NSB Kings Bay Sites of the Southeast DOD TRS

Location: Kingsland, GA

This afternoon and evening have found me spending time in Kingsland, GA. In my down time, I've been monitoring the NSB Kings Bay site of the Southeast DOD TRS and a site that I believed is a second NSB Kings Bay site.

The site I thought to be the second Kings Bay site, using the control channel 386.1875 is definitely at or near NSB Kings Bay. The signals from the site are extremely strong on and around NSB Kings Bay and the talkgroup activity practically mirrors the already known NSB Kings Bay site. It is pretty safe identifying the site as NSB Kings Bay.

This being a Friday afternoon/evening, there has not been a great deal of talkgroup activity. Here is an overview of the talkgroup activity I've heard (it seems that the two have been simulcasting the same activity):

28053 - encrypted
28058 - encrypted/clear
28081 - encrypted
28087 - encrypted/clear
28563 - encrypted
28050 - Waterfront Security, encrypted
28562 - Police, encrypted/clear
28557 - Fire, encrypted/clear

Throughout the evening and afternoon I have heard nothing on the NSB Kings Bay 406 MHz TRS. I have heard some traffic on it during the daytime on weekdays before but it has almost always sounded civilian in nature.

Tomorrow I hope to have some more time to monitor the Kings Bay sites and some time to monitor the NS Mayport site. I doubt I'll be close enough to hear the NAS Jax site, but I'll definitely take some notes if I'm lucky enough.

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

Firefighter Michael Cooper Recovery Fund

From the Savannah Morning News:

Richmond Hill Fire Department Firefighter Michael Cooper lost his home and all his possessions in a house fire early Friday morning. He and his family have need of clothes for two and four year-old males; female size 14 and size 24 pants, extra large and 2 XL shirts, plus male size 36 x 30 pants and large shirts. Clothing donations may be dropped at the Richmond Hill Fire Station at 722 Timber Trail.

A fund in the name of Firefighter Michael Cooper has been set up at Bryan Bank and Trust.

Donations can be mailed to :

Firefighter Michael Cooper Recovery Fund
C/O Sheena Holmes
P.O. Box 1299
Richmond Hill, Ga. 31324

For more on the fire that destroyed Firefighter Cooper's home, see the Bryan County News: http://www.bryancountynews.net/news/article/4901/

Radio Shack Pro-107 Handheld Scanner

Awhile back I had an extended conversation with my friend Dan Scott, KF4MND on the 146.970 repeater here in Savannah about a new scanner he had just purchased: the Radio Shack Pro-107. He had some concerns about it and we discussed its features and capabilities. I have to admit that I wasn't all that familiar with this "iScanner" and my conversation with Dan and subsequent research have led me to some conclusions on how useful this radio would be to the coastal Georgia scanning hobbyist. I've divided them into two categories: positive and negative; some of them, as you read, will be contradictory but this is indicative of my conflicted opinions on the radio. I see some good points and bad points to a radio of this nature and they go beyond the radio's capabilities.

Let's start off with the positive conclusions:

1. The Pro-107 is designed to be an easy to use radio that one doesn't have to program. It operates off of the Radioreference.com database through the use of an SD card. This is certainly a bonus for the casual scanner listener, many of whom have problems programming a lot of the newer scanners. This eliminates the programming process and gets them directly to what they want to do and that is listen - usually to the local PD or FD.
2. Another bonus for the casual listener is that from what Dan describes to me and what I've seen it is fairly easy to operate; essentially if you can listen to your music on an iPod or MP3 player, then you can listen to and operate this scanner.
3. I think this may be a good radio to get new folks into the hobby. This could very well be a radio to whet their appetite for the hobby and eventually lead them to purchase a more capable radio and get deeper into the hobby.

Now for the negative conclusions:

1. This is not a good radio for the Savannah metropolitan area. Most police communications in Chatham and Effingham Counties are digital and all police communications in Bryan County are digital. This radio is Analog Only. That means if you like listening to the Police, this radio is not going to let you do it. At current, you would be able to monitor most all of the Fire/EMS radio communciations in Chatham and Effingham Counties and very little in Bryan County. In the not too distant future, the Chatham-Effingham TRS will be upgraded and it too will be all digital; at that point this radio will allow you to monitor very little public safety radio traffic in the Savannah metropolitan area. Most all new systems being introduced in urban areas and future upgrades for current systems in urban areas are All Digital. Being analog only is a serious weakness for this radio.
   
