Re: What I should have done

On Nov 7, 3:34 pm, r�Bst�R <thedeerhunter...@gmail.com> wrote:

I take your point about front end filtering on a hand held frequency
counter.  I've read that they have a tendency to lock onto the
strongest signal.  And to be honest I hadn't really appreciated how
much RF there is in the area.

The log periodic is a good idea, but they are a bit bulky - mind you,
so is a 2m yagi - what about a small dish, something like an old sat
TV dish?  Not sure how you could rig the counter or scanner up, with a
replacement for the LNB.  What I'm thinking is a way to null out RF
from other directions.  But then again, maybe thats not going to be
needed.

I like the idea of Signal Stalker, I'm still using some 80's gear that
is very basic by todays standards - I'd upgrade, but with the
inception of encryption I haven't bothered so far.  Incidentally, is
much of the radio traffic in the area encrypted or digital?

Do we know about any HF from the base - many air bases have a standby
HF system - although can't remember reading about HF or seeing any
antennas on Google Earth?   If they are testing what I think they are
testing, you can imagine an aircraft going out of VHF range real
quickly.

And what about UHF Satcom?  Surely that gotta be there.


Counters have a "hard limiter" on the front end, so much like FM, they
lock ot the strongest signal.  I suppose you could buy RF filters from
Minicircuits to improve the odds of getting a useful hit. Clearly the
data channel of the trunk system has to go. [I have a duplexer I built
out of filters from minicircuits. This allows me to use different
antennas and LNAs for each band (VHF & UHF air)]

The vhf/uhf aviation traffic around the base is not encrypted, though
of course they could use "have quick" if need be. There is no
unencrypted FM as far as I know. They have an UHF DES encrpyted Edacs
trunk (standard, not ESK).  Incidentally, the EDACS is not provoice,
though you might read that on the net. [Hey, sometimes what you read
on the net isn't true!]

The Nellis range has NFM voice traffic, such as "scorpian base." You
can watch Bob Grove in one of those stupid Area 51 documentaries
claiming to be hearing base security in the clear, but really they
were listening to range traffic, not Groom.

The log periodic I use is a military surplus field antenna. The
elements can be retracted. It comes with a plastic carrying case.  I
think the number is AS-1430, but I'm not getting any useful hits. I
got one from Murphy Surplus, and a second one at the local electronics
flea market.

They did use HF during one Red Flag. I don't think Groom has use for
HF nowadays since they probably only fly over the range, not the MOAs.
In the early days, HF was used. I recall reading about a crash where
HF comms were mentioned.

UHF AM comms can go pretty far. While the base has it's share of
comms, the area in general doesn't have the typical urban RF smog. I
have monitored China Lake and Edwards traffic from Tikaboo, so I
assume the base RF gear on Bald Mountain can surpass that.  I woulnd't
put it past the Groom base to have relay sites on desert hilltops,
much like Bigfoot. I know the DOE has radio facilities that are not
used for daily communications, such as the facility on Mount Potosi.