338.950 and uniden 15x

[mainetrunk]

I am currently receiving 338.950 open signal. The Uniden close call caught it and has it as fm, the pro 106's say am, even the 197 says am. 4 scanners have this signal at 5 bars, 1 pro 106 with extended RS antenna has 3 bars. It sounds like it is on the move.. Losing signal on the pro 106's, uniden still shows 5 bars..

 

[wtp]

auto

auto does not tune the mode automatically,
it just means what the band is set to.
you can change it if you want on some and that would be off of auto.
on my 396t 141.0 mhz is auto to nfm but if i want to hear am i have to change it.
hope it makes sense.

 

[mainetrunk]

The pro 197 has it as fm... Ive been scanning that freq for a while, now it hits my close call. Nothing does that unless it is close

 

[lotsofradios]

Most of what you hear in the UHF milair band would be AM, its funny you are getting hits on 338.95 as that is one of few FM freqs in the band.

338.95 is really a WBFM ORDERWIRE frequency used by TACAMO aircraft. I see your profile location says York County but what state? I am going to assume Pennsylvania since people in PA have logged ORDERWIRE activity on that frequency. Here is a list of loggings for 338.95 MHz that are current as of a few months ago Military Comms Searchable Frequency Database

He has a good video and audio of what an ORDERWIRE signal looks like on a scope on youtube which happens to be on 338.95 as well
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhvfoyVaF4s

 

[awattam]

Well his name is mainetrunk which could mean hes from Maine.....just a thought

 

[mainetrunk]

Hahaha my bad, yup, York County Maine--10 miles west of Portsmouth naval shipyard. Yeah, I get all kinds of weird mil-air hits, just thought the past 2 were strange. A pl on 255.550 and now this, hmmm. 1 wild video, 1st link was scrambled

 

[rbm]

Like lotsofradios says .... it's orderwire.

I get CC hits often on that frequency and quite a few others.
Sometimes on 20-30 radios at the same time.
It's normally very wide and very strong.

There have been a few instance where two or more frequencies were active at the same time.

This is what it looked like using SDRSharp last summer.
Sometimes I can hear faint voices when it's active.

Rich

 

[mainetrunk]

Well, lets see what it does now, thanks Rich, Ron

 

[jimlawrence]

I used to hear traffic on this freq. often when I lived in Iowa. Aircraft out of Offutt, among other locations, use it.

 

[lotsofradios]

Talking about ORDERWIRE, I see yesterday someone in Pittsburgh PA logged orderwire on 362.25 MHz and in Daytona Beach FL on 338.95 MHz
You can see the logs and times here
MilAirComms Real-Time Frequency Logger MilAir Comms Spotter Network

 

[mainetrunk]

How often does orderwire happe?

 

[lotsofradios]

Anytime an E-6 TACAMO is in the area. I think TACAMO aircraft are the only people to use the ORDERWIRE system. I know that every time I hear ORDERWIRE I see an E-6 TACAMO aircraft on my mode-s setup. Here is a list of TACAMO E-6 mode-s codes
Military Comms Searchable Military Mode-S Hexcodes Database

 

[mainetrunk]

Do orderwires give out PL's? Im hearing 255.550-69.3... in and out

 

[lotsofradios]

Do orderwires give out PL's? Im hearing 255.550-69.3... in and out

I don't know about PL's as I was never into PL's as typical MilAir stuff doesn't use them. I don't know how to turn PL's in my scanners on because for my type of scanning its just not useful.

Regarding 255.550 that is not an ORDERWIRE freq. It is a WBFM that's up to 25khz wide. That frequency is a military satellite downlink frequency. Most of what you will hear there will be South American pirates chatting with their friends, drug dealers, music, and there have been some SSTV pictures being sent.

252.050 is another MilSat downlink. On youtube there is a good video of what a real military digital transmission looks like on the scope
MilSat Downlink 252.0500 MHz digital signal. - YouTube

 

[ecps92]

MilAir = AM
AM doesn't have CTCSS/DCS

Sounds like you are getting FM images and not AM

Do orderwires give out PL's? Im hearing 255.550-69.3... in and out

 

[blangell]

Maine there was an E-6 in this area on the 5th at 2:50 local time that might have been what you heard...