Due to a confluence of work, the amateur radio June VHF QSO Party, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, I was not able to make the airshow at Wright AAF/Midcoast Regional Airport this past weekend (14/15 June 2008). I do hope that there was a good turnout for the show and that it becomes a regular event. Perhaps next year they can hold it on a weekend other than the 24 Hours of Le Mans!
Guy, K4GTM and Mark, KA4CID, however, did attend the show and they passed along 118.775 at the airboss frequency. Guy also mentioned that the West Coast F-15 Demo Team had to cancel out on Saturday due to a problem with jet.
Thanks to Guy and Mark for the good info.
Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net
16 June 2008
10 June 2008
Cuba on 6 Meters
Monday morning just after 1030 hours, I was able to work 6 Meters into Cuba, making a contact with CO8LY in Santiago de Cuba on 50.125 USB. Apparently the band was also open into Puerto Rico, but I never heard anything other than the Cuban station.
Otherwise, the high activity from the Sunday wasn't present on Monday. The only other station I heard was XE2WWW from Mexico, but he never heard me; he seemed to be mostly answering stations from the 9 region.
Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net
Otherwise, the high activity from the Sunday wasn't present on Monday. The only other station I heard was XE2WWW from Mexico, but he never heard me; he seemed to be mostly answering stations from the 9 region.
Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net
09 June 2008
6 Meter Band Opening - 8 June 2008
I finally caught a 6 Meter band opening while I was off from work! Yesterday, 8 June 2008, was a good day for working 6 meters. During midday, I worked a station from Texas the between 2030 and 2200 hours local, I worked stations on 6 Meters USB in Indiana, Louisiana, and Texas:
N5GE - Arlington, TX
N5KWB - West Monroe, LA
W5FKX - River Ridge, LA
W5PF - Montgomery, TX
K5AH - Ponchatoula, LA
W5JLH - Haughton, LA
K8LEE - Lawrenceburg, IN
2 Meters was also open today. I didn't make any 2 Meter SSB contacts, but I did hear the W4YJC repeaters on 144.330 and 144.360 with NASA audio again; the 144.330 was at S9+ at one point. I also heard the 146.700 W4IZ 146.700 repeater from Jacksonville at half to three quarter scale around 1730 local while mobile in midtown Savannah.
Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net
N5GE - Arlington, TX
N5KWB - West Monroe, LA
W5FKX - River Ridge, LA
W5PF - Montgomery, TX
K5AH - Ponchatoula, LA
W5JLH - Haughton, LA
K8LEE - Lawrenceburg, IN
2 Meters was also open today. I didn't make any 2 Meter SSB contacts, but I did hear the W4YJC repeaters on 144.330 and 144.360 with NASA audio again; the 144.330 was at S9+ at one point. I also heard the 146.700 W4IZ 146.700 repeater from Jacksonville at half to three quarter scale around 1730 local while mobile in midtown Savannah.
Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net
08 June 2008
Hunter AAF and Fort Stewart Exercise
There is an exercise of some sort going on at Hunter AAF and Fort Stewart. I started hearing the activity on Thursday night and it has been on each night since, including last night. Most of the activity is UHF milair encrypted, but some of it has been in the clear. Participants include A-10s that seem to be from the 23rd Wing, an AC-130, an MC-130, and several C-17s all of which are using callsigns that change daily. Additionally, the A-10s have aerial refueled several times each night in the "Nicole" AR track, which they have accessed via 380.025 (Savannah Approach) and 363.200 (Jax Center Allendale)
124.975 - Hunter AAF Tower
279.575 - Hunter AAF Tower
279.625 - Marne Radio
380.025 - Savannah Approach/Departure
363.200 - Jax Center Allendale Sector
141.650 - A-10 air-to-air (Friday night)
143.150 - A-10 air-to-air (Thursday night)
143.600 - A-10 air-to-air (Saturday night)
228.175 - encrypted
236.725 - A-10 and AC-130 air-to-ground
250.275 - encrypted
299.650 - encrypted (satcom uplink?)
