Road Trip Radio Report - A Foggy Jacksonville Road Trip; December 2024

I recently took a road trip down to Jacksonville, FL to visit the Jacksonville Zoo and do some military aviation watching. Unfortunately, the weather was not conducive to good military aviation watching or listening. A thick fog persisted for much of the time, as evidenced in this photo looking across the St Johns River from Huguenot Park towards NS Mayport illustrates. The trip didn't turn out, however, to be a complete bust on the radio side of things. From where I was staying on the north side of Jacksonville, I could hear plenty of railroad and port communications.

The fog during this road trip to Jacksonville was so thick that I could barely see the ships at NS Mayport from across the St Johns River at Huguenot Park

I heard some US Navy T-45s working in the Jacksonville area on Sunday afternoon and there was a bit of activity from the P-8s at NAS Jacksonville on Monday, but I heard a lot more Port and Railroad traffic throughout the trip than I did MilCom traffic. From the Jacksonville IAP and Jacksonville Zoo area, I could hear St Johns Bar Pilots and tugboat traffic from the Jacksonville Port, CSX traffic from Moncrief Yard, and CSX and Florida East Coast Railroad traffic from Taft Yard. I could also hear some occasional Norfolk Southern traffic. I started hearing Florida Forestry Service P25 traffic during last month's Amelia Island/Fernandina Beach road trip, but on this trip I heard extensive P25 on the FFS Jacksonville repeater. While visiting the Jacksonville Zoo, I also enjoyed listening to the zoo keepers on their DMR radio system. 

Amateur Radio/GMRS

146.7000- (PL 127.3) - Jacksonville

147.0000- (PL 127.3) - Callahan

147.0300+ (DMR CC1) - Callahan DMR

147.3900+ (PL 127.3) - Jacksonville Beach

442.4250+ (DMR CC1) - Jax Beach DMR

442.8000+ (PL 127.3) - St Augustine (SARNet)

442.9000+ (PL 127.3) - Yulee (SARNet)

444.4000+ (PL 127.3) - Jacksonville

444.4250+ (DMR CC7) - Jax Metro DMR

444.4750+ (PL 127.3) - Nassauville

444.7000+ (PL 127.3) - Jacksonville (SARNet)

446.0000 - 70cm National Call

462.6750+ (PL 141.3) - Jacksonville (GMRS)

MilCom/Aviation

Jacksonville IAP

119.000/121.300/124.900/127.000/127.775/132.775 - Jacksonville TRACON

269.900/284.600/292.150/308.400/377.075 - Jacksonville TRACON

118.300/317.700 - Jacksonville IAP Tower

150.2125 (PL 146.2) - 125th FW Civil Engineers

SLIP 14 (V-22, Unknown); visual ID as V-22 near Blount Island

NAS Jacksonville

125.150/340.200 - NAS Jacksonville Tower

310.200/134.775 - NAS Jacksonville Base Ops

264.200 - VP-8/VP-45 Base

271.400 - VP-5/VP-10 Base

306.000 - VP-30 Base

285.000 - TSC Jacksonville/W-497 Common

MADFOX ## (P-8A, VP-5)

LANCER ## (P-8A, VP-10)

PELICAN ## (P-8A, VP-45)

NAVY LL ##  (P-8A, VP-30)

PIONEER ## (P-8A, VX-1)

N911US (AS50, Flagler County FireFlight)

NS Mayport

156.6000 - Marine VHF Ch 12; Mayport Port Control

361.200 - NS Mayport SESEF

US DOD TRS (NS Mayport & NAS Jacksonville sites)

 TG 28118 - NAS Jacksonville Tower

 TG 28138 - HSM-48? (NS Mayport 2-002)

 TG 28171 - VP-45

 TG 28173 - VP-30

 TG 28192 - VR-58

 TG 28211 - FRCSE

 TG 28222 - NAS Jacksonville POL

 TG 28241 - VP-62

 TG 28264 - NS Mayport Tower

 TG 28275 - Unknown (NS Mayport 2-002)

 TG 28306 - NS Mayport Unknown

 TG 28329 - NS Mayport Crash Net

 TG 28344 - NS Mayport Ship POL

 TG 28346 - NS Mayport Ship POL

 TG 28557 - Regional Fire Dispatch Southeast 1

 TG 28995 - Regional Fire Dispatch Southeast 2

 TG 29090 - Unknown (NAS Jax 2-001)

Cecil Field

126.100/235.625 - Cecil Field Tower

246.800 - CNATRA T-45 Air-to-Air

NAVY CD 1## (T-45, CNATRA)

NAVY CD 2## (T-45, CNATRA)

RAWHIDE ## (C-2A,  VRC-40)

SHADY ## (MC-12S, B/224th MI Bn)

MCSF Blount Island

USMC TRS (MCSF Blount Island site)

 TG 13715 - MCSF Blount Island unknown; enc

Misc MilCom

324.600 - AR-207 Primary

148.1250 (PL 156.7/$61F) - CAP Jacksonville Repeater

Jacksonville ARTCC

124.675 - Jekyll Low

125.375 - Taylor Low

126.125- Statesboro High

126.350 - St. Augustine High

126.750 - Brunswick Low

127.475 - Jax Center Green Cove High

127.575/269.025 - Waycross Low

127.875/319.200 - Aiken High

128.625 - Micanopy Ultra High

132.425 - Hunter Ultra High

132.925 - Allendale/Savannah Low

133.300 - Moultrie Ultra High

133.700/323.300 - Baxley Low

134.450 - Ashburn Low

134.850/327.100 - Torry Low/High

135.975 - Alma High

MANATEE 2## (FL CAP)

SAM ### (Various, USAF Transport)

GRAYBIRD 204 (G-1159A, N714DS, Phoenix Air)

MEDEVAC YELLOWSTONE 12 (E55P, N295TX, Transmedics Inc)

FedCom

156.8000 - Marine VHF Ch 16

157.1000 - Marine VHF Ch 1022/22A

162.3250 ($293) - CG 111, Sector Jacksonville

Public Safety

159.2400 ($046) - FFS Jacksonville (TG 1, TG 70, TG 71)

159.2400 (PL 97.4) - FFS Jacksonville

151.0100 (PL 103.5) - Little Talbot State Park

453.0750 (PL 146.2) - Trauma One Jacksonville

462.9500 (PL 173.8) - LifeFlight (Jacksonville)

154.4000 (PL 173.8) - Baker County FD Dispatch

Nassau County P25 TRS

 TG 1001 - A1 Nassau Co Fire/Rescue Dispatch

 

First Coast P25 TRS

 TG 1087 - Jacksonville Fire/Rescue A2 Dispatch

 TG 149 - Jacksonville Fire/Rescue A-4 Suppression

 TG 1101 - Jacksonville Fire/Rescue A-9 Training 1

 TG 1103 - Jacksonville Fire/Rescue A-10 Marine Operations

 TG 1113 - Jacksonville Fire/Rescue Fireground B1

 TG 2533 - Jacksonville Fire/Rescue Stadium Command 

 TG 1523 - Jacksonville IAP Events/Crash Units

 TG 1563 - Jacksonville IAP Operations

Clay County P25

 TG 300 - Clay County Fire Rescue Dispatch

 TG 301 - Clay County Fire Rescue Tac 1

St Johns P25

 TG 10000 - St Johns County Fire/Rescue A1 Dispatch

 TG 10065 - St Johns County Fire/Rescue A15 Training 1

 TG 10615 - NPS Castillo de San Marcos

 TG 10620 - NPS Fort Matanzas

Marine/Port/Railroad

156.6500 - Marine VHF Ch 13; Jacksonville Port Navigation Safety

156.7000 - Marine VHF Ch 14; Jacksonville Pilots

156.6000 - Marine VHF Ch 12; Mayport Port Control

156.8150 - Marine VHF Ch 17; St Johns Bar Pilots Working Channel

156.3500 - Marine VHF Ch 7; Jacksonville Port Tugboats

156.9000 - Marine VHF Ch 1018/18A; Jacksonville Port Tugboats

157.0750 - Marine VHF Ch 1081/81A; Unknown, Jacksonville

CSX

160.3200 - AAR 14, CSX Dispatch, Jacksonville (Some stations with PL 250.3) 

161.5200 - AAR 94, CSX CSX Dispatch, Jacksonville (Some stations with PL 250.3) 

160.5900 - AAR 32, CSX Road, Jacksonville (Some stations with PL 250.3)

161.3700 - AAR 84, CSX Road; Jacksonville (Some stations with PL 250.3)

160.4850 - AAR 25, Moncrief B Yard

161.3400 - AAR 82, CSX Moncrief Yard H-Yard (Some stations with PL 97.4)

161.1000 - AAR 66, CSX/FEC Taft Yard

Norfolk Southern

160.6950 - AAR 39, Norfolk Southern Dispatch/Road, Jacksonville

Florida East Coast Railroad

160.6800 - AAR 38, Yard 1

Jacksonville Zoo

463.2500 (DMR CC8 SL1 TG1) - Zoo Keepers 1

463.2500 (DMR CC8 SL2 TG2) - Zoo Keepers 2

Food

As always, no road trip is complete without good food and I had two terrific meals on this one. The first one was from La Nopalera in Jacksonville, just across I-95 from Jacksonville International Airport. I decided to try something I've never had before - their Filete Veracruz, which is steamed fish and shrimp with peppers, onions, mushrooms, and tomatoes. It was fabulous, easily the best meal of the road trip. 

The second great meal was the breakfast I had at Grumpy's Restaurant in Yulee. One of their specials that morning was a steak omelet, so I tried that with a side of fruit. The omelet was amazing and the service was both friendly and quick. I know where I'll be having breakfast whenever I'm on the north end of Jacksonville.