KF4LMT's Monitoring Post: Scanning and Amateur Radio in Coastal Georgia

Skywarn Recognition Day Contacts

2009-12-05T01:10:00.003-05:00

For the midnight shift, we've been doing pretty good so far. On VHF, we've made several contacts using Echolink via the 147.505 W1GRE Echolink node back to the 146.700 (PL 100) repeater in Savannah and one contact on the SC HEARTS linked system in South Carolina. I checked in from the NWS Office on my portable to get my callsign on the log. On HF, we've made six contacts on 75 Meters. Here's the list so far:

VHF
N4VAD
W4SGA
W4JKG
K4SDJ
KD4PDX
KF4LMT

HF
W4SGA
N4VAD
WD9YBI
WX4MRX
WX4MHX
WX4PTC

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

On the Air at WX4CHS for Skywarn Recognition Day

2009-12-05T00:11:00.002-05:00

Location: Charleston, SC

We're on the air at WX4CHS at the National Weather Service Office in Charleston, SC. We've made some contacts on 2-Meters through Echolink and on 75 Meters on HF. Right now here is what we're working:

2 Meters on the 146.715 repeater (PL 123) and 146.700 (PL 100). We're working with Echolink on the 146.700 repeater.
3871 LSB on 76 Meters HF.

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

Military Monitoring Recap: November 2009

2009-12-02T02:25:00.002-05:00

Hunter AAF
124.975 - Tower
279.575 - Tower
285.425 - Tower
121.800 - Ground
291.675 - Ground
126.200 - Base Ops
77.725 - 224 MI Bn "SUNNY OPS"
345.000 - USCG Air Station Savanah Ops
157.175 - Marine VHF Ch. 83, Savannah Air MX Control
323.125 - Hunter AAF ATIS
127.525 - Hunter AAF ATIS (New)

ARMY 26286 (MH-60L, 3-160 SOAR)
ARMY 26961 (MH-60L, 3-160 SOAR)
ARMY 03746 (MH-47G, 3-160 SOAR)
SUNNY ## (RC-12N, 224 MI Bn)
SUNNY 63 (Cessna 208/U-27, 224 MI Bn)
TESTHAWK ## (H-60, OLR)
COAST GUARD 6510, 6542, 6545, 6604 (MH-65C, Savannah)
SCEPTER 11 (AC-130)

Savannah IAP/CRTC
119.100 - Tower
257.800 - Tower
121.900 - Ground
348.600 - Ground
120.400 - Approach/Departure
353.775 - Approach/Departure
125.300 - Approach/Departure
371.875 - Approach/Departure
118.400 - Approach/Departure
307.225 - Approach/Departure
225.750 - 165th AW CP
358.150 - CRTC Discrete (used for Boar's Nest Exercise)

DAWG ## (C-130H, 165th AW)

Fort Stewart/Wright AAF
127.350 - Marne Radio
279.626 - Marne Radio
126.250 - Wright AAF Tower
269.275 - Wright AAF Tower

MCAS Beaufort
328.425 - Approach/Departure
292.125 - Approach/Departure
281.800 - Base Ops
264.500 - PMSV
253.100 - VMFA-122 Base
283.400 - VMFA-122 Tac 1
354.325 - VMFA-122 Tac 2
344.200 - VMFA(AW)-224 Base
250.300 - VMFA(AW)-224 Tac 1
258.900 - VMFA(AW)-224 Tac 2
336.225 - VMFA(AW)-224 Tac 3
313.800 - VMFA-251 Base
290.000 - VMFA-251 Tac 1
327.475 - VMFA-251 Tac 2
228.200 - VMFA-312 Base

NIKEL 3# (F/A-18A+, VMFA-122)
BENGAL 4# (F/A-18D, VMFA-224)
TBOLT 5# (F/A-18C, VMFA-251)
CHECK 6# (F/A-18A+, VMFA-312)
FOX 515 (C-12, MCAS Beaufort)

Charleston AFB
306.925 - Charleston App/Dep
349.400 - Charleston AFB "PALMETTO OPS"
134.100 - Charleston AFB "PALMETTO OPS"
233.950 - PMSV
372.200 - PTD

McIntire JNGB
298.300 - 169th FW "SWAMP FOX OPS"
141.825 - 169th FW V14
143.625 - 169th FW V15
143.250 - 169th FW V16

MACE ## (F-16C, 169th FW)
VIPER ## (F-16C, 169th FW)
DEMON ## (F-16C, 169th FW)

