I have a BR330T and a BCD396T. I am located in NW Ohio. What is the best way to scan for MilAir frequencies? Scan from 225 to 400MHz? Do I need an outdoor antenna? Any tips or lists of frequencies would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Best way to find frequencies?
- Thread starter Zeus661
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Since you have more than one receiver, what I would do is just break the band down into say 10mhz sections and search thru them. Have scanner #1 searching thru 220-230, while the 2nd radio searches 230-240. Let them both run for a while (perhaps use a software package to log any hits) or just keep and eye on whats happening. After a while bump each one up to the next section. Obviously this is still a fairly hit or miss process but it will yield some results. Another option would be to scour the MilAir lists you can find here and other sites and program them into one radio. Let it scan thru them while your 2nd radio searches different ranges. Sooner or later you will starting compiling a nice list, not to mention I'm sure someone one here will have some good frequencies for your area. Oh, and a good outdoor antenna will certainly help your cause.
eorange
♦RF Enabled Member♦
An outdoor antenna is definitely preferable, but I routinely hear mil air on my handheld scanners (VR-500, BR330T) with just a whip.
Start with this Wiki entry to get going on VHF & UHF Mil Air Monitoring:
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/VHF/UHF_Military_Monitoring
As for living in NW Ohio, you should easily be able to hear Stings, which I hear in Cleveland:
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/112th_Fighter_Squadron/180th_FW_Ohio_ANG
Hope this helps.
Start with this Wiki entry to get going on VHF & UHF Mil Air Monitoring:
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/VHF/UHF_Military_Monitoring
As for living in NW Ohio, you should easily be able to hear Stings, which I hear in Cleveland:
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/112th_Fighter_Squadron/180th_FW_Ohio_ANG
Hope this helps.
ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
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- Apr 24, 2006
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Best way to find frequencies
Hello fellow scanner. Doing a search of small segments of the military airband as was mentioned is a great idea. Like they said however it will be hit and miss. Also you might want to try the following link for airnav and ebter in any military or civilian air bases near you which are home to military aircraft. Here is the link.
http://www.airnav.com/airports/
I hope that this helps you out.
Hello fellow scanner. Doing a search of small segments of the military airband as was mentioned is a great idea. Like they said however it will be hit and miss. Also you might want to try the following link for airnav and ebter in any military or civilian air bases near you which are home to military aircraft. Here is the link.
http://www.airnav.com/airports/
I hope that this helps you out.
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2006
- Messages
- 432
Best way to find frequencies
Also fellow scanner, you said that you live in Ohio. You might want to check out the following 2 links for ARTCC frequencies.
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&aid=2232
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&aid=2234
Also fellow scanner, you said that you live in Ohio. You might want to check out the following 2 links for ARTCC frequencies.
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&aid=2232
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&aid=2234
Having checked all the info that is currently floating about what do you want to do? Some people like monitoring ATC freqs so they hear something every day, some like to try and listen to every freq they find listed, some like to find out what is active and not previously reported....
The idea of splitting the band into small chunks and searching is by far the best way to find out what is active near you...it takes a LOT of time/patience as you can't just search a couple of meg then go to the next. You need to search the same couple of meg for days (and nights and weekends!). When you've logged what had hits on lock it out of the search but programme it into a scan on the other radio. Keep searching and then keep scanning. The search to find what's new and the scan to identify what the search is finding. Not many people have the time/inclination to do this as they want the instant gratification that other people's lists will give them.
The idea of splitting the band into small chunks and searching is by far the best way to find out what is active near you...it takes a LOT of time/patience as you can't just search a couple of meg then go to the next. You need to search the same couple of meg for days (and nights and weekends!). When you've logged what had hits on lock it out of the search but programme it into a scan on the other radio. Keep searching and then keep scanning. The search to find what's new and the scan to identify what the search is finding. Not many people have the time/inclination to do this as they want the instant gratification that other people's lists will give them.
This might help you get started. Be sure to check the archives too. MilAir frequencies are often common from one area to another.
MT Milcom Monitoring Blog
http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/
MT Milcom Monitoring Blog
http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/
Gemini
Member
Zeus661 said:
I would not go so far as to say there is a "best" way. There are numerous methods you could use depending on how you wanted to go about doing it. I'll explain how I do it.