364.275 - Aerial Refueling
396.525 - encrypted
Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net
124.975 - Hunter AAF Tower
279.575 - Hunter AAF Tower
279.625 - Marne Radio
380.025 - Savannah Approach/Departure
363.200 - Jax Center Allendale Sector
141.650 - A-10 air-to-air (Friday night)
143.150 - A-10 air-to-air (Thursday night)
143.600 - A-10 air-to-air (Saturday night)
228.175 - encrypted
236.725 - A-10 and AC-130 air-to-ground
250.275 - encrypted
299.650 - encrypted (satcom uplink?)
364.275 - Aerial Refueling
396.525 - encrypted
Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net
The 2-Meter SSB Setup Works
Last night while searching for activity related to the exercise going on over at Hunter AAF I noticed that there was a pretty good VHF opening, so I decided to try some 2-Meter SSB work. After listening for a few minutes and hearing no activity, I decided to call CQ.
After calling CQ a couple of times, K4ILT out of Saint George, SC came back to me for my first 2-Meter SSB contact. During the QSO, he mentioned that he was hearing Space Shuttle audio rebroadcast on 144.330, which he believed was coming from the Jacksonville area.
I checked 144.330 as well and found the same shuttle/NASA retransmission coming in at about S2-S3. Web research indicates that it most likely W4YJC out of Macclenny, FL. Searching around a bit, I also found 144.360 active, which should also be W4YJC, this time from Jacksonville, FL.
After calling CQ a couple of times, K4ILT out of Saint George, SC came back to me for my first 2-Meter SSB contact. During the QSO, he mentioned that he was hearing Space Shuttle audio rebroadcast on 144.330, which he believed was coming from the Jacksonville area.
I checked 144.330 as well and found the same shuttle/NASA retransmission coming in at about S2-S3. Web research indicates that it most likely W4YJC out of Macclenny, FL. Searching around a bit, I also found 144.360 active, which should also be W4YJC, this time from Jacksonville, FL.
07 June 2008
Hurricane Monitoring 2008
This article initially appeared in the June 2008 of "Key Klix," the newsletter of the Amateur Radio Club of Savannah. It is designed to provide basic local huricane monitoring information for the Savannah area.
With Hurricane Season upon us, it is a good time to gather monitoring information on monitoring communications related to the response to a storm. The purpose of this month’s article is to provide some basic hurricane monitoring information for both Savannah area amateur radio and government response to a hurricane. Many thanks to David Delamater, K4DJD, Steve Jonas, K4SDJ, and Doug Rowland, KF4EFP for providing amateur radio frequency information for this article.
Amateur Radio Monitoring
In the event of a hurricane, Amateur Radio would of course play a large part in the response to the storm. Georgia Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) would activate to support state and local emergency management. Other organizations would activate to respond to the hurricane in other capacities.
ARES, when activated will use several 2-meter repeaters for local area, point-to-point traffic. HF frequencies would be used for more long distant communications including communications with statewide ARES and emergency management stations.
146.970 - Chatham County ARES Ops Primary
146.880 - Chatham ARES Ops Secondary
147.105 - Georgia ARES Southeast District Ops
146.745 - Effingham County Repeater (97.4 PL)
146.520 - National Calling Frequency
3.975 LSB - Georgia ARES Primary HF
7.277 LSB - Georgia ARES Secondary HF
5.3305 LSB - Georgia ARES Section Emergency Net
The American Red Cross will also make use of local repeaters during their hurricane response operations. Secondary Red Cross Repeaters will be assigned usage depending upon the nature and size of the response.
146.850 - American Red Cross Primary
146.700 - American Red Cross Secondary
147.210 - American Red Cross Secondary
147.330 - American Red Cross Secondary
Other organizations that might activate to assist in response and relief efforts are the Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network and Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief teams.
7.265 LSB - SATERN (Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network)
14.265 USB - SATERN (Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network)
151.625 - Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief (VHF Itinerant)
147.550 - Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief
147.555 - Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief
3.865 LSB - Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief
7.238 LSB - Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief
7.251 LSB - South CARS Net
7.262 LSB - Southern Baptist Convention Net
A good way to keep track of and to gather information on a hurricane is the venerable Hurricane Watch Net, which has been around since 1965. This net will activate whenever there is a hurricane within 300 miles of a populated land mass or when activation is requested by the National Hurricane Center. The purpose of the net is to gather information from the storm for the National Hurricane Center and to pass on National Weather Service advisories on the storm. Information on hurricanes can also be heard on the Maritime Mobile Network. They also collect information for the National Weather Service and pass weather service advisories.
