First, some news on the transition of Civil Air Plan (CAP) VHF comms to the Congressional mandated narrowband system.
I have a report that the New Hampshire CAP converted one of their repeaters on 25 April 2009 to their new narrowband bandplan. New Hampshire has two other repeaters (one physically located across the border in Vermont), which will apparently remain on the old frequency assignments for now.
In neighboring Massachusetts, the new repeaters have been delivered to the state CAP headquarters, and they will be phased in over the next few months. Each repeater is either wideband on a wideband frequency, or narrowband on a narrowband frequency. Hence, the change doesn't happen until they get some radio installers up to physically install a new repeater and tune everything up, so it happens on a case-by-case basis.
There are serious problems with the CAP radio transition and the border frequency coordination issues with Canada. In one state, they may go completely off the air later this year. So the Canadian frequency coordination saga. As I have stated before on this blog and in the pages of the Monitoring Times magazine, this is just another example of putting the cart before the horse. All of this was started by the Congress (surprise, surprise), who mandated this mess in the first place and forced several government agencies into unforeseen issues in trying to meet the mandate.
It would appear that the new deadline for the changeover to the new narrowband plan is 30 Sep 2009, at least this is the latest as they continue to fly by for those of us who are keeping track. Good luck if you have comm assets within 75 miles of the Canadian border. Unless this gets resolved, your screwed.
To recap the new narrowband bandplan per an official source, CAP will have six direct or simplex frequencies, and three repeater pairs. I have covered these frequencies in my yearly annual airshow features in the March issue of Monitoring Times.
Now on the callsign front here is the latest list of CAP callsigns. Thanks to several anonymous contributors for their assistance in updating this list. I have a complete list of CAP callsigns and more in our new Teak Publishing eBook. the International Callsign Handbook v2.
Civil Air Patrol "Air Force Voice Call Signs" (AFVCS)
Late Breaking News
Look for CAP aircraft callsign to be changed by the FAA from "CAPFLIGHT" to strictly just "CAP" (followed by the 3 or 4 digit number). Apparently, that callsign CAP was being used by a now defunct regional carrier.
Abenaki - New Hampshire Wing Tactical Call Sign
Aspen Gold - Rocky Mountain Region Tactical Call Sign
Avenging Spirit - National Headquarters Special Use Tactical Call Sign
Beaver Fox - Oregon Wing Tactical Call Sign
Black Granite - Montana Wing Tactical Call Sign
Blue Lakes - Great Lakes Region Tactical Call Sign (have also seen Great Lakes CAP listed on some official list)
Blue Mesa - Colorado Wing Tactical Call Sign
Blue Mound - Wisconsin Wing Tactical Call Sign
CAP Kitty Hawk - North Carolina Wing Radio Tactical Call Sign
CAP Stone - Northeast Region Tactical Call Sign
CAP West - Southwest Region Tactical Call Sign
Charter Oak - Connecticut Wing Tactical Call Sign
Diamond Flight - Delaware Wing Radio Tactical Call Sign
Down East - Maine Wing Tactical Call Sign
Firebrand - Hawaii Wing Tactical Call Sign
Florida CAP - Florida Wing Tactical Call Sign
Free State - Maryland Wing Radio Tactical Call Sign
Georgia CAP - Georgia Wing Tactical Call Sign
Goldenrod - Alabama Wing Tactical Call Sign (have also seen Alabama CAP listed on some official list)
Grasslands - South Dakota Wing Tactical Call Sign
HeadCAP - National Headquarters Tactical Call Sign
High Plains - Wyoming Wing Tactical Call Sign
Hill CAP - West Virginia Wing Radio Tactical Call Sign
Hill Thunder - Congressional Squadron Tactical Call Sign
Iowa CAP - Iowa Wing Tactical Call Sign
Jefferson - Virginia Wing Radio Tactical Call Sign
Kentucky CAP - Kentucky Wing Tactical Call Sign
Louisiana CAP - Louisiana Wing Tactical Call Sign (ex-Cajun CAP)
Middle East - Middle East Region Radio Tactical Call Sign
Mockingbird - Mississippi Wing Tactical Call Sign (have also seen Mississippi CAP listed on some official list)
Mow CAP - Missouri Wing Tactical Call Sign, ex-Missouri CAP
Narragansett - Rhode Island Wing Tactical Call Sign
NatCap - National Capital Wing Radio Tactical Call Sign
North Central - North Central Region Tactical Call Sign
Ohio CAP - Ohio Wing Tactical Call Sign, ex-Red Thunder
Oil Well - Oklahoma Wing Tactical Call Sign
Patriot - Massachusetts Wing Tactical Call Sign
Peace Garden - North Dakota Wing Tactical Call Sign
Penn CAP - Pennsylvania Wing Tactical Call Sign
Puerto Rico CAP - Puerto Rico Wing Tactical Call Sign
Red Cloud - Nebraska Wing Tactical Call Sign
Red Dragon - New Jersey Wing Tactical Call Sign
Red Fire - Indiana Wing Tactical Call Sign
Red Fox - Illinois Wing Tactical Call Sign
Red Robin - Michigan Wing Tactical Call Sign
Red Rock - Arizona Wing Tactical Call Sign
Sandlapper - South Carolina Wing Radio Tactical Call Sign
Ship Rock - New Mexico Wing Tactical Call Sign
Silver State - Nevada Wing Tactical Call Sign
Sourdough - Alaska Wing Tactical Call Sign
Southeast CAP - Southeast Region Tactical Call Sign
Star Garnet - Idaho Wing Tactical Call Sign
Starfish - Minnesota Wing Tactical Call Sign
Tennessee CAP - Tennessee Wing Tactical Call Sign
Texas CAP - Texas Wing Tactical Call Sign
Uncle Mike - Utah Wing Tactical Call Sign
Vermont CAP - Vermont Wing Tactical Call Sign
Washington CAP - Washington Wing Tactical Call Sign
Western - Pacific Region Tactical Call Sign
White Peak - New York Wing Tactical Call Sign
Wild Wood - Arkansas Wing Tactical Call Sign
Yellow Brick - Kansas Wing Tactical Call Sign
Yosemite - California Wing Tactical Call Sign
If you have some updates, I would like to hear from you. Anonymous contributors are welcomed.
Jefe
