Now confirmed with the dispatch of WC-7

Quote :

"Incident: FBT : Map: 050J Address: N NEW HOPE RD / HOLLENDEN DR Location: Apt: Cross: Units: WC7, Talk Group: City: RA Comments: **BODY TRANSPORT** ME GERITY PRIMARY UNIT CHANGED TO: FD/WC7, REPORT NUM: FMT-01 FRF11052"

5/29/2011 2:31:23 PM

Spent some time up at KRDU General Aviation today and captured some pics
of an Army Apache that stopped to refuel at TAC Air.
I am not a pro photographer but the pics turned out ok I guess.
Flickr Slideshow:
http://www.flickr.com//photos/ke4znr/sets/72157626760634465/show/

Few pics from slideshow:

6/4/2011 5:59:11 PM

my vanity call sign app processed today. I revived my uncle's expired call - N7HPO

I've been studying for the General, I'll probably take it later this year. Doesn't look so hard, and without the morse code requirement it should be cake to pass it

6/7/2011 9:43:01 PM

^ How did I miss this? Congrats jtw! I will try to catch ya on RARS 64 soon!

6/13/2011 9:12:52 PM

Raleigh/Wake FDs are going through some radio changes. The biggest is the introduction of EFD.
What is EFD? From the Radioreference.com Wiki article (http://bit.ly/WakeFDEFD) that was recently created:

Quote :

""The Raleigh Wake Emergency Communications Center transitioned to the Emergency Fire Dispatch (EFD) on June 7, 2011 at 08:00. This transition affects how calls are dispatched to both the Raleigh Fire Department and also the Volunteer Fire Departments that operate in Wake County. This program is the fire service version of Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) which has been in place for many years. The EFD program is a protocol based system that is used to process fire calls to determine the most appropriate response. The most obvious and important change for fire service personnel in the field is that responders will hear a standardized short text description of an emergency and an alphanumeric determinant for the call type. Example: Brush Fire 67-Delta-2.""

A list of the codes being used can be found in my link earlier in this email or at the following URL:
http://bit.ly/WakeFDEFD

Also, Mike Legeros has a great write up on his blog on the changes taking place on how initial size-ups are handled in the Raleigh FD:
http://www.legeros.com/ralwake/photos/weblog/pivot/entry.php?id=4429

Much thanks to Mike Legeros and others for helping to clear up these recent changes.

Hope this helps clear up some recent changes.

6/16/2011 9:42:31 PM

If I were to go to RDU general aviation to watch the planes come and go, what frequencies would you recommend I monitor? I check out radioreference but there are a lot listed there, and I only want to monitor the most frequently used ones

any freqs from the commercial side would be cool too

7/2/2011 11:42:40 AM

RR.com has the full list of KRDU Freqs...just got to know where to look:
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?aid=3766

I should be back up at KRDU General Aviation tomorrow (Sunday) from around lunchtime on with DSLR and radios.

7/2/2011 1:28:07 PM

Last Wednesday night around 9:38pm SHP Troop C3 was involved in a pursuit with a suspect around Wake County.

Chain of events occurred something like this:

--Pursuit beings around Westbound I440 (Outer Beltline) around Lake Boone Trail Exit.

--Suspect takes Wade Ave Exit but quickly exits back onto I440 Westbound (Outer Beltline).

--Suspect hits speeds in excess of 105mph around Western Blvd exit.
Suspect also drives on shoulder of road at around 105mph.

--Suspect continues on I440 Westbound until merge with US 1/64 In Cary.

--Suspect Takes Buck Jones Rd Exit off US 1/64 but changes mind and stays on US 1/64 South in Cary.

--Suspect takes Cary Parkway Exit off US 1/64 Southbound.

--Suspect takes right onto Cary Parkway from US 1/64 South. Suspect then tries to ram SHP crusier around Seabrook Ave and does donuts/circles in road.

--Suspect gets back on Cary Parkway then turns into Stratford Apt Complex off Cary Parkway.

--Suspect then jumps and runs on foot in Stratford Apt Complex. Cary PD checks in with K9 and search for suspect gets underway.

