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

[Larry Van Horn, N5FPW]

> freq ALPHA. Secondary SIERRA BRAVO
>frequency BRAVO. Secondary SIERRA CHARLIE

Hey Mark and all,

These are DEA/DoJ designators and not the older Xray Alpha, etc DoD 
designators that the original poster was referring to. These DoJ/DEA 
designators have been around for several years and interesting to see them 
used on COTHEN. Mark even more interesting that the USCG is hanging out on 
those freqs.

Thanks for the headsup and I will give the DEA/DoJ freqs a place in the scan 
bank to watch for USCG activity.

73 all de LVH

Larry Van Horn, N5FPW
USN (Ret) Brasstown, NC USA
Assistant/Technical Editor Monitoring Times
MT First Look/Help Desk/Milcom Columnist
Blog Address: http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/
Personal Radio Blog: http://monitor-post.blogspot.com/

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "MJ Cleary" <markcleary at juno.com>
To: "Larry Van Horn, N5FPW" <n5fpw at brmemc.net>; <ka3jjz at netscape.com>; 
<scan-dc at mailman.qth.net>
Cc: <gpmorris at satx.rr.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 4:37 PM
Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] This may be old news to some... part 2


>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 
>         ][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 
>         ][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.
>
>
>