Racing Campers: Question about scanning

[JonesFamilyJayco]

Just before the Rockingham race, I purchased a Radio Shack Pro 74 scanner w/ 100 channels and a pair of inexpensive headphones on Ebay.  I won the scanner for $74 (w/ shipping cost) & the headphones for $32 (w/ shipping cost).  The whole system worked very well & I feel like I got a good deal after looking for quite a while.  Before I purchased my scanner, I was renting a system at the Coca-Cola 600.  I should break even after a couple of races.

My question is about the frequency lists.  How often do you find they change?  I printed a free list I found after a Google search, but bought a list at the track for $5.00 just to be safe.  Overall, most of the frequencies were the same, but a few were new.  If I bought a list at Rockingham, will the frequencies be good for other races this year & beyond?  Also, the list just had MRN's radio frequency & I need PRN's radio frequency for any of the Speedway Motorsport's INC. tracks such as Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Also, where can I find a list of local frequencies for police/fire/medic etc. That way, I can use my scanner at home year round.

My favorite way to scan so far was to listen to the radio brodcast during most of the green flag racing and swich to my favorite drivers at cautions or pit stops.  I really liked hearing the pre-show prep of the radio brodcast & the "at-ease" talk during the breaks.  I was surprised that the spotters & crew cheifs did not talk much during green flag racing.  Dale jr. had to yell at his crew that he wanted them to shut up so he could concentrate at the first of the race.  Michael Waltrip & Ward Burton talked quite a bit on their radios.  

How do you like to scan a race?  Listen to every driver or select a few?

NASCAR is a great sport & it goes great with camping!

[labontefan]

NASCAR is a great sport & it goes great with camping!

Ditto to that!!

I have a Uniden Sportcat. This is my second scanner. The first one was also a Sportcat. This is a newer model. I like it because it has alphanumeric characters. Here's my scanner:

http://www.racescan.com/index.cgi?BISKIT=3075446625&CONTEXT=cat&art=&cat=12&product_id=75&SUBTRAP=midas_bigview

(I bought both my scanners from RaceScan. However, they don't have trailers at the tracks anymore since ISC restricted a lot of scanner vendors from their tracks.)

I program the driver's frequencies mostly by car number...Bobby is on channel 18, Terry is on channel 5, etc. That makes it easy to keep up with who's on what channel. The problem I ran into was non-driver frequencies...NASCAR, TV, radio, etc. Also, if I go to the companion races (Busch, trucks, ARCA, Dash, whatever) and want to listen to those drivers, I don't know where to put them. I have empty channels, but then I can't remember who I put on what channel.

With the alphanumeric characters, I can label each channel. If the driver is on the channel that corresponds to his car number, I label it with his name. If I have to put the driver on a different channel, I'll put the car number, too, so I can keep up with them.

I program in all the Cup drivers, along with TV, radio, and NASCAR. I keep the TV and radio channels locked out, or it would stay on them all the time. I start out scanning everyone, although I'll lock it on Bobby's or Terry's channel during cautions to see what kind of strategy they're discussing. Sometimes I'll listen to the TV or radio broadcast during the cautions also. As the race goes on, I'll start locking out drivers...'cause they talk too much, they're out of the race, I just don't like them, or whatever. By the end of the race, I'm usually listening to Bobby and Terry and probably whatever drivers they happen to be racing closely with.

It's kinda fun to listen to the NASCAR channels--you'll hear 'em tell the tow trucks and rescue vehicles where to go. And you'll also hear 'em send word to the drivers if they do something they're not supposed to.  :p

As for frequencies, most teams have a primary and secondary frequency and they'll use those about all season. Sometimes they'll switch back and forth. Here's a good site to print off frequency lists for free:

http://www.racefreqs.com/

This site used to be called The Paddock, and it has the most accurate frequency list of any of the free ones I've seen. I'll print off a copy just before I leave for a race. However, we buy one at the track anyway. Sometimes there are last minute changes. There are three of us that usually go to the races together so we take turns buying the frequency list and share it. Most of the time, we don't have to make many changes from race to race, but there are occasionally a few that will be different.

I recommend buying the frequency lists at one of the trailers that sells scanners like Racing Radios or Racing Electronics. Those are usually more up-to-date and accurate than some of the ones you get elsewhere.

Depending on your budget, you might consider upgrading your headphones. I have ones made especially for use with track scanners. The amount of noise they cut out is amazing!

