The Kettle Creek Battlefield and Stone Mountain Hamfest - Stone Mountain Road Trip Radio Report; 30 October - 1 November 2026

I haven't been to a hamfest in years, so this year I decided to take some time off and meet up with friends at the Stone Mountain hamfest. I left Savannah on Friday morning and drove up to Washington to visit the Kettle Creek Battlefield. After having lunch in Sharon, I drove to Stone Mountain where I visited Stone Mountain Park and did a POTA activation there before checking in the hotel and having a good German meal. After breakfast on Saturday morning I drove over the hamfest at the Gwinnett County Fairground in Lawrenceville; I stayed there for several hours then some of us met up for lunch in nearby Snellville. I rounded out the day by trying something new at a restaurant near the hotel. This was the first time I've been to Atlanta with the time/opportunity to do any scanning/monitoring in quite a few years, so this trip was quite the experience. 

POTA station set up at a picnic shelter near the Grist Mill parking lot at Stone Mountain Park

Visiting Old Fort Jackson and Listening to Some of East Savannah's Port Facilities

Since there wasn't a lot of military aviation activity to listen to on my day off due to it being a federal/state holiday, I decided to go out to Old Fort Jackson to take in some local History and listen to some of east Savannah's port facilities. In addition to seeing the fort for the first time in quite awhile (and getting to see some musket and cannon demonstrations), I was able to identify some Marine VHF radio activity that I've been hearing. 

If all goes as planned, I'll be taking another road trip (and posting a road trip radio report) at the end of this month when I travel up to Stone Mountain and Lawrenceville for the Stone Mountain Hamfest. I'm planning a stop at the Kettle Creek Revolutionary War battlefield in Washington, GA on the way up.

Labor Day Road Trip Radio Report - The Georgia Salzburger Society's Salzburger Festival and The Riverbanks Zoo & Gardens in Columbia, SC

It's rare for me to have a Labor Day off from work, so this year I decided to go to the Salzburger Festival in Ebeneezer (between Rincon and Springfield in Effingham County, GA) and from there go up GA-119 to US-321 and travel up to Columbia, SC to visit the Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens. As Labor Day dawned, I didn't know if I would end up going to the Festival because the weather forecast called for rain throughout the morning; instead it turned out to be a pleasant morning and early afternoon. Tuesday was a pleasant day in Columbia; the morning wasn't too hot and I enjoyed my visit to the Zoo. Normally, I start these road trip reports with the radio information and then move on to where and what I visited during the trip, but this time I'm going to start with the Salzburger Festival because of how much I enjoyed it, what I learned, and the effect it had on me. The radio information comes afterward followed by Zoo photos and road trip food.

Jerusalem Lutheran Church; established in 1734

Monthly Military Monitoring Recaps Removed

Regular readers will have noticed that over the last few months I haven't posted any monthly military monitoring recaps and removed previous ones from the blog. Primarily I haven't had as much radio time recently, which means I haven't had to the time to compile the recaps. The Iran War, our action in Venezuela, our commitment in the Ukraine War, and future potential conflicts/actions are the reason I took down the existing recaps. The static callsign/frequency information in the MilCom tab of the blog will remain. 

4th Fighter Wing From Seymour-Johnson AFB at Savannah-Hilton Head IAP for the Summer

I had a previous version of this post up earlier in the summer, but I haven't had a lot of monitoring opportunities and didn't realize there were F-15Es from multiple squadrons at the Savannah Combat Readiness Training Center/Air Dominance Center instead of just one. It turns out that the F-15Es are (at least) from the 4th Fighter Wing's 333rd and 334th Fighter Squadrons. They're here this summer while runway maintenance is being done at their home, Seymour-Johnson AFB. Draken International A-4K Skyhawks are also at Savannah providing aggressor/red air flights. They're flying morning, afternoon, evening, and night sorties but due to other commitments, most of my monitoring opportunities are the evening and night sorties. I haven't had the chance to get out to the airport and put eyes on them except for a short time when they first arrived. 

4th FW/333rd FS F-15Es at Savannah-Hilton Head IAP on 15 June 2026

Road Trip Radio Report - Overnight Road Trip to the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia; 26/27 July 2026

This past weekend, I went on an overnight road trip to the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia, SC to see their Semi-quincentennial/American Revolution exhibit. As I mentioned in a previous post, I spent late June and early July on family leaving helping a relative after surgery, so it was a good opportunity to rest, relax, and enjoy myself. I left Savannah on Sunday morning, using US-321 for the trip up and returned on Monday morning, using I-26 and I-95. Sunday night, I stayed in Cayce, SC not far away from Columbia Municipal Airport (KCAE). Even though my travels were on a Sunday and early Monday, the trip still provided some good monitoring opportunities. As always, the Columbia area provided no shortage of public safety communications. There was steady traffic at Columbia Municipal Airport and although there was little military communications to be heard on Sunday I caught some F-5Ns out of MCAS Beaufort and some F-15Es from Savannah-Hilton Head IAP on Monday morning. There was usual VHF/UHF morning commute amateur radio traffic on Monday and I was surprised at the amount of VHF/UHF amateur radio traffic I heard around Orangeburg and Columbia on Sunday afternoon. There was some rain and thunderstorm activity on Sunday afternoon and evening and I think that played into less medevac helicopter activity than I usually hear in Columbia.

The South Carolina State Museum in Columbia, SC (the dome of their observatory is visible on the roof)

Visiting the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge's Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive and Listening to Savannah-Hilton Head IAP and Georgia Ports

I've been on FMLA for three weeks, caregiving for a family member after surgery and go back to work on Monday, so I visited the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge's Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive early before it got too hot (a high of 100F has been forecast). It turned out to be a beautiful morning and I saw plenty of alligators and birds. A visit to the Savannah NWR also presents a good opportunity to listen to Savannah-Hilton Head IAP and Georgia Ports as the Refuge is just across the Savannah River from Garden City, Port Wentworth, the Airport, and the port terminal and railyards. 

Purple Gallinule at the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge