Mid-Air Refueling over Nova Scotia

[darrylcn]

You guys are lucky, I rarely hear stuff at our place in Halifax.

 

[NE1C4NSC4N]

bummer, are you in a low area ?

 

[darrylcn]

Nope. Up high in Clayton Park. In an apt though so maybe it's euchre too far away over Yarmouth or on the other side of the apt. We face SE.

 

[jetcrafter]

That was awsome Ed and god Raptors are sexy lookin, makes me want to join the AF

Good to know about the training too, I was thinking it might be something like that, cause they were chatting more then normal for a few mins before that, I wasnt close, just heard lots of chit chat from across the room, it was Snoop55 if I heard correct, or Snoop255, and Ethel9x, any guess on what Snoop is?

Glad you liked the video. Yes, the Raptor is one great looking plane at any angle!

SNOOP 55 was on it's way to Europe. He was logged over there today. It is an RC-135 from the 55th Wing, Offutt AFB, NE. His tail number was 62-4130. Here's a link to RC-135 on Wiki:

Boeing RC-135 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[NE1C4NSC4N]

I would have thought you would catch some of the refueling, at least the southern half, since you face SE darrylcn, I would think some of the flight would be line of sight, but maybe I'm wrong. If you use google earth, you can plot out the track, and see where the planes would be in relation to your building. Maybe thiers too much other radio traffic or something tho..as well they keep things short and sweet usually, so unless you have your scanner only on the air freqs they use,.you would probally miss them

Thx for the info and link Ed, I've heard snoop before at some point, but it was just on a regular area channel I think, so I never got tails, but I did track it back to the same type of plane, so thats cool to have a confirmation. I wonder what kind of "Scanners" they have on that bad boy

 

[darrylcn]

Heh. Yeah must be why. I should be able to look to the right when on my deck an see them. I'll have to leave it in just pri/sec an see what I can hear. HRP may be too chatty and be drowning out the tanker traffic.

 

[NE1C4NSC4N]

HRP definatly are They were just up there in the last 30 mins, did you have any luck?

 

[darrylcn]

Nope, I had the scanner on Primary West listening in the background while I played Fleet Defender.. Sure it's from 1995, but when you're an F-14 nut you play what you can. Great sim. Had to defend Nimitz from the opening shots of WWIII. Finally able to find the carrier-hunting Tu-16s and start engaging them only to find them escorted by 2 MiG-29s. Quite an exciting little furball ensued with my wingman and I shooting at the bombers as we were turning and trading missile shots with the MiGs. Splash two!

 

[NE1C4NSC4N]

lol, nice one darry I have Lock On Gold, thats a deacent game, no F-14s, but it does have A-10s!

 

[jetcrafter]

Heads up 139.875 AM

0126z (9:26 pm EDT)

Hello Gents,

I've been following ETHYL 16 and REACH 882 conducting random AR heading towards AR-20NE. Right now they are working Moncton Center on 123.9 and seem to be just about done. They have been having trouble refueling due to weather and are requesting large blocks of altitude. Right now they are in a block from 20,000 - 25,000 ft. When done, REACH 882 is requesting direct Sydney. He's probably heading over the pond.

Listen to these two freqs.
123.9 Moncton Center
139.875 AM mode. Air to Air for their refueling. (McGuire KC-10 freq)

Happy listening!

 

[NE1C4NSC4N]

I didnt hear a thing last night, maybe they finished early, and peeled off before they came into my range. I wasnt monitoring Moncton, and usually don't, cause it can be so busy.

I tried that Air to Air frequency before, but seem to get a ton of interference or what sounds like weird digital noise, maybe I had it in FM mode or something weird, would it default to FM in that range?

 

[darrylcn]

Ed, if I don't have the option to set AM/FM (my SC-180 doesn't) on a scanner, would it be worth programming in 139.875? I like to keep my old scanner on the HR Fire pager, RR and plane freqs and save my PSR-500 for just police and the Pri/Sec IFR (which my old scanner doesn't receive).

-Whoa, sametime post..

 

[jetcrafter]

Ed, if I don't have the option to set AM/FM (my SC-180 doesn't) on a scanner, would it be worth programming in 139.875? I like to keep my old scanner on the HR Fire pager, RR and plane freqs and save my PSR-500 for just police and the Pri/Sec IFR (which my old scanner doesn't receive).

-Whoa, sametime post..

Nice synchronization of the two postings guys!

To answer NE1C4NSC4N's question first - Yes, you most likely had it in FM mode. Might be some pager interference near you on or near that frequency overloading the scanner. Most scanners will default to the FM mode for that frequency. You will need to switch to AM mode but in this case, the digital noises you are hearing may still effect the AM mode also.

