a little late~ i hope this is not a trend at all air shows

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nc28478

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[FONT=&quot]Other items not allowed:[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Scanners :mad:, Pepper spray/mace. Stun guns, scissors, box cutters, throwing stars, nun-chucks, coolers, picnic bags/baskets, duffle bags, briefcases, bicycles, skateboards, scooters, skates. You will be asked to return any of these items to your vehicle prior to entry.
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i still had a great time but ~Disappointed! :confused:
i did call the mcas cherry point. i explained 3 times a scanner does not transmit, hence their explanation it would interfere with air traffic

what are your feelings?:confused:
 

SkipSanders

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This is nothing new. Some airshows prohibit scanners, some don't. On military bases, the Base Commanding Officer can prohibit items at will, for any, or no reason.
 

LouCheese

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I'm not surprised. Although there were always a few radio enthusiats at the air shows I attended, we were always in the minority. And it's a real shame too, because as everyone here knows a scanner really adds value to the air show experience.

Hopefully it will go the way of NASCAR, where scanner use not only became accepted but even promoted.
 

duchee

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the airshow i havve i will hook up to my computer and stream it to my phone with my headset. good luck them taking my scanner away :D cant take phone away either. its part of my job lol
 

CalebATC

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It's really a shame. At the NASCAR races, some people transmit "Go Junior!!!" or whoever, but at an airshow, if you have a transciver, your smart enough not to (Atleast 99% of us are!), which it's a real shame. I do carry my trasciver around at every airshow. I have never transmitted, even just pressed the button. I do have to say one thing: if you goto a NAS, the security is a whole lot more relaxed.
 

davidbond21

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Two years ago at Lackland AFB, me and my two buddies all had scanners, and we noticed quickly we were being shadowed by some security forces personnel for about 20 minutes when they finally came up and confronted us. Their only concern was if it could transmit, and the airman looked my scanner up and down turning it over and over looking for a PTT. As he was holding it, he asked me what I was listening too and I told him "the planes doing the demos," of course right at that exact moment, I see the LED color light up for the Security Forces system I was also monitoring(luckily the volume was down when he had it and he didn't read the alpha tag). We were left alone after that.

The next year the airshow was held at the nearby Randolph AFB, and they couldn't have cared less about the scanners. When we were wondering around, we found where the announcers booth was and could watch him talking to the pilots and hear what both were saying. A lady involved with the airshow organizers was the only person who asked about the scanners, and only to ask if they could transmit. She then asked if we were listening to their frequencies, and wanted to know what they were to confirm it. She said they had 2, and we rattled off the VHF one right away, and she started getting smug when we were giving her other VHF freqs in use that day, and said their other channel was UHF, which I popped off the correct channel to her right off after she said "UHF"(having found it about an hour or so early on a service search on the PSR-500) and it made her jaw drop, like we had discovered a secret frequency or something.

Seriously, having a scanner is the best thing to accompany you to an airshow because you always have the heads up about when the cool demos are happening and when the planes that are doing flybys only and what direction they're coming from, and also you get to hear exactly why and how some demos are delayed. Like it was said though by others, it really is up to the base commander to either ban scanners or not, even arbitrarily and without reason, and we just have to make due with their rules. Of course there's nothing they can do about you sitting in your car outside of the base listening and watching(albeit from a short distance depending on where you're at).
 

hockeyshrink

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the airshow i havve i will hook up to my computer and stream it to my phone with my headset. good luck them taking my scanner away :D cant take phone away either. its part of my job lol

Sounds like you have a "work around" for the air show, but should you ever attend a PGA tournament, be prepared to leave all electronics - including your phone, in the car.

I went to the US Open last year. At the security checkpoint, the guy said,
"No cell phones, pager, radios of any kind."
"If you are a doctor and have a cell phone or pager, leave it in the car."
"If you are a police officer and have a phone or radio, go back and leave it in the car."

One guy was successful sneaking in a phone, but was caught talking on it in line waiting for the shuttle back to the parking area. He was literally beaten - by the other spectators! I kids you not.
 

duchee

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Sounds like you have a "work around" for the air show, but should you ever attend a PGA tournament, be prepared to leave all electronics - including your phone, in the car.

I went to the US Open last year. At the security checkpoint, the guy said,
"No cell phones, pager, radios of any kind."
"If you are a doctor and have a cell phone or pager, leave it in the car."
"If you are a police officer and have a phone or radio, go back and leave it in the car."

One guy was successful sneaking in a phone, but was caught talking on it in line waiting for the shuttle back to the parking area. He was literally beaten - by the other spectators! I kids you not.
holy crap. thats just screwed up. im glad im not into gulf lol. let me guess they do it cuz of distractions?
 

duchee

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i definitely couldnt tell ya. i was doing it from my own software. so i couldnt get anybody in trouble
 

skip39

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that happened at Andrews jsoh. i had to return my scanner to the car. i was very surprised that scanners were not allowed at all. they didn't even announce that on the web page. i guess today's society is starting to become anti-scanner.
 

Michael-SATX

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Hey David, just for my info, at the RAFB Airshow we both were at this last year....
That AirShow Boss VHF freq was 123.3 ... what was their UHF freq .. was it a simulcast ?

OK, now for a completely unrelated Q .. have you ever heard 123.0250 AM Air to Air Police in SA ?
I would NOT think that would be any SAPD Eagle comms in the clear ... have you heard anything ?
 

davidbond21

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Hey David, just for my info, at the RAFB Airshow we both were at this last year....
That AirShow Boss VHF freq was 123.3 ... what was their UHF freq .. was it a simulcast ?

