Monitoring Luke Pilots - Milair

[KR7CQ]

I've been out of scanning for a few years as I suffered through a non-radio-friendly location, but am getting back into things. Living in old town Buckeye I have jets from Luke overhead all the time but milair reception was rough until I finally got an antenna up with a feed point at 20' which is above my roof peak. The antenna feeds my SDs-200.

I did some testing today and reception is outstanding. I can hear most jets clearly all the way down into the Barry Goldwater Range and beyond, super impressed!

Is anyone here experienced in monitoring air force traffic in this area, and are there any websites I can go to for information on frequency use, jargon / slang? I have hundreds of known frequencies plugged in from years of scanning, but I'm looking for what frequencies are used for what purposes.

 

[clover509]

The Arizona Federal page here has Luke, BMGR and MOA frequencies that were updated and/or confirmed late last year.

Keep your eyes peeled on the Arizona-specific forum. I listen out for milair nearly daily and post unique finds, as do others.

Happy hunting!

On a side note, how are you finding the AM audio on your SDS200 to be?

 

[GlobalNorth]

I'll start:

1. “Angels”

Altitude in thousand of feet. (“Angels 3” is 3,000 feet.)

2. “Cherubs”

Altitude in hundreds of feet. (“Cherubs 3” is 300 feet.)

3. “Bandit”

A known bad guy.

4. “Bogey”

An unknown radar contact.

5. “Bent”

If a piece of gear is inop it is “bent.” (“Giantkiller, be advised my radar is bent.”)

6. “Bingo”

Low fuel status or direction to head for the divert field. (“Lobo is bingo fuel,” or “Ghostrider, your signal is bingo.”)

7. “Blind”

Wingman not in sight.

8. “Delta”

Change to a later time, either minutes or hours depending on the context. (“Delta 10 on your recovery time” means the jet is now scheduled to land 10 minutes later.)

9. “Firewall”

Push the throttles to their forward limit. (“I had that ***** firewalled, and I still couldn’t get away from that SAM ring.”)

10. “Buster”

Direction to go as fast as possible. (“Diamondback, your signal is buster to mother.”)

11. “Bug”

Exit a dogfight rapidly. (“Gucci is on the bug.”)

12. “Fragged”

An indication that the airplane is loaded weapons-wise according to the mission order. (“Devil 201 is on station as fragged.”)

13. “Grape”

A pilot who’s an easy kill in a dogfight.

14. “Naked”

Radar warning gear without indication of a missile threat.

15. “Punch out”

To eject from an airplane.

16. “RTB”

Return to base. (“Big Eye, Eagle 301 is RTB.”)

17. “Spiked”

Um, not that “spike.” The real “spiked” is an indication of a missile threat on the radar warning receiver. (“Rooster has an SA-6 spike at three o’clock.”)

18. “Tally”

Enemy in sight (as opposed to “visual,” which means friendly in sight). (“Nuke is tally two bandits, four o’clock low.”)

19. “Texaco”

Either a label for the tanker or direction to go to the tanker. (“Gypsy, Texaco is at your one o’clock for three miles, level,” or “Gypsy, your signal is Texaco.”)

20. “Nose hot/cold”

Usually used around the tanker pattern, an indication that the radar is or isn’t transmitting.

21. “Vapes”

The condensation cloud created when an airplane pulls a lot of Gs. (“Man, I came into the break and was vaping like a big dog.”)

22. “Visual”

Wingman (or other friendly) in sight (as opposed to “tally,” which means enemy in sight). (“Weezer, you got me?” “Roger, Weezer is visual.”)

23. “Winchester”

Out of weapons. (“Tomcat 102 is winchester and RTB.”)

Bonus 1. “G-LOC”

“G-induced loss of consciousness.” (Not good when at the controls of a fighter traveling at high speed at low altitude.)

Bonus 2. “The Funky Chicken”

“The Funky Chicken” is what aviators call the involuntary movements that happen during G-LOC.

 

[clover509]

Two more good resources for brevity words used across services:
APP-7(D) - Joint Brevity Words Publication
ATP 1-02.1 - Multi-Service Tactics, Techniques and Procedures for Mutli-Service Brevity Codes

Both are unclassified and available by searching the Google machine.
Of note for aircraft operating in BMGR, SWTTR or the MOAs, you may hear tactical brevity and pro-words used that aren't consistient with those pubs mentioned above. They are often associated to an aircraft's specific mission or an exercise.

For example, an aircraft tasked with destroying an anti-aircraft artillery piece may have a tactical brevity word of "WILSON", "SPAULDING" or "VOIT". "TUSK 1-1, shack one, WILSON, off east." Planners have been known to get very creative with these, so you never know what you'll hear!

Happy hunting!