This road trip was supposed be in Upstate South Carolina to visit the Cowpens and Kings Mountain battlefields and take in the Autumn foliage, but unfortunately both Cowpens and Kings Mountain are still in the process of removing dangerous fallen trees from Hurricane Helene. Since the two parks were closed in the week before I left, I changed plans and visited Congaree National Park in Hopkins, SC, Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens in Columbia, SC, and Poinsett State Park in Wedgefield, SC on Sunday and Monday and returned to Savannah on Tuesday. Sunday, on the way up, I used I-95, but to get a bit different view and hear different things, I used US-321 to return to Savannah on Tuesday morning.
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| This road trip was across two beautiful Autumn days with the leaves in Midlands South Carolina beginning to turn. |
Aviation/MilCom
Given that most of the road trip was over Sunday and Monday, traditionally light days for MilCom, there wasn't a lot of activity to listen to. I caught a few flights of F-16s from Shaw AFB and McEntire JNGB, but I didn't hear any of the AH-64Es from McEntire at all. A flight of VMFA(AW)-224 F/A-18s from Beaufort worked in the Bulldog MOA on Sunday afternoon and a SC Army National Guard UH-72 was up on Sunday as well, in communication with their Ops using the Palmetto 800 statewide radio system used by many public safety agencies in South Carolina. Fort Jackson, as usual, was active with training communications, and they're still using the US Army 58A system (instead of moving to the new 98D system like Fort Stewart and Hunter AAF have).
MCAS Beaufort
125.125/292.125/123.700/269.125 - Beaufort App/Dep
336.225 - VMFA(AW)-224 Tac 1
BENGAL 4# (F/A-18C/D, VMFA-224)
Joint Base Charleston
120.700/306.925 - Charleston TRACON
134.100/349.400 - JB Charleston "PALMETTO Ops"
123.325 - Boeing Charleston Ops
TURTLE ## (C-17A, 701st AS)
LIPPO ## (C-17A, 437th/315th AW)
GUARD 72480 (UH-72B, 22-72480, 2-151 AVN SC ARNG)
REACH #### (Various, AMC Airlift)
GIANT 4### (BLCF, Atlas Air
Columbia Metropolitan/McEntire JNGB/Shaw AFB
119.500/257.800 - Columbia Tower
124.150/133.400/285.600/338.200 - Columbia TRACON
123.025 - Helicopter Advisory
132.400/253.500 - McEntire JNGB Tower
298.300 - 169th FW/157th FS Ops "SWAMP FOX Ops"
309.850 - 169th FW/157th FS U14
346.625 - 169th FW/157th FS U15
254.250 - Shaw AFB Tower
125.400/318.100 - Shaw AFB TRACON
311.200 - 20th FW/55th FS Ops "SHOOTER Ops"
141.675 - 20th FW/55th FS Air-to-Air
141.900 - 20th FW/55th FS Air-to-Air
320.525 - 20th FW/79th FS Ops "TIGER Ops"
270.900 - 20th FW/79th FS Air-to-Air
314.100 - 20th FW/79th FS Air-to-Air
120.475/235.775 - North Field CCT
USAF 57C TRS (Shaw AFB site)
TG 5754 - 55th FS?
TG 5755 - 79th FS?
TG 5756 - 77th FS?
