Milair freqs

[Gary335]

I just got a Pro-97, which unlike my prior scanner, a Pro-94, can scan milair freqs. Can anyone reccomend any interesting milair freqs that can be heard in Baltimore County?

 

[russ29643]

Hi Gary,
I keep up to date on the milair stuff by reading through the sticky for mil air in this forum. I enter all the frequencies that I read about in a spreadsheet on my laptop and then run the sort function to put them in numerical order. Go back for a couple of weeks and see what frequencies have been active and keep punching those in. The frequencies they use tend to vary from time to time, so what is hot today may be very quiet tomorrow. Plan on having an evolving list that changes from time to time and as new freqs become active and old ones go quiet. Keep all your frequencies handy as you never know when they will become active again. That way you won't have to start over...good luck. I have my current scan list that is compatible with your 97 and I'll be glad to send it to you. Just pm me with your details, and I'll get that to you as soon as I can.

russ

 

[Gary335]

Thanks for the advice Russ. I'll pm you right now.

 

[ka3jjz]

Hey guys- jump on over to the 'Sticky Thread for Milair' - that's where TinEar and a few others send out their logs on a daily basis. I have 2 running lists - doesn't have much in the way of callsigns as they tend to be very hard to keep current - but the freqs are accurate. It comprises about 18 mos or so of activity. If interested, email ka3jjz at netscape dot com (sri about how the email is written, but I tend to get a lot of sxxx...)
However, there's a couple of things you will definitely want to get - a good outdoor antenna (such as the ScanTenna, Diamond Discone, NilJon, and I'm sure there are others) and a good grade of coax. Our Military Monitoring wiki has some information on this. It cross links to our Antennas wiki as well.
As for additional freqs, our Delmarva Milcom Monitoring has numerous pages of freqs for Pax (some of those are a bit dated...), some of the various NG and ANG units, Andrews, the Potomac Tracon, and more. Definitely worth a read.

73s Mike

 

[Gary335]

I've been looking through the MilAir thread, and have found plenty of freqs, but I'm having a hard time identifying these freqs. Some are identified, but a great majority of them are not.

 

[ka3jjz]

Yeah, Tin has come up with several new ones, but there's LOTS out there that have been identified, and for quite some time. This isn't anything new in this game; new freqs come up, and a little detective work is needed to pin down an ID. Just in the last day or so, you can see a great MANY freqs that are identified and active.

73s Mike

 

[Gary335]

Maybe its just because I'm new and am not familiar with the terminology you guys use, but I'm not having much luck I.D.'ing most of the freqs throughout that entire thread.

 

[TinEar]

Gary, that's no doubt what it is. I think you've got to have an overall knowledge of what's flying and a little about what they're doing. Just about every log item I make over on the Sticky MilAir thread has a definition of who/what is on the freq that's quoted. I know if I say something is a ZDC freq, you've got to know what that means for it to make sense. Same goes when I label something a tac freq or a Pax River freq, etc. I think the best thing to do would be to start small - maybe by just programming all the Andrews freqs and following those. Go to the database link, MD, Prince George's County and at the bottom is the link for Andrews AFB. Use that list to get started. Most of all, ask questions when something puzzles you. Feel free to ask all the question you'd like over on that thread. Those that tune in there would be more than glad to help I'm sure.

 

[Gary335]

Yeah, thats most definitley what it is. Right now I'm reading over your post asking myself " What the heck is a ZDC freq?" Same with tac freqs.

On the other hand, I do know what a Pax River freq is (Patuxent approach if I'm not mistaken.....), and I'm also familiar with the AFB freqs. So I suppose its just a matter of inexperience. I'm gonna keep reading over that thread, and I'm sure it'll start to make sense sooner or later.

 

[ka3jjz]

Gary, anything that's written with a 'ZDC' refers to the Washington ARTCC. On occasion, you will see something written with 'ZNY' - that's the NY ARTCC. While there are some Pax River approach freqs, there are others, too. I need to put the NY ARTCC link on our Delmarva page, since those freqs are also reported here.
Just take your time - there's a great deal of info that has been gleaned over the last year or two, and it can be a bit intimidating at times. Patience! 73s Mike

 

[Gary335]

Thanks for the info Mike!

I have one other question about milair: I don't yet have an outdoor antenna setup. I'm currently using the center loaded antenna that attaches to the scanner's BNC port. I know I won't receive as much as I would with an outdoor setup, but is it still possible to receive at least some milair stuff?

 

[ka3jjz]

Maybe, if you shorten the antenna up some. Listen to the BWI milair freqs as well as 360.7 (SWANN sector), and adjust the antenna as you hear the traffic. One transmitter could be a bit weaker than the others due to antenna orientiation or reduced power - it's been known to happen, particularly when they do maintenance - but that's probably the best way to 'tune' it.
If you can get into an attic or crawspace, you might do better to build a small ground plane, like the NA4IT dual bander that's on the scanner antennas wiki. Feed it with good quality coax, and put it as close to an outside wall or window (away from wiring, preferably), and it will probably do a better job than that collapsible whip. 73s Mike

[edit] You can get the BWI/TRACON (and you'll also learn another term here) frequencies from this
page

 

[Gary335]

As always, thanks for the info Mike!

 

[ka3jjz]

No sweat, Gary. In fact, I'd like to use you as a 'guinea pig' - this way you can help other newcomers like yourself. Send me a list at ka3jjz@netscape.com of the terms you find confusing and otherwise unintelligble. I don't care if it's in Word, Notepad, whatever. If I can scare up one or two folks to help write the definitions (and that's a big IF), maybe we can put a glossary page in the Delmarva Wiki.
You surely aren't the only one who has said 'what in the bloody blue xxxx does THAT mean??'. I know I did, and more than once.
Be as complete as possible. The more complete, the better. There will, no doubt, be some that we point to other pages in the Wiki, or even on the RRDB (RadioReference Database - see, there's another abbreviation) - but perhaps a sentence or two would be all that is really needed.

73s Mike

 

[Gary335]

I'll start on that list now, and should have it to you by no later than tomorrow afternoon.

 

[TinEar]

Gary, over the the next few days Mike and I will put together a glossary of terms and it will include all the terms you come up with because if they stump you, they probably stump others. If you're up right now, tune to 139.7 to hear the scramble of F-16s from Andrews...or simply tune into my webcast to hear it.

 

[Gary335]

I have another milair question: Do these frequencies operate in AM mode or FM mode? I know this is probably basic stuff but being a newbie I have no idea what mode to put these freqs in.

 

[TinEar]

Aircraft transmit in AM mode - both civilian and military.

 

[Gary335]

So everytime you guys post a freq in the milair thread, its going to be AM...no exceptions?

 

[TinEar]

Aircraft - and the ground stations that talk to them - transmit in AM mode...period.