Scanning the Airwaves

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts , I work for TSA, the Transportation Security Administration , the federal agency charged with protecting the nations transportation systems. Today, I'm going to give you a little overview of the agency's two-way radio systems. Sensitive Security Information Before I begin though, I must go over Sensitive Security Information or SSI . SSI is a designation used by TSA which is coded in federal regulation that states that SSI "is information that, if publicly released, would be detrimental to transportation security." SSI is essentially sensitive but unclassified information. As I work for TSA, I am automatically a "covered person" who is required to protect such information. Therefore, I am limited in what I can I use and say on anything that is considered SSI. However, most of the sources I'm using for this blog post are publicly available third-party sources which are not SSI or if it is a TSA source...

It's been quiet here, I know. Though, not like my blog is highly trafficked in the first place. Anyways, I purchased a TYT MD-2017 a week after I wrote the last post. I followed that up with a ZUMspot hotspot I ordered from HRO to get into the world of DMR. Then using the hotspot kinda fell by the wayside, since I was having trouble getting it to work. Then I used said TYT MD-2017 in analog only, supporting the 2018/122nd Boston Marathon on only 3 hours sleep. (More about that in another post.) However, this has been a busy week for my by far. First, I purchased an Anytone AT-D868UV as part of a group purchase from the local ham club. I tried it down on Nahant Beach and was able to get in the Boston DMR repeater. (It helps that you can see the Boston skyline from Nahant, which is were the repeater is.) Then, I got a text from a co-worker. His grandfather, who is a ham, was going into a nursing home. He nor anyone else in the family is a ham, so they had to decide what to ...