Jacksonville
322.400 - Jacksonville App/Dep
351.800 - Jacksonville App/Dep
377.050 - Jacksonville App/Dep
317.800 - Jacksonville IAP Tower
251.250 - 125th FW Maintenance/Ops
273.900 - 125th FW SOF
234.800 - 125th FW Aux 6
253.700 - 125th FW Aux 7
314.200 - 125th FW Aux 8
343.000 - 125th FW Aux 9

FANG (F-15, 125 FW)
SNAKE (F-15, 125 FW)
VIPER (F-15, 125 FW)
MAD FOX ## (P-3C, VP-5)
NAVY LL 52 (P-3C, VP-30)
NAVY CD 1## (T-45)
NAVY CD 2## (T-45)
DRAGON 01 (unknown, related to USS Eisnenhower COMPTUEX)
DRAGON 63 (unknown, related to USS Eisnenhower COMPTUEX)
DRAGON 64 (unknown, related to USS Eisnenhower COMPTUEX)
MAKO 18 (unknown)

Robins AFB/JSTARS
293.525 - 116th ACW "PEACHTREE OPS"
225.725 - JSTARS Discrete
276.075 - JSTARS Discrete
328.025 - JSTARS Discrete
335.975 - JSTARS Discrete
341.750 - JSTARS Discrete
372.150 - JSTARS Discrete
376.125 - JSTARS Discrete
388.225 - JSTARS Discrete
395.150 - JSTARS Discrete

PEACH 03 (E-8C frontend, 116th ACW)
PEACH 62 (E-8 backend, 16th ACCS)
ALLEYCAT (E-8C backend, 128th ACCS)
STRIKESTAR (E-8C backend, 16th ACCS)

Ranges/Military Operating Areas
119.225 - Townsend Range
228.400 - Townsend Range
252.900 - Townsend Range
269.350 - Coastal MOAs
343.750 - Bulldog MOA
354.300 - Beefeater ECM Range (Poinsett)

SEALORD (USN FACSFAC Jax)
120.950 - North Primary
284.500 - North Primary
267.500 - South Primary
133.950 - South Primary
313.700 - North Secondary
350.675 - North TACTS Range
336.925 - South TACTS Range
349.800 - W-157 Discrete
376.900 - W-157 Discrete
338.100 - SEALORD Discrete

USS Eisenhower CSG COMPTUEX
328.425 - Marshal
292.225 - Strike
314.425 - Red Crown
233.325 - Aerial Refueling
234.575
247.100
270.525
342.250 - Jax Urban CAS

AG 1## (F/A-18E, VFA-143)
AG 2## (F/A-18F, VFA-103)
AG 3## (F/A-18C, VFA-83)
AG 60# (E-2C, VAW-121)
BLUETAIL (E-2C, VAW-121)
CAT (F/A-18C, F/A-18C, VFA-131)
DOG (F/A-18E, VMFA-143
RAM (F/A-18C, VFA-83

Miscellaneous
364.200 - NORAD AICC
260.900 - NORAD AICC
293.600 - NORAD Discrete
316.300 - NORAD Discrete
237.150 - AWACS Discrete
320.600 - AWACS Discrete
341.750 - DARK 41/42 (B-1B) air-to-air
278.800 - Moody MOA

ADVANCE (JTAC)
CHALICE FOXTROT (E-3, 963 ACCs)
DARK 4# (B-1B, Dyess)
DOOM 2#, 3#, 4# (B-52H, 2nd BW)
DRAGNET (E-3, 966 ACCS)
HOG (A-10, 23rd FG)
HUNTRESS (NORAD EADS)
RED LION 615 (SH-60, HS-15)
RIVER 4# (F/A-18,VFA-204)
SKULL 2# (B-52H, Barksdale AFB)
SODA ## (KC-135, 151st ARS)
STEALTH (117th ACS)
VENOM (JTAC, 165th ASOS)

ARTCC
256.900 - Jax Center
269.550 - Jax Center Columbia Low
277.400 - Jax Center Brunswick Low
282.200 - Jax Center Jekyll Low
282.300 - Jax Center Alma High
285.650 - Jax Center Statesboro High
290.400 - Jax Center Waycross Low
322.500 - Jax Center Savannah Low
351.700 - Jax Center Summerville High
363.200 - Jax Center Allendale Low

323.000 - Atlanta Center Macon

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

Skywarn Recognition Day

2009-12-01T02:40:00.002-05:00

This Saturday is Skywarn Recognition Day. Amateur Radio operators throughout the country will be manning radio stations at NWS Offices trying to make contact with other NWS Offices and as many hams as possible to celebrate the contributions that volunteer Skywarn radio operators make to the National Weather Service. This year, Amateur Radio Operators from Savannah have been asked to help out at NWS Charleston by manning a shift at their amateur radio station.

