 419.0250
410.2000 / 419.2000
410.2250 / 419.2250
410.4000 / 419.4000
410.4250 / 419.4250
411.2250 – Simplex
411.4500 – Simplex
411.8250 – Simplex
413.4500 – Simplex
413.8750 – Simplex
415.4000 / 406.4000
415.8250 / 406.8250
415.9250 / 406.9250
416.9750 / 407.9750
417.6500 / 408.6500
417.7000 / 408.7000
419.1500 / 410.1500
419.6000 / 410.6000
419.6250 / 410.6250
419.8000 / 410.8000

Email Apologies To All

To anyone and everyone who might have been sending me emails to the chrisparris@thefedfiles.com address - I realized that I have not been seeing any emails from that address for a while and just assumed no one was sending me anything. But a Fed Files fan on Twitter asked about an email he sent that I hadn't seen on any of my computers or email devices. I discovered that my emails were just sitting there and I wasn't seeing them. I've been trying to catch up on these as I can. 

Please continue to use this email address for future communications: chrisparris@thefedfiles.com

CBP Florida Makes The P25 Switch

Over the last couple of years I have heard that the CBP was coordinating and installing new P25 digital gear in the state of Florida.

I just spotted a post on Radio Reference that indicates the Customs and Border Protection radio systems in Florida have finally moved towards the digital domain after being analog for many years:

http://forums.radioreference.com/federal-monitoring-forum/297786-news-flash-florida-bp-throws-p25-switch.html

There are what appear to be some of the new CBP DNET channels in the +170 MHz end of the band, so I will list them as they can be ID'd in the CBP Frequency Update area on the blog main page.

Air Force One Phone Systems

An interesting post has appeared on line about the new phone systems in use aboard Air Force One. It's an interesting read:

http://electrospaces.blogspot.com/2014/07/new-phones-aboard-air-force-one.html

There is also an story on something I've always wondered about, how they got a secured Blackberry for President Obama:

http://electrospaces.blogspot.com/2013/04/how-obamas-blackberry-got-secured.html

NIFC NATIONAL AIR-TO-GROUND FREQUENCIES

The National Interagency Fire Center maintains a standard issue of nationwide air-to-ground (A/G) channels for use in firefighting and other incidents on federal lands. I have been asked for some time if I had the complete list of these A/G channels, so I decided to sit down and go through all the materials I had access to and see if I could come up with a good list.

What I discovered is that there are some variations of these A/G frequencies, and even some official US government publications don't agree. So keep in mind that this list is not cast in stone, but may have some variations...

