Portable Session - CloseCall Scanning on the Drive to Deloraine

Yesterday I took my Uniden BCD325P2 with me for a drive to Deloraine and decided to let it run in CloseCall mode for most of the trip. Rather than running my normal programmed scan, I wanted to see what the scanner would actually find in the RF environment as I travelled. It turned out to be a pretty interesting trip.

The BCD325P2 picked up a mixture of UHF CB, data transmissions and TASGRN activity.

The CloseCall hits were particularly useful because they showed me what was actually active along the route, rather than simply scanning a list of frequencies I already knew about.

There was the usual amount of UHF CB activity along the way. The UHF CB frequencies I logged via CloseCall were:

1 476.425 MHz

10 476.650 MHz

11 476.675 MHz

18 476.850 MHz

22 476.950 MHz

23 476.975 MHz

29 477.125 MHz

40 477.400 MHz

80 477.4125 MHz

The more interesting hits were some of the short data transmissions picked up by CloseCall. These were the sort of signals that would be easy to overlook during a normal voice scan. The BCD325P2 would stop briefly on a frequency, I could hear the characteristic digital/data sound, and then it would move on. I logged the frequencies so I can investigate them later.

For me, this is one of the best things about CloseCall. I don't necessarily need to know what a frequency is while I'm driving. Finding it is the first step.

I also picked up TASGRN control channels activity during the trip. The TASGRN signals were particularly interesting as I travelled through the Deloraine area, with the scanner stopping on control-channel frequencies associated with the network.

I wasn't expecting to hear usable voice traffic from TASGRN. Instead, I was mainly interested in seeing which control channels and sites were being received from the car.

For someone interested in the RF side of the network, these signals are still useful even when there isn't anything to listen to. The really useful part of the trip was that the scanner was effectively doing a real-world RF survey while I was driving.

Instead of sitting at home scanning the same frequencies, I was moving through different coverage areas and letting the BCD325P2 find signals around me.

The result was a mixture of:

• UHF CB voice traffic
• Short digital transmissions
• TASGRN control channels

Some of the signals were familiar, while others were frequencies I hadn't previously paid much attention to.

This was a good reminder of why I enjoy using CloseCall. The BCD325P2 sat beside me, continuously looking for nearby signals while I travelled to Deloraine. I came home with a handful of frequencies worth investigating and, more importantly, a better idea of what is actually active around the area.

I'll definitely be doing more mobile CloseCall scanning around Tasmania. There are plenty more roads to explore and, somewhere along them, there are plenty more signals waiting to be found.