InterceptRadio.com Forums

Over the Halloween weekend, my work as a television broadcasting technician took me to the West Point military academy to cover the game. I did have a chance to break out the scanners on game day and did pick up a few things.

The United States Military Academy (USMA, or West Point) is the United States service academy, located in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort during the American Revolutionary War, as it sits on strategic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, in Orange County, a short distance north of New York City. The academy was founded in 1802, and it is the oldest of the five American service academies and educates cadets for commissioning into the United States Army.

The academy and surrounding ranges and training areas are served by three sites that are part of the U.S. Army P-25 networked trunked radio system using the system ID of 58A. I monitored the system during my time at the academy and noted that the military police and fire/EMS operations appeared to be encrypted. The site frequencies I was able to receive have the site NACs listed. Frequencies that have no NAC listed may not be in use or the site wasn’t that busy.

USMA West Point
System ID: 58A
WACN: BEE00
Site 03-001 West Point - Ski Slope
385.8875
386.1875 N581
386.3375 N581
386.4875 N581
386.6375 N581
387.2250 N581
388.2750
388.5750
389.7625

Site 03-002 West Point - Bull Hill
385.9000 N582
386.0500 N582
386.2250
386.8000
387.2125

Site 03-003 West Point - Morgan Farm
385.9125 N583
386.0625 N583
386.3000 N583
387.1875 N583

In addition to the trunked system, there are a number of conventional frequencies that are in use around West Point.
34.175 150.0 PL Training "Lightning Main”
123.475 AM Army National Guard Helicopters
126.200 AM Army Black Knight Parachute Team
246.800 AM USMA Helicopter Air-to-Air

During the Army/Air Force football game I was there to cover, the Black Knight parachute team, along with some USAF Academy parachutists, did a jump over the stadium to deliver a US flag for the national anthem. The 126.2 MHz frequency was very active with traffic from two Army EC-145 helicopters using the call signs of EPIC42 and EPIC43.

I also ran across two active simplex frequencies of interest:
398.8500 N293
407.1625 N293
The 398 MHz frequency was being used by what appeared to be a security detail for some VIP that was in attendance, but no idea what the 407 MHz frequency was used for.

- CP

_________________
--
Chris Parris
Federal Wavelengths columnist
The Spectrum Monitor Magazine
chrisparris@thefedfiles.com

Thanks

The Five Official U.S. Military Academies

U.S. Military Academy (Army), West Point, New York.
U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland.
U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, New York.
U.S. Coast Guard Academy, New London, Connecticut.

_________________
" SILENCE IS CONSENT "

Jim N7UAP - Bellingham, WA / InterceptRadio.com