14.325 USB - Hurricane Watch Net
14.300 USB - Maritime Mobile Network
Government Monitoring
Local public safety agencies would be in the front lines of hurricane response. A listing of agency frequencies and Chatham-Effingham Trunked Repeater System (TRS) talkgroups would be too long to list here, but there are emergency management, mutual aid, and common frequencies and talkgroups that would be good to include in scanner programming. These would be used by a wide variety of agencies during any multi-agency response. A full listing of agency talkgroups for the Chatham-Effingham TRS can be found on the Radio Reference website (see list of links below).
Conventional Frequencies
123.025 - Airborne Operations, Air-to-Ground
123.100 - Airborne Operations, Air-to-Air
154.280 - Fire Mutual Aid
155.340 - HEAR (Hospitals, EMS)
155.475 - Law Enforcement National Emergency
853.6375 - Chatham County 800 Conventional
866.0125 - I-Call
866.5125 - I-Tac 1
867.0125 - I-Tac 2
867.5125 - I-Tac 3
868.0125 - I-Tac 4
Chatham-Effingham TRS Talkgroups
6224 - Chatham County Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) 1
6256 - Chatham County Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) 2
6288 - Chatham County Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) 3
6320 - Chatham County Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) 4
6352 - Chatham County Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) 5
33456 - Police Common
54032 – Police Common Digital
37072 - Fire Common
3632 – Fire Tac 1
3664 – Fire Tac 2
3696 – Fire Tac 3
3728 – Fire Tac 4
3760 – Fire Tac 5
3792 – Fire Tac 6
2416 - Medical Common
50320 - Savannah City Common
50352 - Chatham County Countywide Common
1648 - Chatham County Common
4240 - Chatham County Westside Common
4272 - Chatham County Eastside Common
Both Hunter Army Airfield and Savannah International Airport and the military units based there would be involved in relief operations in the event of a hurricane striking the coastal Georgia area. B-169 Aviation of the Georgia Army National Guard at Hunter AAF would likely support local operations while the 165th Airlift Wing at Savannah IAP would be able to help provide an air bridge for the Savannah area. The United States Coast Guard would also assist in the response to a hurricane with both aircraft from Air Station Savannah and surface assets from Sector Charleston and it’s subordinate unit Station Tybee (and beyond).
133.550 AM – Hunter AAF Control Tower
279.575 AM – Hunter AAF Control Tower
126.200 AM – Hunter AAF Base Ops
38.150 FM – B-169 AVN “Hurricane Ops”
139.400 AM – B-169 AVN “Guard Operations”
242.400 AM – B-169 AVN Air-to-Air
119.100 AM - Savannah IAP Control Tower
257.800 AM - Savannah IAP Control Tower
225.750 AM - 165 Airlift Wing, Georgia Air National Guard Command Post
237.000 AM - Air National Guard CRTC Command Post
156.800 – Marine VHF Ch. 16, Calling/Distress
156.650 – Marine VHF Ch. 13
157.050 – Marine VHF Ch. 21, Sector Charleston Primary Operating
345.000 AM - USCG Air Station Savannah Ops
Charleston Air Force Base is involved in relief operations not only nationwide but worldwide. Aircraft inbound to Charleston AFB from the south can easily be heard from the Savannah area.
134.100 AM - Charleston AFB Command Post
349.400 AM - Charleston AFB Command Post
Another agency that would support hurricane response efforts would the United States Air Force auxiliary, the Civil Air Patrol. The Civil Air Patrol is in the midst of frequency changes, so it would be prudent to keep both their old and new frequencies in mind. The CAP also uses repeater output frequencies as simplex frequencies.
