Friday, March 18, 2011

Almost Operational from WNC


I have almost got my Kinetic Avionics Mode-S box operational here on the Milcom Radio Ranch. This is a fascinating Milcom monitoring tool that a serious radio listener should look at to supplement and enhance their monitor efforts. I hope to complete all my ground work on my system this weekend. The final antenna work will be done as my schedule and weather allow.

I had a fairly quiet Milcom day yesterday on the box. Here is the list of the military Mode-S aircraft I picked up with my current limited antenna capability.

Hex Code Serial Callsign Date/Time Aircraft Type Service Unit
AE0589 87-0044 --- 2011-03-17 19:14 C-5B United States USAF 60AMW/22AS [KSUU]

AE01BC 84-0130 JOSA903 2011-03-17 19:09 C-21A United States USAF 375AW/311AS [KCOS]

AE1488 86-0416 PEACH61 2011-03-17 19:08 TE-8a United States 330thCTS

AE01BC 84-0130 JOSA903 2011-03-17 18:57 C-21A United States USAF 375AW/311AS [KCOS]

AE10D3 165517 --- 2011-03-17 17:22 T-39G United States USN TW-6/VT-86 [KNPA]

ADFC9D 92-0348 --- 2011-03-17 16:21 T-1A United States USAF 479FTG/451FTS [KNPA]

AE03F8 84-0154 --- 2011-03-17 16:02 C-12U United States Det38

ADFE4D 94-0321 R40321 2011-03-17 15:16 C-12R United States USARC 6-52 AVN (TA)

ADFD02 95-0054 --- 2011-03-17 15:00 T-1A United States 48thFTS

AE10D2 165516 --- 2011-03-17 14:46 T-39G United States USN TW-6/VT-86 [KNPA]

AE0154 63-8045 RCH3045 2011-03-17 13:48 KC-135R United States USAF 6AMW/927ARW

There was more stuff earlier in the day, including several Peach E-8 aircraft and USAF tankers, but I had not set things up to fully capture what was actually seen. Many of the aircraft above were not heard on the scanner, but they were seen on the Mode-S box.

What I haven't listed here are the hundreds of civilian airline. bizjets and government Mode-S equipped aircraft. Those listings would go on and on for pages and I won't post them up here. Like I said if you are an aviation monitoring enthusiast, a Mode-S box or a Pinkfroot app should be on your bucketlist.

If you want to track ADS-B equipped aircraft or AIS ships if your near a waterway or the coast. checkout the Pinkfroot Plane Finder and Ship Finder apps for real time tracking on the iPhone, iPod, iPod and now the Android platform as well. Their website is at http://my.pinkfroot.com/.

Pinkfroot also just released a new on-line live air traffic radar map at planefinder.net and a super fast ship map at shipfinder.co. These both provide the same amazing ADS-B and AIS virtual radar information straight to your PC or Mac.

If you are interested in monitoring Mode-S transmissions and are looking for some quality equipment, take a look at the Kinetic Avionics website at http://www.kinetic-avionics.com/.