VHF Lo Band for Military

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lotsofradios

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I want to do some searching for the VHF-Lo Military frequencies. Is there much Military stuff between 30-50 MHz? I assume the mode would be FM in that range, but what step size? 25 KHz like the other Military bands?

I live about 15 miles north of Daytona Beach, FL and hear a lot of UHF Military action, is there anything still on the VHF-Lo?
 

rescue161

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30-88 MHz in FM mode at 25 kHz spacing will get you man-pack radio comms. It's fairly short distance. Most of the comms would be on SINCGARS radios, so it depends on the operations at the time if you can hear them or not. They have encryption and frequency hopping available to them.
 

lotsofradios

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I has a person give me a 51 MHz freq also for some helos, never listened to that yet but isn't that in the 6 meter ham band? Does the military use freqs in the 6 meter band?
 

rescue161

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Yes. They can pick any frequency between 30 and 88 MHz. We were using 42 MHz years ago and were hearing the NCHP, so we switched frequency.
 

Tech792

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Don't know what state you're in but here on the mid Atlantic east coast, 51.50 is often used by helos.
 

prcguy

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I believe in the US you will find VHF lo military comms confined to the even MHz like 30-31, 32-33, 34-35 and so on. Many of the common frequencies were established before SINCGARS was around and they land on 50KHz increments, otherwise its best to scan in 25KHz steps.
prcguy
 

JASII

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VHF Lo Band For Military

I don't know if this is still common, but the military seemed to use so-called "new squelch" when I have listened in the past. It was 150.0 hZ. However, if I would use the EIA standard 151.4 hZ, it decoded just fine. Also, select FM mode, rather than NFM.
 

mancow

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Go though the logs posted by kkn50 in the tropo ducting forum. He lists each military frequency he encounters. That would be the easiest way to get a good list of what's usually active. You will have to go through several of his posts and gather them up because they vary over time.

I was watching lowband on the SDR and saw a few weak comms. One was 16 kbs secure data which was clearly visible in the waterfall with the Vinson leading marker tone.
 
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