Earlier this week, I took what was supposed to be taking a two day road trip to Charleston, SC, leaving Savannah on Sunday morning and returning on Tuesday morning. On Sunday, I visited the Botany Bay Heritage Preserve and Wildlife Management Area on Edisto Island and the Charles Pinckney National Historic Site in Charleston. On Monday, I spent much of the day at Magnolia Plantation in Charleston and also visited Drayton Hall just down the road to see what they've done since my visit there a few years ago. Tuesday morning, I left the hotel and had only gone several blocks down US-17 when my car's clutch failed. Luckily I was able to coast into a parking lot across from a repair shop, but it kept me in Charleston for one more day and is keeping the car in Charleston for several more days. I'll be having to go back to Charleston, probably on Friday, to pick the car up.
 |
| On Sunday, I stopped for a picnic lunch at the Botany Bay Heritage Preserve on Edisto Island and enjoyed this beautiful view while listening to F-35s aerial refueling offshore |
From the radio perspective, it was a pretty good trip. On Sunday I heard some F-35Bs from VMFAT-501 at Beaufort working out of Charleston to do aerial refueling training with Omega Air offshore and a number of the amateur radio repeaters in the Lowcountry were active. On Monday, F-35Bs from VMFA-533 at Beaufort worked out of Charleston to operate up in the Gamecock MOA and I discovered that the DMR radio system in use at Boeing's facility at Charleston IAP was much busier than it had been in previous visits. On Tuesday, while pretty much stuck at a hotel, I enjoyed listening to Joint Base Charleston, including several Turkish Air Force A400s that came in during the afternoon. Throughout the trip, the Palmetto 800 system was very active with public safety communications from Charleston and the surrounding counties.
I also tried out a couple of new items I've added to the road trip radio toolkit: A powered USB hub and an AirSpy Mini. The powered USB hub does a much better job of supporting multiple handhelds and I never had a problem with SDS100 giving me an insufficient voltage error. The AirSpy Mini worked wonderfully with Unitrunker 2.0 to scan and log the Palmetto 800 system.
 |
| The Road Trip Monitoring Station - Anytone 878 for amateur radio, Whistler TRX-1, Uniden BCD436HP, and Uniden SDS100. Behind the computer are an AirSpy Mini and Mode-S/ADS-B dongle |
 |
| The powered USB hub with three scanners, a Mode-S/ADS-B dongle, and the AirSpy Mini (the gray device) plugged into it |
Amateur Radio
The Charleston area is well covered by VHF/UHF repeaters. Many of the analog repeaters are linked together and allow you talk all not just all around the Lowcountry but around the state as well. The PRN DMR system covers South Carolina and North Carolina only, so if you're in Charleston and want to access another network a hot spot, DroidStar, or other means is necessary. Sunday was unexpectedly active on amateur radio. The SCHeart linked repeater system was active throughout the day, including a net on Sunday evening and the SC/NC PRN DMR system was active throughout the day as well. Tuesday evening, I checked into the Trident ARC net on linked repeaters via the 444.7775 Charleston repeater as it was the strongest of the linked repeaters at the hotel.
146.7150- (PL 123.0) - Whitehall (Colleton Co) (SCHeart)
146.7600- (PL 123.0) - Charleston (Charleston Co) (SCHeart)
146.7900- (PL 123.0) - Charleston/USS Yorktown (Charleston Co) (SCHeart)
147.1050+ (PL 123.0) - Charleston (Charleston Co) (SCHeart)
441.5750+ (PL 123.0) - Charleston (Charleston Co) (SCHeart)
442.3875+ (DMR CC1) - Charleston South - PRN (Charleston Co)
443.0375+ (DMR CC1) - Charleston Downtown - PRN (Charleston Co)
444.7750+ (PL 123.0) - Charleston (Charleston Co) (SCHeart)
Military Communications/Aviation
While in the Charleston area, I enjoyed listening to the Aviation and Military Aviation communications in the area. Charleston is the home to Joint Base Charleston, which encompasses the former Charleston Air Force Base and Naval Support Activity Charleston. The base is a major east coast USAF airlift base, home to the 437th AW and 315th AW C-17s, so there is almost always something coming and going; on this trip, the most interesting were two Turkish AF A400s. Both the USAF and USN parts of Joint Base Charleston are covered by the USAF 57C TRS; while much of the traffic on it is encrypted, there is some unencrypted traffic to hear. Joint Base Charleston is co-located with Charleston IAP and Boeing has a production facility for the 787 at Charleston IAP. In addition to the Boeing Ops communications with test aircraft, they have a DMR TRS which was much busier on this trip than it was last year and also seems to have a larger footprint.
