Hooligan
Member
"MAINSAIL" is a static callword that means "any HF-GCS ground station, please respond." It dates back to the era when there were many different ground stations with their own operators, as something you coud say instead of first calling "Andrews," them if no answer, calling "Offutt," then trying another specific station, if you had a request that any key ground station could help you with. Sometimes if they were bored, one of the HF operators aboard the E-4B 'Nightwatch' aircraft will answer a "Mainsail" call & make an HF phone patch for the party via a special UHF or SATCOM circuit that Nightwatch has.
Keep in mind that the HF-GCS ground radio operators are all at Andrews AFB (with a back-up operations center at Grand Forks AFB) these days, remotely accessing the HF-GCS transmit & receive sites located around the world.
Keep in mind that the HF-GCS ground radio operators are all at Andrews AFB (with a back-up operations center at Grand Forks AFB) these days, remotely accessing the HF-GCS transmit & receive sites located around the world.