I wish I had the conclusion figured out for you but I don't know if the suspect was apprehended after he jumped and ran.
What I do have is majority of the radio traffic recorded in .wav format from my Uniden HomePatrol HP-1. It is about 9 megs in size and lasts about 10mins.
Feel free to download it:
http://qsl.net/ke4znr/SHP1080/2011-07-27_21-38-13.wav

7/30/2011 11:24:25 AM

My gf lives there...

7/30/2011 12:45:40 PM

bttt for hurricane irene this weekend



i don't have cable or a reliable digital tv antenna, so normally i get weather info online. but if the power goes out, NOAA weather radio is my only source for warnings, etc. and there's no local skywarn group where I live (florence, sc) so all i can do is sit and listen...

time to do some shopping before the local news stirs up the frenzy

also: that map doesn't show it, but irene is predicted to be cat 3/115mph sustained winds by Saturday AM

[Edited on August 22, 2011 at 2:37 PM. Reason : .]

8/22/2011 2:34:31 PM

^ Stay safe brother...not that I brag about it but my great-grandfather was mayor of Anderson.

If nothing else someone is providing Florence Co public safety feed at RR.com:
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/?feedId=3951

It does look like "SCHEART" has at least one local repeater for you (though I don't know how active it is):
http://scheart.us

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?aid=2281

Quote :

"Florence County PALS/Skywarn/SCHEART Frequency Input License Type Tone Alpha Tag Description Mode Tag 147.19500 147.79500 W4APE RM 123.0 PL PALS Florenc PALS Florence Repeater FM Ham 442.05000 447.05000 W4APE RM 123.0 PL PALS Florenc PALS Florence Repeater FM Ham 146.68500 146.08500 WR4SC RM 91.5 PL SCHEART Flrn SCHEART Florence Repeater FM Ham 441.57500 446.57500 WR4SC RM 91.5 PL SCHEART Flrn SCHEART Florence Repeater FM Ham "

8/22/2011 6:30:52 PM

there are several repeaters around here that I can reach, including at least 1 in Columbia if the conditions are right. I'm just out of reach of the Wilmington NWS skywarn repeaters though.

i guess we will see what happens this weekend

8/22/2011 8:17:12 PM

I have received anonymous word that the following VIPER Medical Network
Talkgroups will be the primary source of Comms during the Hurricane:

59440--State OEMS TG (also monitored by State EOC)
59888--SMAT Home
59904--SMRS Command (Cumberland Co)
59920--SMRS Logistics (Pitt County)
59936--SMRS Staging

Also keep Med 10 (462.975Mhz with 173.8Hz CTCSS) and Med 8 (463.175Mhz with 173.8Hz CTCSS) handy as backup.

8/26/2011 7:33:24 PM

Feed of ^ should be up and running in little while:

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/?feedId=9558

8/26/2011 8:47:29 PM

Is the feed dead?

8/27/2011 4:41:54 PM

^ Just a little slow for the time being. I am talking with the feed provider about revising the channel lineup some
as comms have shifted a little here and there.

Having a statewide radio system (VIPER) is great as in WX situations like this I can monitor Dare Co "Beach Law Dispatch"
on a radio here in my den.

8/27/2011 5:03:39 PM

Ok the following channels have been added to what is listed above:

NCEMRALEIGH
NCEMEASTERN
NCEMCENTRAL
NCEMWESTERN
NCEMEOC
NCEMRRT
NCEMUSAR
NC SMAT

Those are the individual Emergency Management Branches along with the EOC (Emergency Operations Center) channel, The RRT (Regional Response Team) Channel, the USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) and SMAT (State Medical Assistance Teams) Channels.

We have also included statewide events Delta 1 which has some ongoing traffic from the eastern part of the state.

8/27/2011 5:21:06 PM

what was going on on 40 east between raleigh and durham around 12 noon today? probably about 4 fire trucks, a couple ambulances, and a ton of police. looked like they were back in the woods.

8/27/2011 5:55:52 PM

http://youarelistening.to/irene

VA Beach Fire/Police + Ambient Music

8/27/2011 7:14:42 PM

Oy vey...radio channels are still crazy busy with radio traffic from the coast...great showing of how our Statewide Radio
System can keep everyone coordinated from one end of the state to the other VIPER FTW

8/28/2011 5:37:22 PM

which channels are the busiest/most interesting this evening? I was on listening to Delta 1 last night on my viper radio.

