Michigan Military Activity

[briano]

Far away? It might be right over your house.

Regarding Selfridge, are you monitoring just the air traffic, or do you also monitor ground support, security, etc?

I no longer monitor selfridge security/fire/ground support. Just air.
I am in Chesterfied.
I would think The excercises take place in their designated areas.
Like Steelhead, Pike East, Pike West....
A TFR (temporary flight restriction) would be issued ( they used to). I look these up on a FAA web page. But I am not seeing the TFR's listed lately. I hear some STING callsigns, out of Ohio. They go up to the Thumb area (steelhead) for practice also.

I have a simple outdoor antenna 25' up with no obstructions. Radio is a PRO2055.
I have heard the fighters say 'fight's on, fight's on' . And I am pretty sure they are up in the Steelhead area up in the thumb for this.
They have mentioned the PIKE area also.
When they are on their way in to Selfridge, I have heard a KC135 say they are 15 minutes out. It was kind of weak. At a conservative 250mph, a plane would cover 62.5 miles in 15minutes. In general, I hear the fighters better.

I have also heard DARKSTAR a few times, which is out of Tinker AFB in OK I believe. ( but where was he when I heard him )

As far as a distance test goes, listening to the Coast Guard helis has given the most concrete results. They give their LAT/LON location to the tower quite often, then i look it up on the computer or GPS. But Their transmissions ALWAYS sound weak. maybe it is the freq. they are on, maybe it is because they fly so low, i don't know. But their range for me is 25 to 29 miles.

Distance from Chesterfield to top of the Thumb, about 90 miles as the crow flies.

 

[Firetxmi]

So I have a question that maybe one of you guys can answer.

I am new to Milair monitoring and have yet to hear anything (Sault Ste. Marie is pretty quiet). But for the last year I have seen military helicopters (sometimes it is just one and sometimes it is up to four) which fly from the south towards Canada- right over Sault Ste. Marie, then immediately bank to the east (very rarely do they go west) as soon as they get over the water (St. Marys River). They are flying at low altitudes and fairly slow as well.

Any ideas as to what they could be doing, and where they are from?

 

[KMTC]

Any ideas as to what they could be doing, and where they are from?

Border patrol mabye?

-

And just FYI the 171st should be loosing 4 of their C-130's by the end of summer.

 

[Chief71]

Any ideas as to what they could be doing, and where they are from?

Do you know what kind of helicopters they are? That may narrow down where they are comming from. I do know Selfridge ANGB has CH-47s, and the Army NG in Grand Ledge has UH-60 Blackhawk and the OH-58 Kiowa.

 

[briano]

This may be part of the reason why its so quiet.
http://www.f-16.net/news_article2139.html

That must be it. They are over in the sandbox.
Thanks for the info.

 

[Firetxmi]

Do you know what kind of helicopters they are? That may narrow down where they are comming from. I do know Selfridge ANGB has CH-47s, and the Army NG in Grand Ledge has UH-60 Blackhawk and the OH-58 Kiowa.

Alright, since I am not so familiar with helicopters I had to look up some pictures. =)

I think it is a toss-up between UH-60's and OH-58's, but I am leaning towards the UH-60's because these helicopters look bigger than the OH-58's. Also, during the summer months they ride with the bigger back doors open occasionally.

 

[KMTC]

This may be part of the reason why its so quiet.
http://www.f-16.net/news_article2139.html

That must be it. They are over in the sandbox.
Thanks for the info.

Also, just the fact that it is winter means there is alot less good flying weather and therefore less flight hours. Thats why they have Operation Snowbird training every year in Tucson.

 

[Firetxmi]

So I asked someone very much in the know today about the helicopters I was describing earlier. It actually makes sense now.

He told me that it is the DEA doing infrared flyovers looking for Marijuana growers (both rural and in the city). I guess this means I will need to program some DEA frequencies now. Just thought I'd share.

 

[Firetxmi]

The Helicopters used are Army National Guard OH-58's.

 

[N8CBG]

Distant aircraft to ground coverage map

I was working on my TV Station's coverage map and got to thinking I could do the same thing in reverse for monitoring Mil Air traffic, Starting from where I live in Waterford I worked out altitude / distance rings to help me figure out just how far away I would be able to listen into Mil Air traffic. Hope you enjoy the map. Pete

Also here is a link to the FAA's site that supports an interactive map for current Special Air Use zones.
FAA http://sua.faa.gov/sua/zout.do?selected=2&fromuf=UF

 

[Firetxmi]

Very cool. How do you do this? I live in Sault Ste. Marie and would like to do this.

 

[briano]

SWEET! how far have you really heard? i know it is hard to know/verify.. what antenna? what height?
I have been thinking of upgrading my antenna, getting filters or a preamp for my pro 2055,
i think i am hooked.

 

[N8CBG]

I'm using just a small UHF antenna at 30' with a BC785D in Waterford and no preamp. I decided to map out the activity I was hearing on certain VHF frequencies, like references to the HILLTOP Moa. I never heard of HILLTOP until I looked it up and found it was in central Indiana. As far as the range, I can confirm that, I've heard traffic all the way up into the north end of the PIKE Moa and the AR-632 refueling track. I use a similar setup at 70' in Flint, at the TV station, I get the same coverage but with stronger signal strengths.

The calculations for determining the range are based on line of sight to the horizon and distance to various altitudes. That works out to having an aircraft flying at 1,000' will have a 40 miles range, at 10,000' = 125 miles range, at 20,000' = 175 miles range and at 40,000 will have a 250 miles range.

 

[Chief71]

That is great!

 

[Firetxmi]

The calculations for determining the range are based on line of sight to the horizon and distance to various altitudes. That works out to having an aircraft flying at 1,000' will have a 40 miles range, at 10,000' = 125 miles range, at 20,000' = 175 miles range and at 40,000 will have a 250 miles range.

Very interesting! Is this in general, or just for your area?

 

[N8CBG]

It seems to work for me but actually these distances are for flat desert terrain, however if you lived in a relatively flat region for about 30 miles all around that would be close enough.

Unfortunately if you live in southeastern Michigan then you have to deal with effects of the Port Huron Moraine Ridge that stretches across the northern counties of Detroit. It's height ranges between 1,000' to 1,700' MSL, whereas Detroit is at only 635' MSL.This tends to limit reception in the northern regions somewhat.

 

[Firetxmi]

It seems to work for me but actually these distances are for flat desert terrain, however if you lived in a relatively flat region for about 30 miles all around that would be close enough.

Unfortunately if you live in southeastern Michigan then you have to deal with effects of the Port Huron Moraine Ridge that stretches across the northern counties of Detroit. It's height ranges between 1,000' to 1,700' MSL, whereas Detroit is at only 635' MSL.This tends to limit reception in the northern regions somewhat.

Yeah, I live in Sault Ste. Marie, it is pretty hilly to my north in Ontario, and in areas to my south as well. Should I shorten the distances maybe?

 

[N8CBG]

Area Map

Hi, I've been working on these maps for a few days now, I think I have everything we need in them and of course these are best case ranges, Pete

http://www.your401k.org/Sulte area COM ranges.jpg

http://www.your401k.org/Detroit area COM ranges.jpg

 

[Firetxmi]

Wow! That is perfect! I owe you one. Thanks for sharing.

I think this is what RR is really about!

 

[Firetxmi]

I've been reading about programs that can do this and take the topography into account. Any info on that? Do you use a program or do you do all the calculations by hand?