TG 5758 - Shaw AFB Unknown
TG 5760 - Shaw AFB Unknown
TG 5765 - Shaw AFB FD
TG 5772 - Shaw AFB Unknown
Palmetto 800 TRS
TG 27871 - SC Army National Guard Ops
MACE ## (F-16CM, 169th FW/157th FS)
VIPER ## (F-16CM, 169th FW/157th FS)
DICE ## (F-16CM, 20th FW/55th FS)
BENGAL ## (F-16CM, 20th FW/79th FS)
HELLCAT ## (F-16CM, 20th FW/79th FS)
DAKOTA 480 (GUARD 72480, UH-72B, 22-72480, 2-151 AVN SC ARNG)
GREENVILLE OPS (SC ARNG Ops - Greenville, SC)
N407AR (B407, N407AR, McLeod Air Reach)
MEDUCARE 4 (B407, N915UF, MedTrans)
Fort Jackson
US Army TRS
TG 555 - Fort Jackson Fire Control; enc
TG 576 - Fort Jackson Unknown; enc
TG 652 - Fort Jackson Unknown
TG 654 - Fort Jackson Unknown
TG 737 - Fort Jackson Range Control
TG 770 - Ft Jackson DPW
TG 780 - Ft Jackson Buses/Transportation
TG 784 - Ft Jackson Motor Pool
TG 790 - B/1-61 IN
173.5125 ($169) - McCrady Training Center FD
Op Areas
343.750 - Bulldog MOA Discrete
Miscellaneous MilCom
324.600 - AR-207 Primary
319.700 - AR-600 Secondary
PIRAT ## (KC-135R, 6th AMW/927th ARW)
Jacksonville ARTCC
124.075 - Summerville High
124.700 - Columbia Low
127.875/319.200 - Aiken High
132.425 - Hunter Ultra High
132.925/363.200 - Allendale/Savannah Low
133.450 - Florence Low
133.625 - Georgetown High
134.375 - Charleston Low
134.975 - Ridgeway Ultra High
135.975/282.300 - Alma High
Atlanta ARTCC
123.950 - Sinca Low
126.425/307.050 - Dublin High
128.100/322.325 - Augusta Low
Public Safety
Most of the public safety communications in the Columbia area are on the statewide Palmetto 800 system. That said, SC Forestry and a minority of counties are still on VHF conventional while a few counties are also utilizing the Fleet Talk Carolinas NXDN system.
154.3700 (PL 162.2) - Bamberg County FD Dispatch
159.2325 (DCS 131) - SCFC Huger (Berkeley Co)
159.2700 (PL 203.5) - SCFC Piedmont Ops
159.3300 (DCS 271) - SCFC Lake Murray (Lexington/Richland Co)
159.3450 (DCS 132) - SCFC Vance (Orangeburg Co)
159.4050 (DCS 155) - SCFC Cottageville (east Colleton Co)
Palmetto 800
TG 20565 - Aiken County EMS Ch 1 Dispatch
TG 704 - Beaufort County FD Dispatch 1
TG 552 - Hilton Head Island Fire/Rescue Tac 1 (Beaufort Co)
TG 22528 - Calhoun County FD Dispatch
TG 22530 - Calhoun County FD Ops 1
TG 23041 - Clarendon County FD Dispatch
TG 4165 - Dorchester County FD Dispatch
TG 4166 - Dorchester County FD Incident 1
TG 4141 - Dorchester County FD Incident 2
TG 32065 - Hampton County FD
TG 6541 - Jasper County FD Dispatch
TG 6542 - Jasper County FD Tac 1
TG 6543 - Jasper County FD Tac 2
TG 23541 - Kershaw County FD Dispatch
TG 23543 - Kershaw County FD Ops 2
TG 23565 - Kershaw County EMS Dispatch
TG 23881 - Camden FD (Kershaw Co)
TG 45103 - Lancaster County Fire/EMS Ops 3
TG 24041 - Lee County FD/EMS Dispatch
TG 24542 - Lexington County FS Dispatch
TG 24531 - Lexington County FS Ops 1
TG 24532 - Lexington County FS Ops 2
TG 24536 - Lexington County FS Ops 6
TG 24566 - Lexington County EMS Dispatch
TG 24567 - Lexington County EMS Admin
TG 25053 - Orangeburg County FD Dispatch
TG 25057 - Orangeburg County FD Page
TG 25068 - Orangeburg County EMS Dispatch
TG 25332 - Orangeburg FD Dispatch
TG 46541 - Newberry County FD Dispatch
TG 25552 - Columbia FD Dispatch (Richland Co)
TG 25553 - Columbia FD Ops 1 (Richland Co)
TG 25555 - Columbia FD Ops 3 (Richland Co)
