A couple of comments here-
- You didn't say anything about what gear (scanner, antenna) you are using. Not every scanner is milair capable (The PRO-96 doesn't always work well in the UHF air - 225-380 mhz - band when opened up with Win96, but should be fine for the 138-144 mhz area, for example).
- This is one game when the antenna is the rule. A discone or scantenna mounted well away from obstructions is going to be a big help. Get the right coax to minimize losses. A duckie is not going to be much help unless you're real close...
- Frequencies? I'd start with the ZNY ARTCC UHF frequencies, as well as the South Jersey page (the URL I can't recall off the top of my head, but I'm sure someone here will jump in - and it is in our wiki...). Those freqs are in our database and are pretty accurate. We've got a few in the Maryland forums that catch flights coming in/going out of that area headed down here.
[edit] Here are the URLs for those 2 pages...
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&aid=2246
http://hometown.aol.com/jerseymilair/
Nor would I ignore the UHF Coast Guard freqs - I don't know if they're in use in the LI area, but it's worth checking...
http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/United_States_Coast_Guard
Everything should be in AM mode, of course
73 Mike