On Sunday and Monday, I took an overnight road trip to Jacksonville to see the Jacksonville Zoo and Garden's Jaguar cub, Banks. This weekend was also the Jacksonville Beach Airshow; although I didn't make it to Jacksonville in time to go to the show on Sunday, I did hear some of it on my way down. On this trip, I stayed off I-295 and FL 105 in north Jacksonville near Blount Island and it turned out to be a good choice. I had a third-floor room and could hear aviation communications all throughout Jacksonville, public safety communications from Jacksonville, Baker County, Clay County, St Johns County, and Flagler County, Marine VHF communications from the port and the St Johns Bar Pilots, railroad traffic coming and going from CSX's Moncrief Yard. It was also a good spot for VHF/UHF amateur radio; while I didn't talk on any of the area repeaters, I could hear plenty of them from the hotel on an HT.
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| Banks, the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens' Jaguar cub |
Amateur Radio/GMRS
I'm only listing the repeaters that I could hear from my hotel room from Sunday afternoon through Monday morning using my Anytone 878. 2 Meter and 70 cm repeaters were both easily heard, both analog and DMR (I expected to be able to hear the Jacksonville Beach DMR repeater from the Blount Island area, but I never did). I was also easily able to hear the Jacksonville GMRS repeater on 462.675.
146.7000- (PL 127.3) - Jacksonville
146.7600- (PL 127.3) - Jacksonville
146.9550- (PL 127.3) - Jacksonville
147.0000- (PL 127.3) - Callahan
442.9000+ (PL 127.3) - Yulee (SARNet)
444.4000+ (PL 127.3) - Jacksonville
444.4250+ (DMR CC7) - Jax Metro DMR
444.7000+ (PL 127.3) - Jacksonville (SARNet)
444.8250+ (PL 156.7) - Jacksonville
462.6750+ (PL 141.3) - Jacksonville
Aviation/MilCom
Even though part of the road trip was on a Sunday, it turned out that there was plenty of MilCom to be heard. The Jacksonville Beach Airshow was still going when I was heading into Jacksonville, and I could hear the Blue Angels performing while on the way down. After getting settled in the hotel and getting the radios set up, I also heard them departing NS Mayport back home to NAS Pensacola. On Monday, I caught what was apparently a new MQ-4C for VUP-19 at NS Mayport as it arrived over Florida from the west coast. Monday also yielded P-8s from NAS Jacksonville and MH-60Rs from NS Mayport. Some VT-86 T-45Cs were also in the Jacksonville area and I caught some VMFAT-501 F-35Bs working at Townsend Range on the way back to Savannah.
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| HSM-40 MH-60R from NS Mayport flying along the Trout River near the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens |
118.300 - Jacksonville IAP Tower
317.700 - Jacksonville IAP Tower
125.125 - NAS Jacksonville Tower
118.750 - NS Mayport Tower
239.300 - NS Mayport Tower
126.100 - Cecil Field Tower
124.900 - Jacksonville TRACON
127.000 - Jacksonville TRACON
127.775 - Jacksonville TRACON
132.775 - Jacksonville TRACON
269.900 - Jacksonville TRACON
292.150 - Jacksonville TRACON
308.400 - Jacksonville TRACON
228.400 - Townsend Range Control
284.250 - Blue Angels Show Box
275.350 - Blue Angels Diamond
237.800 - Blue Angels Solos
326.7000 - VMFAT-501 Tac 1
AIRWOLF ## (MH-60R, HSM-40)
NAVY LL ## (P-8A, VP-30)
TRITON ## (MQ-4C, VUP-19)
COAST GUARD 6518 (MH-65E, 6518, HITRON)
ARMY 20407 (HH-60M, 11-20407, 3-82 AVN)
BLUE ANGEL 0# (F/A-18E/F, Blue Angels); 284.250 a2a
BLUE ANGEL 10 (KC-130J, 170000, Blue Angels)
ROKT ## (T-45C, VT-86)
WARLORD ## (F-35B, VMFAT-501)
N655RA/TRAUMA 1 NORTH (B407, Trauma 1 North)
US DOD TRS (NSB Kings Bay & NS Mayport sites)
TG 28053 - NSB Kings Bay Unknown
TG 28146 - NAS Jax FD Dispatch
TG 28264 - NS Mayport Tower
TG 28267 - NS Mayport Aircraft POL
TG 28329 - NS Mayport Crash Net
TG 28346 - NS Mayport Ship POL
TG 28557 - RFD Southeast 1
TG 28624 - VUP-19
TG 29810 - Unknown
156.6000 - Marine VHF Ch 12; Mayport Port Control
USMC TRS (MCSF Blount Island site)
TG 13715 - MCSF Blount Island unknown; enc
141.5125 ($0DA) - Camp Blanding Range Control
124.675 - Jax Center Jekyll Low
126.125 - Jax Center Statesboro High
126.350 - Jax Center St. Augustine High
126.750 - Jax Center Brunswick Low
127.475 - Jax Center Green Cove High
127.575 - Jax Center Waycross Low
127.875 - Jax Center Aiken High
128.625 - Jax Center Micanopy Ultra High
132.425 - Jax Center Hunter Ultra High
132.925 - Jax Center Allendale/Savannah Low
133.300 - Jax Center Moultrie Ultra High
133.700 - Jax Center Baxley Low
135.450 - Jax Center Keystone Ultra High
134.850 - Jax Center Torry Low/High
135.975 - Jax Center Alma High
FedCom
Throughout the weekend, the Coast Guard was searching for a missing fishing vessel off the Georgia Coast; there were frequent broadcasts about it on Marine VHF Ch 16 and Ch 22 and while I was around Brunswick and farther north, I could I hear some of the search traffic on the USCG's CG 113 and CG 410 frequencies. While in Jacksonville, there was plenty of traffic on the USCG's CG 111 and CG 409 frequencies, some of which was likely related to the Jacksonville Beach Airshow.