MCAS Beaufort
119.050 - MCAS Beaufort Tower
342.875 - MCAS Beaufort Tower
125.125 - Beaufort Approach/Departure
292.125 - Beaufort Approach/Departure
123.700 - Beaufort Approach/Departure
269.125 - Beaufort Approach/Departure
360.525 - VMFA-533 Tac 1?
236.250 - VMFA-533 Air-to-Air
326.700 - VMFAT-501 Tac 1
349.225 - VMFAT-501 Tac 2
341.825 - VMFAT-501 Tac 3
HAWK ## (F-35B, VMFA-533)
SWEDE ## (F-35B, VMFAT-501)
WARLORD ## (F-35B, VMFAT-501)
Joint Base Charleston
126.000 - Charleston Tower
239.000 - Charleston Tower
120.700 - Charleston TRACON
306.925 - Charleston TRACON
379.925 - Charleston TRACON
349.400 - JB Charleston "PALMETTO Ops"
123.325 - Boeing Charleston Ops
123.025 - Helicopter Common
USAF 57C TRS (JB Charleston/NSA Charleston sites)
TG 751 - JB Charleston FD Dispatch; enc/unenc
TG 752 - JB Charleston FD Tac 1; enc/unenc
TG 754 - JB Charleston/NSA Charleston Unknown; enc (JB/NSA Charleston FD Tac?)
TG 783 - 437th/315th AW; enc
TG 787 - 437th/315th AW; unenc
TG 834 - 437th/315th AW; enc
TG 836 - 437th/315th AW MOC 1; enc/unenc
TG 837 - 437th/315th AW MOC 2; enc/unenc
TG 838 - 437th/315th AW; enc
TG 841 - Joint Base Charleston Unknown; enc/unenc
TG 910 - Joint Base Charleston Unknown; enc
TG 950 - JB Charleston/NSA Charleston Unknown (FD?); enc/unenc
TG 967 - JB Charleston/NSA Charleston Unknown; enc
Boeing Charleston DMR TRS (CAP+)
461.9500 (LCN 1)
461.3750 (LCN 2)
461.7000 (LCN 3)
461.8250 (LCN 4)
TG 19 - Boeing FD Dispatch
TG 83 - Boeing Unknown (Production line?)
TG 84 - Boeing Unknown (Production line?)
TG 85 - Boeing Unknown (Production line?)
TG 86 - Boeing Unknown (Production line?)
TG 87 - Boeing Unknown (Production line?)
TG 88 - Boeing Unknown (Production line?)
TG 170 - Boeing Unknown
TG 181 - Boeing Unknown
TG 200 - Boeing Unknown
TG 222 - Boeing Unknown
TG 223 - Boeing Unknown
TG 225 - Boeing Unknown
TG 244 - Boeing Unknown
TG 254 - Boeing FD Fireground/Tac?
