[Scan-DC] Military plane crashes in Augusta County, Virginia...more

[John Wilson]

Once again I guess I am the skunk at the picnic but here are my comments 
about yesterday's comms I heard and more importantly those that never 
happened.  I am retired where everyday is a holiday.  I have 6 tower 
mounted mast mounted preamped Scantennas at about 115 ft.  I hear a 
lot.  I have a PSR 600, 3 996XTs, 1 396XT and several R7000s for analog 
reception.  My STARS reception is Div 1, 3, and 5 unless I use my DMR 
computer/radio system.  Then I can receive a few voice repeaters from 
Div 2..  Because the same STARS CC was assigned by the radio techs for 
both the Waverly and Fork Mtn., STARS sites my reception from Fork Mtn. 
are the voice repeaters programed for conventional reception.  I also 
can hear a couple of the Bear Den Mtn. voice repeaters.  The PSR600 and 
one 996XT are dedicated solely for STARS scanning reception, one 996XT 
for local and area scanning and one 996XT dedicated to scanning only 
federal the vhf/uhf ranges.

As usual my comments and opinions are subject to error and correction.  
About 1000 yesterday I started hearing some Richmond VSP short cryptic 
type voice comms which VSP uses when they don't want to say anything 
more about a situation than necessary.  I concluded it was a possible 
airplane crash.  Soon thereafter I heard "Legend 7 " wheels up from 
Mountain Empire AP which is a relatively short runway airport at Marion 
which is close to I81.  DMA comms always get my attention as the users I 
previously have heard are selected Army Reserve/National Guard and of 
late the Va. Defense Force units.  At first I thought it was a drill as 
there was not the sense of emergency heard like when a trooper is 
pursuing a suspect who bails and runs.  I concluded it was not a drill.  
As best I could determine control was established at the Chesterfield 
Co. AP. Control was "DMA Control" and occasionally "Chesterfield Ops" 
was also heard on DMA talkgroup 4529 talking to unknown DMA military 
person on scene at Deerfield, VA.

  In my opinion DMA had little if any interoperability  comms with VSP 
or any other STARS user.  If it happened I never heard them which is 
possible depending on site affiliations originally programed by the 
STARS radio techs..  STARS VSP comms were VSP comms only and DMA comms 
were DMA comms only..

Excuse me, but for STARS VSP Div 3 talkgroup 6138 "INOP PS3" "VSP MUTUAL 
AID PUBLIC SERVICE" could have been used IF the Dept. of Military 
Affairs radios had been programmed for such affiliation. Each STARS 
radio costs about $6,000 each.  There are 16 channels per zone 
operation.  Up to 32 zones user switch selectable are available.  Zone 
21 selection allows comms on VCALL on ch. 1 and VTACS 11-14 on channels 
2-5.  Rarely are interoperability comms attempted on STARS.  Each STARS 
user is a "world to themselves".  I occasionally hear testing on a few 
interoperability talkgroups, but I heard nothing yesterday on any of the 
STARS interoperability talkgroups.   VSP for sure has the capability.  
Once again these great expensive comm systems work fine on paper but 
maybe not always so great in reality.

To be fair I was surprised at the relatively dependable STARS comms from 
the aircraft.  Many STARS sites are the old analog VSP sites many of 
which are on mountaintops such as the one on Bear Den Mtn. in Augusta 
Co., which was probably the one used most frequently. STARS radios, like 
cellphones, constantly search for the strongest site received signal.

So all search aircraft could talk to each other using their vhf aviation 
radios on 123.0250 mhz. and the DMA a/c additionally on STARS only to 
other DMA aircraft and DMA Command.  In eastern Virginia all Medflight 
type radios are PRE_PROGRAMED for certain frequencies and not frequency 
changeable "on the fly".  That's why my county has to have an EMS 
ambulance on site to talk to Medflight on "statewide" as the fire 
engines cannot communication on 155.2050 mhz. "statewide".  That's also 
why when on scene Medflights request the ground POC to switch to 
155.2050 mhz. "statewide" which every VFD and EMS licensed entity is 
required to have.

STARS users include but are not limited to VSP, DMA,F&G, FORESTRY, VDEM, 
DC&R and DEQ.  These would be appropriate users for interoperability 
comms yesterday but I didn't hear a peep from any except VSP and DMA and 
maybe a F&G officer signing in/off duty..  S&R units in Virginia I have 
heard use 155.2050 mhz. base/mobile simplex or sometimes portables only.

In that mountainous terrain a mountaintop repeater such as the Forestry 
Service uses for forest fire comms are required.  We ham operators know 
the joy and thrill of vhf/uhf mountaintop simplex and/or repeater comms 
and also know what happens when we drop down on the side to the bottom 
of a mountain.  Checking my Virginia frequency database I see numerous 
VFD's and EMS and law enforcement but no county EOC.  Looks like Augusta 
Co. needs one.  If any circumstance required interoperability comms it 
was yesterday. Looks like a few organizational "Lessons Learned" 
meetings will occur after the happenings yesterday.

  The VSP mobile comm vehicle mentioned sounds like one of the VSP's 
divisions' mobile 800 mhz. frequency cell type repeater.  They typically 
are used at car races and the state fair for on site comms and not using 
the STARS system..  A mobile unit is assigned to each VSP division.

The "limited' cellphone reception posted was a direct quote from the DMA 
a/c helicopter on scene at Deerfield early yesterday morning.

Searching continues today.  One or more aircraft continue searching 
while other aircraft fly Shenandoah airport for refueling.  From what 
little I heard from different sources was the pilot was flying to New 
Orleans to have his a/c radar updated.  He was flying at 43,000 ft. and 
supposedly ejected at 1,800 ft.  Ejection basically involves sitting on 
top of an artillery shell going from zero to over 200 miles an hour in a 
few seconds.  The plane appeared to impact almost vertically and 
depending at what altitude he ejected he could be a significant distance 
from the crash site.  He may have a few flares, survival pistol, mirror, 
and I thought a portable on 243 mhz.  I don't know whether the military 
has converted to the 400 mhz. frequency or not.   If he was injured and 
is below the tree line it will be very difficult to find him from the air.

John




Bruce Harper wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 27, 2014 at 12:56 PM, John Wilson wrote:
>
>> Limited cellphone and STARS coverage in the mountainous search area.
> "Limited" doesn't begin to describe it -- "nonexistent" is a better
> description. The Va. Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) put out
> the call for search and rescue groups to send personnel to conduct the
> ground search, which resulted in members from multiple groups arriving
> at the Deerfield Volunteer Fire Department. There were about 10 of us
> from the Southwest Virginia Mountain Rescue Group (SWVaMRG). I arrived
> on the scene about 6 p.m. and we finally headed out on a task around
> 8:30 p.m. There were seven helicopters there conducting air searches
> -- 1 VSP, 1 U.S. Customs, 1 unmarked (but folks who ran the tail
> number got a return to U.S. Governement -- comments were that it was
> either the FBI HRT or Homeland Security), plus a variety of military
> copters. Since I'm near the bottom of the chain, there isn't much more
> that I know. The search was a joint operation being run by the
> military (don't know if VA National Guard, U.S., or who), the Virginia
> State Police, and VDEM (since that is where the SAR expertise is). Our
> comms were handled by a trooper on our search team, who was working on
> Appomatox channels. The state radio cache was brought in (from
> Harrisonburg, I heard someone say) but I don't know if those were
> being distributed. There was one mast antenna erected, but I don't
> know if it was for ground comms or air comms. Between the troopers and
> SAR personnel, there were at least 100 people involved (mainly waiting
> around until search areas were narrowed down), along with a couple of
> FBI agents (called in from Charlottesville mainly to provide
> manpower), various military types, plus support personnel from the
> various agencies and the local volunteer fire and rescue folks. There
> were also equine searchers in the mix. Corrine Geller from VSP was the
> PIO for the operation. There were some young people from the Civil Air
> Patrol there when I bailed around midnight. Search  operations were
> suspended at midnight and were starting up again at 8 this morning
> (but after hitting the bed at 3:30, I wasn't about to get up a 5:30
> for a 6 a.m. departure).
>
> Bruce in Blacksburg
>
> Bruce Harper
> Search Team Member
> Southwest Virginia Mountain Rescue Group
> http://swvamrg.blacksburgrescue.org/
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