24 June 2007

Amateur Radio Club of Savannah Field Day 2007, Part II

Making an appearance at Field Day were some military radios, both current and past. It was interesting to be able to compare and contrast the amateur and military equipment and get to hear the current military equipment operate.




Former Military HF Radio operated by Philip, KA4KOE




Military VHF/UHF radio




Military HF Radio



Unusual for me, I did operate some HF this year, covering 20-meter USB while some of the more HF-oriented operators took a break. To prove it, someone took this photo (if it doesn't break Blogger's servers... It didn't break the camera...):


I tried several times to work 6-meters this year, but it just never seemed that propagation would cooperate with us. I always enjoy working 6-meters, but sometimes luck just isn't with us. All in all, though, I think good fun was had by all. We may have not made the most contacts, but we had a good variety of equipment, from older military and amateur gear to the latest and greatest gear. We also had a good variety of antennas up, including verticals, wire antennas, trap dipoles, and a NVIS antenna. I can also say that there was good fellowship with fellow hams; there was a good group assembled for dinner and a small but solid core of operators throughout Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning and afternoon.

As always, you can find things that need improvement. Next year, I think we need to be more serious about operating through the night (and I include myself in that assessment). I would also like to see more "elmering" going on during field day. It should not just be left up to newer hams to ask for advice and suggestions, but the more experienced hams should offer it. When I was first licensed, I was thankful for the operating tips, advice, and impromptu lessons from experienced operators.

Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net


23 June 2007

Amateur Radio Club of Savannah Field Day 2007, Part I

Field Day 2007 started well for the Amateur Radio Club of Savannah. Here are some photos from early in the day, right around the time the radios got cranked up. Following photos of some of the operators are photos of the field day site itself.


Mac, AF4KL, making contacts


Dan, KF4MND, making contacts


Philip, KA4KOE, making contacts


Ken, VE2HFX, and Kurt, N4CVF investigating Ken's TS-700


Below are photos of the ARCS Field Day at the GA Air National Guard Pavilion (Part of the Savannah CRTC) near the Savannah International Airport. Several trap dipoles were raised, along with a wire dipole, an 80-meter "tape measure" dipole, a military NVIS antenna, a military AT-1011 whip, a 6-meter vertical, a 2-meter ground plane, and a dual-band yagi.






Mac McCormick, KF4LMT

20 June 2007

Improved Savannah training center still challenging Airmen

Thanks to Mark Cleary, who blogs at The Lowcountry Listening Post, for directing me to this article. I've not had a lot of time to keep up with radio and monitoring related topics lately so Mark's info was a great help. This article shows a positive future for the Savannah CRTC, it seems that it should be around for us to monitor well into the future. This article not only shows the improvements that have been made and are being made, it also gives you a good idea of just what they do at the CRTC. In addition to Townsend Range, which is mentioned in the article and the Coastal MOA Complex, which is implied in the article, the CRTC also utilizes the TACTS Ranges and the training airspace offshore that is controlled by SEALORD (USN FACSFAC Jacksonville).

By Tech. Sgt. Mike R. Smith
National Guard Bureau

SAVANNAH, Ga. (5/25/2007) - It was quiet, but they say it never stays quiet here for long. As they stood before a patched cement flight line awaiting Air National Guard A-10 Thunderbolt pilots to arrive for a training event, several Airmen turned to enter the double doors to an empty operations building behind them.

Inside, many times before, some of the nation’s best Air Guard units had yelled through gas masks while training for combat. Now, the building was quiet; although, across the street construction workers hammered up a new operations complex. Near that, an environmentally friendly small-arms range and a high-tech firefighters' training station lay ready for resonant gun shots and hose-team commands. Forty miles south, a modern air traffic control tower echoed radio static.

It has been three busy years of renovations, expansions and operations at the Savannah Combat Readiness Training Center here and its Townsend Bombing Range 40 miles to the south. So although it seemed quiet, the ghosts of trainings past and present sounded a bright and busy future.

In that time, the Savannah CRTC has evolved to support a post 9/11 expeditionary force. Or maybe a smartly planned, cost saving, one-stop joint training center for a busy Air National Guard and a nation's joint operating military.

Actually, isn't a training center where everything is made available to learn? So where do technology, budgets and inspections work in?