148.150 - Civil Air Patrol Primary Repeater Output
148.125 - Civil Air Patrol Repeater, Coastal Georgia Area
148.175 - New Civil Air Patrol Repeaters
148.775 - New Civil Air Patrol Repeaters
There are many lists on the Internet that list HF frequencies for the “Hurricane Hunter” aircraft. For the most part, these lists are obsolete; the “Hurricane Hunters” now use satellite communications, including military SATCOM, instead of HF for their primary means of communications with ground stations.
Reference Links
Georgia ARES:
http://www.gaares.org/
SATERN (Salvation Army):
http://www.satern.org/
Hurricane Watch Net:
http://www.hwn.org/
Maritime Mobile Service Network:
http://www.mmsn.org/
Radio Reference:
http://www.radioreference.com/
Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net
With Hurricane Season upon us, it is a good time to gather monitoring information on monitoring communications related to the response to a storm. The purpose of this month’s article is to provide some basic hurricane monitoring information for both Savannah area amateur radio and government response to a hurricane. Many thanks to David Delamater, K4DJD, Steve Jonas, K4SDJ, and Doug Rowland, KF4EFP for providing amateur radio frequency information for this article.
Amateur Radio Monitoring
In the event of a hurricane, Amateur Radio would of course play a large part in the response to the storm. Georgia Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) would activate to support state and local emergency management. Other organizations would activate to respond to the hurricane in other capacities.
ARES, when activated will use several 2-meter repeaters for local area, point-to-point traffic. HF frequencies would be used for more long distant communications including communications with statewide ARES and emergency management stations.
146.970 - Chatham County ARES Ops Primary
146.880 - Chatham ARES Ops Secondary
147.105 - Georgia ARES Southeast District Ops
146.745 - Effingham County Repeater (97.4 PL)
146.520 - National Calling Frequency
3.975 LSB - Georgia ARES Primary HF
7.277 LSB - Georgia ARES Secondary HF
5.3305 LSB - Georgia ARES Section Emergency Net
The American Red Cross will also make use of local repeaters during their hurricane response operations. Secondary Red Cross Repeaters will be assigned usage depending upon the nature and size of the response.
146.850 - American Red Cross Primary
146.700 - American Red Cross Secondary
147.210 - American Red Cross Secondary
147.330 - American Red Cross Secondary
Other organizations that might activate to assist in response and relief efforts are the Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network and Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief teams.
7.265 LSB - SATERN (Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network)
14.265 USB - SATERN (Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network)
151.625 - Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief (VHF Itinerant)
147.550 - Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief
147.555 - Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief
3.865 LSB - Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief
7.238 LSB - Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief
7.251 LSB - South CARS Net
7.262 LSB - Southern Baptist Convention Net
A good way to keep track of and to gather information on a hurricane is the venerable Hurricane Watch Net, which has been around since 1965. This net will activate whenever there is a hurricane within 300 miles of a populated land mass or when activation is requested by the National Hurricane Center. The purpose of the net is to gather information from the storm for the National Hurricane Center and to pass on National Weather Service advisories on the storm. Information on hurricanes can also be heard on the Maritime Mobile Network. They also collect information for the National Weather Service and pass weather service advisories.
14.325 USB - Hurricane Watch Net
14.300 USB - Maritime Mobile Network
Government Monitoring
Local public safety agencies would be in the front lines of hurricane response. A listing of agency frequencies and Chatham-Effingham Trunked Repeater System (TRS) talkgroups would be too long to list here, but there are emergency management, mutual aid, and common frequencies and talkgroups that would be good to include in scanner programming. These would be used by a wide variety of agencies during any multi-agency response. A full listing of agency talkgroups for the Chatham-Effingham TRS can be found on the Radio Reference website (see list of links below).
