Well it’s that time of year again and the Formula 1 Grand Prix is coming to Melbourne during the month of March.
But you don’t have to wait until March to start getting in on the communications smorgasbord that such an event can provide.
The GP ‘bump-in’ has officially started and as such Security is now active. Once again the primary provider of Security will be MSS Security and you may find them active on their 494.150MHz allocation running off the Eureka Tower. In years past this frequency has carried a CTCSS of 136.5Hz. During the event itself they move their race-day ops to another system. (Previous years supplied by Autophone).
Previously the Australian Grand Prix Corporation has made use of a low power (2 Watts) VHF Trunking system provided by Comgroup run off a nearby hotel. The system has usually consisted of around 26 frequencies paired up to make the relevant channels. The system has been made up of 11 primary channels in the past.
| TX Frequency | RX Frequency |
| 165.2125 | 169.8125 |
| 166.6500 | 171.2500 |
| 165.2625 | 169.8625 |
| 165.5000 | 170.1000 |
| 165.8125 | 170.4125 |
| 166.3000 | 170.9500 |
| 166.6250 | 170.2250 |
| 166.6875 | 171.2875 |
| 166.2625 | 170.8625 |
| 165.6125 | 170.2125 |
| 165.8250 | 170.4250 |
| 166.5250 | 170.1250 |
| 153.4250 / 153.7125 | |
Previous years Comgroup has supplied Simoco SRP9100 portables for use. Not all radios are programmed identical. Each radio has been programmed according to its perceived users requirements.
The below channel plan whilst not complete should give you an indication of what is used and by whom, if anyone can supply further details it would be greatly appreciated.
| Channel | Label | Use | Note |
| 102 | OPS1 | Primary AGPC Ops Channel | Used by all motor sport, venue ops, catering, safety, security, and client services. Monitored by Race Control |
| ??? |
OPS2 |
Secondary AGPC Ops Channel | Used as a secondary ops channel for special events such as pit lane & pit straight walks, behind the scene tours, driver transfers and VIP’s. |
|
??? |
OPS3 |
Back up AGPC Ops Channel | Another secondary ops channel. Usually used for when the first two ops channels are extremely busy. Also used by customer service staff assisting with service operation. |
|
108 |
ENG1 |
Primary Engineering Ops Channel | Used by primary engineering firm, contractors & security. Primary Engineering Ops Centre channel (EOC) |
|
??? |
ENG2 |
Secondary Engineering Ops Channel | Secondary EOC channel |
|
??? |
ECC |
Emergency Coordination Centre | Primary Emergency Coordination Centre (ECC) channel. Used only when reporting an emergency. Should only be used by AGPC and not used unless necessary. |
|
??? |
TRC |
Track Channel | Used by Race Control and various contractors involved in on track ops. |
|
??? |
RC1 |
Race Control 1 | |
|
??? |
RC2 |
Race Control 2 | |
|
??? |
EC1 |
Emergency 1 | Used in an emergency situation by RC1 if required. |
|
??? |
EC2 |
Emergency 2 | Used in an emergency situation by RC2 if required. |
So there you have it folks a little bit of an idea of where to start listening. Please feel free to update us as to any of your own advice for listeners to tune their scanners too both during the GP set up period and then the plethora of radio systems that come alive during the event itself.
Hi,
Do you have the TX CTCSS codes?
Do you have the channel names for each of the frequencies listed above?
Thank you
Hi M,
I deliberately left the CTCSS off at the time so as to not draw to much flak. I think there was one but can’t recall it at the moment.
If you look further down the article page there are the channel names there. It’s actually a trunk network so frequency use changes on each transmission.
Hope that helps? If I can find my notes on the CTCSS I’ll let you know, I have posted it elsewhere previously too.