TG 25556 - Columbia FD Ops 4 (Richland Co)
TG 25557 - Columbia FD Ops 5 (Richland Co)
TG 25558 - Columbia FD Ops 6 (Richland Co)
TG 25562 - Columbia FD Fire Prevention (Richland Co)
TG 25569 - Richland County ESD 5 Hazmat/Fire Marshal/Coroner
TG 25565 - Richland County EMS 1 Dispatch
TG 24665 - Columbia Airport FD
TG 26101 - Sumter County FD 1
TG 26151 - Sumter County EMS Dispatch
TG 20022 - SC Regional Government 1
TG 20026 - SC Regional Government 10
TG 27827 - SC Forestry
TG 28101 - SC EMD Call
TG 28106 - SC EMD Midlands
TG 28609 - SC LifeNet (Medevac Helicopter dispatch)
TG 51704 - MedTrans SC (Medevac Helicopter dispatch)
TG 51708 - SC Aircare (Medevac Helicopter dispatch)
TG 20021 - SC State Air-to-Ground
Fleet Talk Carolinas NXDN TRS
TG 451 - Fairfield County FD Dispatch
TG 453 - Fairfield County EMS Dispatch
TG 11423 - Saluda County EMS Dispatch
Railroad
Both CSX and Norfolk Southern are very active in the Columbia area and from where I was staying in Cayce, I could easily hear plenty from both railroads, including CSX's CN&L (former Columbia, Newberry, and Laurens Railroad) Subdivision.
160.4100 - AAR 20, CSX Dispatch (some stations with PL 250.3)
161.3700 - AAR 84, CSX CN&L Subdivision Dispatch (Some stations with PL 250.3)
160.5900 - AAR 32, CSX Road (some stations with PL 250.3)
161.1000 - AAR 66, CSX Road (some stations with PL 250.3)
161.4600 - AAR 90, Norfolk Southern Dispatch
160.6050 - AAR-33, Norfolk Southern Road
160.6500 - AAR 36, Norfolk Southern
Amateur Radio/GMRS
On Sunday's trip north, both 2 Meters and 70 Cm were mostly inactive; I only heard sporadic activity on Amateur Radio and GRMS. On Monday, things picked up with the usual morning and afternoon commute QSOs. It's worth noting that the 442.8750+ (DCS 315) repeater in Columbia is usually the easiest place to find a QSO during the morning and afternoon commutes.
145.4300- (PL 156.7) - Wedgefield, SC
146.6250- (DCS 315) - Little Mountain, SC
146.6700- (PL 156.7) - St. Matthews, SC
146.7150- (PL 91.5) - Columbia, SC (SCHearts)
146.8800- (PL 123.0) - Orangeburg, SC (SCHearts)
147.2100+ (PL 156.7) - Little Mountain, SC (SCHearts)
147.3300+ (PL 156.7) - Columbia, SC
437.8000 - ISS VHF/UHF Crossband Rptr Downlink
440.6125+ (DMR CC1) - Columbia, SC Downtown
441.7250+ (PL 91.5) - Columbia, SC (SCHearts)
441.8000+ (CSQ) - Lugoff, SC
442.5125+ (DMR CC1) - Columbia, SC East
442.8750+ (DCS 315) - Columbia, SC
442.3125 (DMR CC1) - Sumter, SC
443.3000+ (DCS 315) - Sumter, SC
462.6750+ (PL 141.3) - GMRS Hopkins, SC
Congaree National Park
The first stop of the road trip, on Sunday afternoon, was Congaree National Park, southeast of Columbia and northwest of Lake Marion. I walked the Boardwalk Trail and part of the Firefly Trail behind the Visitors Center; the weather was just about perfect - a nice sunny day with mild temperature and very few bugs out to irritate. The trails wound through a beautiful hardwood forest "bottom." According to the park, the forest in the Park is " largest intact expanse of old growth bottomland hardwood forest remaining in the southeastern United States." I'll definitely be going back on future trips to enjoy some more walks on the Park's trails (although I suspect it won't be during warmer months, I get the impression it will be far too buggy).
