What am I doing wrong? Need some mil-air advice/help

[KB2GOM]

Located near Troy, NY, I am a total novice at mil-air monitoring. I have a 396T with Diamond 77 antenna.

Attached is a text file of the national military air frequencies that I loaded from RR, but I rarely hear anything.

I figure I am doing something wrong. Could someone point me in the right direction?

 

[ka3jjz]

Hearing milair is a game of frequencies and equipment. The 396 is fine; the antenna, much less so. You need to get an antenna up in the air if you're going to improve your results. Here are just a few examples

Milcom Receiving Equipment - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

We have nothing in our database for milair around Troy. For better information I would ask about more up to date frequencies than we have in our wiki here...

New York Radio Discussion Forum

Forum for discussing Radio Information in the State of New York.

forums.radioreference.com

Sadly the dropbox that had all the good stuff like the AP1/B is gone.....

Mike

 

[W8WCA]

Time of day matters also (Well at least for me in my area (Central Oh).
I hear more MilAir in daytime hours of weekdays - I do hear some on weekend days also.

 

[N9JCQ]

Monitoring MILAIR can be hit or miss. As was mentioned above, a discone antenna on the outside elevated would greatly increase your chances. I would make sure to add the military frequencies for New York Center especially for the areas around Troy. You should be able to hear the aircraft within a 100 miles or so even with the Diamond antenna. It appears that you have several air refueling routes and zones relatively near by. See my screen print from ADSBExchange.com. You can filter for just military aircraft transmitting ADSB. Add the frequencies for AR-609 & AR-613 as found here:Military Air Refueling (AR) Tracks, Frequencies, Maps Also look at some of the larger airports in your general area for any military groups that may be stationed there and add their frequencies.

 

[AirScan]

.

 

[ka3jjz]

The data on that website is over 3 years old - it would be better if someone can look that info up on the AP1/B from the Dropbox before it got dropped. Even though that's from the December timeframe, it's likely a lot more current than the website

Mike

 

[iMONITOR]

Located near Troy, NY, I am a total novice at mil-air monitoring. I have a 396T with Diamond 77 antenna.

Attached is a text file of the national military air frequencies that I loaded from RR, but I rarely hear anything.

I figure I am doing something wrong. Could someone point me in the right direction?

Unfortunately the Diamond 77 antenna is not a great performer. They don't even market it here in the U.S. I had one back in the late 80's connected to an ICOM IC-7000 and it was pretty much dead. I replaced it about month later with a Diamond discone. The difference was like night and day! You need to get it up high if you can. Also consider getting a FM-Notch filter.

 

[vagrant]

I am an avid military air listener. Others have pointed out some great points thus far:
- Increased traffic weekdays versus weekend
- Discone antenna mounted above your roofline
- FM broadcast filter


A more important part that has not been mentioned yet is that military air traffic is usually very brief. If your scanner is loaded with military air plus other frequencies, you may miss quite a bit of traffic while it is searching or stopped on something else. I have two scanners sweeping different "known" frequencies in the 225-400 MHz range. I use an AT-197A/GR discone made for mil air 225-400 MHz frequencies and the two scanners share that antenna with a powered splitter to make up for the losses. I expect to add more scanners soon. I also use a 225-400 MHz pass filter with that antenna to reduce interference, plus a low gain amplifier. Prior to that I used a regular discone antenna which worked fine too. I use Uniden BC125AT scanners to handle 225-380 MHz. For 380-400 MHz and VHF mil air I use other scanners. Still, a single discone could handle the standard military air traffic from VHF to UHF.

I also have another scanner connected to a different antenna that handles military air frequencies on VHF. By spreading out the different frequencies between several scanners, I definitely increase my odds of hearing mil air traffic. Still, there are a handful of frequencies I do not want to miss, so I overlap those few on each scanner to improve my chances. I am sure there are others that use more scanners than I with fewer frequencies on each one in order to increase their chances of hearing traffic. Additionally, there are computer programs with plugins for use with an SDR that will scan mil air frequencies extremely quick, much faster than a scanner. That setup would allow you to build up a list of often used frequencies in your area allowing you to create/confirm and share your own list with others.

With a discone above your roofline and any nearby obstructions, along with proper coaxial cable, your aircraft receive coverage could be New York to the Canadian border and Syracuse to Boston. Line of sight for an aircraft at 10,000 feet is around 140 miles.

I almost forgot to note that the Diamond SRH320A handheld antenna is a much better performer for VHF and UHF military air frequencies over the Diamond 77CA versions. For BNC antenna mount handhelds the Diamond RH951S works well too. Still, when using handheld antennas you should be outdoors to improve RX range.

 

[AirScan]

Check the FAA SUA Website to see what airspace is currently active.

You might have better luck with some of these frequencies

226.300 - Viper Common (Adirondack Airspace Complex/Fort Drum)
226.800 - VT ANG F-35s air-air
228.900 - Huntress (NORAD)
234.800 - VT ANG F-35s air-air
235.100 - AR206L Primary
238.900 - AR212 Primary
252.100 - Command Post based at Westover AFB (KCEF)
257.850 - Boston Center ATC
258.200 - NG operations based at Albany (KALB)
259.000 - MA ANG F-15s air-air
259.500 - NY ANG MQ-9 air-air
259.900 - MA ANG F-15s air-air
260.900 - Huntress (NORAD)
261.800 - VT ANG F-35s air-air
264.850 - MA ANG F-15s air-air
267.800 - NY ANG MQ-9s air-air
271.100 - NY ANG MQ-9s air-air
276.500 - AR609 Primary
282.700 - AR206H/AR206L/AR212/AR609/AR631 Secondary
293.700 - VT ANG F-35s Operations based at Burlington (KBTV)
295.800 - AR631 Primary
309.000 - MA ANG F-15s Operations based at Barnes (KBAF)
314.400 - VT ANG F-35s air-air
340.800 - NY ANG C-130s Operations based at Schenectady (KSCH)
348.700 - Boston Center ATC
348.900 - AR206H Primary
349.700 - VT ANG F-35s air-air
360.600 - Boston Center ATC
361.400 - Command Post based at Stewart (KSWF)
379.100 - Boston Center ATC
379.500 - NY ANG Operations based at Syracuse (KSYR)

The MA ANG F-15s out of Barnes were working in the Viper airspace this morning, would have flown right over your location, you would have been able to hear them on their air-air, Operations and the Boston Center UHF frequencies.

