I which I would've pre-planned to have my scanners set up for the aerial part of the day. Would've really made this even more spectacular....
yeah it would have been cooler, but considering the lengths i have had to go to to figure out whats being used, if i had a front row seat like you/everyone at the actual race, i would prob skip it cause will definately miss something that is actually happening. whereas i am a couple of miles away on a hill, i ain't missing much regardless.
besides the KCLT/KJQF freqs there is little hope of finding anything easily. Signal Stalker is my best friend on these occasions and with regards to 69.425 this year, that was just really good luck since, as far as I know, any scanner with Spectrum Sweeper/Stalker ability doesn't cover 55-88mhz. i certainly wasn't going to waste my time setting up a separate scanner to run thru low-band at 25khz considering the window of time. but i have a scan list of all previous encountered localish low band freqs, and thats how that happened.
TV has been using the little Cessnas at most of the races in the past few year for aerial coverage....a lot cheaper than the chopper of the blimp.
During the All Star Race even Mike Joy joked (off camera I was in the FOX NASCAR booth shooting a feature on DW) that he wasn't sure if it was really the blimp or not.
They only bring in the blimps for the biggest races of the year. So, yes, I'm surprised it wasn't here. I can't remember if it was in previous years.
wasn't sure if it was the blimp? how big does something have to be before people happen to notice it? i mean, it blocks out the sun.
2016 and 2018 are the only two previous i have been in the area for and i don't remember the blimp in '16 but def last year
https://forums.radioreference.com/threads/anyone-catch-the-goodyear-blimp-n1a.370804/
i don't follow racing at all but i always thought the 600 was one of the real big deal races, like at least top 10, so i was bummed about no blimp. Then seeeriously put-out with the hot-doggin jet fighter snub. i mean i like ospreys like the next guy, but generally speaking, i only see jets when there is a race, once a year....plus i had my whole photographic gameplan optimized, with no time to change on the fly.
*insert rant about military spending priorities and overall negative opinion about taxes here*
-so a cameraguy for DW eh? got some good stories ya feel like sharing? huh huh? i bet you doooo... this year, any year, etc cause i bet, even tho its work, with a capital w to you, it still has to be interesting.
i'm waiting...