two fighters NJ / NYC ?

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KC2LVC

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Just saw two fighters go down the NJ side of the Hudson across from NYC. Hoboken to be exact, but I'm sure it was right up through Bayonne, Jersey City, etc, etc. Couldn't make out what they were exactly because it's too dark, but definitely military. Very low, very close, very loud. Anyone hear anything in the area? Anyone else see them?
 

ka3jjz

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When you see fighters, your best bet is to look in the 138-144 mhz area - but that's still a heckuva lot of spectrum to search. I sure wish we had a good NYC area page for milair, but unfortunately we don't.

It's just possible the flights were out of McGuire, or perhaps were 2 Ct.ANG units. Hard to be sure. A quick check of the Big 3's air freqs also might turn up something, as they transition into/out of their airspace (Newark, JFK, LaGuardia).

73s Mike
 

jmp883

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KA3JJZ wrote:

When you see fighters, your best bet is to look in the 138-144 mhz area

You won't hear too much there in regard to military air. The military air band is UHF, 225 MHz-406 MHz.

I know that there was a C.A.P. (Combat Air Patrol) that flew over NY in the months after 9/01. I quit listening to them after the novelty of listening to military aircraft wore off. I don't know if they're still flying that mission over NY.
 

jmp883

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Fmon wrote:

138-144 is common for air to air units in formation.

Okay...I never thought of monitoring the military land mobile band for aviation activity. The UHF frequency most used by the NY CAP flights was 271.000 MHz. During the NY CAP flights you'd hear plane-to-plane and plane-to-command conversations on 271.000 MHz.

Like I posted earlier I haven't listened to mil-air in a while now so I don't know if the NY CAP flights are still being flown on a regular basis.
 
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DaveNF2G

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I can attest that Air Guard units in NY, CT, VT, and MA all use frequencies in the 138-144 range, AM mode.
 

TinEar

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Any unit that has F-16 or A-10 aircraft assigned will use the 138-144 mHz range for air-to-air and some air-to-ground comms. Additionally, the F-15 units have recently had VHF radios installed so they may be candidates for that range also at some point. They've been heard using VHF on ARTCC freqs recently.
 

popnokick

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Mil jets in NE PA

On Tues 10/10, I heard some garbled activity on 142.25 here in NE Pennsylvania. Moments later, the thundering howl of military jets went over the house. I'd seen F-16's a couple of weeks ago, but didn't get outside fast enough to see if these were more of the same or A-10s. That's because I was riveted to the scanner, which I realized was picking up AM transmissions, but I have a BC895XLT that will not receive AM in the VHF LO band. I couldn't make out the scrambled audio, but it was characteristic of what FM sounds like on an AM receiver. I'm going to have to get a receiver for AM in that range, since this has happened a couple of times now. And Tues there was lots of chatter, all "in the clear".
 

ka3jjz

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On the Maryland milair thread, we've noted Willow Grove A10s in the past using this freq.

Yeah, it's a shame that the 895 won't do AM in that band - it's a very good UHF milair scanner, tho, and with the RadioMax software, it drastically increases the number of frequencies you can scan. It ain't a BCD996 by any stretch of the imagination, but the increase is well more than you would ever need...

But then I can remember a time when we all thought 1000 channels was enough....

Thankfully, there are several older scanners that will do the 138-144 mhz band in AM, along with some newer ones such as the PRO2055,PRO 97 and Uniden BC898, as well as the BR330. No need to spend an arm and a leg for that capability, for sure. And I'd jump on it if you can find a BC780, which is running around USD225 or so used. That is generally considered one of the best - if not the best- of the old time mil scanners. Our Wiki has lots of info on this if you're interested.

73s Mike
 
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Along with the 138-144 band there is also the little 148-150 band which will occasionally find activity. Not often but sometimes. Certainly not as much as the 138-144 band.
 
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