Conventional Frequencies
123.025 - Airborne Operations, Air-to-Ground
123.100 - Airborne Operations, Air-to-Air
154.280 - Fire Mutual Aid
155.340 - HEAR (Hospitals, EMS)
155.475 - Law Enforcement National Emergency
853.6375 - Chatham County 800 Conventional
866.0125 - I-Call
866.5125 - I-Tac 1
867.0125 - I-Tac 2
867.5125 - I-Tac 3
868.0125 - I-Tac 4
Chatham-Effingham TRS Talkgroups
6224 - Chatham County Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) 1
6256 - Chatham County Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) 2
6288 - Chatham County Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) 3
6320 - Chatham County Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) 4
6352 - Chatham County Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) 5
33456 - Police Common
54032 – Police Common Digital
37072 - Fire Common
3632 – Fire Tac 1
3664 – Fire Tac 2
3696 – Fire Tac 3
3728 – Fire Tac 4
3760 – Fire Tac 5
3792 – Fire Tac 6
2416 - Medical Common
50320 - Savannah City Common
50352 - Chatham County Countywide Common
1648 - Chatham County Common
4240 - Chatham County Westside Common
4272 - Chatham County Eastside Common
Both Hunter Army Airfield and Savannah International Airport and the military units based there would be involved in relief operations in the event of a hurricane striking the coastal Georgia area. B-169 Aviation of the Georgia Army National Guard at Hunter AAF would likely support local operations while the 165th Airlift Wing at Savannah IAP would be able to help provide an air bridge for the Savannah area. The United States Coast Guard would also assist in the response to a hurricane with both aircraft from Air Station Savannah and surface assets from Sector Charleston and it’s subordinate unit Station Tybee (and beyond).
133.550 AM – Hunter AAF Control Tower
279.575 AM – Hunter AAF Control Tower
126.200 AM – Hunter AAF Base Ops
38.150 FM – B-169 AVN “Hurricane Ops”
139.400 AM – B-169 AVN “Guard Operations”
242.400 AM – B-169 AVN Air-to-Air
119.100 AM - Savannah IAP Control Tower
257.800 AM - Savannah IAP Control Tower
225.750 AM - 165 Airlift Wing, Georgia Air National Guard Command Post
237.000 AM - Air National Guard CRTC Command Post
156.800 – Marine VHF Ch. 16, Calling/Distress
156.650 – Marine VHF Ch. 13
157.050 – Marine VHF Ch. 21, Sector Charleston Primary Operating
345.000 AM - USCG Air Station Savannah Ops
Charleston Air Force Base is involved in relief operations not only nationwide but worldwide. Aircraft inbound to Charleston AFB from the south can easily be heard from the Savannah area.
134.100 AM - Charleston AFB Command Post
349.400 AM - Charleston AFB Command Post
Another agency that would support hurricane response efforts would the United States Air Force auxiliary, the Civil Air Patrol. The Civil Air Patrol is in the midst of frequency changes, so it would be prudent to keep both their old and new frequencies in mind. The CAP also uses repeater output frequencies as simplex frequencies.
148.150 - Civil Air Patrol Primary Repeater Output
148.125 - Civil Air Patrol Repeater, Coastal Georgia Area
148.175 - New Civil Air Patrol Repeaters
148.775 - New Civil Air Patrol Repeaters
There are many lists on the Internet that list HF frequencies for the “Hurricane Hunter” aircraft. For the most part, these lists are obsolete; the “Hurricane Hunters” now use satellite communications, including military SATCOM, instead of HF for their primary means of communications with ground stations.
Reference Links
Georgia ARES:
http://www.gaares.org/
SATERN (Salvation Army):
http://www.satern.org/
Hurricane Watch Net:
http://www.hwn.org/
Maritime Mobile Service Network:
http://www.mmsn.org/
Radio Reference:
http://www.radioreference.com/
Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net
The 6-Meter Setup Works
I finally found made some 6 Meter contacts with the FT-897 and the JTB-4. They were local rather than DX contacts, but were good contacts none the less. After seeing some emails and hearing some QSOs on 2 Meters about how 6 Meters had been open the previous few days, I called CQ on 50.125 USB yesterday evening. This time, I was duly answered by Russ, K4YDG. We spoke for a few, then carried on a QSO after he went mobile. After dinner, I left the FT-897 on while monitoring some A-10 and AC-130 activity over Hunter AAF and Fort Stewart and heard Ken, W4JKG calling CQ. I answered and had a good QSO with Ken.
Hopefully my work schedule and 6 Meters' schedule will mesh and I'll be around for a band opening. Next up is to finally make a contact on 2 Meters SSB.
Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net
Hopefully my work schedule and 6 Meters' schedule will mesh and I'll be around for a band opening. Next up is to finally make a contact on 2 Meters SSB.
Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net
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