Are Mil-Air frequencies the same nation wide or different for particular states/areas of the U.S.?

[iMONITOR]

I notice that RR list a national database of military frequencies yet the also list for each state in most cases. Are Mil-AIr frequencies common across the nation or are there unique lists within and around each state? In other words if I'm always monitoring in Michigan, should I bother programming frequencies that I see elsewhere across the nation? I'm thinking in serious real life emergencies they'd be apt to use any of them anywhere as they see fit so I should add them to my local list.

Thanks

 

[nd5y]

Some are the same nationwide and some are locally assigned for different military units, training areas, refueling tracks, ATC facilities or airports.

 

[landyleegirl]

Sorry, but what about prive information? I think it should be in some secret, no?

 

[Ravenkeeper]

Our maintenance freq's are not even secret. We just know what we are NOT going to transmit over the radio. I know that the airfield freq's are all different, because from altitude, if they were all the same, they'd be walking allover each other.

 

[iMONITOR]

I know that the airfield freq's are all different, because from altitude, if they were all the same, they'd be walking allover each other.

I understand and that makes sense like anything else. What I should have asked is do they all choose from the same pool of frequencies?

 

[doctordialtone]

What I should have asked is do they all choose from the same pool of frequencies?

Since the radios are programmed off the same template, with standardized naming, I'd say yes.

Doesn't that make sense?

 

[zz0468]

Sorry, but what about prive information? I think it should be in some secret, no?

If it needs to be secure and secret, it is. Things like air traffic control can't be.

 

[milcom_chaser]

The programming scheme is mostly the same for UHF radios, but the frequencies are of course going to be different.
Example:
Ch.1 SOF or OPS
Ch.2 Ground
Ch.3 Tower
Ch.4 Dep
Ch.5 Arrival
Ch.6 ARTCC

 

[Ravenkeeper]

Sorry, but what about prive information? I think it should be in some secret, no?

If it needs to be secure and secret, it is. Things like air traffic control can't be.

Our maintenance radios to have an encryption key on them. Have I ever seen them used? Not yet.

 

[Ravenkeeper]

I understand and that makes sense like anything else. What I should have asked is do they all choose from the same pool of frequencies?

Since the radios are programmed off the same template, with standardized naming, I'd say yes.

Doesn't that make sense?

I get that, but all of our maintenance radios are preprogrammed. The aircraft radios can dial into whichever freq that they need for the airfield that they are at or heading to. Like Doc pretty much said, they probably pulled their freqs from a hat.

 

[iMONITOR]

So what I'm getting out of all this is that's best to program as many MIl-Air frequencies as possible, not just the ones that RR's database shows in use for a particular area? That being said if you simply use the airband search on say a Uniden BCD996P2, will you search all of them and negate the need to actually program them all?

 

[nd5y]

if you simply use the airband search on say a Uniden BCD996P2, will you search all of them and negate the need to actually program them all?

That's probably the easiest and what a lot of us do. Set up custom search ranges of 137-144, 148-150.8, 225-400 in AM mode with 25 kHz steps.

 

[N9JCQ]

This is one area where I feel SDRs fill the gap. You can literlally see frequencies in use with them.

 

[eorange]

custom search ranges [snip] 225-400 in AM mode with 25 kHz steps.

That wide range will make it tough to get hits, even with a fast scanner. Mil air transmissions are usually very brief. It's best to break that range into sub-ranges and scan those sub-ranges with different radios, or just focus on one sub-range.

 

[nd5y]

That wide range will make it tough to get hits, even with a fast scanner. Mil air transmissions are usually very brief.

That's true but it still works. I found a lot of stuff that way.

 

[INDY72]

You want mil air? Your search ranges should always include VHF Low band, and include all modes as they do even use P25 in that band. You can hear quite a bit of Army Helo's and A-10's in that range. And then you have standard V/U dual band in most aircraft. You want 8.33 kHz AM splits in the "lower" VHF standard air band, 25 kHz AM in the "middle" VHF, and 12.5 kHz NFM in the "upper" VHF "FED" band. 25 kHz AM in UHF. If you can, use 2 scanners to split the duties in searching. It all depends on exactly what your wanting to hear. Army/National Guard Helos? USMC VC-22's? USAF/Air National Guard fun? CAP working with Military on SAR ops? Military working with Federal assets and civilian assets in mutual aid in floods etc? Worried you may hear something your not meant too? They can and do encrypt that stuff now.

 

[iMONITOR]

That wide range will make it tough to get hits, even with a fast scanner. Mil air transmissions are usually very brief. It's best to break that range into sub-ranges and scan those sub-ranges with different radios, or just focus on one sub-range.

I can dedicate up to four scanners to this and enable unattended logging so I'll probably just divide them up.

 

[iMONITOR]

Worried you may hear something your not meant too? They can and do encrypt that stuff now.

Hear no evil speak no evil.

 

[eorange]

You want 8.33 kHz AM splits in the "lower" VHF standard air band

Here in the U.S.? Where have you seen that? I have yet to run across a 8.33 channel width freq.

 

[TailGator911]

I can dedicate up to four scanners to this and enable unattended logging so I'll probably just divide them up.

That is what I do when I want to focus my monitoring efforts on milair. I use 4 scanners as well, two of them searching pre-programmed frequency parameters, and two scanners scanning my assembled groups/lists. I live right by the main gate @ Wright Patterson AFB where my wife is a supervisor on the base for AAFES (Army-Air Force Exchange Service) at the base hospital. Can be a busy airfield at times and I have found that the scan/search method with numerous scanners (at the home desk) is the best way to hit on the sporadic and quick transmissions. When I am on the base I sometimes take both my SDS100 and my TRX-1 and use the CC/SS features on them, usually with disappointing results, but now and then I get a good surprise.

JD
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