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| Entrance to Congaree National Park's Visitors Center |
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| Congaree National Park's Boardwalk Trail |
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| The Bottomland Hardwood Forest along Congaree National Park's Boardwalk Trail |
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| Congaree National Park's Firefly Trail |
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| Grey Squirrel along the Congaree National Park's Boardwalk Trail |
Riverbanks Zoo and Garden
On Monday morning, I visited the Riverbanks Zoo and Garden before they got too busy. I had good photo opportunities with the Amur Tiger, Rhinos, Gorillas, and Sea Lions. I also did some listening to their new NXDN TRS while I was there. Last October, I discovered that they had moved from their conventional radio system to a NXDN TRS, but on my trips since then I've forgotten to try to figure out the LCNs for its frequencies. This time, I remedied that and let the BCD436HP's LCN Finder work while I was walking around the Zoo.
Riverbanks Zoo & Gardens TRS
462.7375 (LCN 620), 461.7875 (LCN 811), 462.0687 (LCN 812), 461.4437 (LCN 810),
462.5375 (LCN 604)
TG 35151 - Public Safety?
TG 35152 - Zoo Keepers
TG 35153 - Maintenance
TG 35154 - Riverbanks Zoo Unknown
TG 35155 - Tram
TG 35156 - Riverbanks Zoo Unknown
TG 35157 - Riverbanks Zoo Unknown
TG 35159 - Housekeeping/Groundskeeping?
TG 35160 - Riverbanks Zoo Unknown
TG 35161 - Food Services
TG 35164 - Ch 14 - Veterinarians
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| Amur Tiger |
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| Southern White Rhino |
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| Western Lowland Gorilla |
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| California Sea Lion |
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| Koala |
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| African Spurred Tortoise |
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| Gentoo & King Penguins |
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| Grizzly Bear |
Poinsett State Park
On Monday afternoon, I visited Poinsett State Park in Wedgefield, SC and walked one of their trails. The Coquina Trail begins at the ruins of a grist mill and goes around its mill pond. The park has some beautiful structures, including the office and a hiking shelter that were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s using coquina stone local to the area. Once again, it was a beautiful Autumn afternoon for a walk and I thoroughly enjoyed the scenery and the exercise. It's amazing how much easier uphill/downhill trails are after one has lost 100 lbs.
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| Poinsett State Park Entrance |
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| Poinsett State Park Office, part of which was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s |
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| The dam at the grist mill ruins in Poinsett State Park |
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| Ruins of the grist mill at Poinsett State Park |
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| The mill pond at Poinsett State Park |
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| Hiking Shelter along Poinsett State Park's Coquina Trail, built in the 1930s by the CCC |
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| Poinsett State Park's Coquina Trail |
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| Poinsett State Park's Coquina Trail |
Food
My two favorite meals this trip were from the East Bay Deli and La Cienega Mexican Grill and Seafood, both in West Columbia. Prior to being diagnosed with Diabetes, East Bay Deli was my go to spot for lunch whenever I visited Columbia or Charleston, but since I haven't been going because I no longer eat bread. I found out, however, that they also serve salads, so I returned on this trip and tried their Chef Salad. It was outstanding - their salads are just as good as their sandwiches and I'm happy I can continue my lunch tradition in Columbia and Charleston! Sunday evening's dinner was at La Cienega Mexican Grill and Seafood. I ordered the La Cienega Fajitas (beef, chicken, pork, and shrimp) and it was not just more than enough food for one person, but absolutely delicious. The pork was my favorite part of the meal - moist, tender, and perfectly seasoned. They're a bit different in that the usual tortilla chips come with bean dip, but there is a salsa bar with more than enough choices to keep you happy.
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| East Bay Deli's Chef Salad with Italian Dressing |
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| La Cienega's La Cienega Fajitas (beef, chicken, pork, and shrimp) |
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