8/28/2011 8:40:11 PM

^ Still a "take your pick" situation with a large amount of radio traffic across multiple TGs but Alpha 1 was being used
for Aerial Ops...You will hear the "Airboss" callsign keeping track of various Nat Guard & SHP choppers as they head from one
part of the state to the other....this late in the evening traffic will die down for the most part with only a few folks checking in here and there till tomorrow....
The VMN (Viper Medical Network) OEMS & SMAT Talkgroups have been the most active coordination wise.

May I ask which dept you are with to have a VIPER radio? You can PM me if you want...we probably know some of the same folks...

8/28/2011 8:55:21 PM

Bringing this thread back to life with monitoring info for the State Fair.

Myself and a couple of other folks have gotten together and, like last year, added
an NC State Fair streaming audio feed of Public Safety radio activity from the Fair.
Link:
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/?feedId=6378

It should also show up in the Android and iOS scanner apps.

The following Talkgroups/Channels are featured in the feed:

VIPER Alpha 1 Interior Patrol Operations

VIPER Alpha 2 Entry/Exit Points around Fairgrounds

VIPER Alpha 3 Dorton Arena Operations

VIPER Alpha 4 Emergency Services, EMS, Fire, Red Cross Operations

VIPER Bravo 1 Law Enforcement Traffic Operations (SHP Command Post "CP")

And here is a link to a pdf file showing the SHP Traffic Posts around the Fair:

http://qsl.net/ke4znr/NCFair/NCSHPStateFairPost.pdf

And a link to the original info thread I created at RR.com with additional info if needed:
http://forums.radioreference.com/north-carolina-radio-discussion-forum/223539-monitoring-2011-nc-state-fair.html

10/13/2011 7:07:48 PM

Quote :

"It should also show up in the Android and iOS scanner apps. "

So I assume there is an app for these phones to listen to dispatch channels? I was on duty the other day waiting to check out at food lion and a w/f dispatch was broadcasting across my minitorIII. The guy in the next lane over held up his android and said he's listening to the same thing. I turned down my pager and sure enough i could hear the dispatch through his phone. I didn't talk to him about it but I assume he's just a buff as he didn't "look" like he's in public safety. I thought it was pretty cool. I know nothing about these smart phones so forgive my ignorance but is the app just a link to a preselected channel on RR or can you actually choose the frequency you wish to monitor e.g. 154.370?

10/19/2011 9:35:50 AM

It is basically someone broadcasting the audio output of a scanner. You are at the mercy of what they are scanning, but the descriptions are valid.

They are not set up so you can dial in a frequency though.

10/19/2011 9:42:22 AM

^ MDozer73 is correct. The Android & iOS apps are passive apps that allow you to hear via streaming audio whatever the feed provider has scanning in their radio. RR.com has a specific set of policies in the ToS (http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Feed_Provider_Terms_of_Service) that specify what types of comms can be rebroadcasted.

For the Ham Radio geeks I found a video from the 1997 W4ATC Field Day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE0fksPd-ek

W4ATC is, of course, the FCC issued callsign for NCSU's Ham Radio Station.

10/22/2011 11:32:40 PM

bump

getting myself an HF rig for christmas. Once I figure out an antenna, I'll stick to 6m and 10m to get the protocol until I can take the General and get into the lower bands. I'm used to repeaters, gonna be a little different on HF

also: I saw this in the latest ARRL newsletter. Great story.

Quote :

