4th Fighter Wing From Seymour-Johnson AFB at Savannah-Hilton Head IAP for the Summer

I had a previous version of this post up earlier in the summer, but I haven't had a lot of monitoring opportunities and didn't realize there were F-15Es from multiple squadrons at the Savannah Combat Readiness Training Center/Air Dominance Center instead of just one. It turns out that the F-15Es are (at least) from the 4th Fighter Wing's 333rd and 334th Fighter Squadrons. They're here this summer while runway maintenance is being done at their home, Seymour-Johnson AFB. Draken International A-4K Skyhawks are also at Savannah providing aggressor/red air flights. They're flying morning, afternoon, evening, and night sorties but due to other commitments, most of my monitoring opportunities are the evening and night sorties. I haven't had the chance to get out to the airport and put eyes on them except for a short time when they first arrived. 

4th FW/333rd FS F-15Es at Savannah-Hilton Head IAP on 15 June 2026

Road Trip Radio Report - Overnight Road Trip to the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia; 26/27 July 2026

This past weekend, I went on an overnight road trip to the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia, SC to see their Semi-quincentennial/American Revolution exhibit. As I mentioned in a previous post, I spent late June and early July on family leaving helping a relative after surgery, so it was a good opportunity to rest, relax, and enjoy myself. I left Savannah on Sunday morning, using US-321 for the trip up and returned on Monday morning, using I-26 and I-95. Sunday night, I stayed in Cayce, SC not far away from Columbia Municipal Airport (KCAE). Even though my travels were on a Sunday and early Monday, the trip still provided some good monitoring opportunities. As always, the Columbia area provided no shortage of public safety communications. There was steady traffic at Columbia Municipal Airport and although there was little military communications to be heard on Sunday I caught some F-5Ns out of MCAS Beaufort and some F-15Es from Savannah-Hilton Head IAP on Monday morning. There was usual VHF/UHF morning commute amateur radio traffic on Monday and I was surprised at the amount of VHF/UHF amateur radio traffic I heard around Orangeburg and Columbia on Sunday afternoon. There was some rain and thunderstorm activity on Sunday afternoon and evening and I think that played into less medevac helicopter activity than I usually hear in Columbia.

The South Carolina State Museum in Columbia, SC (the dome of their observatory is visible on the roof)

Visiting the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge's Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive and Listening to Savannah-Hilton Head IAP and Georgia Ports

I've been on FMLA for three weeks, caregiving for a family member after surgery and go back to work on Monday, so I visited the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge's Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive early before it got too hot (a high of 100F has been forecast). It turned out to be a beautiful morning and I saw plenty of alligators and birds. A visit to the Savannah NWR also presents a good opportunity to listen to Savannah-Hilton Head IAP and Georgia Ports as the Refuge is just across the Savannah River from Garden City, Port Wentworth, the Airport, and the port terminal and railyards. 

Purple Gallinule at the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge

Macon and Warner Robins - Overnight Road Trip Radio Report; 9/10 June 2026

My summer vacation road trip this year was limited to an overnight road trip to Macon and Warner Robins. I left Savannah around lunchtime on Tuesday and went up to Macon to visit the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame before heading down to Warner Robins to spend the night. I spent Wednesday morning at the Museum of Aviation at Robins AFB before getting lunch in Warner Robins and heading back to Savannah. I enjoyed the trip; the weather was good with just a few sprinkles of rain on Tuesday but you could definitely tell that Summer is upon us. The only disappointment was a lack of activity in the Bulldog MOA as I drove under it on the way to Macon and Warner Robins and back home to Savannah. 

The Museum of Aviation at Robins AFB in Warner Robins, GA

Commemorative Air Force AirPower History Tour and USCGC Barque Eagle (WIX-327) Visiting Savannah and ANG/USAF Fighters at the Air Dominance Center/Combat Readiness Training Center

This weekend, both the Commemorative Air Force's AirPower History Tour and the US Coast Guard's Barque Eagle visited Savannah. Sunday morning was an opportunity to indulge my inner History and Aviation Geeks and visit both. I'm glad that for once, my days off and time in Savannah coincided with opportunities to see something historical and interesting. Even though the morning started off gray and drizzly, it turned out to be a good one. 

The Commemorative Air Force's B-29 FiFi under cloudy, drizzly skies at Sheltair Savannah on Sunday morning

Monitoring the Southeast Georgia Wildfires

For those who don't live in the southeast, you may not be aware that southern Georgia has two large wildfires burning at the same time: the Pineland Road Fire in Clinch and Echols Counties (west of the Okefenokee Swamp) and the Highway 82 Fire in Brantley County (east of the Okefenokee Swamp). As I write, the Highway 82 Fire has burned over 22,000 acres and is 33% contained and the Pineland Road Fire has burned over 32,000 acres and is 38% contained. Both fires are due to the extraordinary drought in the region. Over the last few days, I've been able to hear some of the firefighting radio traffic from the two fires; most from the Highway 82 Fire, but some of the same assets and frequencies are being used for both fires. 

Monitoring the Highway 82 Fire from a safe distance from KF4LMT Mobile using a Uniden SDS100, two Uniden BCD325P2s, a Uniden BCD436HP, and a Whistler TRX-1

Colonial Dorchester, Drayton Hall, and Middleton Place - Colonial and Revolutionary War Road Trip Radio Report; 24-26 April 2026

Last Friday afternoon, I drove up to Charleston, SC to visit some Low Country Colonial and Revolutionary War historic sites. My first stop was Colonial Dorchester near Summerville before heading to the hotel in North Charleston. I spent Saturday morning at Drayton Hall and the afternoon at Middleton Place, both of which are on Ashley River Rd in Charleston. Some months back, I'd booked a behind-the-scenes tour of the work being done on Drayton Hall's Great Hall ceiling and that was the main reason for the road trip. While in the area, I learned that Middleton Place has a 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution exhibit, so I decided to drop in and see it since Middleton Place was right down the road. I thoroughly enjoyed both the behind-the-scenes tour at Drayton Hall and the 250th Exhibit at Middleton Place. The trip was productive radio-wise as well; there were changes to Charleston area communications on the Palmetto 800 system since my last visit and I was able to better ID some Joint Base Charleston traffic on the USAF 57 system. Saturday also provided the opportunity to listen to a sizeable industrial fire in Berkeley County. I tried a POTA attempt from Colonial Dorchester on Friday, but all didn't go according to plan. Food-wise, I had excellent meals on Friday and Saturday evenings.

Drayton Hall in Charleston, SC - built in the Late 1740s

Travelling Around Southeast Georgia - Notes From a Drive to Brooklet and Glenville and Learning Some New Southeast Georgia History; 13 April 2026

Today I spent much of the first half of the day on the road. I had to go up to Brooklet (near Statesboro in Bulloch County) to pick up a part to fix a couch and then I took Mama by the Veterans Cemetery in Glenville to visit my Father's gravesite. On the way home, I drove through Fort Stewart to see what I could see and hear. This trip took me through Nevils to Daisy on the drive from Brooklet to Glenville on Brooklet-Denmark Rd, Nevils-Denmark Rd, and Nevils-Daisy Rd; it was the first time I've been through Nevils and I ended up learning a piece of southeast Georgia History during the drive.

Candler Peanut - Nevils at the intersection of Nevils-Groveland Rd and Nevils-Denmark Rd in Nevils, GA. If I hadn't known I was in Nevils, I might have thought I was in Plains, GA.

