Is this the receiving end of our recent Rock and Roll Skyking messages? Late Breaking News

USAF RC-135U Combat Sent aircraft (USAF Photo)

Late Breaking News: This aircraft was the subject of an incident involving the Russian AF over the Black Sea Saturday. See USA Today story "Russian jet buzzes U.S. Air Force spy plane over Black Sea" at http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/01/30/russian-jet-buzzes-us-air-force-spy-plane-over-black-sea/79563912/.

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If you looked at my previous post this morning, and you checked out my "what is an EAM file," you would have discovered a bit of insight on what I believe a Skyking message is used for.

Well the aircraft in the picture above, even as I type, is flying around the Middle East (just spotted today in and around Turkey and Israel). It would certainly fall within the parameters I have set for a user of HFGCS Skyking message traffic.

Call sign seen today "BARN 06" another interesting consequence that I have mentioned before re: four letter ## call signs.

Here is a bit more information on the RC-135U courtesy of the official USAF public information files.

Mission
The RC-135U Combat Sent provides strategic electronic reconnaissance information to the president, secretary of defense, Department of Defense leaders, and theater commanders. Locating and identifying foreign military land, naval and airborne radar signals, the Combat Sent collects and minutely examines each system, providing strategic analysis for warfighters. Collected data is also stored for further analysis by the joint warfighting and intelligence communities. The Combat Sent deploys worldwide and is employed in peacetime and contingency operations.

Background
There are only two Combat Sent aircraft in the Air Force inventory and both are assigned to the 55th Wing at Offutt AFB, Neb. The RC-135U aircraft are manned by Air Combat Command crews from the 45th Reconnaissance Squadron and the 97th Intelligence Squadron (of the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency). The Combat Sent is composed of a wide variety of commercial off-the-shelf and proprietary hardware and software. Its current configuration allows for both manual and automatic analysis of electronic signals. By combining manual systems with the Automatic Electronic Emitter Locating System, Ravens and intelligence specialists can simultaneously locate, identify, and analyze multiple electronic signals.

The Combat Sent records these signals for future reference or for extensive analysis by electronic systems theorists. Any information garnered from the data will help determine detailed operating characteristics and capabilities of foreign systems. Evasion techniques and equipment are then developed from this knowledge that will detect, warn of, or defeat these electronic systems.

More Rock amd Roll Adventures from the HFGCS Chronicles

Saturday, the U.S. Navy sent the USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54) warship near a disputed island in South China Sea according to various press reports. See CNN story at http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/30/asia/us-navy-south-china-sea/.

 

Pacific Ocean: The guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54) transits through the Pacific Ocean with Mt. Fuji in the background. Curtis Wilbur is underway supporting security and stability in the western Pacific Ocean. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Adam K. Thomas/Released)

Any naval operation like this can be a bit dangerous especially if the three parties involved in the disputed land mass get edgy. But there is also a potential treasure trove of intelligence to be gathered.

 

And what did we have flying around the South China Sea area Saturday using call sign Tora 82 (a 4-digit call I might add)? A USAF RC-135V Rivet Joint aircraft.

 

 

And what is this aircraft used for. From the official US Air Force public fact sheet:

 

Mission The RC-135V/W Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft supports theater and national level consumers with near real time on-scene intelligence collection, analysis and dissemination capabilities.

Features The aircraft is an extensively modified C-135. The Rivet Joint's modifications are primarily related to its on-board sensor suite, which allows the mission crew to detect, identify and geolocate signals throughout the electromagnetic spectrum. The mission crew can then forward gathered information in a variety of formats to a wide range of consumers via Rivet Joint's extensive communications suite.

The interior seats more than 30 people, including the cockpit crew, electronic warfare officers, intelligence operators and in-flight maintenance technicians.

The Rivet Joint fleet was re-engined with CFM-56 engines with an upgraded flight deck instrumentation and navigational systems to FAA/ICAO standards. These standards include conversion from analog readouts to a digital "glass cockpit" configuration.

All Rivet Joint airframe and mission systems modifications are overseen by L-3 Communications (previously Raytheon), under the oversight of Air Force Materiel Command.

Background The current RC-135 fleet is the latest iteration of modifications to this pool of -135 aircraft going back to 1962. Initially employed by Strategic Air Command to satisfy nationally tasked intelligence collection requirements, the RC-135 fleet has also participated in every sizable armed conflict involving U.S. assets during its tenure. 

RC-135s were present supporting operations in Vietnam, the Mediterranean for Operation El Dorado Canyon, Grenada for Operation Urgent Fury, Panama for Operation Just Cause, and Southwest Asia for operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. RC-135s have maintained a constant presence in Southwest Asia since the early 1990s.

All RC-135s are assigned to Air Combat Command. The RC-135 is permanently based at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., and operated by the 55th Wing, using various forward deployment locations worldwide. More recently, RC-135s have also supported Operation Allied Force in Kosovo, and Operation Odyssey Dawn/Unified Protector in Libya

So looks like we had Tora 82 supporting the Curtis Wilbur on Saturday in the South China Sea. Was our Saturday "Santana" Foxtrot/Skyking message directed at Tora 82?

 

Maybe!  Chief Sends

 

Interesting times on HFGCS

Most ute monitors usually do not pay any attention to the message traffic that is passed on the DoD JCS HFGCS HF radio system. We have Emergency Action Messages (EAMs) and Skyking aka Foxtrot message traffic (see my detailed discussion of these messages on this blog at http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/p/what-is-emergency-action-message-or-eam.html).

Recently things have become more interesting. Instead of a 3-character message that has been the staple of the Foxtrot messages since forever, they have now started using creative code words. The last three days Foxtrot message traffic have consisted of  Springstein, Santana, and now this morning Hendrix.

It also looks like we have gone back to our Cold War roots and have started using tac code words calls for various HFGCS stations when transmitting these EAM and Foxtrot message traffic when transmitting on this net. Prior to this you would have heard Andrews, Offutt, McClellan or one of the other HFGCS stations worldwide using their location as the identifier.

In addition, we have some other HF RF indicators being seen throughout the HF spectrum that would indicate that things are changing in the mil HF world.

So who says that HF is dead hasn't either turned on a receiver lately or monitored the right frequencies.

If you want to hear what is going on the HFGCS netork, check out my freq list at http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/2006/05/joint-chiefs-of-staff-hf-gcs-network.html

Maybe someone four years ago didn't have their foreign policy stuck in the 1980s.

Chief Sends

2016 Teak Air Show Guide Now Available

Every year, from March through November, millions of people hit the road to watch the excitement and thrills as military and civilian flight demonstration teams put their high performance aircraft through the paces to entertain the crowds and perform at air shows all over the world. Anyone who has attended one of these events will tell you it is thrilling to watch the close quarter flying of the Blue Angels delta formation or the hair-splitting maneuvers of the Thunderbird opposing solos.

 

While attending the show and enjoying the sights and sounds is an exciting experience that is only half the fun. You can add another whole dimension to that visual experience by monitoring the performing teams’ radio communications.

 

With a radio scanner in hand you will experience a whole new perspective of the show that few of the attendees will ever experience – pilot audio from the aircraft cockpit. While everyone else at the air show is just watching and listening to the public address system narrator, you’ll be able to hear what’s happening inside the cockpit, up in the tower and on the ground with the hundreds of players that keep these screaming, state of-the-art air machines thundering through the skies.

 

But you can’t tell the players without a program, and to indulge in the craft of monitoring the air show experience you need a current and well researched list of frequencies that the various performers may use during their performances.

 

In our new expanded 2016 Teak Air Show Guide e-Book, former Monitoring Times Editor and Milcom columnist Larry Van Horn - N5FPW, delivers the hundreds of frequencies you’ll need to monitor the action if you’re within receiving distance of any air show in 2016.

 

From the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds, military parachute and search and rescue demonstration teams, to a wide variety of other military and civilian demonstration teams from the U.S. and abroad, Larry has updated the list of frequencies each unit has used. Now you can bring the excitement you see at the show to your ears. Listening to the nonstop action at the air show on dozens of radio frequencies is part of the real fun of being there.

