USS Harry S. Truman TRS

My old friend Robert Wyman sent in a report on the trunk radio system (TRS) used on the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75). Here is his report:

EDACS system, comms are analog, non-encrypted. I don't have the LCN order (anyone have it?), but voice comms have been heard on these freqs so far (inputs and outputs):

406.125 Control Channel

VOICE (w/EDACS trailing tones):
407.075 408.125 408.450 408.700 408.975 409.425 410.025 411.975 412.475 416.225
416.600 418.025* 419.600 419.900

*418.025 may be a stand-alone freq; scanner is reporting a tone of 74.4

Nothing heard during 380-400 search.

156.725 Marine channel 74 w/"WARSHIP 75"and local vessel comms
157.1 Marine channel 22A w/USCG warning area advisories

Many thanks to Robert for passing that report along to MT's Milcom Monitoring Blog.

Shaw AFB Trunk Radio System Uncovered

My longtime friend Mac McCormick (http://kf4lmt.blogspot.com/) has now confirmed which base one of my previously unidentified VHF high band military trunk radio system is coming from. Here is what Mac passed along last weekend:

"Some months ago when I took a trip to Columbia, Larry Van Horn sent me some frequencies to try on a VHF TRS that was either at Shaw or McEntire; the location was unknown at that time. During the Columbia trip, VHF conditions were such that it was difficult to determine proximity. On my trip today (March 31), however, I was able to determine that it was at Shaw and was able to determine the settings and monitor it some. "

Shaw AFB TRS 9600 Baud Motorola
---------------------
SETTINGS & FREQUENCIES
Base Freq: 162.0000, Step: 12.5 kHz, Offset: 380

163.4625 Control Channel (9600 baud)
165.0125 Digital Voice
165.1875 Digital Voice
165.2250 Digital Voice
165.4125 Digital Voice
166.0000 Digital Voice
166.2250 Digital Voice

TALKGROUPS
19 Fire?-FIRE DEPARTMENT wkg RADIO MAINTENANCE
20 Unknown-ref to personnel not in uniform going to "the 79th side"
21 Unknown
25 Police? - SHAW wkg DELTA #, references to "the sub-station" (these just "sounded" like law enforcement
28 Squadron talkgroup?-unid passing aircraft maintenance codes, reference to sending someone to "the 79th side" (probably related to similar traffic on TG 20)
34 Tower/Ground Control?-BARRIER MAINTENANCE wkg SHAW TOWER, -unid ref switching runways
42 POL?-unid ref "amount needed" for aircraft 907

Thanks Mac for taking the time to check my hunch. And I will have more on this and other new military trunk radio systems in my June 2007 MT Milcom column.

New DC Area EDACS Trunk System Uncovered

One of the radio hobby's most knowledgeable scanner monitors, Alan Henney reported overnight (2/21) on the Scan-DC newsgroup that he has found a new three channel EDACS trunk system in the Washington DC area. Alan theorizes that his new discovery is a US Navy trunk system and it has been on the air for the past year or so. He noted in his Sacn-DC post that unlike the Naval District Washington (NDW) EDACS system that operates in the 138-150.8 MHz frequency range, this new system is all digital.

Frequencies:
138.2375 LCN01
138.6125 LCN02
138.7125 LCN03

All three frequencies are dedicated trunk system frequencies under the new narrow band 138-150.8 MHz band plan that DoD is transitioning to. If you have any additional information on this system, please drop me some email at larryvanhorn @ monitoringtimes.com.

Profile: MacDill AFB, Florida, Trunk Radio System

My old friend and former MT columnist Robert Wyman has made a couple of trips to MacDill AFB, Florida, area and did some VHF/UHF monitoring. During those sessions Robert intercepted the base trunk system and he has passed along the following profile of the TRS at that base. Thanks Robert.

