 |
| The radio room on board the museum ship USS Orleck (DD-886) in Jacksonville, FL |
 |
| NAVY HV 555 (MH-60R, 166592, HSM-50) doing hover work at Jekyll Island Airport on 18 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 |
 |
| Blue Angel 6 performing at the Golden Isles Airshow in Brunswick |
April was a really, really weird month for me. Some family medical issues and car problems during a Charleston road trip led to multiple trips back and forth between Charleston and Savannah and the loss of KF4LMT Mobile for two weeks while it was being repaired. The end result was less radio time than usual but the radio time I did have yielded a lot of activity due to how much was going on in the area this month. There were visits to the Savannah Combat Readiness Training Center/Air Dominance Center from multiple ANG units, helicopters from 3rd AVN at Hunter AAF were in the field at Fort Stewart, the Golden Knights did some jumps at Savannah Bananas games, and I was able to hear some Cape Canaveral SFS rocket launch radio traffic from Savannah. I'm glad there were plenty of interesting things to listen to during April, but I'll be glad if May is a more normal month in other respects.
 |
| In the shack on Monday, 28 April 2025, monitoring the ULA Atlas V/Amazon Kuiper 1 launch from Cape Canaveral SFS; I was surprised I could hear some HF activity with the HF+ Discovery and YouLoop antenna hanging on the closet door. |
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.
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 |
March 2025 was a fascinating military monitoring month. There were a lot of visitors and a lot going on so there was no shortage of something to listen to in Coastal Georgia, Lowcountry South Carolina, and the First Coast of Florida. A road trip to Americus and Plains also gave me an opportunity to do some listening in Central and West Georgia. There was a lot of training going on, with the biggest training operation being the Patriot 25 disaster response exercise, which took place at Savannah-Hilton Head IAP, Fort Stewart, and the Guardian Center in Perry, GA. One of the more interesting catches of the month was a VRM-40 CMV-22B; it was the first time I've caught one of the new carrier logistics mission Ospreys. Foreign air force visitors this month were from the Royal Canadian AF, the Italian AF, the Jordanian Government, the Norwegian AF, and the Royal Air Force (UK).
 |
| KING 17 (HC-130J, 12-5768, 71st RQS) doing an approach at Hunter AAF on 13 March 2025 |
Even though it's the shortest month of the year and a month during which I didn't have a lot of radio time, February turned out to be a terrific month for Military Monitoring in Coastal Georgia. There truly was no shortage of things to listen to; no fewer than six squadrons were on temporary duty in the Lowcountry South Carolina, Coastal Georgia, and Florida First Coast area! We even had some UK Royal Air Force fighter and support aircraft pass through the area on their way home from an exercise.
 |
| ASCOT 9534/9535 (Typhoon FGR4 ZK378/ZK360, 6 Sqn RAF) with ASCOT 9411 (Voyager KC3, ZZ332, 10/101 Sqn) in support going into Joint Base Charleston on 20 February 2025 |
The first month of January 2025 was a month I won't forget. It was a month of highs as well as the lowest of lows. I took a wonderful road trip down to Florida's Space Coast and there was a Sentry Savannah exercise that was interrupted by a very un-Deep South like winter storm. At the end of the month, I lost my father, who I inherited my love of radio from. That's why this post has been a bit longer than usual in posting; I just didn't feel up to working on it for a while. The radio community, including the Coastal Amateur Radio Society (CARS) in Savannah and my scanning/monitoring friends have been incredibly supportive over the last week. CARS even did a Silent Key tribute for my father during their net this past Sunday night.
 |
| SpaceX's Starlink 12-11 mission launching from Kennedy Space Center during January's Space Coast Road Trip |
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah and has a Happy New Year and a wonderful 2025 ahead. Due to the Christmas holiday, December was a bit of a limited month MilCom-wise; most of the activity was in the first half of the month. A mid month road trip to Jacksonville provided the opportunity to hear a bit more than I would have otherwise. This month, I'll be taking a week-long road trip to Florida's Space Coast, so look for a post about it after I return from the trip. I'm looking forward to listening to space related communications for a week!