I will be joining Guy McDonald, K4GTM and Dan Scott, KF4MND as we ride up to Charleston on Friday night to work the 0001-0530 local shift at the NWS Charleston station. We'll be active on HF and VHF using the callsign WX4CHS, so tune through and keep an ear out for us. As part of the special event operation, the contact exchange will consist of call sign, signal report, location, and a one or two word description of the weather.

I plan on using my Blackberry to make blog posts and Twitter updates during our shift in Charleston. You can follow the Twitter feed on the sidebar of the blog here, or at http://twitter.com/kf4lmt. I hope to update with what we're up to and what frequencies we're working. I'm looking forward to having fun with this event and I hope to hear you on the air!

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

Amateur Radio Repeater Listing for I-95 in Coastal Georgia

2009-11-26T10:56:00.004-05:00

My travels to and from Savannah and Brunswick on I-95 the last few weeks have enabled me to collect a good amateur radio repeater listing for I-95 through Coastal Georgia. I have limited the repeaters to those that are active and easily accessed from I-95 so there are some that are listed in other sources that are not listed here.

146.970 - Savannah (widest 2m coverage for Savannah area)
146.700 (PL 100.0) - Savannah (Echolink)
147.330 (PL 203.5) - Savannah
442.700 - Savannah (very wide coverage)

146.865 (PL 141.3) - Jesup

145.330 (PL 131.8) - Brunswick (Echolink)
146.685 - Brunswick (Echolink)

147.195 (PL 118.8) - Kinglsand (Echolink)
444.625 (PL 118.8) - Kingsland (Analog and P25 Digital)

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

SE DOD Trunked System

2009-11-20T22:15:00.011-05:00

SE DOD TRS NSB Kings Bay Sites
Site 1-015: 386.050 CC, 388.0875, 388.3875, 386.425, 386.725, 386.9375, 388.5375
Site 1-023: 386.1875 CC, 385.0125, 385.2125, 385.8875, 386.0325

TG 28050 - NSBKB Waterfront Security; encrypted
TG 28053 - unknown; encrypted
TG 28056 - NSBKB Security
-mix encrypted/clear, mostly encrypted
-unid "roger, en route"
TG 28057 - unknown; encrypted
TG 28058 - unknown;
-mix encrypted/clear, mostly encrypted
-MIKE 89 clg 27 and 92 with no responses
TG 28059 - unknown
-mix encrypted/clear
-93 clg 89
-E3D wkg 93 for radio check
TG 28064 - unknown; encrypted
TG 28081 - unknown; encrypted
TG 28081 - unknown; encrypted
TG 28082 - unknown; encrypted
TG 28083 - unknown; encrypted
TG 28084 - Civilian Contractors?
-comms ref junction boxes, cables, bandwidth (working on a communications system?)
TG 28087 - unknown
-mix encrypted/clear
-24 wkg 21, need him to pick up E4A at TA Gate
TG 28557 - NSBKB Fire
-ENGINE 5 wkg HQ, HQ encrypted
TG 28562 - NSBKB Police?
-mix encrypted/clear, mostly encrypted
-LE type comms
-ALPHA BASE wkg ROMEO # and 2## (both encrypted)
TG 28586 - unknown
-QUARTERDECK wkg ROVER

SE DOD TRS NS Mayport Site
380.4375 CC

TG 28146 Fire/EMS (based on traffic from May 09)
-unid traffic, unknown if Mayport or NAS Jax
TG 28175 unknown
TG 28235 unknown
-weak/broken clear comms
TG 28264 NS Mayport Airfield?
-??? wkg TOWER ref movements on airfield
TG 28283 NS Mayport Police
-MAYPORT DISPATCH, MAYPORT 2#, MAYPORT 12#, MAYPORT 22# and SAM # ref to area checks, gates, vehicle checks, RAM checks, etc.
-MAYPORT 123 wkg DISPATCH for 10-28

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

Effingham County VHF Fire/EMS Dispatch

2009-11-20T21:44:00.005-05:00

Location: Savannah

Effingham County is no longer using the old 155.355 MHz repeater for initial dispatch of Fire/EMS calls. They are now using 158.7675 for initial dispatch. Currently I do not know a CTCSS tone for it, but I will pass it when I find out what it is.

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

Wednesday Monitoring

2009-11-18T20:10:00.001-05:00

I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon of monitoring here in the Glynn County area. AWACS, F-15s, and F/A-18s were active in the offshore SUAs and the NS Mayport site of the SE DOD TRS was coming in in addition to the NSB Kings Bay sites.

I'll have a more detailed report on the SE DOD TRS monitoring posted sometime on Friday.

Portable in Brunswick, GA

Mac McCormick III
KF4LMT

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Blog Admin Stuff

2009-11-18T00:35:00.003-05:00

I'm still wrapping my mind around keeping the blog up now that I'm splitting time between Savannah and Brunswick. I think I've pretty much come up with a plan on how to keep up with it while throwing in some new wrinkles at the same time:

When blogging from the Blackberry, I'll be appending the posts with "Portable from Brunswick, GA." These posts will naturally be short and may not contain a lot of detailed information. These will generally be brief updates or timely heads-up posts. Many times, I'll post more detailed information later when I'm around a computer. The more detailed postings may take a few days to show up, but they will show up.
Non-Blackberry posts will usually be prefaced with my location, so you'll know whether I'm in Savannah or Brunswick, identifying where the information in the post is relevant to. This won't apply to the monthly recap posts; they will contain information from Savannah, Brunswick, and my trips between the two.
I have been making increased use of Twitter, which updates on the sidebar to this blog. This enables me to make quick and easy short reports while playing radio. I have found that sending tweets from the Blackberry is both quicker and easier than trying to send a post by email. I'll continue to send posts to email groups, but this blog will get quick updates via Twitter. I'm using UberTwitter to post tweets from the Blackberry and it allows me to append my location to tweets. On some tweets I'll be including my location, which will show up as a link at the end of the tweet, to give folks an idea of where I'm hearing the activity from. Due to the setting I'm using in UberTwitter, the location will not be specific, it will be the location of the cell tower that the phone is working through (this general location is more than adequate for the purpose, however).

As far as the monthly recap posts go, look for them to resume at the beginning of December with a November recap. I've been able to play radio a bit more lately so I'm actually getting stuff to do a recap with! Things are looking up for radio time and the more active I am on the radio, the more active this blog will be. Things have been pretty slow the last few months, but I don't think they'll be that way long.

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

Tuesday Evening Tropo

2009-11-18T00:14:00.003-05:00

Location: Brunswick, GA

Shortly after 7:30 PM yesterday, I went out to the car with the intent of checking into the Camden County ARES Net at 8:00 PM. Turning on the FT-8800, the left side of the radio (which stays in scan mode) came across one of the Waycross repeaters, 145.270, active with the Pierce County Amateur Radio Emergency Service Group net. I listened in as they took a roll call then checked in when they asked for general check-ins and visitors.

After the Pierce County ARES net wrapped up, I found the 146.970 repeater in Savannah active with Ed, NC5S and Ryan, AJ4MY. I tried breaking in with them, but apparently I wasn't able to get in good enough to be recognized. Earlier in the evening while doing some monitoring at the Marshes of Glynn Overlook Park in Brunswick, I heard the 146.700 and 146.970 (I sent out a Twitter post at the time); at that point there was either no one around the repeaters or I still wasn't getting in good enough to raise anyone. I also tried the 442.700 repeater in Savannah both times; it came back with stronger signal strengths than the 146.970 or 146.700 did. Both times I don't think anyone must have been monitoring the repeater because I was getting it back at S3-S4 but still wasn't able to raise anyone.

At 8:00 PM I checked into the Camden ARES Net on the 147.195 repeater in Kingsland as planned. They have a meeting planned for December 1; it looks like my schedule will cooperate, so I plan on riding down to Kingsland from Brunswick that evening to attend.

During the Camden ARES Net, I started hearing the Statesboro Amateur Radio Society Net on the 147.105 repeater in Pembroke. Given the previous reception of the Savannah repeaters, it was obvious we were benefiting from some Tropo. I checked into the STARS Net, saying hello to the Savannah and Statesboro group then listened as stations from Baldwin, FL and Charleston, SC checked in. Interestingly enough, the 147.105 came in stronger here in Brunswick than the 146.970 and 146.700 repeaters did.

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

Shuttle Atlantis Launch

2009-11-17T00:02:00.003-05:00

This afternoon, I went out with the BC396 to catch the Shuttle Atlantis launch. Surprisingly, I caught more with the HT here in Brunswick than I have with the base setup in Savannah. I don't know whether to attribute that to location or launch trajectory. Future launches may indicate which is the answer. A few minutes after launch, as usual, I began picking up the transmissions; the last one I could make out was "single engine past 104."

Portable in Brunswick, GA

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

SE DOD Trunked System

2009-11-11T19:41:00.002-05:00

As promised, here are the notes from my monitoring of the SE DOD TRS Kings Bay sites on 10 November. Talkgroup IDs are from RadioReference.

386.050 NSB Kings Bay Site
386.1875 Unknown Site

Note: 386.1875 slightly weaker than 386.050 but audible in Kingsland and south end of Brunswick

TG 28027 unknown
-KINGS BAY wkg KEY WEST for radio check (sounded civilian)
TG 28050 NSBKB Waterfront Security; encrypted
TG 28052 unknown; encrypted
TG 28053 unknown; encrypted
TG 28056 NSBKB Security
-E3W clg 19 for radio check
TG 28057 unknown; encrypted/clear
-E3H wkg ????? (encrypted) "send it for E3H"
-unid ref personnel pickup
TG 28059
TG 28064 unknown; encrypted
TG 28081 unknown; encrypted
TG 28082 unknown; encrypted
TG 28087 unknown; encrypted
TG 28562 unknown; encrypted/clear
-unid ref escort
TG 28567 unknown; encrypted

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

Kingsland Monitoring

2009-11-10T12:21:00.001-05:00

This morning I went down to Kingsland and did some monitoring and searching. I was hoping to catch some USS Eisenhower exercise communications but disappointingly I didn't. The Truman is also off of the Florida coast working with T-45s for carrier quals; I never found any carrier frequencies for the Truman but I did catch the T-45s coming and going with SEALORD on 284.500 and with Jax Approach/Departure on 351.800 and 377.050.

I also monitored the Southeast DOD TRS NSB Kings Bay site on 386.050 and the unknown site on 386.1275. I will post more on this later; it is hard to put together a good list on a Blackberry.

Portable in Brunswick

Mac McCormick III
KF4LMT

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Google Mobile App

2009-11-09T11:52:00.002-05:00

This morning I drove around Brunswick learning the area and I used the Map feature in the Google Mobile App for the Blackberry like a GPS Nav device. It worked quite well especially considering the app is free. It kept up with my location accurately and I had no problem following its map.

I strongly reccomend this terrific app to any Blackberry user.

BTW, I will try to catch up on some radio stuff on Wednesday night when I'm back in Savannah. I left the power cord for the laptop there so I haven't been able to organize my scribbled notes yet.

Portable in Brunswick, GA

Mac McCormick III
KF4LMT

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Updated Amateur Radio Countries/DX Entities

2009-11-05T15:32:00.002-05:00

I took a look at the Logbook of the World today and found that I have 57 confirmed DX entities now that confirmations from the CQWW DX Contest are starting to come in. Here is my list of confirmations via Logbook of the World:

ALASKA	AL1G
ANGUILLA	VP2E
ANTIGUA & BARBUDA	V26F
ARGENTINA	LV5V
ARUBA	P40ZB
AUSTRALIA	VK4KW
BAHAMAS	C6APR
BARBADOS	8P5A
BELIZE	V31MW
BONAIRE,CURACAO (NETH ANTILLES)	PJ4E
BRITISH VIRGIN ISLAND	VP2V/SP7VC
CANADA	VA3DX
CANARY ISLAND	EF8R
CAYMAN ISLANDS	ZF2AM
COLOMBIA	HK3O
COSTA RICA	TI5N
CRETE	SV9CVY
CUBA	T42T
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC	HI3TEJ
ENGLAND	M6T
FERNANDO DE NORONHA	PS0F
FINLAND	OH8L
FRANCE	F5RQQ
GALAPAGOS ISLANDS	HC8A
HAITI	4V4JR
HAWAII	NH7C
HONDURAS	HQ3Z
HUNGARY	HA5BSW
IRELAND	EI3IO
ITALY	IU8ANT
LITHUANIA	LY8O
LUXEMBOURG	LX1AX
MADEIRA ISLANDS	CQ9T
MARTINIQUE	TO8Z
MEXICO	XE3N
MONTENEGRO	4O3A
NETHERLANDS	PA9JO
NORTHERN IRELAND	GI5K
NORWAY	LN9Z
POLAND	SP5KP
PORTUGAL	CT1ILT
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA	ZS3Y
ROMANIA	YO9HP
SAINT MARTIN	FS5KA
SCOTLAND	GA2MP
SINT MAARTEN, SABA, ST EUSTATIUS	PJ7/AH8DX
SLOVENIA	S53F
SPAIN	EA1EEY
SVALBARD	JW8DW
SWITZERLAND	HB9FAX
TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS	VP5/WB2REM
UKRAINE	UT7UV
UNITED NATIONS HQ	4U1UN
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA	N1API
US VIRGIN ISLANDS	KP2M
VENEZUELA	YV4A
WALES	GW4BLE

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

Boar's Nest Exercise

2009-11-05T15:16:00.004-05:00

An exercise named Boar's Nest has been taking place in the afternoons this week in the SEALORD Special Use Airspace off of the Georgia Coast and in the Coastal MOAs and Townsend Range in Southeast Georgia. Players have been the 117th ACS, an Air Control Squadron of the Georgia ANG, F-16s from the SC ANG, F-15s from the FL ANG, B-52s from Barksdale AFB and B-1Bs from Dyess AFB. With both air-to-air activity and air-to-ground activity, it has been very interesting to listen to.

STEALTH (117th ACS)
STRIKESTAR (E-8C, 16th ACCS)
MACE 3# (F-16C, 169th FW); 141.825 V14
DEMON 5# (F-16, 169th FW); 143.250 V16
FANG 0# (F-15, 125th FW); 234.800 Aux 6
SNAKE 0# (F-15, 125th FW); 253.700 Aux 7
DARK 41/42 (B-1B, Dyess); 341.750 a2a

DOOM 2#, 3#, 4# (B-52H, 2nd BW)

SKULL 2# (B-52H, Barksdale)

284.500 - SEALORD North Primary
120.950 - SEALORD North Primary
350.675 - SEALORD N. TACTS Range
358.150 - Savannah CRTC Discrete
335.975 - JSTARS Discrete
228.400 - Townsend Range Control
364.200 - AICC

225.725 - JSTARS Discrete

328.025 - JSTARS Discrete

372.150 - JSTARS Discrete

381.000 - JSTARS Discrete

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

South Carolina Air Guard unit wins international F-16 competition

2009-11-04T20:16:00.001-05:00

by Master Sgt. Richard B. Hodges
South Carolina National Guard

11/4/2009 - MWAFFAQ SALTI AIR BASE, Jordan -- The South Carolina Air National Guard's 169th Fighter Wing was named the overall winner of Falcon Air Meet 2009, a three-nation F-16 Fighting Falcon competition, held here through Nov. 3.

The South Carolina team, which represented the U. S. Air Force's Central Command and the U.S., won three of the four main events as well as the Top Overall Maintenance Award and the Top Overall Competition Award. Other nations competing in the annual event were Jordan and Belgium.

"I could not be prouder of what the South Carolina Air National Guard accomplished here at this year's Falcon Air Meet," said Col. Michael Hudson, commander of the 169th Operations Group based at McEntire Joint National Guard Base, S.C.

This is the first time since the Falcon Air Meet began in 2006 that an Air National Guard team has been selected to represent the United States at the competition.

"Everyone worked very hard for a long time to prepare for this competition and the results show that they accomplished what they came to do," Colonel Hudson said. "We want to thank the Jordanians for their gracious hospitality. It was very helpful to train with and engage in friendly competition with our friends from Jordan and Belgium. We hope to return soon to Jordan for a future Falcon Air Meet."

The mission of the Falcon Air Meet is to train through friendly competition with the air forces of the U.S., Middle East nations and other F-16 users from around the world.

The meet was inspired by Prince Feisal Bin Al Hussein and first organized in 2006. A main goal of the competition is the improvement of the relationship of Jordan with its partners and the promotion of stability in the region.

"I want to thank everyone, both deployed and supporting back at home station, for their hard work and dedication in preparation for our competition in this year's Falcon Air Meet," said Col. Scott Williams, commander of the 169 Fighter Wing. "We all learned about each other's capability to support one another and fight side-by-side as coalition partners. We not only competed to bring out the best in each other, but we also shared maintenance and operations practices and gained a renewed understanding of our key allies."

Members of the Colorado Air National Guard served as "White Force" judges for the meet as they have done in all previous years. Colorado ANG officials were instrumental in the formation of the first Falcon Air Meet in 2006. They were asked to participate as judges for the event, because of their state partnership with Jordan, a partnership formally established in 2004.

The six award categories announced at the closing ceremonies of the Falcon Air Meet 2009 were:

-- Large Force Employment (Air-to-Ground Competition): A two-part competition in which a flight of F-16s were tasked to drop inert Mark-82 500-pound bombs on a target at a precise time. Later, the jets uploaded live Mark-82 bombs and engaged a ground target. The judging parameters were airspeed, dive angle-of-attack, release altitude, accuracy (aim point) and time-on-target. Each F-16 carried two bombs. This event was won by the South Carolina ANG team, which scored 190 points of a possible 200.

-- Scramble Launch and Intercept Competition: This event required pilots and crew chiefs to work together to safely launch an alert aircraft in the fastest time possible and then for the pilot to conduct an intercept mission. In this close competition, only 10 points separated the first place South Carolina team and the second place Royal Jordanian Air Force team.

-- Formation Arrival Award: This event required a four-ship flight of F-16s to arrive over a designated target in a symmetrical formation. It was won by the Royal Jordanian Air Force with a perfect score of 100 points. The RJAF pilots showed "good formation and action," and their arrival time over the target was precisely to the second. The South Carolina team was second with a score of 95.

-- Weapons Load Competition: Two air-to-air missiles were uploaded to an F-16 with the greatest speed, safety and reliability. This event also was won by South Carolina.

-- Top Overall Maintenance Award: This event, which was based on the overall results of the Scramble, Weapons Load and Sortie Generation, was won by the South Carolina team.

-- Top Overall Competition Award: As a result of having won four of the five competition categories, the South Carolina team was awarded the top overall award and named winner of the 2009 Falcon Air Meet. The awards were presented by His Royal Highness Prince Feisel Bin Al Hussein.

Situation Report

2009-11-04T08:45:00.002-05:00

I've almost settled into living into two places. Most of time is being spent in Brunswick, GA with a couple of days a week in Savannah, GA. I'm settling into a routine in Brunswick and I've finally had the time to play a bit of radio. I'm not set up well for Amateur Radio yet, just some portables and the mobile for VHF/UHF; I'm still waiting a bit to set up something for HF operations. Scanning on the other hand, has been progressing well.

I'm unable to run outside antennas where I'm at in Brunswick, so I use a Radio Shack mag mount scanner antenna on top of a DVD rack. At first I attempted to use a Uniden BC796 as the radio, but it's reception left much to be desired. I now connect the antenna to my Uniden BC396 portable with much better results. In addition to the obvious public safety on the Glynn Co. 800 system I've been able to monitor Townsend Range with ease from inside as well as the FLETC TRS, Glynco Jetport, Malcom McKinnon Airport, and the Jacksonville Center Brunswick and Jekyll low sites. While taking my afternoon walks, I can easily hear the above as well as some of the SEALORD SUAs off of the Georgia coast with the BC396 using a Diamond RH77CA antenna.

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

Countries/DXCC Entities Confirmed

2009-10-27T15:58:00.004-04:00

I was just looking at the countries/DXCC entities I have confirmed on the ARRL's Logbook of the World. In just about a year of operating on HF I've have 51 countries/entities confirmed on LOTW. I don't think that's too bad for someone who is not a hardcore DXer or HF operator. Here is a list of the countries that I have confirmed:

ALASKA	AL1G
ANGUILLA	VP2E
ANTIGUA & BARBUDA	V26F
ARUBA	P40ZB
AUSTRALIA	VK4KW
BAHAMAS	C6APR
BARBADOS	8P5A
BONAIRE,CURACAO (NETH ANTILLES)	PJ4E
BRITISH VIRGIN ISLAND	VP2V/SP7VC
CANADA	VA3DX
CANARY ISLAND	EF8R
CAYMAN ISLANDS	ZF2AM
COLOMBIA	HK3O
COSTA RICA	TI5N
CRETE	SV9CVY
CUBA	T42T
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC	HI3TEJ
ENGLAND	M6T
FERNANDO DE NORONHA	PS0F
FINLAND	OH8L
FRANCE	F5RQQ
GALAPAGOS ISLANDS	HC8A
HAITI	4V4JR
HAWAII	NH7C
HONDURAS	HQ3Z
HUNGARY	HA5BSW
IRELAND	EI3IO
ITALY	IU8ANT
LITHUANIA	LY8O
LUXEMBOURG	LX1AX
MARTINIQUE	TO8Z
MEXICO	XE3N
MONTENEGRO	4O3A
NETHERLANDS	PA9JO
NORTHERN IRELAND	GI5K
NORWAY	LN9Z
POLAND	SP5KP
PORTUGAL	CT1ILT
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA	ZS3Y
SAINT MARTIN	FS5KA
SCOTLAND	GA2MP
SLOVENIA	S53F
SPAIN	EA1EEY
SVALBARD	JW8DW
SWITZERLAND	HB9FAX
TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS	VP5/WB2REM
UKRAINE	UT7UV
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA	N1API
US VIRGIN ISLANDS	KP2M
VENEZUELA	YV4A
WALES	GW4B

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

CQWW DX Contest

2009-10-25T20:05:00.005-04:00

This weekend, I used the CQWW DX Contest to add some DX stations to my logbook and pick up a few new countries in the process. Overall, I had 83 contacts most of which were on 20 and 15 Meters. 15 Meters seemed to work the best for me this time; 20 Meters was just so jam packed and busy that it was hard for me to get through the big gun stations with 100 Watts and a G5RV. I found the easier going on 15 Meters both Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

The highlights were working New Zealand and the United Nations Headquarters, both early Sunday morning on 40 Meters.