OK, now for a completely unrelated Q .. have you ever heard 123.0250 AM Air to Air Police in SA ?
I would NOT think that would be any SAPD Eagle comms in the clear ... have you heard anything ?

I can't really remember if that was the correct VHF freq or not, because we were listening to the Airfest people and the tower as well. I do recall that the UHF freq I found them using was 383.00 and was one of the few UHF frequencies we heard in use.

As far as the SAPD Helos go, I can't say that I've ever heard anything on that, though then again I'm usually not listening to the air band. Eagle is primarily up on the ProVoice system, and there is usually at least one air unit up every day. It's really easy to hear the chopper blades in the background. The comm's are in the clear(ProVoice) but I do know for a fact they have encrypted radios to be able to work on those TGs with the CID type people(mostly they work on the encrypted TGs with ROPE and rarely narcotics). As far as Air-to-Air talk goes, if one Eagle needed to, they could talk on the EDACS radios to another helo, though I'm not sure if I've ever heard more than one up at a time though providing air support(I've seen 3 flying around in formation before).
 

Michael-SATX

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Thanks David for the nice reply. btw ~ I had the RAFB Air Show Air Boss tuned in on 123.3 AM
I will add your AirBoss 383.3 UHF freq to my load. ps~I have had no RX's on Air-2-Air Police 123.0250.
 

Token

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the airshow i havve i will hook up to my computer and stream it to my phone with my headset. good luck them taking my scanner away :D cant take phone away either. its part of my job lol

I have been to military air shows that had a "no cell phone" rule. The answer was simple regardless of a persons job, if you want in the show and you are not a documetned part of the show you leave the cell phone in the car. I have been to other military air shows that had no issue with cell phones, scanners, pretty much anything that was not a danger to others. I have been to air shows that said and enforced a "no bag of any kind" rule, including camera bags. And that is a pain.

Most recently Edwards looked twice at my scanner but allowed it in eventually (everyone was searched, everything out of everyones pockets and walk through a metal detector, every bag hand inspected).

T!
Mohave Desert, California, USA
 

rexgame

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AFAIK Cherry Point doesn't allow scanners on at all anyway. I know they freaked the f+#$ out when I went there and had a BCT8. We were all in uniform, in a vehicle with DoD decals and the thing was mounting in the dash under the stereo, so it wasn't like I could just take it out. The civilian gate guards had a fit though, the kid from the PMO (Provost Marshal) just said leave it off.
 

Token

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I'm not surprised. Although there were always a few radio enthusiats at the air shows I attended, we were always in the minority. And it's a real shame too, because as everyone here knows a scanner really adds value to the air show experience.

Hopefully it will go the way of NASCAR, where scanner use not only became accepted but even promoted.

There are a few differences. Not saying I agree they should be radio killers (I try to take mine to every show I can), just saying they exist and pointing out a few reasons some air shows do not allow scanners.

In NASCAR if the team radio has interference the driver might miss his pit stall or at worst fail to hear a spotter. At almost every NASCAR race I have been to there have been communications issues for one team or another. You could end up with some bent sheet metal, but you are not going to kill 25 people in the stands. Even bad accidents seldom end up with anyone seriously hurt, and even then almost never anyone not in a car (yes, there are exceptions, but few and far between).

At an airshow (as with many things aviation) communications can be closely tied to life and death on a regular basis. Airshow accidents almost always end up with someone, often more than one, hurt or dead. It is not unheard of for people on the ground to be hurt. Fortunately good _communications_ and procedures make such accidents rare.

Of course, the most obvious threat is the person with a transceiver. Is the person at the gate supposed to know how to identify a transceiver vs a receiver in every case? Without a microphone attached that can be difficult with a handful of radios. Or, they might just make a mistake and not look at it close enough. By saying "no radios" there can be no mistake. Like many things aviation it is overkill, belt and suspenders, but that is a common thought process in the field.

How about a less obvious threat...the LO in your receiver. Yep, it is unlikely to cause an issue...but it can (this is the primary reason quoted that no private receivers of any kind are allowed on commercial aircraft). You find that nice spot on show center, right next to the announcers platform. The announcer and show boss are on the platform, coordinating events in the air and maintaining a visually clear show area. Your scanner LO could end up on top of one of the show freqs at a bad time...such as two aircraft on miss timed passes or an aircraft entering the show line while another is still clearing. The show boss has to hear every transmission, and it is possible that your scanner LO 15 feet away is stronger than a radio transmission 5 miles away.

At other airshows they just may not want people in the crowd to know what is going on. Maybe security has eyes on the crowd and they do not want anyone in the crowd to know how complete, or incomplete, their coverage is. Particularly military bases and in the last 9 years.

T!
Mohave Desert, California, USA
 
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CalebATC

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I know I get looked at very wierd when I'm at KATL with my tansciver. Heck, I'm only 13, but I do have over 30 hours, and relize how much trouble you could get into if you did transmit on a ATC frequency.

But, the first thing I did when a chopper ventured into the showbox last year @ NAS Pensacola was bust out the scanner. I was the 2nd one (next to the AB) to know when it came in and out of the CHARLIE and TFR.

I would never transmit, ever! Anyway, the guys around my area would probably figure out it was me haha, I know alot of controllers at KFMY and KRSW, and fly at KPGD and KFMY.


Respectfully,
Caleb
 
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