rea 214 - ph to McChord Afb WA

[Radiomonitor]

09.09.28-0754z---(11175)(laj)---rq ph 312 382 2635 (=McChord Afb WA)--cp--- laj: qsy 8992--nj--11175--nj +

(Lajes opr should have increased to 13.200 instead of reducing to 8992--They are not too smart) +

[tomh]

Radiomonitor, if we had higher levels of solar activity I would agree with you, but from my location in the northeastern US it seems as though the higher frequencies are not seeing much activity. I have never heard anything on 13200 other than the foxtrot messages (or whatever they are called these days) in 10 months since I resumed monitoring. 8992 seems to be fairly busy by comparison. A couple of months ago I heard Andrews qsy a contact to 9320 and I heard them both for a short time on that frequency. I do not show that one on any of my listings, and, have never heard anything on it again.

[Radiomonitor]

09.10.01-0700z---As a substitute apparently for 13200 now 11232 is being used--as a matter of fact you will have noticed, that there is a machine transmitter producing qrm on 11175, so many qsy's are apparently not to get better propagation, - but to avoid the qrm machine transmitter...---

My qth is Valencia Spain... -- what is your qth...?

Have you ever had qso with any of the USAF stations...?

I have from time to time replied, when an aircraft required radio check... -- so as for example "loud and clear", - and the aircraft has then qsl'ed with "thank you"... -- not very much qso, - but in any case something...

73 +

[tomh]

As a substitute apparently for 13200 now 11232 is being used--as a matter of fact you will have noticed, that there is a machine transmitter producing qrm on 11175, so many qsy's are apparently not to get better propagation, - but to avoid the qrm machine transmitter...

Affirm, I heard a lengthy tactical session on 11232 about two months ago. Previously I thought this freq was for Trenton Military in Canada, but this sounded like a USAF conversation. I don't hear the qrm on 11175, but it does often seem like the phone patches and other contacts on this primary HFGCS freq are not really successful. Often calls go unanswered and the operators sound inexperienced.

My qth is Valencia Spain... -- what is your qth...?

I monitor from Chester, Vermont, in the southeastern part of the state. This is a part of the country that no longer has any active-duty US military bases. Very little HF activity here, though once in a while the Northeast Tanker Task Force checks in with Andrews.

Have you ever had qso with any of the USAF stations...?

I worked in fixed-service in USAF when there were still some HF trunks in use. We ran VFTG tone groups, fax and voice over HF on point-to-point trunks. Tactical exercises were fun as we would run these systems to airborne platforms. I have written an article about TALKING BIRD at the following URL http://www.theaviationzone.com/factshee ... g_bird.asp SATCOM was new and limited then. We used both "Q" and "Z" (military) signals at the time.

I have from time to time replied, when an aircraft required radio check... -- so as for example "loud and clear", - and the aircraft has then qsl'ed with "thank you"... -- not very much qso, - but in any case something...

Ha! I assume you mean on your job, not from your home. I have a receiver (NRD-515), no transmitter, so as you can tell I am not an amateur radio operator, or "ham" as they call them.

[Radiomonitor]

09.10.01-1331z---Tom... -- I have read your very good and extensive article...

I have monitored USAF Radio signals since 1980, when the main calling freq was 11176, - and not as now 11175...

Since I got a computer, I have arranged for a data base from 1996, based on many hours monitoring on 11175 daily... -- First I had just a Philips all-wave receiver, - but later I have improved my equipment.

Actually my main piece is an IC-7200 transceiver, with a Falcon Out 250F antenna, covering 3,5 - 57 mHz... --- transmitting about 100 W in the antenna...

I have taken out the blocking devices on the tx side, so that I have fully tx possibilities up and down the HF areas. I am a licensed ham, with call sign oz3acf... - a Danish call sign, because aquired in Denmark... - I am a Danish citizen, - born 1923, - i.e. 86 years old, ---- during about 46 years I was an active shipbroker with offices in both Denmark and Spain... - now I have left the working to my childred and grand children, and do most of the day radio monitoring and registring of the monitored results...

It was very nice to meet you on the Scramble

Winter I participate in the SeeLotse, - a German group of sailing yachts owners / skippers, who are also all licenced radio hams... - from Germany SeeLotse keeps contact with the about 100 German sailing Yachts traffiking the Atlantic between Europe / Africa and Canada / USA / Carib and S.Am eastcoast... -- SeeLotse provides the sailing yachts with weather report covering all of the Atlantic Ocean... SeeLotse works on 14.313 kHz, and we have two daily sessions, morning and afternoon...