MacDill AFB, Florida
System: Motorola Type II Smartzone (APCO-25 Exclusive)
Motorola System ID: b112
Base Frequency: 406.5625; Spacing: 12.5-kHz; Offset: 380
Frequencies: 406.5625c 406.7625c 406.9625 407.3625 407.5625 407.7625c 407.9625c 408.1625 408.3625 408.5625

Talkgroups:
16 Unknown user/usage
64 Unknown user/usage
1600 Unknown user/usage
1616 Unknown user/usage
1632 Unknown user/usage
1648 Unknown user/usage
4800 MacDill Control
4816 Unknown user/usage
4832 Unknown user/usage
4848 Security
4864 Security
4880 Unknown user/usage
8000 Unknown user/usage
9600 Unknown user/usage
11200 Unknown user/usage
12800 Unknown user/usage
14400 Unknown user/usage
16000 Unknown user/usage
19200 Unknown user/usage
19600 Alpha
20800 Unknown user/usage
20864 Unknown user/usage
24900 Tiger
25600 Unknown user/usage
25616 Unknown user/usage
25632 Unknown user/usage
25648 Unknown user/usage
27200 Unknown user/usage
30400 Unknown user/usage
35216 Unknown user/usage
35248 Unknown user/usage

Lightning in sky for first time

12/22/2006 - The F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter takes off for its initial flight Dec. 15 over Fort Worth, Texas. (Lockheed Martin photo/Tom Harvey)

This information originally appeared in the July 2006 MT Milcom column. Copyright 2006 by Monitoring Times magazine and Teak Publications. For personal use only. All rights reserved and not for redistribution in any form.

NAS/JRB Fort Worth Base Communications Profile

DSN Prefix: 874 ICAO Code: KNFW

Area/Base Aero Frequencies

ATIS 273.575

Base Operations 139.300 291.775

Brownwood MOA (FTW Center) 380.050 317.700 (Hornet) 343.600 (Tomcat) 282.200 (Loon)

DFW Regional Approach/Departure 125.800 257.950 363.150

Falcon Range (FTW Center) 290.100

Ground Controlled Approach 128.775 132.225 371.875

Navy Fort Worth Arrival 128.775 371.875

Navy Fort Worth Tower 120.950 269.325 284.725

Navy Fort Worth Ground 126.400 254.325 279.575

PMSV Metro 342.550

Sheppard AFB Monitor 335.900
Lockheed Fort Worth Operations 123.150 (Tertiary) 123.400 (Secondary) 123.575 (Primary) 284.100 (Primary) 292.500 (Secondary) 349.725 (Tertiary)

Flight Test Support 231.450 277.750 300.400 349.700

Base Unit List

USAF 136AW/181AS (Callsign Rodeo) No frequencies currently identififed

USAF 301FW/457FS (Callsign Spad) 252.100 (Ops) 276.500 (A-A) 306.000 (A-A)

VHF Freqs: 140.175 140.275 141.650 149.050 149.075 149.125

USMC VMFA-112 (Callsign Cowboy) 252.525 (A-A) 318.600 (Ops) 318.650 (A-A)

VHF Freqs: 140.325 141.950

USMC VMGR-234 (Callsign Ranger) 233.900 289.800 Operations (Range Ops)

USN VFA-201 (Callsign Pistol) 291.675 (A-A) 299.500 (A-A) 320.500 (A-A) 344.200 (Ops) 344.250 (A-A) 355.100 (A-A)

Unknown Unit 355.400 (Ops)

Lockheed-Martin Callsigns:

Lightning F-35 Aircraft

Picasso Aircraft Painters

Rocket Civilian Test Pilots

Viper USAF Test Pilots

Wagon Wheel Lockheed Flight Test Support Van

Land Mobile Frequencies

Lockheed Fort Worth 72.040 72.180 72.240 72.360 72.440 152.345/157.605 153.080/158.310 153.140/160.065 153.230 153.350/160.185 451.225/456.225 451.3625 456.3625 461.1875 461.825 462.0125 462.0625 462.1125 462.1625 462.3625 462.4000/467.4000 462.9125 462.3250 462.8875 463.2375/468.2375 463.3125/468.3125 463.7375 463.8125 463.8500 463.8625 464.0125 464.3375 464.7125 464.9625 466.1875 466.8125 466.8250 467.0125 467.0625 467.1125 467.1625 467.7500 467.9125 468.8125 468.3500 469.0125 469.3375 469.9625 855.3375/810.3375

