Military Air scanning strategy

[RichM]

I have recently rediscovered the fun of Mil Air scanning. I’m using a Pro197 with an outdoor antenna and I also have a cloned Pro106. I’m about 35 miles from the Grayling range and around 100 miles from the Alpena air base. When they are active I’m hearing most everything clear as a bell, usually 5 signal bars.



I have around 50 mil air freqs programmed but I always wonder if I’m missing something since they are often changing freqs. I run signal stalker on sub bands 3 and 4 which is 216mhz through 400mhz to find new mil air freqs but it usually just hits on what I already have stored.



My idea is to pick up a Stridsberg MCA202M active multi coupler for splitting the antenna between the radios. Then I could use the Pro106 just to stalk the sub bands and possibly service search aircraft in the mil air frequency range, locking out the known freqs I already have. Then I would be able to listen to all the action on the Pro197 using the freqs I already have stored and if they start using something I don’t have the 106 should catch it.



Does this sound like a reasonable strategy? My handheld gets little use and this might be a good way to get some more mileage out of it. I like the idea of searching on one radio while listening on the other or maybe even searching with both using different ranges to speed it up a bit. What do you all think?



Rich M

NW Lower MI

 

[ka3aaa]

sounds like a good solid plan, if thats how you want to do it, go for it.

 

[iMONITOR]

Is their any logging software available for your scanners so you can compile the results?

Some info to get you started:

Grayling Army Airfield - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

Michigan MilAir Reference - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

 

[gary123]

I too have found that for searching new frequencies in any band you need some way to lock out known frequencies. Usually when one known group of frequencies is active you need to be able to skip over the identified frequencies and just be searching for anything new that may popup. Many many times these new hits are very short because they go to the new frequency make a single transmission and return to the main operation frequencies.

On the technical side I agree on the multicoupler. This way your best antenna will feed both the known frequency scanner and the 'hunting' scanner. One extra tool you may want to consider is a SDR. This is not to monitor transmissions but to bee used in waterfall mode. Most SDRs can see about a 5 meg chunk of the spectrum at any time. This will give you a visual representation of parts of the band.

 

[RichM]

Thanks for the replies, good food for thought.

I use ARC500 for programing, not sure if is has logging capabilities, I’ll check it out. Logging would be a big help. And I‘ve already used those wiki links, while helpful I suspect they might be somewhat outdated.

Good to know I’m on the right track with the multi coupler idea since the one I’m considering is a bit pricey. And I will look into the SDR, thanks for suggesting a good method for using it.

Thanks again for the great ideas.

Rich M

 

[wtp]

you might have to up the speed a bit, think SDR speed.
when a real call can be as short as "maco21 to lightning OPs RTB", you gotta be real fast.
there is a guy on here, mancow, you could ask him what he has set up as he once said it does 225 to 400 in 2 seconds.
also i have unidens handhelds that even can be set to scan, lockout 'birdies' and only log a frequency once to avoid dups.
i have rarely found anything new, but it helps.

 

[MacX1993M]

I use the SDS100 on record mode - leave it in my car all day on the common military frequencies locked and have it run all day. I get very little mil air around me but it captures anything that pops up. The record function works really well - clean only records open squelch audio. With the screen off lasts around 8-10 hours.

 

[MiCon]

I've been monitoring milcoms for over thirty years. That in no way makes me an expert. I haven't kept up with the technology (my radios are all 25~30 year old do-it-yourself programmable). You obviously want to listen to your known active frequencies, plus scan the common freqs (FSS, command post, base ops, a/a, etc.) and local freqs you'll find using on-line searches. You might consider joining a milcom e-mail group. But you do need to do active searches, either occasionally or constantly. I used to take day trips to monitor near a bases or range. I would bring two radios: one programmed to monitor known and listed freqs , and one to continually search the entire time I was there. Between those two radios I've been able to confirm many of the list freqs, and find dozens of frequencies not listed anywhere that I've seen.

That's part of the fun of monitoring - finding new frequencies and identifying the use / user.

Welcome back, and happy hunting.