 

But wait, there’s more! Larry also tells you which scanners work best at the air shows, what features you’ll need and which models can cover the military as well as civilian frequencies used at these events. There is also a chapter on tips for enjoying a great day at the air show.

 

You will also get frequency lists for other possible frequencies that may be used at the air show including GMRS, Family Radio Service (FRS), DoD Intra-Squad Radio frequencies, and even Civil Air Patrol VHF/UHF frequencies and updated call signs. We also include in this eBook an up-to-date air show Internet resource guide and new frequencies/ listings for overseas military and civilian aeronautical demonstrations teams.

 

Finally you will get the latest air show schedules for the Navy Blue Angels, Air Force Thunderbirds, Canadian Forces Snowbirds, and the Army Golden Knight Parachute Teams. We include with each show location, the Internet link for each show, and the latest aero frequencies for each facility hosting a show, when known. This schedule information only covers the United States and Canada.

 

This is the 17th edition of this popular frequency monitoring guide published by the author. The first fourteen editions appeared annually each March in the pages of the former Monitoring Times magazine and were one of the most popular features carried in the magazine. This edition of the Teak Air Show Guide is now weighs-in at 197 pages and it is the most comprehensive collection of air show information and frequencies ever published for the radio listening hobbyist.

 

The 2016 Teak Air Show Guide is now available for purchase worldwide from Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AVLCGU4. The price for this third e-Book edition is still only US$3.99. Since 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 this e-Book from Amazon websites directly servicing these countries. All other countries can use the regular Amazon.com website.

 

When the T-Birds, Blue Angels, and all the other precision flight teams are in the air, Larry has all the frequencies you need to hear them on the air in this new e-Book from Teak Publishing!

 

Here are a couple of the 5-Star Amazon reviews on the 2015 Teak Air Show Guide.

 

Totally thrilled to prep with the latest edition By Edward Sikora

Whether you're new to this hobby (as I was 2 years ago) or experienced you need reliable resources of information and frequencies. When I started, I was sure I could find my answers on the internet. I didn't think a book would be very useful or up to date. Five air shows later, I'm totally sold on this book. I'm delighted and excited to have the latest copy to prep for upcoming shows. It's a highly detailed road map to where the good stuff is. I haven't found any other resource that even comes close. What a masterpiece of organization and reliable information. This book provides so many answers where the rest of the internet gives you too little, too late. This book is totally awesome! - KB2OB Ed NJ

 

Air Show scanner GO TO GUIDE By Kevin Burke

Larry has been THE go to guy when it comes to air show frequencies for years, but you need more than just a bunch of numbers to enter into a scanner. No problem if you have this book, Larry tells you what your scanner has to be capable of, in order to open your ears to all there is to hear at an air show

 

Frequency updates, correction and late additions between editions of this e-Book will be posted on his Milcom Monitoring Post blog at http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/.

 

For a complete list of all the authors books, go to his Amazon authors page at http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00G1QMO4C.

 

You do not even 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 of 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 by checking out this link to the Amazon website at http://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 Milcom Monitoring Post blog(http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/), the Btown Monitor Post blog (http://monitor-post.blogspot.com/), and the Shortwave Central blog (http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/) for availability of additional e-books that are currently in production.

 

You can learn more about the author by going to his author page on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00G1QMO4C.

 

 

New Winter 2015-2016 International Shortwave Broadcast Guide Now Available

What is shortwave radio and why should you listen to it?

Shortwave listening, or SWLing, is the hobby of listening to shortwave radio broadcasts transmitting on frequencies between 1700 kHz and 30 MHz. These transmissions can propagate thousands of miles and can reach audiences worldwide. For instance, if you live in the United States you can easily hear shortwave broadcast stations from countries like Australia, Canada, China, Cuba, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Iran, Japan, New Zealand, North/South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam, and many other counties if you have a good shortwave radio receiver, and you know when and where to listen!

Quite simply shortwave radio provides the listener with a window to the world that no other communications medium can provide. The listener will be entertained with unique perspectives to events from around the world that you cannot get from most national media outlets.

Throughout the world, shortwave radio remains the most readily available and affordable means of global communication and information. You'll learn about the lives and concerns of people from all walks of life in over 300 different languages and dialects. Shortwave radio also provides nearly instantaneous coverage of news and events from around the world.