The Savannah CRTC with its team of 128 Airmen and civilian employees address all that and play host to thousands of training events and servicemembers each year. So many Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors and Marines call this place so many different things. It's one of only four Air Guard combat training centers in the nation, but officials say these centers do not compete with each other. Savannah combines resources with centers in Alpena, Mich., Gulfport, Miss., and Volk, Wis., to fulfill the Air Guard's need for combat ready Airmen who can integrate into multi-service missions.

"CRTCs play a very important role in this because they enable units to accomplish training that cannot be accomplished at home," said Col. Floyd H. Harbin, Savannah CRTC commander.

With Army, Navy and Marine Corps units regularly using the center, Harbin said his CRTC also offers Airmen a "joint training experience" that would cost millions of dollars to reproduce elsewhere.

Now, Savannah CRTC officials say nearly three years of strategic planning are paying off by offering eager Guard units the latest in technology at a modernized, one-stop shop. Also lining up are federal, state and local agencies and international military forces looking for the same.

"We just acquired 75-acres of land from the airport to expand to 223-acres, and we also expanded our coastal air space to allow high-altitude air combat training at the range," said Harbin.

As construction continues, it becomes increasingly hard to recognize the CRTC from its former self. Looking from the main entrance, the center's new brick buildings contrast sharply with its 50-year-old structures. Some buildings were modernized, if feasible. Other buildings – second-hand, worn down, leaking and occupied well past their expected life spans – are being demolished.

"They are no longer your father's CRTCs," said Patrick Welch, chief of airspace and ranges for the Air National Guard. He said that the training centers have come a long way from their beginnings as summer training camps. "All four CRTCs have upgraded communications infrastructures and state-of-the-art ranges and they offer a high quality of life services. They have also evolved to support operational readiness exercises and inspections and joint force exercises. They train in all aspects, and more than 700 units deployed to train at the four CRTCs in 2006," said Welch.

The CRTCs offer bare base deployment sites, air-to-air ranges, air-to-ground ranges, rifle ranges, firefighting facilities and joint combat training environments. Visiting units can fly simulated combat missions and bombing scenarios including laser and strafing practice. They can also provide computer generated depictions of aircraft engaged in combat.

In short, the facilities act like forward operating locations and provide a realistic site for unit operational exercises and inspections.

Between 2005 and 2006, the Savannah CRTC alone hosted and supported 21 operational readiness inspections and exercises for Air Guard units. In the same time, the detached 8.1 square mile bombing range managed more than 3,000 aircraft sorties. The center also supported President Bush during his 2004 G-8 Summit.

They have also been working with the nearby 165th Airlift Wing to build a medical and multi-use operation, training and conference center, which will serve both units. The CRTC is also addressing future training shortfalls.

"The Air Guard will benefit greatly from a new training program and schoolhouse for combat communications," said Harbin. The new schoolhouse will support air control squadrons and combat communications units. Harbin knows the need for it. He deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom with the 224th Joint Communications Squadron prior to his command at the CRTC. "This is the way for us to keep our Airmen in line with the Guard's focus on new technology and the ability to operate in a joint environment."

The CRTC will always be training Airmen for future battlefields. Its roots run deep in Air Guard history. The training center began as one of nine Permanent Field Training Sites in 1952. They were reduced to four bare-base training sites and re-designated in 1990 as CRTCs. In all, $45 million is now being allocated to refurbish and modernize the Savannah center, which has withstood its own test of time.

"Their utilization is high," Welch said, "and not just by the Air Guard but by the Army, Marines and local and state emergency agencies. They offer just the right capability."

It may not be a favorite place to go for Airmen because of their rigorous unit inspections held here. Nevertheless, Airmen will spend time at this CRTC far into the future.

"Our goal is to fit into the nation's joint training capability," Harbin said, "and this is the site."

16 June 2007

C-27J Spartan Production Planned for Jacksonville

According to multiple news reports on Friday, a consortium of L-3 Communications Holdings, Boeing, and Alenia North America are planning on constructing the C-27J Spartan cargo aircraft that they recently won the contract for at Cecil Field in Jacksonville, FL. That could mean test communications for area radio monitors to listen to in about a year or so.

Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Savannah NWR Complex Radio System Update

On Thursday I found another frequency for the US Fish and Wildlife Service's Savannah NWR Complex Radio System. While 172.450, 169.825, 171.650, and 172.650 were active, 171.750 was also active. Due to the very weak signal strength, I have to think that is probably one of the more southern transmitters, probably in the area of Blackbeard Island or Wolf Island (near the Darien area).

Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net

13 June 2007

More on SCMPD "Plain Talk", Move to Digital in Chatham County, Talk of Encryption

I haven't seen the article in the online Savannah Morning News, but there is a front page article in the newspaper this morning about the move away from Signals and 10-Codes by the Savannah Chatham Municipal PD (SCMPD) and the agencies they dispatch for. The article states that change occurred on 4 June, 2007 and was made for interoperability reasons. The article very well illustrates the confusion that can occur due to different agencies using different codes and signals.

The article also mentions that SCMPD's radio system will switch to digital in mid-July. It also states that "the majority of the channels will be encrypted." It is important to note that I have heard some encrypted talkgroups being tested in the last few months, so the encryption is a definite possibility. I would hope that Chatham County has not jumped on the encryption bandwagon, but if they have I'll have more comment on that when it happens.

I will take exception to one line from this article: " That means no more casual listening for all those scanner junkies who like to tune into police chases and traffic stops." Whether the term "scanner junkie" is a quote from the SCMPD officer interviewed for the article or whether it was used by the author of the article, I do not like being referred to as a "junkie." That word carries so many negative connotations that it can easily be taken as an insult. I don't listen to law enforcement communications on a regular basis, but I do listen every now and then because I like to get an unfiltered version of what is happening, not the sanitized version of events that can come from public information personnel and news reporters. I am a radio hobbyist. Try using that term, or perhaps others that have been suggested such as "scannerist" or "radio monitor." My hobby is no less respectable than fishing, knitting, motorcycle riding, or stamp collecting and I would like to be treated with the respect that is offered to those that have many other hobbies.

Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net

11 June 2007

Skywarn Spotter Activation Possible This Afternoon

The National Weather Service in Charleston has issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook for the Savannah area. Severe thunderstorms, 60mph winds, and penny-sized hail are possible. The full text of the Outlook can be found here.

If there is severe weather in the area, a Skywarn Net may come up on the 146.745 or 146.970 repeaters.

Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net

Savannah-Chatham Metro Dispatch Using "Plain Talk"

Savannah-Chatham Metro Dispatch, "Metro" for short, dispatches almost all of the public safety agencies in Chatham County except for Tybee Island and Savannah Fire and Emergency Services. I've noticed over the last week that they seem to be moving away from using signals and codes and are starting to use "Plain Talk" dispatch. For example, instead of dispatching an auto accident with injuries as a "Signal 5, Signal 30" they now dispatch it as an "accident with injuries."

Savannah Fire has been using "Plain Talk" for several years now, so listeners familiar with how they dispatch calls can look for similar usage on Metro's dispatch channels.

Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net

07 June 2007

Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex Digital Repeater System


Back on April 27, 2007 I posted about a VHF digital repeater system that I heard the US Fish and Wildlife service using in the coastal Georgia area. After doing some research and listening to the system more, I'm convinced that it is used by the Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex. This complex of NWRs is spread out over a large area and the linked repeater system enables them to have better communications both within and between the individual NWRs within the complex. It is comprised of seven National Wildlife Refuges that stretch from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina to Darien, GA including Pinckney Island NWR, Savannah NWR, Tybee NWR, Wassaw NWR, Harris Neck NWR, Blackbeard Island NWR, and Wolf Island NWR. Headquarters for the Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex are located in Savannah, GA.


So far I've heard four sites for the system, although there could very well be more. At this point, I've only been able to identify one of the sites, the one at Skidaway which is closest to Savannah.


169.825
171.650
172.450 - Skidaway Site
172.650


Mac McCormick, KF4LMT

06 June 2007

125th Fighter Wing Returns To Jacksonville

The 125th Fighter Wing, FL Air National Guard returned recently to Jacksonville International Airport in Jacksonville, FL from temporary duty in Europe. They began flying their F-15s again last week, training offshore of Georgia and Florida over the Atlantic Ocean.

Unit frequencies and designators seem to be unchanged from those used prior to their trip to Europe:

251.250 - Operations/Maintenance
273.900 - SOF
234.800 - Aux 6
253.700 - Aux 7
314.200 - Aux 8
343.000 - Aux 9


Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net