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

[krokus]

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?

Breaking things into scan lists could help. List by state, distress, and nationwide, as an example.

Since you are a fellow Troll, don't forget the MOA over Lake Huron, and Camp Grayling range, that are often used in conjunction with Alpena CRTC. Plus anything over Ontario, as the Canucks do stuff all the time, too. (For any non-Michiganders: Troll means that we live below the bridge.)

 

[milcom_chaser]

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.

"You want 8.33 kHz AM splits in the "lower" VHF standard air band"
The 8.33Khz was for Europe: 8.33 Khz spacing

 

[Electromatic]

Before OHIOSCAN passed he emailed me his Military Frequency Logs, if you are interested contact me and I will forward them to you.

 

[xantegh]

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.

@milf
Would you please clarify the range for low, mid and upper?
my understanding of the "standard" VHF airband is between 108 and 137 Mhz, but couldnt find any material that defined the segment you mentioned.

 

[INDY72]

Standard vhf air as you call it is primarily civilian aircraft. Military do use that too a small extent talking to airports and civilian craft. UHF is the primary band for most military aircraft. But there is also a band just above "standard" VHF air and below 2 meter ham. This is also very much used by US Army and Army National Guard aircraft in am mode, and some P25. Army helicopter and A 10's also talk to ground units on the long used VHF low band. And then here in the USA there is another VHF segment mainly reserved for Federal Government use up above rail and NOAA . During disaster USN, USMC, US Army air assetts have been heard interloping with Federal and Civilian Assetts for SAR etc. This band is in NFM. It is also where you will find Federal aircraft especially USFS firefighting craft and Federal LEA craft.

 

[spanky15805]

milf

I had forgotten all about 8.33khz, think that appeared about 20-25 years ago in the first MDR 2100. Always stuck on P25 or 12.5 for a mindset...

 

[spanky15805]

xantegh, I think what milf is trying to say is that vhf-lo (24-88 mhz, yes I know thats broad but work with me) will probably be 8.33khz , airband will be 108.000 to 117.950 is 50khz spacing for vor's and ndb's (i've heard stories from old timers as to why commericial FM is right next to vor's and beacons(3rd, 5th and 7th harmonic)) and the rest of the airband will be 108.000 to 136.975 and it's 25khz spacing, AM. The segment from 137.000 to 144.000 can be 8.33, 12.5, 25.0 or stereo AM, pretty much whatever DOD wants. Same for 225-420mhz, what ever the DOD wants. Back to vhf, the 160-175mhz range will be federal agencies like USFS, ICE, FBI, BLM, DHS, you get the picture. Well, they are required to HAVE p25 but they are also required to be inter-operable with other types of radios, especially their repeaters. OH! Least we forget 6.25khz spacing...playing in the 450-520mhz playground. xantegh, there are a lot of options for serious radio operator to use if he thinks you're listening...........

milf, any editing I need to do?

 

[xantegh]

xantegh, I think what milf is trying to say is that vhf-lo (24-88 mhz, yes I know thats broad but work with me) will probably be 8.33khz , airband will be 108.000 to 117.950 is 50khz spacing for vor's and ndb's (i've heard stories from old timers as to why commericial FM is right next to vor's and beacons(3rd, 5th and 7th harmonic)) and the rest of the airband will be 108.000 to 136.975 and it's 25khz spacing, AM. The segment from 137.000 to 144.000 can be 8.33, 12.5, 25.0 or stereo AM, pretty much whatever DOD wants. Same for 225-420mhz, what ever the DOD wants. Back to vhf, the 160-175mhz range will be federal agencies like USFS, ICE, FBI, BLM, DHS, you get the picture. Well, they are required to HAVE p25 but they are also required to be inter-operable with other types of radios, especially their repeaters. OH! Least we forget 6.25khz spacing...playing in the 450-520mhz playground. xantegh, there are a lot of options for serious radio operator to use if he thinks you're listening...........

milf, any editing I need to do?

Thank you @spanky15805 .. yes I get the picture, I'm pretty much interested to listen to Military air traffic, which I understand that this is still analog, but it can be either AM or FM hence I would need maybe 3 BCT15X running in parallel to cover the AM for 225 - 420 spectrum ( taking into consideration that some part of it is Stacom) and then an other set to scan the same in FM mode, right?

I originally thought that if i set the scanner modulation to "Auto" it would detect any mode, but it's turning to whatever is set in the scanner band plan.

what do you think?

 

[spanky15805]

Military air traffic is a very broad term. Are you listening for aerial refueling, training ranges, transient aircraft or just your local DoD installation? You could spend a lot of money. As "ravenkeeper" could tell you, if they don't want you to hear any communication, you won't even hear static.

I would be researching "software defined radios" if you really want to hunt for rf.