Thursday War Frequency

From Michel and our friend Graham Tanner on UDXF:

05206.0 KK, KI w CONTROL / exercices NATO ? 0619 USB eng ( german & uk accent ) d/x 10jun10 Michel

It is a 'Thursday War' frequency. Every Thursday the Royal Navy and other NATO naval forces have a large exercise in 'La Manche' between Brittany/Normandy and Cornwall/Devon. As would be expected, all the vessels use codes rather than their ship-names, but you can usually work out the nationality of the ship from the accent on the radio.

Graham Tanner

Exercise Joint Warrior 2008

HMS Northumberland Conducting a replenishment during Exercise Neptune Warrior off Scotland in March 06 with RFA Orangeleaf (UK Royal Navy Photo)

The UK military will be running two publicized multi-force exercises around Scotland under the title of Exercise Joint Warrior 2008. NW 081 will run from April 19, 2008 to May 2, 2008, and NW 082 will follow later in the year, running between October 4, 2008 and October 17, 2008. These are the latest in the series of major regular multi-force exercises previously known as Neptune Warrior. You can get more details on this at http://secretscotland.wordpress.com/2008/04/10/exercise-joint-warrior-2008/

Gerry on the UDXF has reported 4760 kHz USB (Tac Calls: 9IJ, 1IF, 8US, and 1TF), and 5206 kHz USB, probable CWC style net (Tac Calls: Control, KG, KE and JW) as possible exercise frequencies.

Exercise Neptune Warrior 07/Sky Lance Has Begun

Note: For Milcom Monitoring Post readers in Europe, this exercise should afford you and excellent opportunity to monitor the UK RN/RAF and TASCOMM radio systems on HF. Drop me a line and let me know what you are hearing.

The UK’s largest maritime training course and a major air exercise are being brought together beneath, on and above the waters of the majority of the UK for the first time later this month (17-28 September 2007).

Neptune Warrior, a twice yearly Royal Navy and Royal Air Force run exercise, which qualifies British forces to work and fight in a task group this time will be coordinated and integrated with the RAF’s Exercise Sky Lance which aims to offer similarly aligned training.

The combined forces of Neptune Warrior and Sky Lance will feature a total of 17 warships and around 100 aircraft from the UK and eleven allied nations. The UK forces will be joined by forces from the United States, France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, New Zealand, Canada, Netherlands, Spain and Norway.

Both Neptune Warrior and Sky Lance will provide participants with a first class introduction to the problems they may encounter during the planning and execution of coalition operations with the lessons learned benefiting real-world missions.

Multi-national operations can be a significant challenge for the armed forces but are essential to practise interoperability, develop common operating procedures and to learn from each other. The English border regions and the highlands of Scotland provide a challenging environment to all participants in terms of topography, oceanography and, on occasion (!), adverse weather conditions.

From a maritime perspective participating ships, include the Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigates HMS Montrose, HMS Lancaster and HMS Westminster and four submarines.

In the air, Exercise Sky Lance will be executed across the whole of the UK with up to 100 aircraft participating per day; Harriers, Typhoons, Tornados and Hawks will make up the bulk of the RAF’s air input.

Intelligence, Surveillance, Targeting and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) provision will be made by both maritime patrol aircraft and other Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACs) aircraft and additional support will be provided by air-to-air refuelling assets such as Tristars and VC-10s.

The exercises will also benefit from the participation of land-based formations including Tactical Air Controllers, Artillery Spotters and RAF mobile convoys providing a variety of realistic targets for the many air operations planned.

UK RAF Flight Watch/TASCOMM Profile

RAF Flight Watch Support
A part of the UK DHFCS TASCOMM HF network,
TASCOMM uses two 24 hour manned operations center at DHFCS Forest Moor and DHFCS Kinloss.

United Kingdom (TASCOMM)
Voice Call Sign: ARCHITECT
Frequency: 4742.0 5702.0 9031.0 11247.0 13257.0 18018.0 (USB) kHz.

Long range HF communications Flight Watch for RAF/Naval aircraft from 24 hour manned operations center at DHFCS Forest Moor and DHFCS Kinloss.

Ascension
Voice Call Sign: HAVEN
Frequency: 4742.0 9031.0 11247.0

Cyprus
Voice Call Sign: CYPRUS
Frequency: 4742.0 (a) 9031.0 11247.0

Mount Pleasant (MPA)
Voice Call Sign: VIPER
Frequency: 4742.0 (b) 11247.0 (b)

Notes:
(a) H+15 weather broadcasts, when active.
(b) H+35 weather broadcasts when active.
(c) Aircraft not fitted with ALE scroll through these guard frequencies above in order to select the best reception. Transmissions are made at 15 sec intervals before changing to the next guard frequency.

TASCOMM Net Confirmed

While I have commented publicly on the UDXF newsgroup about my suspicions on the true identity of the widely reported UK XSS HF ALE net, I pretty much let those in Europe set the agenda regarding what this net should be called - UK DHFCS or TASCOMM?

Wellt that is now going to change. Thanks to a new intercept posted by my old friend Ary Boender to the UDXF group last week, I think the more accurate tag for this net is the UK TASCOMM HF ALE network. Based on the intercept and a report I posted on these pages last summer, I am convinced that the UK DHFCS net is not a correct identifier and does not tell the whole story. I support this conclusion with information presented in a press release at http://www.vtplc.com/newsandevents/newsdetails.asp?ItemID=646.