<>< Mike

 

[RichM]

Thanks for all the great replies. I am rethinking my strategy based on all advice and my own recent experience. While my Pro197 scans programmed freqs @ 60cps which is perfectly acceptable, the search speed is just too slow to be useful. I haven’t caught anything searching yet even during times of high activity. Now I understand why you need to break it up into small segments and use 6+ radios. While I would love to have a set up like that it is out of budget right now. And my ARC500 software doesn’t do logging either, that feature is a $70 upgrade. So SDR seems like the affordable way to go to find those elusive new freqs. I didn’t even know that tech existed and I am very intrigued, Running a Stridsberg splitter to the scanner scanning known freqs and the SDR searching the 225-380 band should be a great and affordable set up. Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction.

Rich

 

[iMONITOR]

I have recently rediscovered the fun of Mil Air scanning. I’m using a Pro197 with an outdoor antenna and I also have a cloned Pro106. I’m about 35 miles from the Grayling range and around 100 miles from the Alpena air base. When they are active I’m hearing most everything clear as a bell, usually 5 signal bars.

I have around 50 mil air freqs programmed but I always wonder if I’m missing something since they are often changing freqs. I run signal stalker on sub bands 3 and 4 which is 216mhz through 400mhz to find new mil air freqs but it usually just hits on what I already have stored.

What are you using for the outdoor antenna?

Signal Stalker is for very short range, you're missing a lot!

 

[RichM]

I’m using an old RS multi band scanner antenna mounted on top of a flag pole with good quality coax. In the old analog days I could easily hear 7 counties with it. When the Grayling range is active I’m getting 3-4 bars but like you said signal stalker isn’t catching much.

Rich

 

[n4jri]

If you form your desired search ranges into Scan Lists, you can get much of what you want--except recording/logging. When you create a scan list, you're forcing the radio to search at your desired frequency step, and you can alpha tag your various finds, as well as assign them to another 'found items' scanlist where you can concentrate more on them. Plus, it gives you unlimited lockouts. I recommend adding important finds to your 'Skywarn' list, because you can make the radio drop everything it's doing to concentrate on that list alone. For more transient 'scratchpad' use, use your 'Favorites' list, because you can enter freqs into it quickly, and also clear the list whenever you want from the radio's internal menu.
I use these techniques today on a pair of Whistler TRX-1's where all the functions I described (except the Favorites list) are even easier to use, and audio/metadata can be recorded as well. I create the search freq lists using a shorthand method in MS Excel, and having 200 scan lists in each folder makes it pretty easy to move from one freq range to another.
I don't have SDR, but I strongly agree with the capabilities that it'd give you.

Happy Hunting!
73/Allen (N4JRI)

 

[RichM]

Thank you Allen! What an excellent way to achieve a better result with my radio. Great way to use Skywarn and Favorates, two features I never use much but definitely will now. I will add all these techniques to my mil air scanning for sure. Thanks again for the detailed suggestions.

Rich

 

[dmchalmers]

Rich i'm near Lewiston to your east an using a BCD-436 on a 40' tower i search with scan the milair bands an have heard plenty of AC, Range control does use P-25 MPSCS Tg's see my previous posts of drone use an tg'. Try an use the Lovells tower if you can search 800mhz its N. side of north down river rd near Oscoda co line.

 

[RichM]

I’m pretty far west, I can’t get Lovells. I have heard the NG on 800, the ground stuff wasn’t very interesting at the time and I’m pretty sure I locked them out a few years back. Can you share the the range control tg’s? I’d like to enable them again, thanks for the heads up. Also tonite I captured a new freq while searching - 246.9, pilot talking about having problems and turning back.

Rich

 

[RichM]

Never mind, I found them and re-enabled. Thanks again for the reminder!

Rich

 

[RichM]

Quick follow up. I picked up a used 8 port Electroline splitter for $30 and it works great. Now I can scan my known freqs on my Pro197 and search with the Pro106. I’ve found a handful of new freqs already. I also picked up a cheap RTL-SDR and have it up and running, just waiting on an adapter to add it to the splitter. It scans 225-380mhz in about 10 seconds. For less than $60 I have great mil air set up now. Thanks again for all the suggestions.

Rich

 

[gary123]

Thank you for the update.

Speaking for everyone. Happy to help. This is what RR is all about.