The Milcom Files - MT Editions - Are Now Available on Amazon

Mention the words "Monitoring the Military," and most radio hobbyists will immediately think of military air shows, sporting event Military Aircraft Flybys or a whole host of other military activities they would like to hear on their radios. There is a big radio frequency spectrum out there to monitor, and if you know where to listen, you can eavesdrop on some of the coolest radio communications you will ever hear on a scanner or shortwave radio. Military communications monitoring is the one segment of the radio hobby that has exploded in growth in recent years and is getting more popular among the listening community every day.

Larry Van Horn N5FPW, spent 15 years documenting activity in the military radio spectrum in his monthly Milcom column in the pages of Monitoring Times magazine. And now for the first time ever, he is publishing and making available all those columns here at Amazon in the Kindle E-Book format.

Teak Publishing is pleased to announce the release of their latest Kindle e-books -- the first edition of the Milcom Files – Monitoring Times edition by Amazon Bestselling author Larry Van Horn, N5FPW.

The Milcom Files edition one covers the 15 years of Military Communications (Milcom) columns that Larry wrote for the now defunct-Monitoring Times magazine from 1998-2013.

Volume one (ASIN: B077NN7RQ5) of the Milcom Files covers columns published between 1998 to 2006. The column was bimonthly from September 1998 to November 2002, and monthly from January 2003 to December 2006. Volume two (ASIN: B077NQXH3C) covers columns published between 2007 to 2013. These columns were published monthly during this period. A complete index to all the columns is available on the Milcom MP blog at http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html.

The MT Milcom columns documented the U.S. military conversion to narrowband LMR systems, the move from conventional to trunk radio systems, the 225-400 MHz band plan shift, including the new 380-400 MHz sub-band, and HF military frequencies, both foreign and US. This two-volume set of e-books has over 327,000 plus words, and nearly 1,000 pages of frequencies, call signs, and how-to style articles.

Even though these columns were originally published from 1998-2013, you will find a lot of material that is still valid even today. All US military services, HF. VHF. UHF, military satellites, FAA Air Route Traffic Control Center frequencies, base profiles, foreign military frequencies, airshow frequencies, equipment, and a lot more are included. Each column will be presented as it was published in MT in this e-book except for photographs.

If you are interested in monitoring the military, own a scanner and/or shortwave radio, then the Milcom Files two volume set is a must reference on your radio shack shelf.

Teak Publishing’s The Milcom Files Monitoring Times edition is now available for purchase worldwide from Amazon.com.

Volume one is on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077NN7RQ5.

Volume two is on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077NQXH3C.

The price for each e-Book edition is US$7.99. This book is being released internationally. Amazon customers in the United Kingdom, Germany, France Spain, Italy, Japan, India, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Australia can order the e-Book from Amazon websites directly servicing these countries. All other countries can use the regular Amazon.com website.

You do not need to own a Kindle reader to read Amazon e-book publications. You can read any Kindle book with Amazon’s free reading apps. There are free Kindle reading apps for the Kindle Cloud Reader, Smartphones (iPhone, iTouch, Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry); computer platforms (Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8 and Mac); Tablets (iPad, Android and Windows 8), and, of course, all the Kindle family of readers including the Kindle Fire series. A Kindle e-book allows you to buy your book once and read it anywhere. You can find additional details on these apps at this link on the Amazon website at www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771.

For additional information on this and other Teak Publishing radio hobby books, monitor the company sponsored Internet blogs – The Military Monitoring Post (http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/), The Btown Monitor Post (http://monitor-post.blogspot.com/) and The Shortwave Central (http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/) for availability of additional e-books that are currently in production.

Information on other publications by the author is available on the author’s page at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00G1QMO4C.

Area 51 -- It Really Does Exist -- Officially According to the CIA!

National Security Archive

The CIA has finally acknowledged the existence of Area 51 in newly declassified documents detailing the area in the Nevada desert.

These newly declassified documents, obtained by George Washington University's National Security Archive contain hundreds of pages that describe the genesis of the Nevada site that was home to the government's spy plane program for decades. The documents do not, however, mention aliens (surprise, surprise - see my comments below-LVH).

The Las Vegas Sun reports that the first military planes arrived at Area 51 on July 25, 1955, and the first taxi trials began two days later. The first test flight occurred on Aug. 4, 1955, according to the history.