BASCO ## (C-17A, 437th/315th AW)
WARLORD ## (F-35B, VMFAT-501)
BOEING 061 (B78?, Boeing Test)
BOEING 698 (B789, B-17888, EVA Airways/Boeing Test)
REACH #### (Various, USAF Airlift)
HAWK ## (F-35B, VMFA-533)
SWEDE ## (F-35B, VMFA-533)
SHARK ## (C-130J, Various)
VADER 08 (C-130H, 90-9108, 910th AW)
CAP 3913 (C172, N713CP, SC Civil Air Patrol)
TURKISH AIR FORCE 211 (A400, 18-0094, 221 Filo Turkish AF)
TURKISH AIR FORCE 212 (A400, 21-0118, 221 Filo Turkish AF)
N911UG (EC35, AirMethods/LIFENET 2 Camden)
N365MT/CARE FLIGHT (B407, Med-Trans/CARE Flight Walterboro)
N461MT (EC35, N461MT, Med-Trans)
N511MT (B407, Med-Trans)
N915UF (B407, Med-Trans)
 |
| Turkish Air Force 212 (A400, 21-0118, 221 Filo Turkish AF) inbound to Joint Base Charleston on 8 April 2025 |
Columbia Metropolitan/McEntire JNGB
124.150 - Columbia TRACON
133.400 - Columbia TRACON
298.300 - 169th FW/157th FS Ops "SWAMP FOX Ops"
MACE ## (F-16CM, 169th FW/157th FS)
NOBLE ## (F-16CM, 169th FW/157th FS, POTUS CAP)
Ranges/Operating Areas
350.300 - Gamecock MOA
127.725/228.750 - DOUBLESHOT Primary
258.400 - DOUBLESHOT Discrete
120.950 - SEALORD North Primary
Miscellaneous MilCom/Aviation
324.600 -AR-207 Primary
BISON 61 (CMV-22B, 169472, VRM-40)
EPIC ## (C-17A, 145th AW)
FUELER ## (KC-46A, 916th ARW)
KBAR ## (UC-12W, MCAS New River)
KING 39 (HC-130J, 39th RQS)
NAVY LL ## (P-8A, VP-30)
RAWHIDE ## (C-2A, VRC-40)
SHADY ## (MC-12S-2, A/224 MI Bn)
SODA ## (KC-135R, 134th ARW)
SPAR ### (Various, USAF Special Air Mission)
STEEL ## (KC-135T, 171st ARW)
SWATH ## (Various, POTUS CAP Tanker)
TIGER ## (Unknown fighter)
GULFTEST ## (Gulfstream Test Flights)
OMEGA 10 (DC10, N974VV, Omega Air)
Jacksonville ARTCC
124.075/281.550 - Summerville High
126.125/285.650 - Statesboro High
127.875 - Aiken High
132.425 - Hunter Ultra High
132.925/363.200 - Allendale/Savannah Low
133.450 - Florence Low
133.625/370.950 - Georgetown High
134.375/317.550 - Charleston Low
FedCom
Coast Guard Sector Charleston is very active on their VHF and UHF P25 frequencies and of course on Marine VHF Channels 16 and 1022 (formerly 22). Marine VHF Channels 1021 (formerly 21) is also used for communications between Sector Charleston and Coast Guard Auxiliary assets. Coast Guard Air Station Savannah rotates one of their MH-65Es to Air Facility Charleston at Charleston Executive Airport each day, so there is USCG aviation activity to listen to as well as vessel activity. It's worth noting that Sector Charleston also has Palmetto 800 capability and will coordinate with area public safety agencies on the system. I heard a good example during a bridge jumper response during this trip. The US Forestry Service repeater that covers the Francis Marion National Forest just north of Charleston was also active.
156.8000 - Marine VHF Ch 16
157.0500 - Marine VHF Ch 1021/21A
157.1000 - Marine VHF Ch 1022/22A
171.2375 ($293) - CG 127, Sector Charleston
413.0000 ($293) - CG 410, Sector Charleston Air Ops
171.1375 (PL 136.5) - USFS Huger/Francis Marion NF
Public Safety
Most of the public safety communications in the Charleston area, for most all of the Lowcounty actually, is on the Palmetto 800 700/800 MHz P25 TRS. Much of the law enforcement traffic is encrypted, but most of the Fire/EMS traffic is in the clear. South Carolina Forestry Commission, however, still uses VHF repeaters. It's also worth noting that there are some Federal users on the Palmetto 800 system; USCG Sector Charleston has access to the system and uses it to coordinate with Charleston area public safety agencies and Fort Sumter National Historic Park seems to use it as their primary means of communication.