49.2375 Unknown user/usage

138.575 Fire/EMS repeater (103.5-Hz PL tone)

140.025 Miscellaneous Net

140.050 Miscellaneous Net

140.100 Fire/Crash Net

140.325 Marine Ground Maintenance Frequency (tentative)

141.950 Marine Ground Maintenance Frequency (tentative)

149.200 Flight Line/Transit Ops (linked to TG 24576) [This is NOT 149.205 that has been reported on some list-LVH]

163.4635 Lockheed Security Repeater (114.8-Hz PL tone)

163.4875 Miscellaneous Net
461.8125 Lockheed Flightline (123.0-Hz PL tone)

Base Trunk System

Motorola ASTRO 3600 baud (APCO 25 Mixed Mode)

System ID: 7504

Base Frequency: 406.500 MHz, Spacing: 12.5-kHz, Offset: 380

Frequencies: 407.3635 407.9625 408.5625 408.9625 409.4375 409.9625 410.3625 410.7625

Talkgroups:

48 Base Security (Analog)

80 Base Security

112 Base Security

144 Base Security

192 Unknown user/usage

272 Unknown user/usage

8240 Unknown user/usage(Digital)

8272 Unknown user/usage(Digital)

8304 Unknown user/usage(Digital)

8752 Unknown user/usage(Digital)

9360 Unknown user/usage(Digital)

9456 Unknown user/usage(Digital)

9648 Unknown user/usage(Digital)

9760 Unknown user/POL (P25) [tentative]

24576 Flight Line/Transit Ops (P25)

24608 VFA-201 Maintenance (P25)

24624 Base Public Works (P25)

24640 136AW/181AS Texas ANG

32784 301FW Aircraft Maintenance [Viper/Red]

32816 Unknown user/usage (Digital)

32880 Aircraft Maintenance [Red]

32912 Aircraft Maintenance/Inspection [Maverick] (P25)

32944 Unknown user/usage

33008 301FW Security

40992 Fire Dispatch (P25)

41008 Fire Talk

41072 Fire Prevention (P25)

41088 Fire Talk (P25)

Out of Thin Air - The NSA is Coming to Georgia

This link comes courtesy of Jack NeSmith, thanks Rocket.





From the Metro Spirit National Security Blogspot:

Out of thin air
Huge new NSA facility suddenly appears on Fort Gordon’s radar

By Corey Pein

It’s a boom time for spooks. Much like the Pentagon’s Cold War megaprojects put entire cities on the map virtually overnight, the untold billions in tax dollars now pouring into the intelligence agencies fighting the Global War on Terrorism are beginning to trickle down to the local level.And Augusta is about to get a $340-million taste of Sweet Tea.

Editors Note: This new NSA construction project at Fort Gordon is called "Project Sweet Tea."

You can see this rest of this piece at http://augustans.blogspot.com/2006/12/out-of-thin-air.html

And from the MT-Milcom frequency database, here is a frequency profile for the Fort Gordon/Jackson trunk system:

Fort Gordon (Augusta GA)/Fort Jackson (Columbia SC)
System Type: Motorola 9600 baud ASTRO Project 25 Standard, IMBE Exclusive
Motorola System ID: 01C
Frequencies:
Fort Gordon 101 406.1125c 406.5000 406.7625 407.0750 407.5000 407.7625 407.8875 408.0500 408.3625 409.7000c
Fort Gordon 102 406.1625c 407.9625c 408.1250c
Fort Gordon 103 407.8125c 410.5500c 410.7625c
Fort Gordon 104 407.5500 408.8875 410.5625
Fort Gordon 105 408.0875c 409.3625c 410.9000c
Fort Jackson 106 406.3625c 406.7625c 407.7625c 408.1625 408.3625c 409.3625 410.1625 410.5625
Fort Jackson 107 406.5625 407.1625c 407.3625c 410.7625c

I would strongly advise listeners in the Gordon/Jackson area to watch the 380-390 MHz portion of the spectrum for one of the new DoD LMR TRS to pop up soon.

And additions and corrections you have on this or any other trunk system, or material you would like to share can be sent to larryvanhorn @ monitoringtimes.com.