[FedCom] Loggings From The Dakotas

[Jim Lawrence]

I spent a few days in the Dakotas recently and here are some loggings of
what I heard.

In south central North Dakota, southeast of Bismarck, I caught numerous
P-25 encrypted comms on 163.675, 165.875 and 168.975.  No analog voice was
heard but given the frequencies, I gather this was Border Patrol.

Between Mobridge and Pierre, South Dakota, I caught some analog voice on
167.475 and 167.875.  This was from an aircraft reporting it was landing
at Brookings.

In southwestern South Dakota, I logged:
164.625 - Pine Ridge (very busy), analog
164.675 - Pine Ridge, analog
167.875 - unided, heard in Badlands, P25
169.400 - heard in both Badlands and Black Hills, analog
169.900 - unided, heard in both the Badlands and Black Hills, analog
169.950 - unided, clearly an air asset in Blackhawk area talking to
ground, PL 103.5
170.050 - Mt. Rushmore, analog
170.000 - unided, heard in the Black Hills, analog
171.475 - unided, heard in Mt. Rushmore area, analog

Ellsworth AFB outside Rapid City was heard in all P25 on numerous 139 MHz
frequencies including 139.7625, 139.165 and 139.185 (some frequencies may
not be exact).  No encryption was heard on the system while I was there.  
Radioreference reports they use a trunked system but I neglected to bring
the information with me to enter it properly in my scanner.  Although
busy, it was easily monitored in a conventional method.

Finally, on the drive home, I took a hit on 163.4875 using P25 near the
Toledo, Ohio airport.

Sorry for all the unided loggings.  If any of you can associate any of the
unideds with particular users, that would be appreciated.

Best Wishes,
Jim

OT P.S.:  The South Dakota P25 trunked statewide system was easily and
accurately monitored using my older Uniden 250D.  I found the information
in the radioreference website database to be very useful.