air show special! - monitoring times · thunderbird moments after refueling. kevin was in the seat...
TRANSCRIPT
C O N T E N T S
Vol. 31 No. 3 March 2012
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In this issue:• MT Rides “Fat Albert Airlines”• Must-have Air Show Frequencies• Refueling the USAF’s Thunderbirds• MT Reviews: WiNRADiO G39DDCe
Volume 31, No. 3March 2012
U.S. $6.95Can. $6.95Printed in theUnited States
Scanning - Shortwave - Ham Radio - Equipment Internet Streaming - Computers - Antique Radio
www.monitoringtimes.com
A Publication of Grove Enterprises
2012 Air ShowSpecial!
R E V I E W S
Cover Story ........................... 8A How-To Guide to Monitoring Air ShowsBy Larry Van Horn N5FPW, MT As-sistant Editor In our 13th annual Air Show Special, MT Assistant Editor Larry Van Horn N5FPW delivers the hundreds of frequencies you’ll need if you’re within receiving distance of any air show in 2012. From the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds precision flight teams to the U.S. service parachute and search and rescue demonstra-tion teams to the many other mili-tary and civilian demo teams from the U.S. and abroad, Larry has the frequencies each use. Now you can bring the excitement you see at the show to your ears. But wait, there’s more! In this month’s Milcom column, Larry also tells you which scanners work best at the air shows, what features you’ll need and which models can cover the military as well as civilian frequencies used at all air shows.
On Our Cover Photo by Kevin Burke shows U.S.A.F. Thunderbird moments after refueling. Kevin was in the seat next to the boom when this shot was taken with a Cannon XTi camera using a Cannon 18-135 mm zoom lens at 1/500 sec with f-stop 10.
My Ride on a T-Bird Refueling Mission ...................... 14By Kevin Burke How lucky would you have to be to be asked to take a six hour flight on a KC-135 refueling tanker? Lottery lucky! But, this was no ordinary refueling mission. The thirsty aircraft cueing for fuel were none other than the famous USAF Thunderbirds. Join Kevin on this ride of a lifetime while he jockeys for position on the most favored boom seat. As an aircraft photographer, Kevin says that it’s a matter of luck and timing to get the perfect refueling shot. They even gave him a free lunch!
Flying Fat Albert Airlines ............................................ 16By Kevin Burke How do you top a refueling mission with the Thunderbirds? How about, a thrill-ride on the Blue Angels’ “Fat Albert Airlines!” Yes, Kevin’s two for two with military flight team spectaculars and he tells all in this harrowing account of a short but memorable flight on a Marine C-130, an unlikely aerobatic aircraft that has some surprising moves.
Radio and the Air Show Experience ........................... 17By Brian and Jo Marie Topolski Air show and photo veterans Brian and Jo Marie Topolski share their monitoring tips and insights into some of the best shows on the summer long air show circuit. To get the best out of watching an air show with 800,000 fellow air show fans, you’ll need to know when to go, what to take, where to be and where to tune. And, Brian and Jo Marie show how to fashion an impromptu air-comm cart from a couple of items you can find inexpensively at your nearby Lowes or Home Depot. They’ll show you how to stop lugging your gear around and get more enjoyment out of the show.
WiNRADiO G39DDCe Wide-Frequency-Coverage Receiver ........................... 69By Bob Grove W8JHD A receiver that tunes from 9 kHz to 3.5 GHz in AM, AMS, CW, LSB, USB, ISB, DSB, FM (narrow and wide stereo) as well as FSK, has an infinite number of stored fre-quencies at 80,000 channels per second, can get Bob Grove’s attention every time. He calls it, “a marriage of a multimode receiver and a spectrum analyzer.” Bob puts this software defined radio (SDR) through its paces both on his home bench and on the road. The bottom line? Bob says, “This is the most amazing receiver I’ve ever encountered.”
4 MONITORING TIMES March 2012
DepartmentsCommunications ...............................6Letters .............................................74Stock Exchange ................................76Advertisers Index .............................76
First DepartmentsGetting StartedScanning Report ..............................20By Dan Veeneman Scanning the Pacific Northwest
Ask Bob ...........................................23By Bob Grove W8JHD HD-FM signal drop-outs; PTT switch on CB sets; car antenna trimmers; International broadcasters still on 40 meter ham band; Pow-ering desk scanner in power failure; Origins of rack dimensions; Flight levels; 800 MHz interference; Shape factors in narrow-banding VHF-UHF frequencies.
Utility World ....................................24By Hugh Stegman NV6H Polytone and Espionage: Some Questions Answered
Digital Digest ...................................27By Mike Chace Bonobos, the Congo and another Mystery ALE Net
On the Ham Bands ..........................28By Kirk Kleinschmidt NT0Z One Monitor to Rule them All!
Beginner’s Corner ...........................30By Ken Reitz KS4ZR Free-To-Air Satellite Revisited and AM DX
Programming Spotlight ................... 32 By Fred WatererAlternative Talk Radio
Second DepartmentsQSL Report ......................................34By Gayle Van Horn W4GVH ODXA Announces a New QSL Manager
English Language SW Guide ...........35
MTXtra Shortwave Broadcast Guide..48 Spanish
Table Of COnTenTs
Milcom ............................................52By Larry Van Horn N5FPW Monitoring the Air Show Experience: Equipment and Tips
Fed Files ..........................................54By Chris Parris Searching the Good Search
Boats, Planes, TRAINS .....................56By Ernest Robl Infrastructure Inspection and Office Car Specials
Globalnet .......................................58By Loyd Van Horn W4LVH Cutting the Cable: Streaming Video
Below 500 kHz ................................60By Kevin Carey WB2QMY A Modest LF Shack
Technical DepartmentsRadio Restorations ...........................62By Marc Ellis N9EWJ Buttoning up the Meissner “Utility” Broad-cast Set
Antenna Topics ................................64By Dan Farber AC0LW What’s My Line? Understanding Transmis-sion Lines
Sky Surfing: Radio Astronomy .........66By Stan Nelson KB5VL Adventures in Amateur Detection
On the Bench ..................................68By Mario Filippi The Tinkerer’s Best Friend – The Portable Power Station
First Look ........................................69By Bob Grove W8JHD WiNRADiO G39DDCe Wide-Frequency-Coverage Receiver
What’s New ....................................72By Larry Van Horn N5FPW Nifty New Scanner Mini-manuals; Epic emergency AM/FM WX radio; 2012 World Radio Television Handbook; Klingenfuss 2012 Shortwave Frequency Guide; Upgrades for Legendary AR8200D; Comtek W2FMI Series Baluns
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