159.4050 (DCS 155) - SCFC Cottageville (east Colleton Co)
Palmetto 800
TG 704 - Beaufort County FD Dispatch 1
TG 550 - Hilton Head Island Fire/Rescue Dispatch (Beaufort Co)
TG 552 - Hilton Head Island Fire/Rescue Tac 1 (Beaufort Co)
TG 1040 - Berkeley County FD/EMS Dispatch
TG 1078 - Berkeley County FD/EMS Ops
TG 1045 - Berkeley County FD/EMS Incident 4
TG 1048 - Berkeley County FD/EMS Incident 7
TG 1399 - Goose Creek FD Fireground 1 (Berkeley Co)
TG 1400 - Goose Creek FD Fireground 2 (Berkeley Co)
TG 2051 - Charleston County FD/EMS Dispatch
TG 2050 - Charleston County EMS Ops
TG 1575 - Charleston County FD Rescue Dispatch
TG 2066 - Charleston County FDs Ops A
TG 2030 - Charleston FD Ops (Charleston Co)
TG 1566 - Awendaw FD Talk (Charleston Co)
TG 2049 - James Island/St Johns FD Ops (Charleston Co)
TG 1851 - Isle of Palms FD Ops (Charleston County)
TG 1721 - Mt Pleasant FD Ops (Charleston Co)
TG 1805 - North Charleston FD Ops (Charleston Co)
TG 1771 - St Paul FD Ops (Charleston Co)
TG 1871 - Sullivans Island FD Ops (Charleston Co)
TG 2057 - Charleston County FD Incident 4
TG 1628 - Charleston County FD Incident 7
TG 1629 - Charleston County FD Incident 8
TG 1631 - Charleston County FD Incident 10
TG 1660 - Charleston County FD Incident 31
TG 1553 - Charleston County EMS Common
TG 1583 - Roper Hospital Lifelink EMS
TG 2931 - Colleton County Fire/Rescue Dispatch
TG 4165 - Dorchester County FD Dispatch
TG 4166 - Dorchester County EMS Ops
TG 4141 - Dorchester County FD Ops
TG 4140 - Dorchester County FD Incident 3
TG 4365 - Summerville FD Dispatch (Dorchester Co)
TG 4360 - Summerville FD Ops 1 (Dorchester Co)
TG 4361 - Summerville FD Ops 2 (Dorchester Co)
TG 4370 - Summerville FD Ops 7 (Dorchester Co)
TG 4369 - Summerville FD Ops (Dorchester Co)
TG 6541 - Jasper County FD Dispatch
TG 6542 - Jasper County FD Tac 1
TG 6543 - Jasper County FD Tac 2
TG 10008 - SC DHEC Hospital Region 4 Lowcountry
TG 27505 - DHEC Hospital Net Main
TG 10606 - SC EMD Lowcountry
TG 20010 - SC Call
TG 20011 - SC Mutual Aid 1
TG 20021 - SC State Air-to-Ground
TG 40005 - SC Air 3
TG 10394 - Meducare Helicopter Flight Control
TG 10395 - Meducare
TG 51781 - MeduCare Shawn Jenkins Childrens Hospital (Charleston)
TG 28609 - SC LifeNet
TG 51703 - SC AirReach
TG 51704 - Med-Trans SC (Medevac Helicopter dispatch)
TG 11025 - Family Medical Transport Charleston
TG 1822 - Ft Sumter NHP
TG 1763 - Charleston County Airport Authority Admin
TG 1764 - Charleston County Airport Authority Taxi
Marine/Port/Railroad
From the Port and Railroad communications perspective, Charleston is quite similar to Savannah, with the Harbor Pilots active on Marine VHF Channel 14, Safety of Navigation communications on Marine VHF Channel 13, rail yards related to the port, and rail lines leading in and out of the port. Charleston Harbor Pilots also has a very active DMR repeater that is used to coordinate their activities.
156.6500 - Marine VHF Ch 13; Charleston Harbor Navigation Safety
156.7000 - Marine VHF Ch 14; Charleston Pilots
159.8550 (DMR SL1, CC1, TG 200) - Charleston Pilots
156.3500 - Marine VHF Ch 7; Tugboats
156.9500 - Marine VHF Ch 1019/19A; Tugboats?
156.4500 - Marine VHF Ch 9; Drawbridges
CSX
160.2300 - AAR 08, CSX Dispatch (Some PL 250.3)
161.3700 - AAR 84, CSX Dispatch (Some PL 250.3)
160.5900 - AAR 32, CSX Road (Some PL 250.3)
161.1000 - AAR 66, CSX Road (Some PL 250.3)
160.2900 - AAR 12, CSX Intermodal Yard
Norfolk Southern
160.6500 - AAR 36, Norfolk Southern Dispatch/Road
161.2500 - AAR 76, Norfolk Southern Seven Mile Yard
Charleston Port Utility Commission RR
160.3200 (DCS 205) - AAR 14; Charleston PUC RR (Dispatch?)
East Cooper & Berkeley RR
160.9800 - AAR 58, East Cooper & Berkeley RR Road/Yard
Botany Bay Heritage Preserve and Wildlife Management Area
The first stop of the road trip was the Botany Bay Heritage Preserve and Wildlife Management Area on Edisto Island. Botany Bay is composed of land that once made up the Bleak Hall and Sea Cloud plantations. It features outbuildings that remain from Bleak Hall and the ruins of the Sea Cloud house and has a wide variety habitat for wildlife viewing. While walking to the Bleak Hall outbuildings I surprised a large tom turkey but couldn't get the camera up quick enough to get a photo before he disappeared into the tree line and I saw several large fox squirrels but never close enough to get photos of them.
Charles Pinckney National Historic Site
Sunday's second stop was the Charles Pinckney National Historic Site in Charleston. While the visitors center isn't open for the season yet (I wonder when that happens?) you can still walk around the grounds and learn about Pinckney and the site from the interpretive panels. Charles Pinckney was one of our founding fathers; an author of the Constitution, a politician who served in both State and National offices, and served as a diplomat. Composed of property that was part of Charles Pinckney's Snee Farm plantation, the park's interpretive panels provide information about Pinckney's career, the plantation, and the slaves who worked on it. The existing plantation house is actually the third house on the site; it was built in 1828 on the foundation of one built in 1750. The first was built a short distance away in 1725. A chimney remains of a caretaker's cottage built in the 1930s and there are brick outlines of slave quarters showing their location and size (they were of wooden construction and no longer exist).
Magnolia Plantation
I spent much of Monday at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens in Charleston, a Colonial and Civil War era Lowcountry plantation along the Ashley River that belonged (and still belong) to the Drayton family. The house at Magnolia Plantation is not the original plantation house and has been added to/modernized over the years. The house tour is interesting and shows how it would appeared during various stages of occupation. The gardens are beautiful and feature everything from meticulously maintained formal gardens to natural swamp gardens. The most interesting and informative part of the visit was the Slavery to Freedom presentation at the slave cabins that remain on the property. While the plantation house and gardens are very much the center of attention at Magnolia Plantation, they don't let you forget about the other side of the plantation system - the slaves that kept the plantation operating. The natural swamp gardens are terrific places to watch wildlife; there are plenty of alligators as well as rookeries for egrets, herons, and other birds. The last two photos below show two Virginia Oaks on the property - the first is estimated to be 350 years old and the second is estimated to be 500 years old - imagine the History these two trees have witnessed!