Parks on the Air Activation at a Historic Battlefield and a Visit to Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens - Overnight Jacksonville Road Trip Radio Report; 5/6 April 2026

When I first planned this road trip, I didn't realize that it was going to start on Easter Sunday... I left Savannah on Sunday morning and drove down to Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park for an Amateur Radio Parks on the Air (POTA) activation. Instead of taking I-95 down to I-10, I jumped off I-95 in Brunswick and took the scenic route via US-301/GA-23 through Folkston down to Macclenny, then over to the park in Sanderson. It took a bit longer than the interstates would have, but there was a lot less holiday traffic to deal with. I stayed overnight near Jacksonville IAP and visited Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens on Monday morning to see the new entrance and manatee habitat before heading back to Savannah. Sunday being Easter, there wasn't much MilCom (military communications) to to listen to due to the holiday, but public safety and railroad communications (CSX rail lines paralleled much of my route of travel from Folkston south and along US-90 and I-10) made up for it. Monday wasn't very active MilCom-wise either, probably a result of the overcast conditions that turned to rain later in the day. 

Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens' male Lion greeting visitors with a roar

Air-to-Air Melees off the Georgia Coast - Sentry South Exercise Underway in Savannah

Earlier this week, an air combat exercise began at the Savannah Combat Readiness Training Center/Air Dominance Center at Savannah-Hilton Head IAP. Sentry South is what used to be Sentry Savannah, and although the name may have changed slightly, it is still the same exercise with mostly the same participants. This January's exercise involves USAF and Air National Guard F-22As, F-35As, F-16CMs, T-38s, and KC-135s, USMC F-35Bs, and Top Aces F-16s. Four units are working out of the Air Dominance Center in Savannah, tanker support is flying out of Hunter AAF in Savannah, and some local area units are flying out of their home bases.

ADS-B Exchange tracks of two of the KC-135s and some of the T-38s supporting the Sentry South exercise in Savannah

Space, History, and Wildlife - Space Coast, Treasure Coast, and First Coast Road Trip Radio Report; 12-16 January 2026

This past week was my annual Space Coast Road trip; this year in addition to the Space Coast, I added stops in Fort Pierce and Vero Beach in the Treasure Coast (my first time in that area) and stops in St Augustine and Jacksonville in the First Coast. I left Savannah on Sunday afternoon and stayed overnight in Orange Park to beat the Monday morning rush hour traffic in Jacksonville. The road trip began in earnest on Monday morning; my first stop was Bulow Plantation Ruins Historic State Park in Flagler Beach, where I also did a Parks on the Air (POTA) activation after which I continued south to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge in Titusville. Tuesday was "Space Day," with visits to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, the Sands Space History Center, and the American Space Museum & Hall of Fame. This year's Space Coast Road Trip took place just before the rollout of Artemis II from Kennedy Space Center's VAB to Launch Complex 39B ahead of next month's scheduled launch on a mission around the Moon. I may not have been there for the rollout, but I was able to hear some of the radio communications preparing for the rollout while in the Titusville area. It made for fascinating listening. After breakfast on Wednesday, I headed south to the Treasure Coast and visited the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce; after lunch in Vero Beach, I visited Mel Fisher's Treasures in Sebastian and the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum in Titusville. On Thursday, I made another visit to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, then headed north to Fort Mose State Historic Park in St Augustine (where I did another POTA activation) after lunch. I stayed overnight in St Augustine so I wouldn't have to drive through Jacksonville rush hour traffic and headed back to Savannah on Friday after a visit to the Brumos Collection in Jacksonville. 

The Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and Launch Control Center (LCC) at Kennedy Space Center. This year's Space Coast Road Trip took place just before Artemis II left the VAB for Launch Complex 39B; while I wasn't in the area for the rollout, the timing did give me the opportunity to listen to preparation and support of the rollout.

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

Poinsett State Park & Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens - Midlands South Carolina Road Trip Radio Report; 9/10 November 2025

I took an overnight road trip to Midlands South Carolina on Sunday, 9 November and Monday, 10 November 2025 to visit Poinsett State Park in Wedgefield and Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens in Columbia. The trip up was via I-95 and the trip back to Savannah was on US-321, providing two different levels of activity on amateur radio and scanning. Both days were beautiful and especially on Monday, I enjoyed the colors of the Autumn foliage; we don't get quite as much color at home on the coast. Due to the Federal holiday on Tuesday, there was very little military communications to monitor, public safety in the Columbia area was busy as always, and the railroads around Columbia were active as well. There wasn't much Federal communications activity either, although I was surprised to hear the Fort Sumter NHS talkgroup on the Palmetto 800 system active during the Federal Government shutdown. While visiting the Zoo, I enjoyed listening to their radio system. On amateur radio, I had fun doing a Parks on the Air (POTA) activation at Poinsett State Park and listening to 2 Meter/70 cm repeaters along my route of travel. 

Autumn foliage at Poinsett State Park

F-22s and T-38s at Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport

Based on Air Force social media posts earlier this year, the 2025 William Tell air superiority competition was supposed to begin this week at the Air National Guard Air Dominance Center at Savannah-Hilton Head IAP. I had no radio time earlier this week and minimal radio time the last couple of days, but it seems that there is no William Tell competition this year. Instead, there are 71st FS F-22As and 7th FTS T-38As from Joint Base Langley at the Air Dominance Center. They have been working with 95th FS F-35As from Tyndall AFB and 159th FS F-35As from Jacksonville in the Special Use Areas off the Georgia coast. I'm guessing they'll be here next week as well, so here's what I was able to hear yesterday and today.

First Road Trip in the New KF4LMT Mobile - Overnight Road Trip in Northeast Florida; 17/18 August 2025

On Sunday and Monday, I took my first road trip in the new KF4LMT Mobile, visiting Northeast Florida. The new mobile station is quite a departure from what I've used before so I was very interested in how it would work and what I would be able to hear with it. I visited the USS Orleck (DD-886) Naval Museum in downtown Jacksonville, the Camp Blanding Museum in Starke, FL, and Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park in the Osceola National Forest on Sunday, overnighted in Kingsland, GA, and returned to Savannah on Monday morning. Sunday morning's weather forecast called for an almost 100% chance of rain and thunderstorms in the Jacksonville area, but although it was hot, humid, and oppressive all day it never rained or stormed (at least where I was at). I've visited the Orleck before, but this was my first visit to the Camp Blanding Museum and the Olustee Battlefield, which gave me the opportunity to listen in Bradford and Union Counties for the first time. It was also the first time I've been west of Jacksonville in quite a while, so it was good to see what I could hear out that way. 

USS Orleck (DD-886) in downtown Jacksonville on the St Johns River

Military History, Colonial History, African American and Gullah Geechee History, Civil War History, and BBQ in the "Holy City" - Charleston, SC Road Trip Report; 9-13 June 2025

For several years now, I've wanted to visit the International African American Museum in Charleston, SC, so for this year's Summer vacation I took a week-long road trip to Charleston. I didn't really plan it, but it turned out that a good bit of the History I took in on this trip centered on the African American and Gullah Geechee experience in the Lowcountry. In addition to the International African American Museum, I visited Patriot's Point (taking day and night tours), Charles Towne Landing, the South Carolina Aquarium, the Old Slave Mart Museum, the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon, McLeod Plantation, the North Charleston Fire Museum, Fort Johnson, and Fort Lamar. I also tried three of Charleston's BBQ restaurants; at one of them I had the best BBQ I've ever eaten. During the road trip, I was able to listen to the area's military and aviation communications, federal and USCG communications, public safety communications, and more. I did very little on amateur radio during this trip; I had just a couple of QSOs on the 146.7900- (PL 123.0) repeater on the USS Yorktown at Patriot's Point and checked into the "Scanner Junkies" net on TGIF DMR using DroidStar on Thursday night.

An F-4J Phantom II, Charleston Harbor, and the Ravenel Bridge as seen from the Bridge of the USS Yorktown (CV-10) at Patriots Point in Charleston, SC

Road Trip Radio Report - Charleston Car Repair Trips; 11 & 17/18 April 2025

Earlier this month I took a road trip to Charleston and my car broke down on me when I tried to return home on 7 April. On the 11th, I had to go up and pay a deposit for the work to be done; Mama rode with me, so we made a couple of sightseeing stops on the way back to Savannah. The car was ready late on the 17th, so we went back up to Charleston and picked the car up the next morning with her following me back to Savannah in her car. On these two trips, I didn't have the mobile station (with the exception of returning back to Savannah on the 18th) and I didn't take all of the usual equipment, so what I heard was a bit more limited and this post can give you an idea of what you can hear in and around Charleston if you just take one radio.

South Carolina Lowcountry History, BBQ, and the Car Breaks Down - Lowcountry Charleston, SC Road Trip Radio Report; 6-8 April 2025

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

Georgia Veterans State Park, Andersonville, Jimmy Carter, Providence Canyon, and Richland Rum - West Georgia Road Trip Radio Report; 2-4 March 2025

After President Carter passed away in December, I decided that as soon as I was able, I would road trip out to West Georgia to pay my respects in Plains. Earlier this week, I had that opportunity and visited Georgia Veterans State Park and Providence Canyon State Park along with re-visiting Andersonville National Historic Site. I left Savannah on Sunday morning and visited Georgia Veterans State Park and Andersonville that afternoon before heading to Americus. I stayed at the historic Windsor Hotel in Americus from Sunday evening through Tuesday morning and visited the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park and Plains, Providence Canyon State Park, and the Richland Rum Distillery on Monday. The radio logs below are of what I could hear once I left the tri-county area around Savannah (Chatham, Bryan, and Effingham counties). 

The first stop on the road trip was in Cordele, at something you don't really expect to see at an interstate highway exit gas station: a Titan I intercontinental ballistic missile. It's stood at I-75 and US-280 since 1969, placed on loan from the US Air Force.

KF4LMT Mobile in front of the Titan I ICMB on display at US-280 and I-75 in Cordele, GA

Sentry Savannah 2025 - F-22s, F-35s, F-16s, and T-38s Visit Savannah-Hilton Head IAP and Get Snowed In

Sentry Savannah 2025, which the Air National Guard describes as their largest and premier air-to-air fighter exercise, got underway this week at the Savannah Combat Readiness Training Center/Air Dominance Center at Savannah-Hilton Head IAP. This year's participants are F-22s and T-38s from the 1st Fighter Wing at Joint Base Langley, F-35s from the 115th Fighter Wing at Truax Field in Madison, WI, and F-16s from the 122nd Fighter Wing from Fort Wayne ANG Station Fort Wayne, IN (some of the F-16s the 122nd FW are flying are 114th FW jets). Flying was limited, however, by a federal holiday and the Presidential Inauguration on Monday and a Winter storm that shut down the airport from Tuesday night through Friday morning. Surely the 115th FW and 122nd FW thought they were getting away from such weather when they came south for the exercise! I got to listen to them on Tuesday morning, but since I was working midnight shifts all week, it was the only listening opportunity I had before something unusual happened. Coastal Georgia received several inches of snow and ice, a rare event for us, and temperatures remained under freezing for most of Wednesday and Thursday, which kept roads as well as runways and taxiways covered with snow and ice. Since that's something we rarely deal with here in the deep south, the airport doesn't have the equipment northern airports would have to open back up quickly. Hard working Savannah-Hilton Head IAP personnel got the airport back open by Friday afternoon and some of the visiting units took to the skies.

This was my neighborhood in Savannah on Friday morning, showing why the Sentry Savannah 2025 participants weren't able to fly until Friday afternoon (there was still snow and ice in some areas on Saturday afternoon!)