2. Following that, if a new scanning hobbyist bought this radio and was looking forward to listening to the Savannah area PDs, their experience with this radio could turn them off to the hobby. If they area Bryan County resident and bought the radio, it could really turn them off to the hobby!
   
3. A radio like this could lead to the "dumbing down" of the hobby. Already very few hobbyists are interested in putting their radios into search mode to look for new things and help build up the knowledge base on their area. By this radio's nature it will simply feed this trend. I know that in some respects, this conflicts with #3 in the positive conclusions but I see both sides of this issue and feel compelled to include both views here.

In short, I feel that this could be a very good entry level scanner or a scanner for the casual scanning hobbyist, albeit for a limited time and with limited capability for those living in the metropolitan Savannah area. For those in more rural areas of coastal Georgia it would be more useful. If Radio Shack and the radio's manufacturer GRE are planning on introducing a digital model of the Pro-107 (and I suspect they are) it would be a much better choice for those in the Savannah area. My suggestion to those in the metropolitan Savannah area looking to buy one of these radios is to wait and see if they introduce a digital model; it will save you money and frustration in the long run.

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

Savannah Amateur Radio License Classes

I'm reposting this from my friend Guy's Blog. Guy is one of the instructors for the Technician Level Amateur Radio Classes. If you know anyone who is interested in becoming an Amateur Radio Operator steer them Guy's way.

We have settled on dates for the next Amateur Radio License class here in Savannah. This will be the entry level license called Technician. No radio or electronics experience is required. This class is delivered by Extra Class Amateur Radio Operators who are American Radio Relay League Registered Instructors. We'll teach you everything you need to know to get your license. If you are interested in attending the class just send me an email or give me a call. If you know someone else who may be interested please pass this info on to them as well. If you would like some more detail or just to ask me some questions please feel free to contact me. Here are the particulars:

Date: Jan 28, Feb 4, Feb 11, Feb 18
Time: 6:00pm - 9:00pm
Place: Memorial University Medical Center, Hoskins Building
Cost: Free
Study Guide: Get one at http://www.amazon.com/ARRL-Ham-Radio-License-Manual/dp/0872599639/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262826447&sr=8-1
Test Session: Feb 20 at 9:00am at Memorial Medical Center, Hoskins Building. Cost is $15

Guy McDonald, K4GTM

ARES Emergency Coordinator
Chatham County GA
President, Coastal Amateur Radio Society

www.k4gtm.blogspot.com/

Hot Calls and Cold Calls in Chatham County

Earlier today I got an email asking about the use of Hot and Cold Calls in Chatham County EMS dispatches. This is something I should have posted about some time ago but it didn't come to mind.

Basically Hot Call and Cold Call replaced Code 3 and Code 1 after Chatham County transitioned to plain English dispatching. A Hot Call is the old Code 3 response with lights and siren activated. A Cold Call is the old Code 1 response with no lights and siren.

You'll hear Metro dispatch use the terms Hot or Cold Call in their initial dispatch as well as by MedStar and Southside when they re-dispatch 911 calls.

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

Heavy weapons at Savannah airport aren't part of increased security

From Savannah Morning News

By Pamela E. Walck

It's hard to miss a bunch of Humvees armed with Avenger Air Defense Systems, parked near the Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport, guns aimed skyward.  

It's even harder to ignore the 450 extra soldiers and airmen milling around the airport and nearby Georgia Air National Guard's Combat Readiness Training Center - all of whom will be highly visible over the next 10 days as part of an Exercise America Drill led by the 263rd Army Air and Missile Defense Command, South Carolina Army National Guard.  

"There are no 'live' fires scheduled," said Lt. Col. Bill Berry, deputy operations officer for the 263rd Army Air Missile Defense Command. "It's just soldiers on systems, doing tracking drills, that sort of thing."  

Regardless, the extra activities on the airport property didn't go unnoticed by county residents en route to work at nearby businesses, such as Gulfstream.  

Lori Lynah, the airport's director of marketing and public relations, said with close proximity to the Air Guard's training center, Fort Stewart and Parris Island, it isn't unusual for military organizations to use the area for training purposes.  

"We actually get a lot of stuff like this," she said.  

Read the full story in Wednesday's Savannah Morning News.  
Mac McCormick III
KF4LMT

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Coming Soon

I'm in the process of working on two new posts that should be posted sometime this weekend or next week. One of them is the monthly MilCom recap for December; I've not forgotten about it, it will just be delayed in posting. The other post will be a Glynn County FD monitoring overview. The differences between how they operate and how Savannah area FD's are interesting.

Portable in Brunswick

Mac McCormick III
KF4LMT

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry