• Smyth Co Updates
• Stars Divison 4
• Whitetop Expedition
• VA Earthquake
• DC Metro PD Encrypted
• Easy Lowband Antenna
• Feed Stats
• Chapter 21 Test

Check out the Radio PhoneBook (link at bottom) for more.

Smyth County Update

Some new updates for Smyth County, Virginia which continues to amaze us with the amount of repeaters and operational frequencies being used
for the county. This will be the first conventional system agency in the Tri-Cities to utilize more than 2 repeaters for law enforcement under one dispatch.
We also admire them for such an organized, channelized system!

Now if only we could figure this one out 100%, If you're up to speed on the channel structure drop us a line
scannerfood@gmail.com

Scanie letting the "cats & stars out of the bag" Divison 4 Stars Due to the correct public posting of this area's Stars information we have decided to post our field research for the system. We will be releasing more information with each new newsletter, these updates will be housed at http://www.scannerfood.com/files/stars What's New? Divison 4 Site Frequencies Divison 4 System/Mobile Frequencies We've included a few pictures of the antennas used on a couple different sites and well as some educational info on the topic. Whitetop Expedition - Summer 2011 Nothing like a trip to Whitetop to gather up some frequencies! Assembled was a X50 vertical, our homemade UHF Yagi, and our new homemade lowband wire dipole (see plans below). The weather was nice, 73ish and .05 mile visibility, however thanks to the fog it wasn't unbearably hot as anticipated. We've taken on a bunch of new unknowns, if you would like to help with their identification please see the file below. Pictures (click to enlarge)     Frequency Logs Raw - All including duplicates New Unknowns - Work in progress

New Audio in Media Section

Check out recorded radio traffic from the epicenter of the 8/23/11 Virginia earthquake.
Page 2 of the media section. At the start of the recording you can hear the actual shaking impacting the computer that was feeding the stream,
as the computer moved about the audio connected shorted in and out recording the seismic activity just like a seismograph.

We reviewed other local traffic from the time and found the Virginia State Police mention the shaking, which prompted a temporary evacuation of
one facility (we think: Wytheville Dispatchers Office) to its stairwells for a few minutes.

DCMPD Off the Air to Scanner Listeners

The Washington DC Metro Police system is scheduled to switch to full encryption for all traffic in September. In the past
most agencies had only encrypted certain talkgroups or frequencies; this comes on the ten year anniversary of 9/11.
Police Chief Cathy Lanier cited this change has been brought in part due to the number of smartphone apps that allow easy listening
of their police activities; critics argue the move may be due to several embarrassing incidents where officers were heard conducting/saying
un-ethical, racial, and possibly illegal activities in the past years. Critics also argue that this lack of transparency for such a large area will
create distrust in the agency and allow previously cited activities to continue or even increase. In past similar situations press agencies
in different cities that also encrypted, were provided a radio for receive only of certain talkgroups or frequencies. For DCMPD, it has
been reported that only law enforcement officers and federal officials (such as the Secret Service and Park Police) will have access to the system.
Lanier stated there would be some channels open (interoperability/ no encryption), but those would only be used during emergencies.

Easy (or complicated) Lowband Dipole

The solar sunspot cycle #24 is on it's upward inclination. What does this mean to me? With a simple lowband antenna and the right conditions you can listen to agencies that are hundreds if over a thousand miles away!

Supplies Choice of 300 Ohm TV antenna Adapter (right) and accompanying adapters if applicable 75 Ohm TV Coaxial Cable About 6 feet of 2 wire speaker wire Wire cutters Electrical Tape Nylon Ties 6 FT mason line Remember we're using speaker wire, so adjust your calculations or just divide 234/Frequency to measure and cut before separating the wire.   A. Best Performance Least Signal Loss B. Worst Performance Most Loss, More complicated   + + You'll also Need Soldering Iron Barrel style joiner coax connector Right Angle Connector Length of Speaker Wire Frequency Equation: 468/Frequency (MHz)= Total Length (FT)

A. Easy Model

1. Separate the speaker wire to a single strand
2. Solder a piece to each lead on the rat tail of the adapter

Be sure when suspending the antenna that the to ground orientation is almost perfectly perpendicular. If you need ideas on hanging the antenna reference our Tree-Antenna article here.

B. Complicated model (I'm guessing you figured we built this one, you're right!)

(Before assembly you can fill the connector case with bathroom style silicon to prevent water egress.)

1. Connect each leg of the speaker wire, use crimp connectors for a stronger fit 2. Connect the barrel and right angle connector 3. Use nylon ties or tape to secure connectors tight 4. Cover with electrical tape, create a suspension hook from a tie to hang the antenna and relieve stress from the wire, also a tie can be extended to connect to the coaxial cable, likewise to reduce stress on the coax and connector.

click to enlarge

With either model it's recommended to suspend the antenna with something such as mason or fishing line.

click to enlarge

Feed Stats courtesy of radioreference.com

For select recordings see the Media Section.


Wide Area Feed


Washington County, VA

Recommended Reading Two- Way Radios and Scanners for Dummies® ISBN: 978-0764595820 Perfect for anyone new to the hobby and an excellent refresher for us that has become a little rusty. This is the most up to date publication that effectively covers multiple radio services available. I have been mentoring someone new to the scanner hobby and provided a little reinforcement. If you want to test your skills, here are some sample tests I quickly drew up to make the subject matter a little more intensive. Chapters 1-6 Test Chapters 7-9 Test Chapters 10-12 Test Chapters 13-14 Test Chapter 15 Test Chapter 16-17 Test Chapter 18 Test Chapter 19 Test Chapter 20 Test Chapter 21 Test Answers to follow in each new newsletter
Answers to chapters 1-6 HERE Answers to chapters 7-9 HERE Answers to chapters 10-12 HERE Answers to chapters 13-14 HERE Answers to chapter 15 HERE Answers to chapter 16-17 HERE Answers to chapter 18 HERE Answers to chapter 19 HERE Answers to chapter 20 HERE

General Area Covered