I think these are the headphones I have:

http://www.racingradios.com/OneWayHeadsetsNewlook.asp

I know I bought them from Racing Radios. I just upgraded my headset last year. The ones I had previously were similar to this, but these cut out more noise.

FYI...it's been my experience that MRN and PRN use the same frequency. I have one channel set for the radio broadcast and it seems to be right for either one.

Less than a month till I leave for Bristol!! :#  (I just hope it warms up and quit snowing by then!   :rolleyes:

[byrdr1]

Labontefan answered the best. But after going to several tracks the freq. do change based on the local channels. Some tracks might be the smae but others change small stuff here driver be on her channel 5 at this track and that channel might be the local police at another. SO it is best to just buy the freq. list at each track.
WhenI listen in it is to just a select few drivers.. I want the ones who have to must attitude.. and or course Mark Martin #6..
 
How did you enjoy the race Sunday?
Check out my webshots page for my campin' & racin' pictures from this past weekend.
http://community.webshots.com/user/byrdr1
This has several shot of different races over the last 2-3 years form the PU to the TT.
Also my high tech redneck shot of the satellite dish set up. Made watching the BUSCH race nice.. Also local news from home.
I could not have ordered a nicer weekend inthe middle of Febuary..
randy

[Steve-o-bud]

I do the same as Labonte Fan, I program the cars by car #. That way, when things get interesting, I can switch to that car easily.

Unfortunately, my scanner is only 50 channels, so I do have a problem with car numbers over 50. When that happens, I try to at least program with the same last digit, for instance, I enter the 88's frequency as channel 38. Gets a little confusing.

If I had the 1000 channel scanner, I would use the 100 - 200 groups for the support races. For instance, Bush car 5 would be 105.

As for police, fire, etc., Radio Shack sells a frequency guide book that is pretty good. Also, you can search the internet with some pretty good results.

One thing that might hinder you from scanning Public Safety channels, are systems that use "Trunking". What that means, is there are a bunch of channnels, but they are not dedicated for a particular use, they are assigned dynamically when needed. It allows for more efficient use of radio channels, but yo are never sure what agency, or units, are on which channels.

Bearcat makes a scanner that can deal with trunking systems. It's on my wish list.

[JonesFamilyJayco]

Thanks for all the great info!  This was my son's first race (age 5).  We both had a great time.  The weather was great & I really liked the track.  It is far too nice a facility to let it go away.  

The Radio Shack scanner I bought lets me program channels by car number.  So for Dale Jr., I can enter #8 to get his primary (and shift to the secondary) channels. I used the number #111 for the NASCAR freqs, #222 for radio, and #333 for TV.  This was simular to a scanner I rented last year & I liked that feature.  

Thanks for the advice on scanner frequencies.  I won't feel bad about getting a new list each visit now.

I am thinking about camping at Lowe's motor speedway for the Friday Nextel All Star qualifying/Truck race and The Nextel All Star on Saturday.  I live close to the track, so I think I will take my camper on my day off on Thursday to get a good spot, then return on Friday early afternoon to set up the camper & enjoy the racing.  This would be easier on me with work than camping the next  weekend for the Bush & 600 race.  Where would be the best place to stay like I am planning?  Best to use Rock City site or do you recommend another?  

Thanks!

[B-flat]

There is camping close to the Lowe's speedway.  You can check it out here:
http://www.lowesmotorspeedway.com/tickets/camping_tips/  . Just click on the link or go to //www.lowesmotorspeedway.com for further details.  Hope you have a great time and that your son will love NASCAR and racin' as much as I do.  My DD will be there.

[labontefan]

I've never camped in Rock City. I've driven through it a couple of times and it looks like it lives up to its name! Lots of big rocks...also lots of bare ground which means lots of dust or lots of mud, depending on the weather. (Haven't been there lately and I know they did a lot of reseeding in all the campgrounds after the 8 inches of rain we got last May. Things may be in a lot better shape than they were.)

I've camped in Morehead Farms for the last several years and I really like it. More grass and trees=less dust and mud. Also, there seem to be more families in Morehead, so it's a little quieter than Peninsula--don't know about Rock City.

I would think it would be easier to get to and from the bathhouse from Morehead, especially on race day. You can use the roads inside the track property and avoid Speedway Blvd. That means you can miss a lot of the traffic. The bathhouse is located next to the Fleetwood campground. Don't think you can get from Rock City to the bathhouse without at least crossing Speedway Blvd.

I'd vote for Morehead! I'll be there from the Friday before The Winst...er, the Nextel All-Star Challenge    till the Monday after the 600. Ten days of racing and camping!!! My ideal vacation!!!      

[Gone-Camping]

The team owners are the ones that own the radio's and have control over those frequencies, and they rarely change. They can swap out freq's between teams of their own however, but generally speaking they don't change much. During the race season, they are not likely to change at all, which means you probably would be wasting money buying a new list at each race.

I used to try and keep updated frequencies listed on my racing site (www.victory-ln.com) but gave that up this year as it just got a little too complicated to keep up with, they have entire website's dedicated to that now. Five or six years ago when I started Victory Lane frequencies were more difficult to find.

[B-flat]

Well, here's link to the parking/camping map of the Lowe's speedway. Scroll almost to the bottom to see the speedway map showing the area campgrounds: http://www.lowesmotorspeedway.com/visitor_guide/  

Fleetwood is relatively new and just a short walk to the front stretch.  Some have trams that run from the various parking lots or camping areas.  I have not camped there but I do know some who have .  It is about 16 acres and they are going to expand it to almost double.

[labontefan]

Fleetwood also costs a bundle!!

If you camp in Peninsula, Rock City, or Morehead Farms, it's $50 per event. (That's whether you stay the whole time the campground is open or just one night.) The All-Star race and the 600 are two events so I have to pay twice. Still, that's $100 for 10 days which isn't bad. 'Course there are no hookups, but they have a really nice bathhouse. Also water and dump stations are available.

Last fall, just out of curiosity, I asked about the rates for Fleetwood since it does have full hookups. I think it was $435 for the event! (I know it was over $400.) The campground is open year round, but race weekend rates go into effect about five or six days before the race. And it's an event rate, not a daily rate. It costs the same whether you stay the whole time or just the weekend.

I decided I could buy a LOT of gas for my generator with the almost $400 I'd save on the camping fees by NOT staying in Fleetwood! LOL!! (And if you stay in one of the other campgrounds, you get to use the same bathhouse as the folks in Fleetwood.)

Full hookups are nice, but I didn't think they were $400 worth of nice!

[JonesFamilyJayco]

I agree that the Fleetwood campground is way over priced.  Also, the pictures they show on their web site do present a realistic view of the campground.  Mostly, it is a large gravel parking lot with a small pond in the center.  That is fine for race weeks, but I would not recommed staying there if you were coming out of race time.  

I really think I may try for the Morhead farms campground.  It would be worth it to pay $50.00 for Thursday thru Sunday of the Nextel All-Star event.  As the race gets closer, I hope this will work out for us.

Also, I just placed a bid on a scanner bag on eBay.  it looks like this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3080950622&category=14956 .  I think it will help carry what I need in a good size case.

Thanks for everyone's help!

[mike4947]

Here's one of the frequency sites.
 
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/2000/FREQS.html

[JonesFamilyJayco]

I found a great site with lots of information on race track camping.  http://www.laidbackracing.com/  They have a great site with lots of pictures and helpful tips about the race tracks they have visited.  Some of the pictures and stories look & sound like a lot of fun.

[labontefan]

That's kind of a neat site! Never saw it before---thanks for the link!

[byrdr1]

HAve to agree with labontefan on the Morehead Farms CG.
This is the only place we stay when camping at Charlotte.. Have been doing it for the past 5 years first with tents and then campers. I have agree a lot of gas can be bought for the cost of Coleman.. I wonder if they will change that name now that old Coleman is made by Fleetwood Folding Trailers..and you an always bring your own water and They do have a sewer pumper if needed.
We are planning on making this race also. I will go down Thursday night and the family will come down Friday night and stay till Sunday. We dont stay for the 600 to long and behind cant take it.. I can watch that at home on the TV and cook out too.. We usually have a big cookout that night for all the racin' buddies..
I also met labontefan last fall(2003) at that race. She was chillin' under her awning and had her watchdog with her. She was a campin' with the best of them....
I think I saw her at the WINSTON last year but the rain was pushing us out early that Sunday..So I didn't walk around as much as I usually do.
With a small child you would want him/her away from all the junk that goes on at the larger more crowded CG at Lowe's. Now there will still be some partying but not like up close to the track. AND it all gets quiet around midnight..
IF you are headed that way let us all know and we all can meet up..
Have a great week,
randy