[Scan-DC] Roll call

[Blair Thompson]

Gravelly Point has the advantage of making the planes up close and personal. On the other hand:

1) it is crowded. Parking spots are few and far between on a nice day.
2) the planes are close, but all you see of a plane is its bottom. If you want to photograph unique liveries, you won't be able to do so at Gravelly Point.
2) it's great when planes are landing from the north, but not so much if thay are taking off to the north.
4) no trains.
5) no nearby places to grab food.
6) if you're coming from DC or Maryland, don't you have to turn around at the airport to get to Gravelly Point? Is entrance possilbe only from a northbound lane?

The new park just north of Crystal City is better for:

1) trains
2) planespotting in which you can see that the plane flying past is the Astrojet or some other unique craft.
3) loads of parking, free on weekends now (I think). There can be soccer or lacrosse games going on, but there should be space in the lot anyway.
4) fast food joints in Crystal City or Pentagon City. Admittedly, Pentagon City is some distance away. The food places in Crystal City are somewhat of a hike too.
5) no crowds of bikers and walkers getting in the way. I drive a bicycle, so I'm not knocking bikers. It's just that Gravelly Point is seen as a good place to which you can drive and then park your car so that you can go for a ride or walk on the path that runs along the Potomac. The place will fill up with kids, and rugby players too. Again, I'm not knocking the rugby players, but they will be competing for the limited parking spaces.
6) bonus appearance by planespotters who are not members of Scan-DC, but are nonetheless like-minded individuals.
7) great view of the trains. The engine crews will sound the horn and wave as they go by. 

For radio rception, it should be a tie. I managed to sneak over to the new park in Arlington on a warm Sunday afternoon in November. There were a pair of planespotters there. One had a hefty telephoto lens and a tripod, so he was pretty serious about photographing planes. The other was online with a Yahoo! planespotting group. He got word a few minutes ahead of time that American Airlines' Astrojet was approaching KDCA. I think it was the greatest moment of his life. The guy with the camera had a small Bearcat scanner, a BC125AT, IIRC. As for rail frequencies, you can advance warning of northbound trains at least as far south as Slater's Lane, as noted on my Bearcat SC180B with the stock rubber ducky antennna. The spotter's scanner also had the stock antenna. You could probably set up a nice antenna there and improve reception.

Both sites have nice bicycle access, and you can lock up a bike at the new park. You might be able to sneak over to the athletic field and find an outlet, should you need to recharge a battery pack. I'm not sure of that. If it were up to me, I'd install solar panels with USB charging cords at the new park. I'd also have a net beyond the handrail to catch dropped scanners and cameras.

You do miss that vortex as the planes pass directly overhead, which is pretty neat. The new park, though, is worth a look-see.

A disadvantage is that all the trains tend to look alike. Every Amtrak train looks like every other Amtrak train. Similarly, every CSX train looks like every other CSX train. The exception is that there are still SD-40s in operation on CSX, so seeing one of them will make the day complete.

You have nice lighting in the afternoon. Planes landing from the north will be well-lit. Planes taking off to the north will be too high up for good paint scheme photography.

So I guess I'm putting in my two cents for the new park. 

---------- Original Message ----------
From: "Alan Henney" <alan at henney.com>
To: "Doug Kitchener" <oldsdoug at yahoo.com>, "George" <ghaymond at gmail.com>, <fxpd614 at gmail.com>
Cc: Scan-DC <scan-dc at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: [Scan-DC] Roll call
Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2013 02:29:23 -0500



Gravelly Point Park any good?

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Doug Kitchener" <oldsdoug at yahoo.com>
To: "George" <ghaymond at gmail.com>; <fxpd614 at gmail.com>
Cc: "Scan-DC" <scan-dc at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2013 12:41 AM
Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] Roll call


> We should try to get together again in the spring at that park in 
> Arlington...
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