On Tuesday, I visited the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex as part of my Space Coast area vacation. Even though parts of the complex are closed for COVID and others for construction, it was still a very informative and fun visit. Without giving too much away, the Atlantis Exhibit and the Launch Experience aren’t to be missed. 

The highlight of my visit to the KSC Visitors Complex was the Shuttle Atlantis Exhibit. I was born too late for the Apollo program, but I remember all of the Space Shuttle program, from the first flight in 1977 to the last flight in 2011. I remember the losses of the Challenger and Columbia and their crews. Getting to stand within feet of the Atlantis was exhilarating and the memorials to the lost Challenger and Columbia crews were touching. 

When you visit the Kennedy Space Center, there are several radio systems you can monitor if you happen to be a radio geek as well as a space geek. The first is the KSC Visitors Complex DMR TRS, which is unencrypted. The second is the Kennedy Space Center P25 TRS, which is also unencrypted. The third is the US Air Force (157) P25 TRS (use the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Patrick AFB sites). You’ll need a DMR capable scanner for the Visitors Center system and a P25 capable scanner for monitoring the other two. It’s worth mentioning that the Visitors Center and KSC systems are unencrypted, but the USAF (157) system is encrypted and unencrypted (in the list below, enc = encrypted, unenc = unencrypted). SpaceX has two DMR systems – a UHF one and a 900 MHz one, but both are fully encrypted so they aren’t really worth listening to unless you want to see how busy that might be on the given day. ULA has a DMR TRS and the traffic I heard on it was unencrypted, so you may want to give it a listen as well. You can follow the links above for a full list of system frequencies and talkgroups, but here’s what I heard:

KSC Visitors Center DMR TRS
   TG 102 - Facilities
   TG 104 - Exhibit
   TG 105 - Shuttle Launch Experience
   TG 106 - Atlantis Exhibit
   TG 109 - Operations

KSC P25 TRS
   TG 104 - Comm Net 107
   TG 104 - Comm Net 107; unenc
   TG 211 - Unknown; enc
   TG 221 - Fire Net 116; unenc
   TG 245 - Fire Tac 1; unenc
   TG 431 - KSC 1; unenc
   TG 431 - KSC-1 Crawler; unenc
   TG 451 - LETF 1; unenc
   TG 503 - Medical Net 117; unenc
   TG 557 - NASA SLF Tower
   TG 620 - Pad B Ops; unenc
   TG 635 - NPS National Seashore; unenc
   TG 664 - PS Alarm 1; unenc
   TG 665 - PS Alarm 2; unenc
   TG 666 - PS Talk; unenc
   TG 705 - Gator Units (Facilities Maintenance)
   TG 735 - Safety Net 105; unenc
   TG 736 - Safety Net 110; unenc
   TG 737 - Safety Net 205; unenc
   TG 743 - CCSFS/ER Safety; unenc
   TG 757 - Unknown; unenc
   TG 841 - SSPF Test Ops; unenc
   TG 855 - Launch Support Net 104; unenc
   TG 875 - Test Net 1; unenc
   TG 879 - Test Net 5; unenc
   TG 909 - Unknown; unenc
   TG 961 - Utilities Net 10; unenc
   TG 963 - Utilities Net 30; unenc
   TG 975 - Unknown; unenc

USAF TRS (157); Cape Canaveral AF Station Site
   TG 48011 - Patrick AFB FD 2; enc/unenc
   TG 48015 - Patrick AFB FD 1; enc/unenc
   TG 48015 - Patrick AFB FD 1; unenc
   TG 48046 - Patrick AFB MOC; enc/unenc
   TG 48056 - Patrick AFB Unknown; unenc
   TG 48057 - Patrick AFB Unknown; enc
   TG 48062 - Patrick AFB FD 4; unenc
   TG 48103 - Patrick AFB Unknown; enc
   TG 48105 - Patrick AFB Tower; enc
   TG 48107 - Patrick AFB Unknown; enc
   TG 48301 - CCSFS Tower; enc
   TG 48311 - CCFAS Fire Control; enc
   TG 48316 - CCSFS Fire 2; enc
   TG 48323 - CCSFS Unknown; unenc
   TG 48335 - CCSFS Unknown; enc
   TG 48351 - CCSFS Safety 1; enc/unenc
   TG 48361 - CCSFS Unknown; enc/unenc
   TG 48371 - CCSFS Unknown; enc/unenc
   TG 48379 - CCSFS Unknown; enc
   TG 48382 - CCSFS Unknown; enc
   TG 48388 - CCSFS Unknown; enc
   TG 48393 - CCSFS Unknown; enc

United Launch Alliance UHF DMR TRS
   TG 2 - Unknown; unenc
   TG 4 - Unknown; unenc
   TG 5 - Unknown; unenc