It is very entertaining... - from time to time we can help sailing yachts in distress, - radio-look-out for nearby merchant ships, which can be helpfull... - and bring the merchant ships near to the distressed sailing yachts... -- so we are certainly also useful...

What radio equipment have you actually...?

73

Kjeld Lehnsdal
Manuela Estelles 61
46022 Valencia (Spain)
kalehnsd@ono.com +

[joost]

Affirm, I heard a lengthy tactical session on 11232 about two months ago. Previously I thought this freq was for Trenton Military in Canada,

That is correct, it is Trenton Millitary at 1745z currently active. Wkg Canforce 2619. Also heard them provide service for USAF in the past

Grtz
Joost

[tomh]

Kjeld,
Nice to meet you also. It looks like you have a lot of radio experience to go along with your years on the planet, which number 23 more than I. It sounds like you stay active and engaged, good for you.

I started listening to "shortwave" back around 1957 when my father, who was in the Merchant Marine, brought home a Hallicrafters S-38C. The radio equipment I have at present is listed below:

JRC NRD-515 All-wave receiver .1Mhz-30.0Mhz. I have two long wire antennas attached to my house, oriented 90 deg from each other. My NRD-515 has optional 8Khz IF filter and 1.8Khz optional IF filter. I normally monitor HF voice with the 2.4Khz IF filter. This reciever, which came out around 1980, is fine for my purposes. I see no drift with this solid state unit, and 2 sec after power-on I am ready to monitor. It does have a digital frequency readout on the front panel, and I have the optional 96-channel NDH memory unit. The latter makes QSYs very quick and easy. I am familiar with computer technology, but prefer a receiver like this one, as it does not have any menus to navigate. I use it primarily to monitor the USAF HFGCS system, but because that is pretty quiet most of the time, I listen to Oceanic stations such as Lajes, Gander, New York, San Francisco, and Daker. Compared to my operating experience in USAF forty years ago, there is less crowding on the HF bands these days, but more man-made incidental interference, such as buzzing, about 30Khz wide, found at many locations on the HF band. I notice that color TV sets are big emitters of noise on HF. I have learned in the last ten months that I must record the HF on a cassette deck, because when my computer is powered up, it causes a great deal of hiss at many locations on the band. The computer is only a couple of feet away from the receiver, so no surprise there. Some of the noise is from the computer tower, some from the screen.

Realistic PRO-26 Scanner 25Mhz-1300Mhz fed by a Butternut SC-3000 external antenna through a branching amplifier. This arrangement works well for receiving aviation transmissions on the scanner, and commercial FM radio on other home entertainment equipment in the house. My main use for this scanner is monitoring aviation, both civil and military. I do not have a large airport nearby, but there is a military refueling track overhead, several others within radio range, and some training air-air ranges (MOA) about 100 miles away, so by using VHF and UHF I can hear some of this activity. When we had A-10 Warthogs around here there was a lot of radio activity (NFM) in the 35Mhz-70Mhz range, but all that seems to be gone now.

Icom IC-R10 Hand_held communications receiver .5Mhz-1300Mhz. I use this unit as primarily an asset to my railroad photography, as it travels in a backpack nicely. It has capabilities far beyond my application, and unless I use it steadily, I forget how to navigate the programming menus.

Nice talking to you, OM. I'll post anything I hear of interest.

Here is a link to a different military communications article I wrote:
http://www.vermontel.net/~tomh/TechControl.html

Joost, thanks for the info on 11232, I'll give it a listen.

[Radiomonitor]

Tom... - very interesting info... -- I commenced my radio adventures 15 years old, when I built my first shortwave receiver, based on 3 x Philips A415 triodes, and some second hand pieces bought by a breaker of old bc radios in Copenhagen... -- I was very proud when I could hear cw traffic, without yet to understand.

I then made myself member of EDR, the Danish ham association, where they made training courses in morse telegraphy, and within 6 months I got a limited certificate, understanding to "read" morse traffic...

With 16 years I built my first short wave transmitter, based on a couple of Philips HF pentodes, and two amplifier triodes, coupled in push-pull... - each amplifier delivering 4 Watts I got 8 Watts output in the antenna...

I was too young then to get a transmitting license, so I worked illegally, - on limited cw traffic using my limited knowledge in morse traffic...

---it was fun, however...

With 17 years I got my first license, - but then Denmark was occupied by the Germans, and I had to deliver my transmitter on the police station... --- I never saw my beautiful transmitter again...!

After the war I had to work to live, - and got entangled in the shipping business, where I have been since then, and never had too much time to engage in radio as a hobby... -- I did however make another set of receiver and transmitter, with more modern equipment, - and with the license in order...

73

Kjeld +