My First Road Trip Incorporating Parks on the Air Activity - Central Georgia Road Trip Radio Report; 19/20 October 2025

This weekend's overnight road trip to Central Georgia was the first time I've incorporated portable HF operating and Parks on the Air activity into one of my road trips. I left Savannah on Sunday morning and headed toward the Piedmont NWR north of Macon. It started raining just north of Dublin, so went through Jeffersonville and Gordon to Gray, GA where I stopped for an early lunch at Old Clinton BBQ while I waited for the rain to slack off. After lunch, I continued on to the NWR, scouting for a good spot to operate from, finding one on the Little Rock Wildlife Drive. After activating the Piedmont NWR, I continued on to Juliette, GA where I visited Jarrell Plantation State Historic Site and activated it after touring the grounds. The day may have started out dreary and wet, but the afternoon turned out wonderful. Between it being a Sunday and the weather not being all that great, I didn't hear any MilCom activity, but there was plenty of public safety and railroad communications to listen to. I had a special project planned for the drive back home on Monday morning; I stopped at Exit 143 on I-16 and did some radio recon on the DMR system in use at Hyundai Metaplant in Ellabell. It was a successful stop and it yielded some good results.

Some of the historic structures at Jarrell Plantation State Historic Site in Juliette, GA

Getting Active on HF Amateur Radio Again - Putting a Portable Station on the Air

Over the last month, I've assembled everything I'd need to put a portable HF station together and get back on HF Amateur Radio for the first time in four or five years. After forgetting to bring the coax with me to Brunswick last week, this afternoon I was finally able to put in the air after work. I contacted eleven stations from 8 states, a Canadian province, and a DX contact.

Yaesu FT-891 and LiFePo battery in the back of KF4LMT Mobile

Coastal Georgia Military Monitoring Recap; September 2025

September began with disappointment, but despite limited radio time it became a better than average month for MilCom in Coastal Georgia. Within the last year, it had been announced that a William Tell air superiority competition was to be held at the Savannah Air Dominance Center (ADC) in September, but apparently it was cancelled as it never occurred. That disappointment was balanced out by some other visitors to the Savannah ADC, the return of a MCAS Beaufort unit to the skies, and an Army competition at Fort Stewart and Hunter AAF. During September I also settled on which radios I was going to use in my new mobile station - a Uniden SDS100 for scanning and a Radioddity DB-25D Pro for amateur radio/GMRS.

The SDS100 and Radioddity DB-25D Pro in the new KF4LMT Mobile

New KF4LMT Mobile - Going Low Profile With Less Radios and Antennas

In the last few months, I had to buy a new car because the maintenance costs on the old car had reached the point of diminishing returns. I wasn't looking forward to car payments, but the money was coming out of my pockets either way... Previous iterations of KF4LMT mobile have been packed with radios and covered with antennas, but this time I decided to go lower profile with only two radios - one scanner and one amateur radio handheld and only two antennas - one scanner antenna and one amateur radio antenna. After looking at a number of choices, I decided on a Hyundai Venue. It's a bit smaller than my 2012 Kia Sportage, but it gets better gas mileage (around 37 mpg on one leg of a road trip) and has turned out to be a terrific city car. It fits into small parking spaces and its tight turning radius makes it easy to get in and out of tight spots. This time, I even went with an automatic transmission instead of a manual, so it would be easier to talk on the radio between traffic lights!

The new KF4LMT Mobile - a Hyundai Venue

F-22s and T-38s at Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport

Based on Air Force social media posts earlier this year, the 2025 William Tell air superiority competition was supposed to begin this week at the Air National Guard Air Dominance Center at Savannah-Hilton Head IAP. I had no radio time earlier this week and minimal radio time the last couple of days, but it seems that there is no William Tell competition this year. Instead, there are 71st FS F-22As and 7th FTS T-38As from Joint Base Langley at the Air Dominance Center. They have been working with 95th FS F-35As from Tyndall AFB and 159th FS F-35As from Jacksonville in the Special Use Areas off the Georgia coast. I'm guessing they'll be here next week as well, so here's what I was able to hear yesterday and today.

Coastal Georgia Military Monitoring Recap; August 2025

During August, I didn't have as much radio time as I would have liked, but I heard more than I expected to with the time I had. The 77th FS from Shaw AFB was very active at Townsend Range and the Coastal MOA in coastal Georgia for much of the month. The F/A-18s, F-35Bs, and F-5s at MCAS Beaufort along with some F-35Cs from VMFA-251 at MCAS Cherry Point were involved in several LFEs (Large Force Exercises) off the Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida coast and I caught a new intercept control callsign - GRIM - which I'm guessing is VMFT-402's Red Air Control. Some of those same units at MCAS Beaufort, along with ATAC, were apparently conducting a MDTC (Marine Division Tactics Course as well. Mid-month, I took an overnight road trip to the Jacksonville area, but it was on a weekend, so it didn't yield much MilCom activity. During the trip, I toured the museum ship USS Orleck (DD-886) and the Camp Blanding Museum.  

September should be a fun MilCom month in coastal Georgia; the 2025 William Tell air superiority competition is scheduled for 9-18 September 2025 at the Georgia Air National Guard Air Dominance Center at Savannah-Hilton Head IAP.

The radio room on board the museum ship USS Orleck (DD-886) in Jacksonville, FL

First Road Trip in the New KF4LMT Mobile - Overnight Road Trip in Northeast Florida; 17/18 August 2025

On Sunday and Monday, I took my first road trip in the new KF4LMT Mobile, visiting Northeast Florida. The new mobile station is quite a departure from what I've used before so I was very interested in how it would work and what I would be able to hear with it. I visited the USS Orleck (DD-886) Naval Museum in downtown Jacksonville, the Camp Blanding Museum in Starke, FL, and Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park in the Osceola National Forest on Sunday, overnighted in Kingsland, GA, and returned to Savannah on Monday morning. Sunday morning's weather forecast called for an almost 100% chance of rain and thunderstorms in the Jacksonville area, but although it was hot, humid, and oppressive all day it never rained or stormed (at least where I was at). I've visited the Orleck before, but this was my first visit to the Camp Blanding Museum and the Olustee Battlefield, which gave me the opportunity to listen in Bradford and Union Counties for the first time. It was also the first time I've been west of Jacksonville in quite a while, so it was good to see what I could hear out that way. 

USS Orleck (DD-886) in downtown Jacksonville on the St Johns River