Coastal Georgia Military Monitoring Recap; June 2024

This post has been updated on 1 July 2024 to reflect hearing CG 118 in use after it originally posted on 30 June 2024.

For the first month this year, it seemed there wasn't an exercise of some sort or a visiting unit flying out of the Savannah Combat Readiness Training Center/Air Dominance Center (perhaps potential visitors think it's too hot during the Summer to visit?). That, however, didn't prevent June from being an eventful month. A new unit began flying out of MCAS Beaufort, USCG Sector Charleston made some communications changes, there was a lot of AWACS activity, and a road trip to Columbia, SC (check the link for a full radio report along with information on the places I visited and some of the places I ate) gave me the opportunity to better listen to 20th FW F-16s from Shaw AFB and 169th FW F-16s and 1-151 AVN AH-64Es from McEntire JNGB.

Road Trip Radio Report: Midland and Pee Dee South Carolina History - Columbia, Camden, and Darlington, SC; 10-13 June 2024

From Monday, 10 June through Thursday, 13 June, I took a road trip through Columbia, Camden, and Darlington, SC visiting some historic sites while staying in Cayce, just east of Columbia. In Columbia, I visited Historic Columbia and toured some of their historic homes and gardens. In Camden, I visited the Historic Camden living history park. In Darlington, I visited the museum at Darlington Raceway (maybe not everyone would consider Darlington a historic site, but a motor sport fan surely would). Along the way, I made stops in Sumter to visit Thomas Sumter's grave, in Eutawville to visit the Eutaw Springs battlefield, in Pineville to visit Francis Marion's grave, and in Walterboro to visit the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial. It was also an interesting trip radio-wise; there was a lot of activity from both Shaw AFB, McEntire JNGB, and Fort Jackson; the Palmetto 800 system was busy with public safety communications from the region; and railroads were quite busy, especially in and close around Columbia. I also discovered that the VHF TRS at Shaw AFB was no longer a stand alone system, but now part of the USAF 57C system. Unusual for me, I also had a few amateur radio QSOs along the way.

Historic Columbia's hub - the Robert Mills House in downtown Columbia, SC

Coastal Georgia Military Monitoring Recap; May 2024

May 2024 was a month in which I didn't have as much radio time as I would have liked, but the time I did have made for yet another outstanding month of monitoring. The month began with a USMC Amphibious Readiness Group working in the area and that was closely followed by another exercise and more visiting units at the Savannah Combat Readiness Training Center/Air Dominance Center. The month also began with some indication that VMFA-533 at MCAS Beaufort may be back in the air. Finally, a new AirEvac Base was identified in Coastal Georgia.