Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Milcom Monitoring on the Florida Gulf Coast

T-2 Buckeye aircraft formation over Pensacola. (US Navy Photo)

Nashville area monitor Joe Cobb travelled down to the western Florida Gulf Coast last week and did quite a bit of Milcom monitoring. Joe posted has report to the Milcom newsgroup and has given the Milcom Monitoring Post permission to post his intercepts here on the MMP Blog.

Thanks Joe for sharing your intercepts with our readers here on MMP.

Monitored on the Florida Gulf Coast during the period 7/9/2008 to 7/12/2008

Pensacola Area Callsigns:

BUCK 1xx (T-1A, VT-4/TAW-6, Pensacola) USAF borrowed aircraft
BUCK 3xx (T-6A, VT-4/TAW-6, Pensacola)
KATT 1xx (T-1A, VT-10/TAW-6, Pensacola) USAF borrowed aircraft
KATT 6xx (T-6A, VT-10/TAW-6, Pensacola)
ROCKET 2xx (T-2C, VT-86/TAW-6, Pensacola) yup, they still use 'em
ROCKET 5xx (T-39N/G, VT-86/TAW-5, Pensacola)
BLACKBIRD xxx (T-34C, VT-2/TAW-5, Whiting Field)
RED KNIGHT xxx (T-34C, VT-3/TAW-5, Whiting Field)
SHOOTER xxx (T-34C, VT-6/TAW-5, Whiting Field)
ROCKET 404 x4 (T-45C, ???) lands NAS Pensacola, visual over the hotel
FOXY 48 (T-38C, 90th FTS/80th FTW, Sheppard) shoots app at NAS Pensacola then heads toward Eglin
BENGAL 41 x 3 (F/A-18D, VMFA(AW)-224, Beaufort) working offshore using SEABREEZE TAC freq of 275.600 then lands NAS Pensacola for RON then departs Saturday morning (A/A: 250.300)
RED DOG 31 (?AH-1W/UH-1N?, HMLA-773, Atlanta) lands NAS Pensacola
RED DOG 32 (AH-1W, HMLA-773, Atlanta) lands NAS Pensacola, visual as he flies down the beach enroute
RAVEN 21 "flight" (???) lands NAS Pensacola, calls helo pad 2 in sight

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Eglin/Tyndall related callsigns (AWACS):

THUMPER (front end: SCOUT 12)
BANDSAW KILO
ALLEY CAT

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Eglin/Tyndall related callsigns (tankers):

BOLT 04, 05 (KC-135R, 91st ARS/6th AMW, MacDill)
SODA 81, 82 (KC-135R, 151st ARS/134th ARW, Knoxville)
JAKE 11 (KC-135R, 153rd ARS/186th ARW, Meridian)

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Eglin/Tyndall related callsigns (fighters):

HOSER 61 x 2 (F-15, 33rd FW, Eglin)
CLAW 01 x 3 (F-22A, 43rd FS/325th FW, Tyndall)
HOTDOG 01 x 3 (F-15E, 40th FLTS/46th TW, Eglin) HOTDOG 01 self id'd as an F-15E when he declared an IFE due to left engine overtemp. Passed tail number of 87-0180, 2 SOB on 7-11-08.
MOZAM 01 x 2 (F-15, 33rd FW, Eglin)
NITRO 01 x 2 (F-15, 33rd FW, Eglin)
BARON 31 x 3 (F-15, 33rd FW, Eglin)
RACER 01 x 2 (F-16, 113th FS/181st FW, Terra Haute) A/A: 142.95
RACER 03 x 2 (F-16, 113th FS/181st FW, Terra Haute) A/A: 142.275
SPOOKY 41 (AC-130U, 4th SOS/16th SOW, Hurlburt)
SUPER 01 (????)
NOMAD 61 x 2 (F-15, 33rd FW, Eglin)
RINGO 51 x 2 (F-15C, 33rd FW, Eglin) On 7-11-08 on the tanker RINGO 51 passed tail number of 82-0034 and RINGO 52 passed number of 82-0033
RINGO 71 x 2 (F-15, 33rd FW, Eglin)
GRIZZLY 51 x 2 (F-15, 33rd FW, Eglin)
CHECKER 01 x 2 (F-22A, 43rd FS/325th FW, Tyndall)
RAPTOR 01 x 2 (F-22A, 43rd FS/325th FW, Tyndall)
SPECTRE 61 (AC-130H, 16th SOS/16th SOW, Hurlburt)
SKYRAY 01 x 3 (????)
SPAD 78 (C-130 type, Hurlburt)
DISCO 21 x ? (F-15, 33rd FW, Eglin)
CHOSEN xx (????)
BURNER 01 (????)
SCARY xx (????)
VEGAS 11 (????)
SHADOW 92 (MC-130P, 9th SOS/16th SOW, Hurlburt)
SPUR 42 (C-130 type, ???, Hurlburt) Reported going hot in Alpha-78 on 259.2 (7-11-08)

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Frequencies (Pensacola Area):

136.675------T-34 A/A
239.050------Pensacola A/D
251.300------Unknown user/usage
252.525------T-34 A/A
257.975------T-34 A/A
270.800------Pensacola A/D
274.200------Working TAC freq assigned by SEABREEZE
275.600------Working TAC freq assigned by SEABREEZE
280.700------Working TAC freq assigned by SEABREEZE
290.000------Unknown user/A/A (poss VMFA-251 F-18's)
291.625------Pensacola A/D
303.050------Local Common A/A
303.150------Gator MOA (used like an A/A common for position reporting)
303.400------SEABREEZE Controller
306.925------North Whiting Field Tower
309.800------Unknown user/A/A
318.800------Unknown user/A/A
340.200------Sherman Tower (KNPA)
351.825------Pensacola A/D

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Frequencies (Eglin, Hurlburt, Tyndall area):

227.075-------Tyndall working freq (W-470?)
228.900-------BANDSAW KILO working HUNTRESS passing tracks (7-11-08)
251.250-------Hurlburt CP
257.500-------Tyndall working freq (HYDRA)
266.500-------Air Refueling
269.150-------Eglin Approach
281.450-------Eglin A/D
288.900-------Tyndall working freq
290.900-------Eglin Mission
292.700-------Hornet Ops (43rd FS/325th FW)
298.400-------CHOSEN "flight" A/A
320.950-------Unid Approach/Departure Control
341.700-------Tyndall A/D
342.500-------Eglin Metro (BANDSAW checking on approaching weather)
353.650-------Eglin Tower (KVPS)
357.500-------Air Refueling
360.600-------Eglin A/D
363.400-------Eglin Mission/Air Refueling
369.150-------CROW A/A
384.400-------Tyndall Tower (KPAM)
392.100-------Tyndall A/D

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Frequencies (TAC working freqs assigned by Eglin Mission on 290.9):

245.450-------RACER working freq later in the week
258.100-------DARKSTAR (E-3) working RACERS (F-16)
259.200
259.750-------THUMPER (E-3) working CROWS (F-15) on 7-9-08 and NOMAD 01 x 2 (F-15) working DEMON on 7-10-08
273.250
288.300
316.450
320.950
322.900
326.800
338.350

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Miscellaneous:

157.075-------US Coast Guard Ch 81A
157.100-------US Coast Guard Ch 22A
157.150-------US Coast Guard Ch 23A
276.800-------BAMA Ops (also BANDSAW checking status of PYTHON and VENOM flights)
280.100-------Pine Hill MOA (DIXIE Vipers playing)
288.150-------Houston Center
318.050-------SENTRY 50 (E-3) up with either RAYMOND 11 or RAVEN 11
323.050-------Jacksonville Center
345.000-------US Coast Guard Air (unid helo)
346.400-------Jacksonville Center
364.200-------AICC

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I also tried some of the new 380MHz trunked freqs for the area and this is what i come up with.

Control Channel: 385.3125 (assigned to NAS Pensacola according to Radioreference.com)

Freqs asociated with the system:

388.8000 388.6000 388.0625 386.5125 386.2500 388.3375 388.2375

Talk groups that came up and i never identitified except maybe one.

29213
29445
29473 (they kept saying quarterdeck to so and so and responders came back with such and such secured)

Other control channels in the area i found in search mode:

386.2625 386.8500 386.8875 388.2375

End of report from Joe.

If you have a report like Joe's that you would like to share with the Milcom monitoring community, on the most read radio blog on the Internet, please email me at the email address in the masthead. person's wishing to remain anonymous may do so if indicated in the email message to me.