 |
| The remains of the JA Jones Construction shipyard slipways in Brunswick, GA, where Liberty Ships were built during World War II |
I didn't have as much radio time during November as I would have liked, so the month's recap isn't quite as extensive as usual. Even with the reduced time around the radios, it was still an interesting month. At the end of the month, I took a nice road trip to Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach, FL that gave me the opportunity to listen to Mayport and Jacksonville area MilCom a bit more closely than usual.
 |
| PIONEER 21 (P-8A, 167956, VX-1) |
As October passed by, it didn't seem to be all the interesting of a MilCom month, but in the last few days as I looked back over the month to compile the recap, I realized it wasn't all that bad after all. One of the squadrons at MCAS Beaufort that had been inactive due to F-35 conversion began to fly again. In somewhat related news, the 125th FW at Jacksonville IAP may have recently stood down to begin their conversion to the F-35A. A road trip to Columbia, SC gave me the opportunity to listen to things from Shaw AFB and Fort Jackson that are too far away to hear at home. There were also some nice foreign military/civil aviation catches.
 |
| Shaw AFB in Sumter, SC |
This road trip was supposed be in Upstate South Carolina to visit the Cowpens and Kings Mountain battlefields and take in the Autumn foliage, but unfortunately both Cowpens and Kings Mountain are still in the process of removing dangerous fallen trees from Hurricane Helene. Since the two parks were closed in the week before I left, I changed plans and visited Congaree National Park in Hopkins, SC, Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens in Columbia, SC, and Poinsett State Park in Wedgefield, SC on Sunday and Monday and returned to Savannah on Tuesday. Sunday, on the way up, I used I-95, but to get a bit different view and hear different things, I used US-321 to return to Savannah on Tuesday morning.
 |
| This road trip was across two beautiful Autumn days with the leaves in Midlands South Carolina beginning to turn. |
Due to a variety of issues, including less time around the radios than expected, September started out as a not too good military monitoring month but it turned out to be a good one, indeed. Most of September was uneventful, but the second half of the month saw the 71st Fighter Squadron and 7th Fighter Training Squadron conduct an exercise at the Savannah Combat Readiness Training Center/Air Dominance Center. I missed most of the first week, but I was able to listen to some of the second week. VMFA-312 and VMFA(AW)-224 at MCAS Beaufort swapped deployments in Japan in the middle of the month. The end of the month saw Hurricane Helene pass through Georgia and resulted in some hurricane evacuations by aircraft from Gulfstream and the 165th Airlift Wing in Savannah. Notable during September:
 |
| Gulfstream Aircraft from their Factory and Service Center in Savannah evacuating to Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Latrobe, PA on the afternoon of Thursday, 25 September 2024 ahead of Hurricane Helene passing through west Georgia on Thursday night and Friday morning. |
Hurricane Debby made her way through Southeast Georgia in early August as Tropical Storm Debby, bringing a lot of rain to the area, particularly west and northwest of Savannah. That rain flooded areas around Glenville and Statesboro then the water flowed downriver to the coast causing flooding in the Savannah and Richmond Hill areas. TS Debby curtailed my aviation and military monitoring for almost a week, truly trivial compared to folks who whose homes were flooded and the many who were unable to leave or return home by flooded highways and local roads.
Despite TS Debby, August was indeed an eventful month on the radios. The 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade at Hunter AAF changed out how they are identifying and the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) and its Carrier Air Wing operated off the South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida coasts for much of the second half of the month. During the middle of the month, I took an overnight road trip to Warner Robins to visit the Robins AFB Museum of Aviation, so I got to listen to a bit more of what was going on up that way than usual. The end of the month saw something rare for Coastal Georgia: a visit to Savannah by the Vice President. Finally, Gulfstream began test flying a new model aircraft at the end of the month. Notable during August was:
 |
| AIR FORCE 2 with Vice President Harris aboard landing at Savannah-Hilton Head IAP after overflying the Hyundai Metaplant in Bryan County |
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.
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 |
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.