Drayton Hall
After I left Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, I drove just a half mile down the road to revisit Drayton Hall - I visited Drayton Hall three years ago and wanted to see where they are at in the preservation process now.. Drayton Hall is different from other plantations in the Charleston area; instead of making it a tourist site, it is a historic preservation site. The house is not restored; it is preserved as is and the preservation efforts are ongoing. They are about to begin another preservation project in just a few weeks - they are going to remove and preserve the ornate plaster work on the ceiling of the lower main room then remove the plaster ceiling and replace the beams above it, replastering the ceiling and replacing the ornate plaster work as is when they're finished.
So far, I've visited four of the Charleston, SC area Colonial to Civil War era plantations: Drayton Hall, Middleton Place, Boone Hall, and Magnolia Plantation. Drayton Hall is interesting from a preservation perspective; while not furnished and not restored it is preserved in close to its original form, allowing you to really get a sense of what it must have been like in the 1700s and 1800s. Boone Hall gives you somewhat of a sense of what a working plantation may have been like as its agricultural fields are still active; it also has some unique brick slave quarters. Both Middleton Place and Magnolia Plantation have beautiful gardens in addition to the houses, with Middleton Place having the more historic house of the two. Middleton Place, Boone Hall, and Magnolia Plantation have interpretation about the slaves that worked on and made the plantation economy possible, and Boone Hall features a terrific presentation on the Gullah Geechee community. Of the three, Drayton Hall is the one most focused toward the History Geek while the other three are geared more toward tourism. I would suggest visiting all four, but if you were to only visit one, I would pick Middleton Place or Boone Hall as they are the two that I think blend the tourist experience with historical interpretation the best.
Road Trip Food
I had three really good dinners during this road trip. During the planned portion of this trip, BBQ was the dinner theme. On Sunday, I ate at Bessinger's in Charleston and on Monday, I ate at Jim N Nick's in North Charleston. Tuesday's dinner, since I was on foot, was at Boxcar Betty's, just a few blocks up the road from the hotel.
Sunday's dinner at Bessinger's BBQ was delicious yet disappointing. They had run out of pork, so I ended up ordering a combination dinner of brisket and turkey with baked beans and green beans. It was all delicious (especially the burnt ends on the brisket) and I enjoyed it except for the price. Both the brisket and turkey cost $5.00 extra so the total for the meal came up to $38.00. The food was good, but not $38.00 for one plate good. I wouldn't have minded at the $20-30 range, but $30-40 was disappointing. You order at the counter, then they call your name when your order is ready, so there's nothing to report about the table service; the cashier at the counter was friendly and the food was ready quickly.
On Monday, stopped at Jim N Nick's Community Bar-B-Q in North Charleston after leaving Drayton Hall. I had a combination plate with pulled pork with Carolina vinegar-style sauce, jalapeno cheddar sausage, baked beans, and cole slaw. It was a delicious meal and the service was wonderful. I even cheated on my low carb/diabetic diet and tried a cheddar biscuit - they were wonderful, too. I was surprised at how good the food was given that Jim N Nick's is a chain restaurant; if I didn't know better, I'd have thought it was a local restaurant!
Whenever I visit Charleston, a meal at East Bay Deli is something I always try to fit in. Even though I don't eat much bread these days because of diabetes, I can still have one of their excellent salads. On this trip, I stopped for lunch at the one in West Ashley on US-17 and enjoyed one of their Chef Salads with Greek Dressing on the way back to Savannah. Since family friends helped my mother give me a ride back to Savannah, I treated them to lunch and they enjoyed their meals as well - a Chief Rueben, a Turkey Wrap, and a Southern Dog. You can't really go wrong with anything on East Bay Deli's menu.
I can't finish this post without mentioning the Holiday Inn Express Charleston US-17 & I-526 in West Ashley. When the car broke down on Tuesday morning and I had to leave it at the shop for a few days, I booked a room there to stay overnight until I could get ride home. The shop's shuttle gave me a ride there, arriving around 11 am. I expected that I would have to sit around the lobby until check-in time at 3pm, but the ladies at the front desk were able to get me checked into a room early without any extra charges. It truly helped me relax and calm down after a very stressful morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment