Wildlife and Radio - Parks on the Air Activation at the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge

This afternoon, I combined my love of nature, wildlife, and radio with a visit to the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge's Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive just across the Savannah River in South Carolina. It was a beautiful day for a visit, it got up into the mid-50s instead of the 30s that we had yesterday and it wasn't nearly as windy as it was yesterday, so it was a terrific day for watching birds. I saw a lot of Teal and Northern Shovelers, but unfortunately none were close enough to get photos of. I got some photos of American Coots and Common Grebes along with year-around residents Anhingas, Great Blue Herons, and White Ibis. I also saw what I think was an immature Cooper's Hawk. The cold snap wasn't so good for watching alligators and turtles, I only saw one alligator during the visit and it wasn't where I could get a good photo. 

I set up my portable HF station out of the back of my car at the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge's Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive for a Parks on the Air activation

Coastal Georgia Christmas (Not So Much a) Road Trip Radio Report; 13/14 December 2025

I'm not taking a road trip in December as I prepare for a Space Coast Road Trip in January but over the weekend, I did travel around southeast and coastal Georgia visiting the Georgia Veterans Cemetery in Glennville, Fort Pulaski in Savannah, and Fort King George in Darien. I don't post a lot about local Fire/Rescue communications in the Savannah area, so I thought I'd do a blog post about the weekend's travels and what I heard during them. Perhaps it will be helpful for anyone who may be thinking about visiting the Savannah area.

Candlelit Christmas decoration at Fort Pulaski National Monument's Candle Lantern Tour

Coastal Georgia Military Monitoring Recap; November 2025

November was much like October was; several issues reduced the amount of radio time I had and a great deal of it ended up being mobile monitoring. I was able to take an overnight road trip to the South Carolina Midlands and enjoyed doing some listening while I was up there; you can read more about in an earlier blog post. The photo below is of KF4LMT Mobile at Poinsett State Park; it's an excellent place to do some listening to Shaw AFB and McEntire JNGB; it's located somewhat between the two and adjacent to Poinsett Range, which is used by aircraft from both bases. November was notable for the almost complete absence of 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade activity at Hunter AAF; they're deployed to Europe, but they've apparently left a few personnel and aircraft at Hunter AAF this time. F-16s from the 113th Wing/121st FS, DC Air National Guard continue to operate out of Savannah-Hilton Head IAP like they did during October. 

KF4LMT Mobile amidst the Autumn foliage at Poinsett State Park in the South Carolina Midlands