air to air comms mil jets Q

[nycx7]

I have a question back when I had an AOR 8200 I was able to on and off during Sept 11 monitor Huntress was the call sign of a military aircraft flying over NYC.

My question is someone told me that fighter jets use frequency hopping and encrypted 64bit channels. If this is true then what equipment if any is capable of monitoring mil scrambled fighter jets? Off the coast off Atlantic City up to Sandy Hook NJ I occasionally see them flying off the coast.

Air to Air comms etc.. is what I want to hear.

 

[Tech792]

Check this thread......
http://www.radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129788&page=17

And also the Wiki & Military forums on Radio Reference

 

[ka3jjz]

Air-Air isn't scrambled. Bunch of sxxx. These kinds of comms are often in the 138-144 mhz area, running in AM.

Actually that page Tech mentioned is the start of the 2009 thread. The 2008 thread is still out in the Maryland forum - use the search tools to look for 'NJ-ANG' (and if you don't know how to use them, now's the time to learn).

You are also in cusp between the ZDC and ZNY ARTCCs. McGuire is fairly close, however the freqs in our wiki are a bit old. Still should be good enough to get started on. And we have a brief wiki article on the NJ-ANG, and don't forget about listening to Atlantic City in/outbound flights (you're too far away to get the tower, but you might hear flights calling the tower).

Here are a few links to get you started...

http://www.radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91452

http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/McGuire_AFB

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?aid=2246

http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?aid=2247

http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/NJ_ANG_177th_Fighter_Wing

Always ignore the ATA100 listing in the ARTCC database. Stick with the freqs that are betwee 220-400 mhz or so - if you put in the civil air stuff (118-136) you'll often hear the civil and mil stuff mixed together.

Get a good milcom-capable radio and an antenna (discone, ScanTenna, ect.) and you should more than have your hands full 73 Mike

 

[CORN]

I have a question back when I had an AOR 8200 I was able to on and off during Sept 11 monitor Huntress was the call sign of a military aircraft flying over NYC.

My question is someone told me that fighter jets use frequency hopping and encrypted 64bit channels. If this is true then what equipment if any is capable of monitoring mil scrambled fighter jets? Off the coast off Atlantic City up to Sandy Hook NJ I occasionally see them flying off the coast.

Air to Air comms etc.. is what I want to hear.

The frequency hopping you talk about is called Have Quick and i'm sorry to say but their is no equipment (scanners) out there to follow that type of traffic. Regular encryption sounds like "white noise" and static. No way to hear that either. With Have Quick you can hear some bits and pieces but for the most part unitelligible. But as was stated earlier a lot of your A/A comms are unencrypted. Just because they have the capability doesn't mean they use it all the time. 225-400MHz is where you can follow a lot A/A from F-15's, F-22's and from 138-144, 148-150.xxx you can find F-16 and A-10 A/A comms. And if you live in/near New Jersey you should hear the Atlantic City F-16's real good.