Coastal Georgia Military Monitoring Recap; November 2023

The Monthly Military Monitoring Recap consists of frequencies and callsigns that I've heard in use in Coastal Georgia and during my travels (usually around South Carolina and Florida). Special Operations, Intelligence, and real-world Combat Air Patrol information will not be posted. Gulfstream (Savannah) and Boeing (Charleston) flight test frequencies and callsigns are also included as well as US Coast Guard, non-law enforcement FedCom, and civilian medevac callsigns, N-numbers, and frequencies. 

Even though military activity slowed down during the Thanksgiving holiday, November still turned out to be a great month for military monitoring in Coastal Georgia. ATAC was at MCAS Beaufort working with both VMFAT-501 and VMFA-312. Several good VHF/UHF band openings offered an opportunity to hear things a bit farther afield than I normally can hear and a road trip to Columbia, SC gave me the opportunity to monitor JNGB McEntire and Shaw AFB from a closer distance than usual. On the Saturday of the Ohio State v Michigan rivalry college football game, LEGEND 621, a VP-62 P-8A did the flyover and I caught it departing NAS Jacksonville on the way up. I even managed to catch a NASA aircraft transiting the Coastal Georgia area late in the month (NASA 8, which I hadn't heard in a year and a half).

Road Trip Radio Report: Columbia, SC - 27/28 November 2023

I took a couple of extra days off along with the Thanksgiving holiday and as part of those days off, I took an overnight road trip to Columbia, SC. I left Savannah on Monday afternoon, stopped in Swansea, SC for dinner, then continued to a hotel in Cayce, SC to stay the night. On Tuesday morning, I visited the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia then headed back to Savannah just after lunchtime. This Columbia road trip was a bit different because I used US-321 for the northbound trip but used I-26 and I-95 to return to Savannah due to the multiple work zones I encountered on 321 on Monday afternoon. 

Coastal Georgia Military Monitoring Recap; October 2023

I was saddened to learn of the passing of Larry Van Horn, N5FPW in early October. Larry was a fountain of knowledge on multiple aspects of the radio hobby, including Amateur Radio, MilCom monitoring, and FedCom monitoring. He wrote for Monitoring Times and The Spectrum Monitor as well as authoring a series of his own books, all of which were outstanding sources of information. Larry was one of my mentors in the MilCom hobby; it's not as easy to find information on as Public Safety monitoring, so without his help and the help of others like Al Stern and Jack Nesmith (both of whom have also passed away), I may have not stuck with MilCom monitoring. I also fondly remember several HF and DMR QSOs that I had with Larry over the years. He'll be missed by many in the radio hobby, but his memory will be carried on by those he helped along the way. My prayers continue to be with his family and friends.

The Monthly Military Monitoring Recap consists of frequencies and callsigns that I've heard in use in Coastal Georgia and during my travels (usually around South Carolina and Florida). Special Operations, Intelligence, and real-world Combat Air Patrol information will not be posted. Gulfstream (Savannah) and Boeing (Charleston) flight test frequencies and callsigns are also included as well as US Coast Guard, non-law enforcement FedCom, and civilian medevac callsigns, N-numbers, and frequencies. 

October turned out to be a good military monitoring month even though my monitoring opportunities were somewhat limited. September's road trip (to Columbia) took place at the beginning of October and October's road trip was to Jacksonville (coinciding with the Jacksonville Beach Air Show), giving me the opportunity to listen in both cities. A-10s from Moody AFB were unusually active at Townsend Range and the Coastal MOAs during the month and CNATRA T-45Cs began conducting carrier qualifications with the USS George Washington (CVN-73) at the end of the month. With the arrival of Autumn, there were several good band openings that allowed me to hear VHF communications up into the Charleston, SC and Augusta, GA areas from home in Savannah. Other things worth noting for the month are: