This past weekend, I took a weekend road trip to Augusta, GA and Ninety Six, SC. Back in August, I went to Augusta, but it was too hot to take one of the canal boat tours offered by the Augusta Canal Discovery Center, so this trip was taken to take the boat tour in the much nicer Autumn weather. Except the much nicer Autumn weather wasn’t very nice… a cold rain fell for most of Saturday in the Augusta area. I filled in some time by visiting the Train Museum and the Savannah River Site Museum in Aiken, SC. While eating lunch in Aiken, I found that the Ninety Six National Historic Site, a park I wanted to visit during my vacation in January but couldn’t because it was closed due to a government shutdown, was only a mile up the road and that the weather was better there, so I headed up to Ninety Six. The weather was much better in Augusta on Sunday, so I visited the Augusta Canal Headgates that morning and took the boat tour that afternoon. During the trip, I was able to monitor a lot of public safety and aviation traffic, but the weather seemed to put the brakes on a lot of military activity. The Savannah River Site P25 and Type II systems were active as well and provided some listening.
I planned on heading back to Savannah that evening, but decided to spend the night in Augusta again and returned to Savannah on Monday morning. That gave me a bit more time to monitor the US Army TRS at Fort Gordon and provided some time to monitor the Savannah River Site systems on a weekday instead of a weekend.
Public Safety
I didn’t hear a lot of public safety communication on the way to Augusta or back to Savannah from Augusta. While I was in Augusta and Aiken, that was another story. Both Richmond County/Augusta public safety agencies and Aiken public safety agencies were pretty busy over the weekend, especially with crashes during the rainy weather on Saturday and Monday.
460.1500 (DMR Slot 1, Color 6, TG 40010) – Burke County FD/EMS Dispatch
153.9500 (NXDN96 RAN:50) – McDuffie County FD Dispatch; enc
151.4075 (NXDN96 RAN:10) – McDuffie County FD Tac; enc
453.0750 (PL 118.8) – Aiken County FD A Repeater
453.0250 (PL 118.8) – Aiken County FD C Repeater
453.4250 (PL 118.8) – Aiken County FD D Repeater
453.9000 (PL 118.8) – Aiken County FD E Repeater
453.0500 (PL 118.8) – Aiken County FD F Repeater
154.2200 (PL 131.8) – Hampton County Fire/EMS
154.2050 (PL 192.8) – Laurens County FD Dispatch
154.2200 (PL 141.3) – Newberry County Fire Dispatch
154.3100 (PL 85.4) – Spartanburg County Fire/Rescue Dispatch
154.7250 (PL 127.3) – McCormick County Fire Dispatch
155.3850 (PL 141.3) – Saluda County EMS Dispatch
Jefferson County DMR TRS
TG 114 – Unknown
Palmetto 25 TRS
TG 20021 – SC State Air-to-Ground
TG 20565 – Aiken County EMS Ch 1 Dispatch
TG 22066 – Medshore EMS Barnwell
TG 28609 – SC LifeNet
TG 40572 – Abbeville County EMS
TG 44541 – Greenwood County Fire Ch 1
TG 45565 – Laurens County EMS Dispatch
TG 55212 – unknown
TG 55213 – unknown
TG 55521 – unknown
TG 55229 – Richmond County Engineering/Traffic Lights
TG 55241 – Augusta-Richmond County Fire Tac 1
TG 55242 – Augusta-Richmond County Fire Tac 2
TG 55243 – Augusta-Richmond County Fire Tac 3
TG 55244 – Augusta-Richmond County Fire Tac 4
TG 55247 – Augusta-Richmond County Fire Alet Channel
TG 55265 – Augusta-Richmond County Fire EMS Tac 1
TG 55303 – Richmond County Public Works
TG 55304 – Richmond County PW Water Meters
TG 55347 – Bush Field Fire Tac 1
TG 55373 – Augusta University PD Dispatch
TG 55374 – Augusta University Transit
Columbia County P25 TRS
TG 1 – Encrypted
TG 48 – Encrypted
TG 100 – Encrypted
MilCom
There wasn’t a lot of military activity to monitor over the weekend due to the band weather, but there was a bit. On Saturday, I heard a Georgia Army National Guard UH-72A, GUARD 72133 along with a couple of 19th AW C-130Js, ROCK 31 (C-130J, 07-43611, 19th AW) and ROCK 32 (C-130J, 16-5851, 19th AW), a couple of US Navy C-40s, CONVOY 4382 (C-40A, 165835, VR-57) and CONVOY 4163 (C-40A, 169036, VR-61), and a USAF VIP flight, SAM 403 (C-40B, 01-0015, 89th AW). On Sunday, I heard NAVY LL 845 (P-8A, VP-30) doing some pattern work at Augusta Regional Airport. On the way home Monday, I could hear CHECK 6# (F/A-18C, VMFA-312) flight around MCAS Beaufort. The US Army TRS at Fort Gordon was somewhat active over the weekend, but activity on it really picked it up as I was leaving on Monday morning to head back to Savannah.