If you hear any other frequencies please post them here and we can figure out what they might be.

 

[W8WCA]

Are these the ones you are looking for?

https://www.daip.jcs.mil/pdf/ap1a.pdf

https://www.daip.jcs.mil/pdf/ap1b.pdf

 

[KB2GOM]

Check the FAA SUA Website to see what airspace is currently active.

You might have better luck with some of these frequencies

226.300 - Viper Common (Adirondack Airspace Complex/Fort Drum)
226.800 - VT ANG F-35s air-air
228.900 - Huntress (NORAD)
234.800 - VT ANG F-35s air-air
235.100 - AR206L Primary
238.900 - AR212 Primary
252.100 - Command Post based at Westover AFB (KCEF)
257.850 - Boston Center ATC
258.200 - NG operations based at Albany (KALB)
259.000 - MA ANG F-15s air-air
259.500 - NY ANG MQ-9 air-air
259.900 - MA ANG F-15s air-air
260.900 - Huntress (NORAD)
261.800 - VT ANG F-35s air-air
264.850 - MA ANG F-15s air-air
267.800 - NY ANG MQ-9s air-air
271.100 - NY ANG MQ-9s air-air
276.500 - AR609 Primary
282.700 - AR206H/AR206L/AR212/AR609/AR631 Secondary
293.700 - VT ANG F-35s Operations based at Burlington (KBTV)
295.800 - AR631 Primary
309.000 - MA ANG F-15s Operations based at Barnes (KBAF)
314.400 - VT ANG F-35s air-air
340.800 - NY ANG C-130s Operations based at Schenectady (KSCH)
348.700 - Boston Center ATC
348.900 - AR206H Primary
349.700 - VT ANG F-35s air-air
360.600 - Boston Center ATC
361.400 - Command Post based at Stewart (KSWF)
379.100 - Boston Center ATC
379.500 - NY ANG Operations based at Syracuse (KSYR)

The MA ANG F-15s out of Barnes were working in the Viper airspace this morning, would have flown right over your location, you would have been able to hear them on their air-air, Operations and the Boston Center UHF frequencies.

If you hear any other frequencies please post them here and we can figure out what they might be.

Was able to import those frequencies. Giving them a try with the existing setup. Further, I am taking to heart all the other suggestions that have been made. Put a Gold Star on your chart!

 

[reconrider8]

Whats your guys opinions on the diamond 777 I see the 77 isn't good but I hear good reviews on the triple 7

 

[iMONITOR]

Unfortunately the Diamond 77 antenna is not a great performer. They don't even market it here in the U.S. I had one back in the late 80's connected to an ICOM IC-7000 and it was pretty much dead. I replaced it about month later with a Diamond discone. The difference was like night and day! You need to get it up high if you can. Also consider getting a FM-Notch filter.

My apologies regarding the Diamond 77, I thought you were talking about the Diamond D777. I was at the hospital all morning with my son getting a TEE and heart cath. and other tests i preperation for heart surgery in the near futures and I'm a little stressed out.

Diamond D777

Diamond D777 Civil & Military Receiving Antenna

High quality antenna from Diamond Japan - The antenna is constructed from fibre glass materials and it is pre-tuned and fully weatherproofed.

moonrakeronline.com

 

[twinsonic]

Milcom frequencies are not published by most governments. Activity is usually found by searching the 225-400 MHz range, and then identifying what you hear on a consistent basis. So, searching this range is a good place to start.
Searching large ranges of frequencies is easy with a Software Defined Radios using plugins like Frequency Manager Suite. This is impractical for a scanner simply because they can't scan as fast as a SDR. A better technique is to break up this band into a number of search ranges for more efficient searching. One way to break up this band is:

• Search range 1: 225 - 275 MHz
• Search range 2: 275 - 325 MHz
• Search range 3: 325 - 380 MHz

You can further divide these chunks into smaller ranges to suit your receiver's search abilities. Also, milcom aircraft communications use a 25 kHz interval. This is important; setting your step size to 25 kHz allows for faster searching and reduces the chance you'll miss a comm (smaller step sizes means longer searches). This thread contains ready made, bulk frequency files in various formats

 

[737mech]

Hopefully you will never hear this kind of stuff.

 

[KB2GOM]

Hopefully you will never hear this kind of stuff.

Roger that.

 

[YoShep69]

Are these the ones you are looking for?

https://www.daip.jcs.mil/pdf/ap1a.pdf

https://www.daip.jcs.mil/pdf/ap1b.pdf

How about the IFR Supplement?

Thanks
Yo

 

[CanesFan95]

Mil-air monitoring is boring cause there's almost never any activity.

 

[reconrider8]

Mil-air monitoring is boring cause there's almost never any activity.

I hear the bombing range Monday through Friday near about about 200 miles away on a mobile antenna

 

[vagrant]

You may be doing it wrong, or live in an extremely unusual area.

Mil-air monitoring is boring cause there's almost never any activity.