This whole XSS-US DHFCS-TASCOMM discussion reminds me of an argument I had several years ago on an internet newsgroups with a hardhead on whether the US JCS network should be called the Scope Command Network or HF-GCS (then GHFS). Official publications eventually showed that I was right in that discussion. It was the HF-GCS network (then GHFS) and not the Scope Command Network.

The operable paragraph that pins this TASCOMM tag for me from the VT press release at the link above is:

"Under DHFCS, Terrestrial Air Sea Communications (TASCOMM) is available for use by RN, RAF and the Army. TASCOMM is a ground-air-ground, ship-shore and ground-to-ground HF radio communications service designed for NATO and National use. Previously known as STCICS, TASCOMM has its control centre at the NCS at Forest Moor with an alternative network control centre (ANCS) located at RAF Kinloss. Both the NCS and ANCS will control, transmit and receive assets around the world to provide an efficient and responsive service to the users. Combined with the introduction of new RAF and RN platform HF communications equipment supplied under separate contracts, DHFCS will take full advantage of the modern high-speed waveforms to provide rapid data throughput, eventually including HF email. ALE, ARQ and ALM techniques both simplify and speed up the process of establishing HF communication channels."

And now the intercept that Ary posted for Michael, DH5FAU in Germany:

"On June 20st at 1208 Z I logged an unusual message on the british XSS-Net on 9019,0. XSS was calling UKE307 then:

[AMD]XSS [THIS IS TASCOM ARE YOU RECEIVING MY TEXTS?]> I think that we now know who XSS is. XSS=TASCOM!!!"

In fact, XSS is the net control station for this TASCOMM net, probably with the control head located at Forest Moor (transmitters, unknown???).

So to my readers of the MT Milcom blog, in future posting I will be reporting to this and other venues the ID of the XSS ALE stations/frequencies as the TASCOMM HF ALE network, not just as the UK DHFCS. Of course, if someone else who has better contacts than me wants to set the record completely straight, drop me a note privately at the email in the masthead. But for right now, I think this XSS bunch is operating on the UK TASCOMM ALE Network.

BTW the August issue of MT has a complete writeup on freqs, addresses, etc on this net by my MT colleague, Hugh Stegman in his Ute World column. So I won't bother to steal his thunder by posting all that stuff here on these pages. The August Monitoring Times has everything you need.

Duxford UK Airshow Freqs

The following information and frequencies are courtesy of Clifford, Paul Wey (Hertfordshire) and the Milcom newsgroup. Thanks to all.

Below are the CAA temp main allocations for use at airshows and air events in UK and then below that another list of special freqs that on busy weekends when the other five are in use across the whole of UK. They take some other freqs as well, in theory CAA could allocate any freq not in use within say 50 km or so, but tend to stick to regualr first five and then any of the others, also each year a new one or two are added.

CAA display and air event allocations for control at airshows:
121.175 130.500 130.675 132.900 134.550

Most used backups are:
118.650 118.950 119.425 124.550 124.200

These freqencies are used at anything like pop concrerts and racing for air movmeents/incidents/airshows militarty and civil. And not just at Duxford, but Fairford/Leuchars/Waddington, etc.

122.0750 AFIS
122.6750 Operations
163.1375 Imperial War Museum (IWM) Duxford City & suburban parking illegal use (PL 146.2)
164.0500 Imperial War Museum (IWM) City & Suburban Parking Ltd (PL 151.4)
426.3625 Imperial War Museum (IWM) Duxford (DCS 025)
446.1500 Imperial War Museum (IWM) Military vehicle collection tank movements (PL 118.8)
453.1500 Imperial War Museum (IWM) Duxford events net (PL 186.2)
456.3875 Imperial War Museum (IWM) Duxford events net (PL 218.1)
456.8625 Imperial War Museum (IWM) Duxford events net (PL 218.1)
456.9875 Imperial War Museum (IWM) Duxford events net [Channel 8] (PL 218.1)
461.4625 Imperial War Museum (IWM) Duxford main net security/emergency [Channel 4] (PL 103.5)
461.4625 Imperial War Museum (IWM) Operon facitlies management (PL 192.8)
461.8875 Imperial War Museum (IWM) Duxford events net (PL 218.1)
462.3625 Imperial War Museum (IWM) Duxford events net (PL 218.1)
462.4750 Imperial War Museum (IWM) Duxford events net (PL 218.1)
462.4875 Imperial War Museum (IWM) Duxford events net (PL 218.1)
453.0625/459.5625 Imperial War Museum (IWM) Duxford main net security [Channel 1] (PL 173.8)
453.9875/460.4875 Imperial War Museum (IWM) Duxford main net crash/fire ops [Channel 3] (PL 233.6)
462.2500/456.7500 Imperial War Museum (IWM) Duxford events net / Admin / Tower / emergency repeater reverse duplex [Channel 2] (PL 218.1)

And from the Milcom Blog Newsdesk -Duxford Air Show dates for 2007
May Air Show - Sunday 20 May 2007
Flying Legends Air Show - Saturday and Sunday 7 and 8 July 2007
September Air Show - Saturday and Sunday 8 and 9 September 2007
Autumn Air Show - Sunday 14 October 2007

Duxford is Europe's premier aviation museum - as well as having one of the finest collections of tanks, military vehicles and naval exhibits in the country. This famous heritage site began as an airfield in the First World War and also played a vital role in the Second World War, firstly as an RAF fighter station and later as an American fighter base. If you want to learn more about the Imerial War Museum at Duxford go to http://duxford.iwm.org.uk/. Photo above courtesy of the Imperial War Museum Duxford website.