"Hams Help Save the Life of Fellow Ham It was 10:00 PM as I reached for the power button of my ham radio and call it a night. Just before my finger touched the switch I heard a faint call -- someone was lost and needed help. Naturally, I would stick around to hear more. After all, this is one of those rare moments many hams live for. Ron, KB6UF was not only lost in the Sierra Nevada mountains but also stuck. While driving alone from Louisiana to California to visit his grandkids for the Thanksgiving holiday the 68 year old missed the exit where he was scheduled to stay at a hotel. So he turned to his GPS. It instructed Ron to turn here and go there. The road turned into a gravel road and Ron knew something was wrong. "I felt like I was going in circles," he later said. He was 8 miles from the main road. Pitched black and no street lights for miles, Ron hit a ditch. The front wheels of his small truck were in the air and it was clear he was going nowhere fast. He checked his cell phone. No cells. He has a 2 meter radio in his truck. No answers on any local repeaters. He turned to 40 meters, remembering there are usually a bunch of hams on 7.195 MHz. Within minutes, multiple hams were offering advice; use the low gear, fill in the hole with brush and sand, rock the truck back and forth. Somebody asked if Ron's GPS was working. It was. Ron gave out his coordinates over the air. Now as many as 100 hams monitoring the frequency knew Ron's exact location: in the hills near Mono Lake, California, near the Nevada-California border. Dave, N5SDO in New Mexico stepped up and became net control. Everyone including Ron can hear Dave. Dave assessed Ron's predicament by asking pertinent questions: Are you alone? How much fuel do you have? Do you have food or water? Is there somebody we can call for you? Ron gave Dave an 800 number to the Sheriff's office. Dave tried the 800 number but it was a non-functioning number. I thought about that non-working 800 number for a second. Maybe the Sheriff's office discontinued the 800 service due to budget cuts, so I Googled the 800 number and found the local dispatch number to Mono Lake Sheriff's office in California. I called it. I had to explain I'm a ham radio operator in Chicago and I'm monitoring a man stranded and lost in hills near Mono Lake. The dispatcher said she would bring this info to her sergeant. Ten minutes later the sergeant returned my call. I quickly explained what had been happening over the past 90 minutes. "Does he need a tow or is this a search and rescue?," asked the sheriff. I relayed the question to Dave who then asked Ron. Ron said he was requesting an officer. As soon as the sheriff heard "requesting an officer" he said someone will be there in 30 minutes. When Ron announced on the radio he could see the lights of the sheriff's car approaching, many hams monitoring the frequency cheered on air. Working together Ron doubled the nylon rope the sheriff had in an attempt to pull Ron's small truck out of the ditch. The rope snapped. Luckily, there was a piece long enough to triple fold the line and that proved strong enough to pull Ron's vehicle free. Again, hams cheered on the air as Ron was following the Sheriff back to town. The sheriff said, "It's a good thing you had that radio otherwise we would have found you in the Spring. Nobody comes up here this time of year." HF was the only way Ron was able to get help. Thank goodness he had a good HF mobile or he might have been out there for days (or longer). Several comments were heard stating "that does it, I was thinking about putting an HF rig in the mobile but now I'm convinced and going to do it" after listening in that night. Thanks to all the hams that helped a fellow ham in need, especially Dave N5SDO in New Mexico, Nick W9ZXT in Illinois, Jerry N0VXE in Colorado, Dan KD0LYK in Kansas and Dave W7DBS in Nevada and of course the Mono Lake Sheriff's Office. -- Henry Schleichkorn, K9KDE, Chicago, Illinois henry@k9kde.com"

12/24/2011 11:56:12 PM

@jtw--Congrats on the new rig...which brand/model did ya go with?

And awesome story on how Ham Radio once again comes through with emergency comms when needed!

This was A BOLO that was put out over the radio in Greensboro last night....don't know if they every got the suspect

http://qsl.net/ke4znr/XmasBOLO/Xmas%20BOLO%2012-24-11.mp3

12/25/2011 2:29:45 PM

got me a new toy as well, a Grecom PSR-800 EZ-Scan. loving it so far.

12/25/2011 9:16:55 PM

^ PSR-800 is a great rig.

I recently made the new VIPER P25 system (http://bit.ly/VIPERNCP25) "live" in the RR.com database so it should show up in the next GRE Database update (if it is not showing up already). Although the system has almost no activity on it at the moment
other than Duke U in Durham and VIPER Tech crews.

As always I recommend stopping by the RR.com Wiki for PSR-800 info:
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/PSR-800

And if you get stumped by any of the NC radio info I will be glad to try to help you out as I am the main RR Database Admin for NC.
Enjoy the new radio and Happy Monitoring!
MPS KE4ZNR

12/25/2011 11:35:00 PM

I'm getting the Yaesu FT-857D. The mobile rig I currently have is starting to show its age and I wanted to replace it with an all-band radio that I'll be able to use for a while.

that clip is pretty funny. must have been slow on Christmas eve in greensboro

12/26/2011 12:38:07 PM

^^how is your project differ from the current viper system?