156.8000 - Marine VHF Ch 16
157.1000 - Marine VHF Ch 22
162.3250 ($293) - CG 111, Sector Jacksonville
163.1375 ($293) - CG 113, Station Tybee
412.9750 ($293) - CG 409, Sector Jacksonville
413.0000 ($293) - CG 410, Sector Charleston Air Ops
Public Safety
I was surprised at how much public safety communications I could hear from the Blount Island area. Not only was I able to hear the First Coast P25 TRS used by Jacksonville and Duval County, I could also hear the Clay County P25 TRS, the St Johns County P25 TRS, and the Flagler County P25 TRS. I could also hear Baker County's VHF Fire Dispatch frequency. Trauma One and LifeFlight medevac helicopters were active on their UHF frequencies, and I could hear both the Florida Forestry Service's Jacksonville and Suwanee repeaters.
A note on the Jacksonville First Coast P25 TRS: When I first started listening to it this time, the scanner was locking on a control channel, but I wasn't hearing any talkgroup activity when I knew there had to be calls being dispatched and handled. A quick look at RadioReference revealed a forum post that explained the problem; they're doing some work on the system, and I needed to delete or lock out one of the control channels. For more information, read the post here.
First Coast P25 TRS
TG 149 - Jacksonville Fire/Rescue A4 Suppression
TG 1087 - Jacksonville Fire/Rescue A2 Dispatch
TG 1099 - JFRD A-8 Support
TG 1113 - Jacksonville Fire/Rescue Fireground B1
TG 1085 - Jacksonville Fire/Rescue A1 EMS East
TG 1089 - Jacksonville Fire/Rescue A3 EMS West
TG 1417 - Special Events 1
TG 1419 - Special Events 2
TG 1795 - NIMS West
TG 1797 - NIMS North
Clay County P25 TRS
TG 300 - Clay County Fire Rescue Dispatch
TG 301 - Clay County Fire Rescue Tac 1
St Johns County P25 TRS
TG 10000 - St Johns County Fire/Rescue A1 Dispatch
TG 10020 - St Johns County Fire/Rescue A5
TG 10025 - St Johns County Fire/Rescue A6
TG 10640 - Trauma 1 South
Flagler County P25 TRS
TG 2057 - Flagler Fire/Rescue Talk
TG 2059 - Flagler Fire/Rescue Primary
159.2400 (PL 97.4) - FFS Jacksonville
159.3300 (PL 88.5) - FFS Suwannee
453.0750 (PL 146.2) - Trauma One Jacksonville
462.950 (PL 173.8) - LifeFlight Dispatch/Ops (Jacksonville)
154.4000 (PL 173.8) - Baker County FD Dispatch
151.0100 (PL 103.5) - Little Talbot State Park
Marine VHF and Railroad
The hotel was near Blount Island the Port of Jacksonville, so there was plenty of traffic from the St Johns Bar Pilots and Jacksonville area tugboats to listen to. It turned out that it was also within range of CSX's Montcrief Yard, so I could some of the yard frequencies as well as dispatch frequency and a road frequency.
156.5500 - Marine VHF Ch 11; St Johns Bar Pilots Fernandina
156.7000 - Marine VHF Ch 14; St Johns Bar Pilots Jacksonville
156.8500 - Marine VHF Ch 17; St Johns Bar Pilots Working Channel
156.6500 - Marine VHF Ch 13; St Johns River Navigation Safety
156.3500 - Marine VHF Ch 7; Jacksonville Tugboats
156.9000 - Marine VHF Ch 18; Jacksonville Tugboats
161.5200 - AAR 94, CSX JE Dispatcher (some stations with PL 250.3)
161.3700 - AAR 84, CSX Kingsland Subdivision Road (some stations with PL 250.3)
160.4850 - AAR 25, CSX Moncrief Yard B-Yard
161.3400 - AAR 82, CSX Moncrief Yard H-Yard
Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens
A clear day with mild temperatures, Monday was a beautiful day to visit the Zoo. I lucked out on my reason for visiting the zoo and was able to see both Banks and his mom on exhibit. Banks spent his time playing while his mom patrolled the exhibit, keeping an eye on things. I didn't get a photo of it because I didn't have the camera ready yet, but I got a good chuckle out of the Asian Small Clawed Otters when they chased off a Babirusa that they thought got a bit too close to them.
For those interested, you can also listen the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens; they utilize a DMR system that can be easily monitored with a DMR capable scanner or an Amateur Radio DMR handheld (Channel IDs below are from RadioReference).
463.2500 (CC8 SL1 TG1) - Zoo Keepers 1
463.2500 (CC8 SL2 TG2) - Zoo Keepers 2
464.1875 (CC12 SL1 TG3) - Park/Sec Ops 1
464.1875 (CC12 SL2 TG4) - Park/Sec Ops 1
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