262.700 – VMFA-312 Base
299.275 – VMFA-312 Tac 1
US Army TRS (Fort Gordon sites)
TG 11 – Fort Gordon Fire 1
TG 12 – Fort Gordon Fire 2
TG 13 – Fort Gordon Fireground 1
TG 16 – RTS Medical
TG 19 – 249th General Hospital
TG 27 – Fort Gordon Range Control
TG 29 – Fort Gordon IOC
TG 32 – Fort Gordon Area Communications
TG 53 – Fort Gordon EMS
TG 54 – Eisenhower Medical Center Security?
TG 78 – Buses?
TG 95 – Unit Training; “33rd Main”
TG 114 – Hilltop Riding Stable? (comms seemed to be about horses)
Aviation
The Augusta area is a terrific area for aviation monitoring. It’s in an area where the boundaries of Atlanta ARTCC and Jacksonville ARTCC meet, so you can hear a lot of activity from aircraft moving through both areas. In addition to the local air traffic control from Augusta, you can also hear aircraft working air traffic control in Beaufort, Charleston, Columbia, Savannah, and Warner Robins.
Augusta
118.700 – Augusta Regional Tower
239.300 – Augusta Regional Tower
239.300 – Augusta Tower
123.050 – Unicom; Daniel Field
119.150 – Augusta App/Dep
126.800 – Augusta App/Dep
270.300 – Augusta App/Dep
284.625 – Augusta App/Dep
Beaufort
118.400 – Beaufort App/Dep
292.125 – Beaufort App/Dep
Charleston
120.700 – Charleston TRACON
Columbia
124.150 – Columbia TRACON
133.400 – Columbia TRACON
Savannah
120.400 – Savannah TRACON
125.300 – Savannah TRACON
Warner Robins
124.200 – Atlanta TRACON
Atlanta ARTCC
120.425 – Georgia High
123.950 – Macon Low
124.325 – Clark Hill Ultra High
125.025 – High Rock Ultra High
125.625 – Spartanburg High
125.825 – Macon Ultra High
126.425 – Dublin High
128.100 – Augusta Low
132.475 – Atlanta Center Athens Approach
135.350 – Unarm Low
322.325 – Augusta Low
Jacksonville Center
124.075 – Summerville High
126.125 – Statesboro High
127.875 – Aiken High
127.950 – Charleston Low
132.425 – Hunter Ultra High
132.925 – Millen/Savannah High
133.300 – Moultrie Ultra High
133.625 – Georgetown High
134.375 – Charleston Low
134.975 – Ridgeway Ultra High
135.975 – Alma High
FedCom
From just north of Sylvania, GA on the way to Augusta all the way up to the Aiken, SC area, I could hear the two Federal trunked systems at the Savannah River Site. During my August trip there was a lot more activity on the Type II system, so I wonder if they may be in the process of phasing it out. Once more, the only talkgroup I can identify is their Fire Department/EMS talkgroup.
Savannah River Site P25 TRS
TG 3001 – Unknown; enc
TG 3005 – Unknown; enc
TG 3009 – Unknown; enc
TG 3015 – Savannah River Site FD/EMS; unenc
TG 3029 – Unknown; unenc
TG 3035 – Unknown; unenc
TG 3037 – Unknown; unenc
TG 3039 – Unknown; unenc
TG 3049 – Unknown; unenc
TG 3067 – Unknown; unenc
TG 3081 – Unknown; enc
TG 3087 – Unknown; enc
Savannah River Site Type II TRS
TG 48464 – unknown; unenc
TG 48784 – unknown; unenc
TG 49072 – unknown; unenc
Amateur Radio
While I was burning some time in Augusta on Sunday morning, waiting on the Augusta Canal Discovery Center to open so that I could reschedule my canal boat tour reservation, I fired up the mobile HF station to see what I could do. 20 Meters was open to Europe and I was able to work two stations: S51DX in Slovenia, and a special event station celebrating 175 years of Morse Code: DR175CW in Germany. I tried to do the same on Sunday morning, but the ARRL Sweepstakes contest was underway and I really didn’t have the urge to do the Sweepstakes.
Food
The best food I had on this trip was from Luigi’s Italian Restaurant in downtown Augusta. I got there right as they opened at 5pm and they started filling up quickly. It wasn’t just that they’re a small restaurant – they also seem to be a very popular one. As I mentioned it’s a small restaurant, but don’t let that keep you away; it’s got a nice vintage vibe (including a juke box and small juke boxes and each booth) and the service is wonderful. The food is also wonderful; I ordered the Chicken Parmigiana and thoroughly enjoyed it. The chicken was tender and juicy and the sauce was amazing – seasoned just right, it didn’t overpower the chicken. If you’re in Augusta, you’ve got to try Luigi’s!
Categories: Augusta, Aviation, FedCom, MilCom, Mobile Scanning, Ninety Six, Public Safety, Road Trip, Scanning, South Carolina
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