This is where I downloaded all of the fire-related frequencies:
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=4087

12/26/2011 8:47:07 PM

^UnderPSI:

The system you linked to is the VIPER system that has been in use for the last decade. It is the one that the majority of users (including Wake County) use day to day. It is also a system that is computer controlled. There is a master computer (called a zone controller) that controls all of the radios on the system and is the brain of the system. This master computer is being run by outdated Motorola firmware. It is running Motorola Smartzone 4.1 (3600 baud) firmware (called Mixed Mode because of the presence of both analog & digital voice talkgroups) while the industry standard is Motorola Smartzone 7.1 (9600 baud) which is nicknamed "Full P25" due to it only having digital voice talkgroups. What does this mean for the end users?

--The current system (3600 Baud) is running out of Radio IDs and Talkgroup IDs. Migrating up to Full P25 Digital 9600 Baud will provide more Talkgroups & Radio IDs than can (in theory) be ever used.

--Upgrading the current VIPER system to current zone controller firmware will also allow NC to (down the road) "link" together with SC and VA's similar P25 systems which will (in theory) allow seamless communication for Public Safety users between these 3 states.

As it stands right now VIPER has grown "too big for its britches" and needs this crucial update to allow it to continue to grow and evolve.

Why can't they just flip the switch and switch everyone over to full P25 9600 baud overnight?

One crucial thorn in the side of the system admins: legacy analog voice users. All analog voice users have to be migrated to digital voice talkgroups before the system can be switched over to full P25 9600 baud. No if, ands or buts about it. Ever freakin' analog voice radio has to be switched over to digital voice. That includes all of the surrounding radios in Durham, Johnston, Harnett Counties that have the Tricomm analog TGs (1-15) programmed in alongside the JCC 911 & HCC 911 Talkgroups. That includes all of the Cary radios that have analog Mutual Aid TGs programmed in. That includes all of the state Emergency Management radios that still have the legacy analog Statewide Event TGs programmed into each and every portable & mobile rig.
Ironically one of the largest analog voice users is still the NCSHP They still use analog voice Talkgroups for a good portion of their comms.

There is a big push to get analog voice users migrated over to digital voice talkgroups but again we run into the issue of limited resources (Talkgroups) remaining.

It is a catch 22 for the VIPER crew. They need more Talkgroups and Radio IDs. Only way for them to get more TGIDs and RIDs is to upgrade the system to full digital voice and newer firmware. Only way for them to upgrade the system is to get rid of all of the analog radios & analog Talkgroups but they are having trouble fitting all of the analog users onto the system with the existing digital users due to (again) limited TGs and RIDs.

Add in the budget crunch has meant that getting needed funds to upgrade the system firmware and towers tough then you can see where there are alot of headaches.

The smaller new P25 digital voice only 9600 system is a "testing" limited coverage system for now.

Hopefully all of the above makes sense.

12/26/2011 10:01:25 PM

Meant to say this earlier to UnderPSI but keep your ear on the RR.com GRE forum:
http://forums.radioreference.com/gre-scanners/

That is where you are gonna be able to keep up with what is going on with that radio.

12/27/2011 10:06:55 PM

Doesn't get said much here, but thanks for keeping this thread up to date. I enjoy reading the info posted here and knowing what's going on behind the scenes.

12/28/2011 1:41:27 AM

^ I realized early on that the best way to keep the hobby going is to reach out and help those interested.
Ham Radio Licensing is at an all time high (http://soc.li/QsuEzSR) but the hobby will only continue to
survive if folks are willing to help newer Hams understand the many "sub-hobbies" like Public Safety Scanning.
I would not be a beta tester for one of the scanner companies if someone had not mentored me in the hobby.

12/28/2011 2:24:59 PM

Got the chance to stop by the 2nd Alarm Apt Fire on the Raleigh/Cary border around lunchtime. By the time I was able to get on scene the fire had been called under control but I did get a few pics.