There are even transmissions from the dark side of shortwave radio from broadcasters known as clandestine or clanny stations. Clandestine broadcasters are deceptive and they usually exist to bring about political changes or actions to a particular target country. Programming is essentially propaganda, and may largely be half-truths or sometimes outright lies.

If you want to get into the action then the International Shortwave Broadcast Guide is a must purchase to let you know when and where to listen for broadcast radio stations in the shortwave broadcast spectrum.

The Winter 2015-2016 International Shortwave Broadcast Guide, by Amazon bestselling author Gayle Van Horn, W4GVH, is that all important information resource you need to tap into the worldwide shortwave broadcast radio spectrum.

It is a 24-hour station/frequency guide to “all” the known stations currently broadcasting on shortwave radio at time of publication. This unique shortwave resource is the “only” publication in the world that offers by-hour schedules that includes all language services, frequencies and world target areas for each broadcast station.

New In this edition, there is a feature on listening to Asia’s broadcast giant – China, updated information on the state of tropical band broadcasting, and a special feature on Who’s Who in the shortwave radio spectrum outside the regular broadcast bands. Frequency and station coverage has also increased in this edition to include Longwave frequency broadcasters, and international standard time and frequency stations worldwide.

The International Shortwave Broadcast Guide (Winter 2015-2016 edition) is now available for purchase worldwide from Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0196UYDTI. The price for this latest edition is US$5.99. Since 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 this electronic book (e-Book) from Amazon websites directly servicing these countries. All other countries can use the regular Amazon.com website.

This new e-publication edition is an expanded version of the English shortwave broadcast guide that was formerly printed in the pages of Monitoring Times magazine for over 20 years. This one of a kind electronic e-book is published twice a year to correspond with station seasonal time and frequency changes.

If you enjoy listening or monitoring HF shortwave stations, and you miss the monthly English frequency listings formerly published in the late Monitoring Times magazine, and multilingual station listing in the old MTXpress electronic magazine, this valuable tool will now be your new guide to listening to the world.

Frequency updates between editions will be posted on her Shortwave Central blog at: http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/.

And, the good news is that 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 of 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 by checking out this link to 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.

You can view the complete Teak Publishing book catalog online at http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/. Click on the Teak Publishing radio hobby e-book link at the top of the blog page. You can learn more about the author by going to her author page on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Gayle-Van-Horn/e/B0084MVQCM/.

The International Shortwave Broadcast Guide will have wide appeal to shortwave radio hobbyists, amateur radio operators, educators, foreign language students, news agencies, news buffs, and many more interested in listening to a global view of news and events as they happen. 

If you are an amateur radio operator or shortwave radio enthusiasts, and want to hear what is happening outside the ham bands on that transceiver or portable shortwave radio in your radio shack, then this new e-book from Teak Publishing is a must in your radio reference library.

Here are a few of the public comments from radio hobbyists who purchased the first four editions of this Amazon e-book.

Blue Angels Arrive in California for Winter Training

From Blue Angels Public Affairs

EL CENTRO, Calif. (NNS) -- U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels, made its annual deployment to Naval Air Facility (NAF) El Centro, to prepare for the upcoming show season, Jan. 2.

"For the last 49 years, NAF El Centro and the Imperial Valley have been the winter training home of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels," said Capt. William S. Doster, commanding officer, NAF El Centro. "Everyone is looking forward to the arrival of the new team this year and helping to celebrate their 70th anniversary."

The 10-week winter training concludes in early March after the team completes 120 flights during a rigorous flight schedule. The weather conditions of the Imperial Valley are optimal for the amount of flights the team is required to complete.

"We are eager to begin training for our 70th season of putting on world class demonstrations," said Lt. Ryan Chamberlain, Blue Angels lead solo pilot. "There is no better place than our second home in El Centro."

The team performs its first public flight demonstration of 2016 at NAF El Centro, March 12.

The mission of the Blue Angels is to showcase the pride and professionalism of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps by inspiring a culture of excellence and service to country through flight demonstrations and community outreach. In 2016, the Blue Angels will celebrate their 70th anniversary.