To answer darrylcn's question - Well, since the SC-180 won't switch modes, I wouldn't bother putting it in that scanner. It won't sound good being out of modulation. I would suggest that you do put it in your Pri/Sec IFR bank/group in the PSR-500 as it is used quite often with the McGuire tankers. They are up all the time and use the ETHYL callsign as well as their own (most common is TEAM). Sometimes, such as the case last night, they will use this freq for all their in flight refueling conversations. They never switched over to AR-20 Primary. So for example, if they stayed further on the route into NS, you would have missed their refueling all together because you didn't have it programmed. Therefore, I would put it in the PSR-500. What's one more frequency?

Hope this helps guys. Feel free to ask more questions.
Good evening,

 

[darrylcn]

Hey Ed thanks for the hints. My wife and I are diving to Boston next week and, since I've been overplanning the route I recognized your town name in your sig. We are going to drive right by your place on the way there. I'll honk, keep an ear open

 

[NE1C4NSC4N]

Thanks for the reply Ed, I think maybe your right about the pager idea too, cause some times I hear what sounds like voice pages, or very short transmissions..what could I do to get rid of that?

 

[jetcrafter]

Hey Ed thanks for the hints. My wife and I are diving to Boston next week and, since I've been overplanning the route I recognized your town name in your sig. We are going to drive right by your place on the way there. I'll honk, keep an ear open

Your welcome, glad I can help. Yes, I-95 (exit 63) is not far from my house so you will be going right by. Honk often and have a safe trip to Boston!

 

[jetcrafter]

Thanks for the reply Ed, I think maybe your right about the pager idea too, cause some times I hear what sounds like voice pages, or very short transmissions..what could I do to get rid of that?

Well, it sure sounds like intermod wreaking havoc on your scanner. The best help to cure that is to find out what frequency the pager is on and get a notch filter to cut it down. I have the same problem here at my house. There is a pager on 152.6 MHz which blows out some of my scanners when it is transmitting. I don't have the money to buy a notch filter at the moment, but when I can, I certainly will. I would start by suggesting PAR Electronics Filters. They are supposed to be some of the best out there. Please read the links I provide that explains intermod and also the link to their filter page. Seems to be around $70 US dollars at Grove. The key to start solving your problem is to find what frequency the pager is booming in on. Most common VHF pagers are in the 152, 158, 162 MHz ranges and UHF 462 MHz. For example, in my case, my pager intermod problem is in the 152 MHz range. I found it by using a small antenna and searching 152-153MHz until it stopped on the exact frequency of 152.6 Since the frequency of 139.875 is the one in question here where your problem exists, I would start at this 152-153 range.

Ok, try checking out these links and I hope it sheds some light on the pager intermod mess that we all hate:

PAR web page which explains intermod:
Scanner Filter FAQ | PAR Electronics | Filters for the commercial 2 way market, MATV, FM broadcast, laboratory, marine industry, amateur radio, scanner and short wave listening enthusiasts

PAR web page showing their notch filter products:
PAR Electronics | Filters for the commercial 2 way market, MATV, FM broadcast, laboratory, marine industry, amateur radio, scanner and short wave listening enthusiasts

Grove Enterprises (Owner of Monitoring Times magazine) which sells PAR filters:
Preselectors/Tuners, Preamplifiers, Noise Cancellers

Please note: There are other brands of filters out there to be sure. I am by no way affiliated with PAR or Grove, just wish to share information I have read before.

OK, hope this helps. Please ask more questions if needed, I'll try to help.

 

[jetcrafter]

Heads Up - two planes coming your way

Hi Guys,

As I was typing the previous note, I listened to ETHYL 71 take off from Pease (KPSM) in NH heading towards you and he just picked up REACH 115. They are meeting up at the STOOL waypoint and will do some random AR up to and into AR-20NE. They are still working Boston Center on 133.45 right now (0116z) and will be switching to Moncton Center soon. They are using the AR-20 primary freq of 341.75

Hopefully, you can get this heads up in time to snag their comms! Good Luck!

Happy listening!

 

[darrylcn]

Got it Ed, scanner's on. We're also driving by Pease, woo! From what I've seen on Google Earth, some of their jets still have the old engines. Odd. Maybe we'll catch one on final when we're goin by. Our hotel is close to a Logan approach too, this might turn put to have some plane content without me even trying..

 

[jetcrafter]

Got it Ed, scanner's on. We're also driving by Pease, woo! From what I seen on Google Earth, some of their jets still have the old engines. Odd. Maybe we'll catch one on final when we're goin by. Our hotel is close to a Logan approach too, this might turn put to have some plane content without me even trying..

Great! Stop into Pease if you hear one in the pattern. I'm sorry to tell you the picture on Google Earth is a little old. All their planes have the new engines. They are all R-Models now. The last unit around here that had the nice and loud smokey E model engines was the 101st ARW out of Bangor, Maine. Well, they are all R Models now too. Still nice to watch in the pattern doing touch and go's. Let me know if you need Pease frequencies. I don't know much about Logan's freqs, but I'm sure we could find some for you.