“It marks an end of official secrecy about the facts of Area 51,” National Security Archive senior fellow Jeffrey Richelson  told the Las Vegas Sun. “It opens up the possibility that future accounts of this and other aerial projects will be less redacted, more fully explained in terms of their presence in Area 51.”

Officials have already acknowledged in passing the existence of the facility in central Nevada where the government is believed to test intelligence tools and weapons.  Many of the government and contractor employees working there several years ago were exposed to some experimental chemistry while burning secret materials. They sued the government for medical liability and the government was forced to acknowledge the site in court documents.

Several years ago I wrote a feature article in Monitoring Times (Phantoms in the Desert - July 1997) that included frequencies, call signs etc. In my wrap up I concluded that there were no little green men or space ships out in Area 51. In the final analysis it was just a test site for advanced military airborne technologies.

Boy, did I catch some flack about that article from the "tin foil hat" crowd. One individual wrote to me that "within three months of his letter 'they' would expose me as a government stooge that I was obviously because of my MT article." I never have figured out who the "we" were.

So I guess that "tin foil hat" crowd still will not be convinced with this CIA release either, but that is just the nature of the beast. BTW I'm still waiting to be exposed as a government stooge and I'm so disappointing that still has not happened.

You can download you own copy of the CIA U2 history (all 407 pages) from the George Washington University website.

Monitoring Times May Be Closing but Teak Publishing is Not!

From Bob Grove, Publisher of Monitoring Times magazine:

"After 33 years of publishing the most informative and lauded magazine on monitoring the radio spectrum, Judy and I are finally going to retire. We are grateful for the dedicated efforts of our fine staff of writers for the excellent work which has kept MT alive for all these years. While we know the discontinuation of MT, with our December issue, will be a disappointment to our readers and writers alike, we realize that a combination of a down-turned economy, as well as the ready availability of free listening and technical information on the Internet, has reduced sales and subscriptions throughout the market place. I would like to thank you personally for your knowledge, your dependability, and your professionalism in making MT the publication that is most often referred to in the radio monitoring hobby. It is a legacy that we have all inherited."

And now from Larry Van Horn, N5FPW, MT Assistant/Technical Editor and columnist:

So after 20 years this month serving fulltime on the staff of MT and 30 years of writing for MT, I'm certainly sorry to say goodbye to my old friend with the earphones.

But you have not seen the last of me, this blog, my twitter feed or our publishing company - Teak Publishing. We are working on some very interesting publications projects for not only the military monitoring community "worldwide," but also Gayle has some stuff in works for the shortwave broadcast listening community as well.

So please stay tuned to this blog and Gayle's Shortwave Central blog for future announcements.

So to all of you who contributed to my 30 year writing career with MT, and all the great friends that I have  met and corresponded with I want to say thank you. Thank you for your support, kind words, material and everything else that contributed to some really great stuff published in MT.

So again this is only a goodbye to MT at the end of this year, but if you are interested in the military monitoring stay tuned to this channel (uh blog) for some new and exciting stuff in the next few months to come.

The NEW Monitoring Times Blog Now Online!

The new Monitoring Times magazine blog is now online. This blog will feature a wide variety of radio related hobby post gathered from all over the globe. If you are looking to expand your world of radio check out the Monitoring Times blog, Monitoring Times magazine and our full color electronic version of the print magazine - MTExpress.

MT 2012 Annual Air Show Guide Now Available Online

Monitoring Times magazine, the world's leading radio hobby communications magazine has just posted to their website the Annual Air Show Listening Guide in pdf format for download. And the cost is right - free!

You can download your copy by clicking here.

MT March 2012 Air Show issue now available for Kindle

No other issue of Monitoring Times magazine is more popular than our annual air show issue that is released in March of each year.

As a leader in the radio hobby publishing world, Grove Enterprises and the Monitoring Times magazine staff is pleased to announce that the March 2012 air show issue is now available in the Kindle reader format from Amazon.com at a price you just can not beat - $0.99. Now you can take our most popular issue of MT with you to the air show as a ready reference.

And no need to worry if you do not own a Kindle reader. You can still read our new Kindle electronic reader edition or any Kindle book anywhere with Amazon's free reading apps.