-->

A/G 01            154.3100

A/G 02            166.6375

A/G 03            166.6750

A/G 04            159.3450

A/G 04            166.6875

A/G 05            166.7500

A/G 06            166.8000

A/G 07            166.8500

A/G 08            166.8750

A/G 09            166.9125

A/G 10            166.9375

A/G 11            166.9500

A/G 12            167.0750

A/G 13            167.4250

A/G 14            167.5000

A/G 15            167.5250

A/G 16            167.9500

A/G 17            167.9875

A/G 18            168.0125

A/G 19            168.1250

A/G 20            168.1750

A/G 21            168.1500

A/G 22            166.6125

A/G 23            166.7625

A/G 23            168.5500

A/G 24            168.6375

A/G 25            168.7250

A/G 25            168.7500

A/G 26            166.6875

A/G 26            169.8750

A/G 27            166.8250

A/G 27            169.9500

A/G 27            172.2750

A/G 28            170.0000

A/G 29            170.5250

A/G 30            171.1375

A/G 31            171.5250

A/G 32            166.9625

A/G 32            166.9625

A/G 32            171.5500

A/G 33            171.5750

A/G 34            167.1750

A/G 34            171.7875

A/G 35            167.2250

A/G 35            172.2250

A/G 36            172.2500

A/G 37            167.3000

A/G 37            172.2750

A/G 38            167.3750

A/G 38            172.3250

A/G 39            172.4000

A/G 40            167.4500

A/G 41            167.4750

A/G 42            167.5500

A/G 43            167.6000

A/G 44            167.6250

A/G 45            167.6500

A/G 46            167.7000

A/G 47            167.7250

A/G 48            167.8875

A/G 49            168.0375

A/G 50            168.2750

A/G 50            168.2875

A/G 51            168.3125

A/G 52            168.3875

A/G 53            168.4875

A/G 54            168.5375

A/G 55            168.5625

A/G 56            168.6625

A/G 57            168.0875

A/G 57            168.7250

A/G 58            168.0875

A/G 58            169.0875

A/G 59            169.1125

A/G 60            169.1250

A/G 61            169.2875

A/G 62            169.3625

A/G 63            171.4250

A/G 64            171.4750

A/G 65            172.3750

A/G 66            166.6750

A/G 67            159.2250

A/G 68            159.3900

A/G 69            159.4500

A/G 70            167.9500

A/G 71            168.6750

A/G 72            169.1500

A/G 73            169.2000

Some additional information on these and other NIFC assignments can be found on the Radio Reference wiki page here:

http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php?title=National_Incident_Radio_Support_Cache&diff=98706&oldid=98699

USFS Air Tanker Base Frequency Updates

The US Forest Service has released some frequency updates for the various air tanker bases around the country. Here is the link to the update:

http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/av_safety/promotion/Information_Bulletins/IAIB%202014-01%20AT%20Base%20Freq%20changes.pdf

NIFOG 1.5 Available

The latest version of the National Interoperability Field Operations Guide (NIFOG) is now available for downloading. You can find links to the various formats of downloads here:

http://www.dhs.gov/national-interoperability-field-operations-guide

This new version contains updated information as well as new information that anyone interested in communications monitoring will find useful.

WHCA Blog

I just stumbled upon a blog page that I haven't seen before. It has some interesting information about the White House Communications Agency (WHCA) history and some interesting facilities and photos. Check it out here:

http://whcacannonball.blogspot.com

BATFE Update

Just as the May issue of The Spectrum Monitor came out, with my column concerning the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), I received an update regarding the channel usage by this agency.

For as long as I've been listening to federal stuff, the ATF has always used 165.2875 MHz as their primary channel. However, with the eventual refarming of the VHF 162-174 MHz federal band to make a standard repeater offset (see the January Federal Wavelengths column for more information), this was bound to change. Information is that at least one major metro area, the ATF has already changed their primary repeater output to 170.9625 MHz, N650 with 165.2875 MHz as the input frequency. I have not run into this change in my travels yet, but will definitely keep an eye out for it.

SoCal DEA going VHF?

I just caught some traffic on a VHF channel with some radio techs regarding receive sites and signal strengths as well as a radio interface bridge. The conversation was on 173.1625 MHz, N156, and I only heard one side of the conversation most of the time, but did hear a couple of replies from a field unit. I also heard one person ask if they were on the "APX" radio. APX is the Motorola radio series that features multi-band operation in a single radio.

This joins the frequencies of 170.6500 MHz and 170.9500 MHz that are most likely VHF DEA channels that have been heard in the Southern California area.

SoCal CBP Marine Common?

While in the Los Angeles area for work, I was picking up some of the many VHF P-25 frequencies being used throughout the southern end of the state by the CBP wide area system. This system is technically separate, but fiscally part of the Integrated Wireless Network (IWN). These are not trunked, but likely a vote-scan system used mainly by CBP Field Operations and Border Patrol. I have noted what is probable use by other agencies as well, such as Coast Guard and likely ICE.

I was checking what I was hearing against what I think is a pretty good source for the area, the SoCal Fedcom Blog, http://socalfedcom.blogspot.com. Among some of the updated frequencies, there is a reference to something the blog author is referring to as the MCS or Marine Common System. I would presume this refers to a common radio system for CBP, Coast Guard and other agencies working the various maritime operations.

Here are the frequencies noted as being part of the MCS:

162.6250 MHz, N820 - common input
171.3250 MHz, N820 - Mt. Solidad repeater
172.0625 MHz, N820 - Santa Ynez repeater
172.7125 MHz, N820 - San Pedro repeater

Reports indicate a fourth repeater located on San Nicolas Island, but the frequency is unconfirmed.

I'm still researching and trying to find more information on this system. 

UPDATE!

While searching early one morning in LA, I found 171.1875 MHz, N820 active with encrypted voice. This might be the missing San Nicolas Island repeater, as I had a nice marine layer working the day I found this!