SEARCHING:
I have 4 BC-780XLTs that I have setup as my dedicated search scanners. I prefer the Unidens for this, for their speed and large memory capacity and their Search/Auto Store feature. I have each of them set up as follows:
BC-780XLT (#1) - Searches and auto stores 138-144 MHz , 25 KHz step size, AM mode.
BC-780XLT (#2) - Does same for 225-283 MHz
BC-780XLT (#3) - Does same for 285-345 MHz
BC-780XLT (#4) - Does same for 345-400 MHz
The four scanners above are dedicated to this task. They do this 24/7. I never even hear any audio on any of them as they were bought for this purpose. As they are searching, if they hit an active freq they automatically store the freq into their own internal memory via the Search/AutoStore feature. Every Friday, I download the new freqs found into a file via TrunkStar Pro. I date the freq per the date of download, sort the freqs numerically then alphabetically, then download them back into their respective scanner and set it loose searching and auto storing all over again until the following Friday. From then on, the scanner will automatically skip the freqs it has already found so I don't get duplicates out of the deal.
With the BC-780s I can chose which banks to have the Search/AutoStore feature save the new freqs into without affecting any of the other banks. Even though all my banks are set aside for this.
I am unfamiliar with the features of the scanners you own but if they have a Search/Autostore feature similiar to the BC-780s, one possible alternative would be to set them up for Search Autostore while you are at work and/or sleeping. Let them work for you finding freqs, Then when you are actively manning the scanners you can simply exit Search AutoStore mode and SCAN the bank of new freqs they have found. Something along these lines might work out pretty well for you.
As far as needing an outdoor antenna. If you are looking to find the active freqs in your area. and are going to consider searching like I laid out above, or something along these lines, then I would start without the Outdoor antenna firs. That way you will be far more likely to hit on freqs you know you are going tobe able to receive decently. Then as you find freqs and the scanner stops finding new ones on a regular basis you can look into an outdoor antenna. By this time you should have all the Routinely used local freqs identified and then can try to work on the weaker signals. Just my thoughts there.
Good Luck
Last edited:
n4voxgill
Silent Key
scroll up to the top of this page, click on database, then go to your state, county and city and there they are.
N4JNW
Member
Yeah. The databse is an invaluable aid when programming your scanner. Sometimes, you'll stumble across something that is NOT in the database. This is NOT because the database might be inaccurate, because it isn't. It's the most reliable source of frequencies and information I've yet to find.
When you find a new frequency, submit it to be entered. That's how the database has gotten so big. Thousands upon thousands of submissions. It grows and updates every day!
Of course, before I found RadioReference, I found the search button on the scanner invaluable for finding new stuff...
When you find a new frequency, submit it to be entered. That's how the database has gotten so big. Thousands upon thousands of submissions. It grows and updates every day!
Of course, before I found RadioReference, I found the search button on the scanner invaluable for finding new stuff...
Best way to find freqs
I have been using the search button for over 20 years. I'm now using a different approach. Set my dB up 225-380. This is just an example!!!
225.4250 XXX
225.4500 MOODY AFB GA
225.4750 XXX
225.5000 XXX
225.5250 XXX
225.5500 EGLIN AFB FL
The freqs XXX, I set up a couple of banks in my 796 and program them and monitor for 2-3 weeks. Using ARC-796PRO I can log everything active programmed in the scanner. ID the XXX freqs as UNKNOWN's.
If you have a 996 and use ARC-996PRO, set up a new system just for UNKNOWN's. You can program thousand's of freqs and log any hit's. The best part is you can do other things beside's writing down freqs.
Help's to have 4 or 5 scanners for other things. ;-)))
BMT
I have been using the search button for over 20 years. I'm now using a different approach. Set my dB up 225-380. This is just an example!!!
225.4250 XXX
225.4500 MOODY AFB GA
225.4750 XXX
225.5000 XXX
225.5250 XXX
225.5500 EGLIN AFB FL
The freqs XXX, I set up a couple of banks in my 796 and program them and monitor for 2-3 weeks. Using ARC-796PRO I can log everything active programmed in the scanner. ID the XXX freqs as UNKNOWN's.
If you have a 996 and use ARC-996PRO, set up a new system just for UNKNOWN's. You can program thousand's of freqs and log any hit's. The best part is you can do other things beside's writing down freqs.
Help's to have 4 or 5 scanners for other things. ;-)))
BMT
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