There are free Kindle reading apps for Smartphones (iPhone & iTouch, Android, Windows Phone 7, and Blackberry); Computer platforms (Windows and Mac); Tablets (iPad and Android Tablet), and of course the Kindle readers including the new Kindle Fire that will be reviewed in the June issue of Monitoring Times. You can get more detail on these apps by clicking here.

MT March 2012 Product Description
Monitoring Times Xpress digital edition, March, 2012. Monitoring Times magazine is the leader in radio communications for the world of radio. Each issue is packed with shortwave, scanner and other radio reviews, features and columns. Now in our 31st year, MT is better than ever offering a print edition, PDF version (full color and graphics) and now the MT Digital Reader edition. This is our test of the digital version of the magazine for e-readers. It contains no graphics and no ads. We want to see your response as the reader whether this is worth pursuing as a monthly subscription. Please give us your thoughts and comments.

Bill Grove
Art Director, Monitoring Times Magazine
bill at grove-ent.com

This is an offer to good to pass up. You can purchase your 99 cents MT Annual Air Show edition in Kindle format by clicking here.

2011 MT Air Show Guide Now Available Online

I am pleased to announce the public release of our 12th annual 2011 Monitoring Times Air Show Guide, now available on the Monitoring Times magazine website. You can get your copy by clicking here.

If you find this guide useful in monitoring an air show you attend this year, we can use your field reports of the frequencies that you monitored, even if we have them on our list. Your help in keeping this guide active is sincerely appreciated and needed to keep this an accurate resource for the hobby. You can reach us at the email address in the masthead.

MilcomMP Made Wired Magazine Again.

Looks like MilcomMP and an old friend Huub in the Netherlands made the pages of Wired magazine this weekend (http://tinyurl.com/6cnke4t). Thanks to Noah Shachtman for the mention in his piece on Listen: Secret Libya Psyops, Caught by Online Sleuths.

No wonder we set a single visitors record yesterday for this blog and a couple hundred new followers on our Twitter feed at @MilcomMP. Welcome to you all to the world of Milcom Monitoring and our Milcom Monitoring Post blog and Twitter feed.

On a related subject, if you want to monitor shortwave broadcast from North Africa and the Middle East, we have the most complete and comprehensive listings of all language shortwave broadcast schedules exclusively for our Monitoring Times magazine MTExpress subscribers, complete details on how to order at http://www.monitoringtimes.com/ or http://www.grove-ent.com/.

Annual MT Air Show Issue Now on Newsstand

The Annual Monitoring Times Air Show issue is now on sale at newsstands nationwide and so far the reviews by monitors who have seen it is very positive.

This year I completely revised the frequency list (including some new TB freqs that have never been published before), and I also published a completely updated air show equipment guide.

I'm also proud to announce that we published two supporting feature articles from air show legends Kevin Burke, and Brian and Jo Marie Topolski, plus some excellent air show photography from Kevin as part of this fabulous issue. The two features are titled:

- Monitoring & Photography Tips from An Airshow Veteran by Kevin Burke

- An Air Show Monitor’s Portable Listening Post by Brian and Jo Marie Topolski.

You can get more information on ordering a print or electronic subscription to Monitoring Times magazine at http://www.grove-ent.com/MT.html or call us at 1-800-438-8155. Be sure to call early and get your copy as supplies are very limited.

Larry Van Horn, MT Assistant Editor

Thunderbirds airshow practice with publicity camera plane following

L. Champion has posted some interesting photos of the T-Birds practicing for the upcoming air show season at http://panoramio.com/photo/46685742




Remember that the new Monitoring Times air show guide will be on the newstands in a little over a month. Better yet, if you want to assure your copy of this popular annual guide get your own subscription in either print or electronic format. This year's guide has been completely revamped and new frequency information will be published for the first time ever. This is a must not miss issue of MT.

Go to the Monitoring Times website for more details.

MT Equipment Buyers Guide

New Monitoring Times Staff Blog Newsfeeds Now Available

There is a new service for radio hobbyists from the No. 1 radio listening hobby magazine - Monitoring Times.

When you need to know what is happening now in the monitoring world, MT's staff blog news streams will keep you informed on the latest news in the radio spectrum.

So point that browser at and bookmark the new spot on the net for radio news at
http://www.monitoringtimes.com/html/blogs.html.