The rest can be viewed at: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjxDUmz8

Units dispatched and/or on scene included: RFE16,RFE20,RFE8,RFE14,RFE16,RFE2,RFE5,RFE1,RFL7,RFL3,RFL4,RFL2,
RFR2,RFR3,RFBATT3,RFBATT2,RFC10,RFAIR1,RFC20,SCE1,SCE3
EMS1,EMS2,EMS8,EMS51,DIST5

12/28/2011 2:30:41 PM

n/m

[Edited on December 28, 2011 at 5:25 PM. Reason : -]

12/28/2011 5:25:22 PM

Quote :

"Meant to say this earlier to UnderPSI but keep your ear on the RR.com GRE forum: http://forums.radioreference.com/gre-scanners/ That is where you are gonna be able to keep up with what is going on with that radio. "

thanks for the link. my shit has been freezing for some reason and i have to remove the battery to get it to reset. not sure why. hopefully someone on the forum will have some info.

12/29/2011 8:49:16 PM

^ I believe the issues you describe are symptomatic of the SD card being fragmented. If you copy all of the SD Card contents to your computer then reformat the SD Card, then put the original card contents back onto the card that should fix your issues.

I am pretty sure that should get you squared away. I know it works for the Uniden HomePatrol HP-1 which also has an SD
card to store the customized RR.com US/Canada database.

12/29/2011 10:53:40 PM

^bad thing is I did do a format on wed. night. yesterday it froze once. today it's been fine except for battery life. this thing drains 'em in a matter of 3-4 hours.

12/30/2011 7:32:04 PM

3-4 hours ain't too bad. I get somewhere around that with my Uniden BCD396XT.

Of course my Uniden HomePatrol HP-1 drains juice quicker due to the larger display.

Crappy Cellphone VID Clip of VIPER on my HP-1 from few months ago:
http://youtu.be/DsT2F1oUsfs

All things considered 3-4 hours is not too bad considering that radios today also have to be miniature
computers plus radios.

12/30/2011 10:29:53 PM

Quote :

"All things considered 3-4 hours is not too bad considering that radios today also have to be miniature computers plus radios."

good point. i'm just not accustomed to a hand-held. i've always had mobile scanners mounted and hard-wired in all my vehicles so i've never had to deal with life on battery power. the antenna sucks on this thing as well. i'm planning on picking up a RS800 tomorrow. yay/nay?

12/30/2011 11:14:45 PM

^ you probably already have bought the RS 800 Antenna but I will say yay.


I have one that I use daily on my BCD396XT (You can see the bottom portion of it in the photo above).

Overall consensus is that it does improve 800Mhz reception while doing decent on VHF/UHF.

12/31/2011 1:44:04 PM

Wake County Simulcast part of VIPER starting to pick up as the day goes on.

The live audio feeds from Times Square NY should be busy tonight.
If you wish to listen online I would suggest the RR.com Top Feeds:
http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/?action=top
And W2LIE provides a good feed:
http://www.w2lie.net/apps/feeds/feeds.php
Have a safe and happy New Year folks.

12/31/2011 5:36:02 PM

Looks like the good NY NYE Feed is going to be: http://174.120.219.172:8005/special

12/31/2011 7:36:34 PM

Quote :

"^ you probably already have bought the RS 800 Antenna but I will say yay. "

no, haven't bought it yet. i actually cruised by radio shack in wake forest today but held off waiting your approval.

12/31/2011 10:06:33 PM

^ I realized that I have 2 of those RS antennas (not just one) so I guess that does put me firmly in the "hell yeah it works" camp

One thing I have realized over the years is that most areas in Wake County if you want to monitor VIPER you need no external antenna. I don't have any external antennas on my car and I usually clip my 396XT to my visor with just the rubber duck.
The Wake Simulcast part of VIPER blankets the whole damn county.

12/31/2011 10:42:12 PM

One other note from RR.com from this evening....In the NC Forum I finally locked the existing VIPER Thread (http://bit.ly/vqCGKN) (kept it around as an archive) and started a new one...this after it has been around since Jan 2008 and has had 1,868 replies and 119,287 views

It will remain around along with the 1st VIPER Sticky thread from 2005-2008 (1,320 replies & 97,223 views).

Hard to believe VIPER is now around 13 years old...

12/31/2011 10:50:12 PM

what kind of crazy shit is going on tonight?

12/31/2011 11:00:21 PM