[Scan-DC] This may be old news to some... part 2

[MJ Cleary]

I can speak of what I've heard in my daily monitoring; at least a few 
counterdrug alpha designators are still in use in some form. I cannot say if 
they are the same freqs and designators as the old set, but there are 
designators in use.  The freqs are a backup to the COTHEN network. My most 
recent catch of a designator was April:

4/10/2007    [22:37:41][FRQ 
O ][OPB            ][TIS][J08            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 01 followed by 
RESCUE 08 airborne with 4 POB requests guard from PANTHER. Primary backup 
freq ALPHA. Secondary SIERRA BRAVO

Here's another:

10/10/2006    [13:42:21][FRQ 
O ][OPB            ][TIS][J10            ][AL0] BER 30 SN 06 followed by 10C 
position report to PANTHER. 26-14N 079-36W. PANTHER requests primary backup 
frequency BRAVO. Secondary SIERRA CHARLIE


The designators I've heard mentioned in 2006-2007 are: ALPHA, BRAVO, SIERRA 
BRAVO, SIERRA CHARLIE.

In Feb 2005 I positively identified 7657 kHz as BRAVO from a 51A/PANTHER 
convo and subsequent transmissions on that freq. In November 2005 a 
53A/PANTHER convo seemed to label it SIERRA BRAVO. 5841 kHz and 7657 kHz 
were very busy in 2004-2005, but I didn't hear anything there in 2006. These 
elusive comms are my favorite targets.

Regarding COTHEN activity - Yes, CBP Air has moved much traffic to Satcom 
nets, but USCG is there in a big way and now cutters are regulars there. New 
ids pop up every month. USN has also added ALE to some P-3s. I've seen logs 
of them on USAF HF-GCS ALE.

These counterdrug comms now require a tremendous amount of investment of 
patience and time monitoring and a little luck with current propagation 
conditions to get an occasional great intercept.


Mark
=======================================
Monitoring Milcom from Charleston, SC

ICOM R8500, ICOM R75 (x3), DX-398, ATS-505,
BC 895XLT (x2), BC 245XLT, PRO-37, PRO-60,
PRO-2052 (x2), PRO-2055, BC 780XLT, DX-302,
DX-390, BC 898T, YB400, 45 foot PAR EF-SWL (x3)
PC-ALE, AIS ShipPlotter
=======================================
My Blog: http://lowcountry-listening-post.blogspot.com/



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Larry Van Horn, N5FPW" <n5fpw at brmemc.net>
Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] This may be old news to some... part 2


>> Those HF DEA freqs also appear old - I can't remember the last time I saw 
>> the XRay listings reported in
>> the WUN (now it's the Utility DXers Forum, on yahoo).
>
> Glenn those alpha designators and frequencies are old --- very very old. I 
> took those old DoD alpha designators off the WUN Mil/Gov List years ago 
> when I did that column. In fact, when COTHEN stood up, those old alpha 
> designators (setup by DoD BTW) went away.
>
>> I do know ICE, DEA, Coast Guard and others use
>> the COTHEN network (although activity has been pretty limited of late, 
>> and my guess is that secure
>> satellite comms are more common...), a small article on which can be 
>> found here...
>
> Activity on COTHEN has been increasing Mike. In fact, it has never been 
> busier. Not sure why you said that, but MJ Cleary and I can vouch how busy 
> that net is. You can get complete details counter narco acitivty on my 
> personal blog at 
> http://monitor-post.blogspot.com/2007/05/cleay-counter-druglaw.html.
>
> This has the latest frequencies, callsigns, ale addresses, networks, etc. 
> No brag, just the facts.