Oglethorpe Speedway 17 July 2009

This post is from my blog "Stray Thoughts" and is reposted here because of the scanner content. Both frequencies in the article are great to listen to if you go to Oglethorpe Speedway and really enhance the enjoyment of the race.

For the first time this year (and I hope not the last) I had the chance last night to go out to Oglethorpe Speedway, the .5 mile clay oval in Pooler, GA. After some rain delays and dinner with the family I finally made it out there shortly after 8 PM. I took a scanner along and listened to the officials on both their frequency and the "Raceceiver" frequency which is used for the officials to talk to the cars.

461.500 - Oglethorpe Speedway Officials
454.000 - Raceceiver (Officials to Cars)

The racing was wonderful and there were some great battles for the lead in all of the classes. There was some boneheaded racing as well. The driver of the 29 car in the 440 class got his first victory; it was pretty cool to see him do a reverse donut in front of the grandstand (the 440's are front wheel drive, so you have to use reverse to do a proper donut)! The 6 and 20 cars in the Pure Stock class were black flagged and parked after abusing each other over last place, the result of a previous coming together on the track. I was watching the race for first, which was a terrific fight at the time when I heard race control get increasingly emphatic with the 6 and 20 to stop beating on each other. I look back to the end of the field and there they were pushing and shoving over last place...

Unfortunately, the Street Stock class was cut short because the rain returned about 3/4 of the way through their race during a caution period. The officials polled the drivers at first to see if the track was still good and they restarted. Eventually the rain began to fall harder and the track just became to slick to race on so it was stopped and called an official race. The Late Model race was postponed until next week, when they will have a double 20-lap Late Model feature.

Mac McCormick III
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Oglethorpe Speedway; April 25, 2008

Last night, my schedule allowed one of my rare trips out to Oglethorpe Speedway. I always enjoy getting out to the short track and last night was no exception. There was some good racing and plenty to listen out for on the radio.

The Track Operations/Race Officials channel is unchanged from last year. The "Race Receiver" used for the Officials to talk to the Drivers during the races is now on 454.0000 MHz.

461.5000 - Track Operations/Race Officials (DCS 026)
454.0000 - Race Receiver (Officials to Drivers)

There were plenty of radios in use by the teams, mostly in the Street Stock and Late Model fields, although there were some in use in all of the levels racing. I really didn't try to match car numbers with frequencies last night, but one channel stood out in particular: 463.6875 MHz. The female spotter on this channel, apparently the driver's wife, did an outstanding spotting job making it the most interesting team frequency to monitor.

450.7250
451.4750
452.7750
455.1250
456.9500
461.6500
461.7125
461.7625
462.6250
463.2750
463.6875
464.5750
464.7875
468.7250
469.3875

Once again, I would reccomend taking two radios to the track in order to monitor most efficiently. One radio scanning the officials and the race receiver would keep you on top of the action while you used the second radio to search for and scan the teams.

Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Oglethorpe Speedway Project: Report 1

After several years of not finding the opportunity to catch a race at Oglethorpe Speedway, I finally made it to a race. It was good to see a race live, taking in the smells of rubber, gasoline, and oil and inhaling the swirling clay dust that gets all over everything in sight. I of course took a radio along (2 actually) as well as the old Sony digital camera. I really wanted to work on my Oglethorpe Speedway monitoring project, so I got there early and started searching using a PRO-92, a stubby antenna, and a good set of headphones.

On this first trip to the track, I concentrated mostly on track frequencies. I found one frequency in use by the track officials, track workers, wreckers, and fire/ems units. If you recall my post about this project in early March, I mentioned a "Raceceiver" system that was supposed to be in use at Oglethorpe; I found it as well. The "Raceceiver" is used by the track officials to talk to the cars during the races. Some of the Pure Stock cars and all of the Street Stock and Late Model cars utilize the system.

461.500 - DCS 026 - Oglethorpe Speedway Park Officials

457.250 - CSQ - Raceceiver

I did do some searching late in the evening and found some frequencies in use by the teams , finding some for the Pure Stock, Street Stock, and Late Model classes. Unfortunately I wasn't able to determine a team on most of the finds.

451.9375 - Pure Stock, unknown team

464.7875 - Pure Stock, unknown team

461.1250 - Street Stock, unknown team

461.7125 - Street Stock, unknown team

463.7125 - Street Stock, Car 11

461.0125 - DCS 565 - Late Model

462.5750 - unknown

I only used one radio at a time tonight, but the die-hard radio hobbyist would best be served at the track by two radios. The first radio would be used to scan the track officials and the "raceceiver" system. The second radio would be used to scan team frequencies and/or search for new frequencies. 461.500 is definitely one you want to keep an ear on as much as possible because the officials' communications tell you exactly what is going on.

Mac McCormick, KF4LMT

kf4lmt@comcast.net

Scanning Project: Oglethorpe Speedway

I haven't been to a race at Oglethorpe Speedway in several years, mostly because of my work schedule. I've decided that I'm going to try to make some races this year, I've really missed the excitement of the local racing. I've also decided to turn it into a scanning project. My frequency list for the speedway is over 5 years old, so it is no doubt inaccurate. Here is my list as it was in 2001:

Track Frequencies
461.500 Primary Race Control
464.550 Administrative Use
465.750

Team Frequencies
461.4375
461.650
462.575
462.625
463.275
463.500
464.5375
464.575
464.75
465.900
466.425
466.825
467.525
467.7625
467.75
468.500
468.7875
468.825

I have been looking at the Oglethorpe Speedway website and I've noticed they are using a device called a "Raceceiver" for the race officials to communicate to the drivers. It's great to see them using this safety measure and it also provides another frequency to look for.

The first step in my project, as soon as I get the chance, will be to start out by searching the FCC ULS Database for frequencies. While I'm at the races, searching will be the order of the day while watching the races. I invite local area scanner buffs to participate in this project; I'll also be posting this the ScanSavannah email group. Keep in mind that if you give it a try, a stubby antenna or something similar be useful. The speedway is located in a very RF hostile environment so attenuating the received signals make it easier to find the radio traffic at the track by reducing intermod and some area commercial traffic.

Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net