The new countries/DX entities I picked up this weekend were:

Montserrat
Chile
French Guiana
Norway
Moldavia
Scotland
Cape Verde
New Zealand
United Nations Headquarters

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

Monitoring In Brunswick

2009-10-19T18:46:00.003-04:00

I'm just about settled in Brunswick and I've had the chance to break out the scanners and do a bit of listening. I've been able to monitor some Fire/EMS traffic on the Glynn County TRS and some MilCom.

Listening to the Glynn County and Brunswick Fire Departments has been an adjustment. They use different terminology than I'm used to listening to from Chatham County and Savannah and they dispatch somewhat differently. I'd describe it, but I'm still in the process of getting a grip on it.

In the realm of MilCom, I've been able to catch some F/A-18s from Beaufort over the weekend and some JSTARS activity today. Monday is typically a slow day for Beaufort, so I haven't been able to ascertain how well I can hear the W-157 traffic (but it shouldn't be much of a problem). It is also worth noting that I heard some MARAUDER AH-64s from the SC ARNG working Townsend Range from I-95 at Exit 38 last week. Given the the AH-64s typically fly relatively low level, this could be a sign that there will be good listening to Townsend Range from here in Brunswick.

Stay Tuned, More to Come (Albeit it may be slowly...)

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

Boy Scouts Jamboree on the Air

2009-10-14T10:02:00.003-04:00

This Saturday, 17 October 2009, is the Boy Scouts Jamboree on the Air. Savannah area scouts will be participating with a JOTA event at the 8th Air Force Museum in Pooler on US 80 just off of I-95. The plan is to be on the air beginning at 10:00 AM Saturday morning and will be operated like a mini-Field Day. If you are an amateur radio operator, please come out and help the Boy Scouts out. This event is a great way to encourage prospective hams, get experience in setting up and operating a station in the field (good ARES type training) and just enjoy camaraderie with other hams. If you aren't a ham and are interested in amateur radios, feel free to drop by and learn about the hobby. Philip, KA4KOE is organizing the event and has announced that an Army communications Humvee is scheduled to be on display at the JOTA event.

Unfortunately I won't be at the JOTA this year due to my work schedule. Despite that, I encourage folks to get out and support this great event. I'll truly miss not being able to help out.

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

First Few Days in Brunswick

2009-10-13T20:26:00.003-04:00

I am back from my first few days in Brunswick. I was pretty busy with work, so I don't have much to report quite yet. There wasn't much military to report on because one day was a holiday. The Glynn County TRS is very active, but I haven't had much time to search for TGs that aren't listed on the Radio Reference page. Here is what have found:

The 442.700 repeater covers the area south of Savannah better than the 2-meter repeaters. I was able to start carrying on a conversation with Mark, KA4CID from milemarker 49 while on my way back to town this evening.
The 444.625 repeater in Kingsland has good coverage in Brunswick. This is an interesting repeater; it is dual mode with both analog and P25 voice. I had a good QSO with Pete, K4QHR on the 444.625 last night while out getting something to eat.
My programming files need some serious work! The portions for Glynn and Camden have not been used much and extended monitoring and attempted use has exposed some problems.

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

Chatham Emergency Management Agency Digital Talkgroups Revisited

2009-10-07T12:06:00.004-04:00

This afternoon I'm revisiting a blog post from last month about CEMA talkgroups. Last month's post was about CEMA talkgroups being referred to as number/letter combinations such as 1A.

Today's monitoring has shed some more light on the designators for CEMA's talkgroups. As mentioned in the previous post, CEMA activity has been noted on TG 12496. It was in use today as CEMA and the Port Wentworth FD tested warning sirens. During that activity, the TG was referred to as "channel 1D." This would indicate that CEMA now has two groups of talkgroups for their use: a set of analog channels using A or ALPHA designators and a set of digital talkgroup using D or DELTA designators.

If TG 12496 is, as referred to, CEMA 1D and the D/DELTA talkgroups parallel the known analog talkgroups, we can extrapolate the following:

12496 - CEMA 1D

12512 - CEMA 2D

12528 - CEMA 3D

12544 - CEMA 4D

12560 - CEMA 5D

Future monitoring should indicate if those are the actual talkgroup assignments. I do have one note from December 2007 with radio testing on TG 12560. If anyone hears any activity on these talkgroups, please send me an email at kf4lmt @ comcast.net or post to the Scan Savannah Google Group.

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT

Mil Air Frequency List Updates

2009-10-01T23:20:00.003-04:00

As promised, I have uploaded some updates. The Savannah IAP/CRTC list, MCAS Beaufort list, and the Shaw AFB list have all been updated and uploaded tonight. Next I'll be turning my attention to updating some of the public safety files (no guarantees on when the updates will be ready for upload though!)

Mac McCormick III, KF4LMT