New International Call Sign Handbook 5th Edition Now Available on Amazon

Ask any radio monitor what information they consider important during any monitoring session, and usually two items will top their list: frequencies and call signs. If you can hear activity on a particular frequency, unless you can fully identify the participants transmitting on that frequency, you can’t fully appreciate or document the traffic you are hearing.

With millions of radio stations furnishing a variety of communication services throughout the world, it is necessary that their transmissions carry distinctive call signs or identifiers. Call signs have a four-fold purpose: They may identify the nationality of the station, the agency operating a particular station, the type of station, and the identity of each individual station being heard on the monitored frequency.

The need for station identifications/call signs can easily be illustrated here in the United States, which leads all other countries in the use of the radio spectrum, that now has some 85 different kinds of radio services operated by the government, military and civilians entities, providing air, sea, land and space communication services. There are hundreds of thousands of stations on the air and call signs and other forms of identification help the radio monitor sort through the various stations that are heard.

A call sign is defined as any combination of alphanumeric characters or phonetically pronounceable characters (trigraph), which identifies a communications facility, a command, an authority, an activity or unit. To aid the radio monitor in their listening endeavors, the International Call Sign Handbook series of books/e-books has been published.

Teak Publishing is pleased to announce their latest Kindle e-book -- the fifth edition of International Call Sign Handbook by Amazon Bestselling author Larry Van Horn, N5FPW. This e-book represents the most comprehensive collection of military and government station identifications ever published for the radio listening hobby. It is the result of year’s research, study and monitoring the HF/VHF/UHF radio spectrum, by the author. Many different radio monitoring disciplines have been used to compile the listings in this book. If you monitor the HF, VHF or UHF radio spectrum, there is something in this book for you.

The information presented in this book has also been gathered through personal 

correspondence, material published in the former Monitoring Times magazine, various radio publications, newsletters, public domain government and private internet web sites, but most have been gathered the old fashioned way via on-the-air monitoring. In addition, we have received generous support and contributions from many individuals in the radio hobby.

In addition to international and military/government tactical call signs, other types of identifiers such as Automatic Link Establishment (ALE) and Mode-S aircraft addresses have been included in this e-book. There is a chapter that had basic introductory material, as well as chapters devoted to call sign / words used by the Department of Defense including the US. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. There are sections that cover the various Military Auxiliary Radio Services and the U.S. Air Force Civil Air Patrol auxiliary service.

There is also a chapter that covers call signs and ALE identifiers for the U.S. Coast Guard service. Sections in that chapter include a Coast Guard aircraft fleet list, miscellaneous U.S. coast guard calls, and also their international call signs.

Another large chapter covers various U.S. Government call signs. Sections in this chapter include the U.S. Custom and Border Patrol COTHEN radio system and ALE address list, plus call signs from the following department and agencies - Department of Commerce (DOC), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of the Interior (DOI), Department of the Interior (DOI) Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of State, Department of Transportation, Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Federal Communications Commission, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), General Services Administration (GSA), Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD), Miscellaneous Listings, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Communications System (NCS), and U.S. Marshal Service (USMS) service.

One of the larger chapters is devoted to an international / worldwide call signs list. We have a sampling of government and military call signs from 75 counties and international agencies.

The latest craze in aircraft military is decoding Mode-S/ICAO24 radio signals and is included in this book. Our list in this edition covers primarily government / military aircraft and introductory material on Mode-S monitoring.

The last chapter of this book contains a large list of resource information, useful in interpreting the individual entries listed in the book. Sections on U.S. Navy ship/squadron classifications; U.S. Coast Guard cutter designators; a massive list of abbreviations and acronyms that appear in the book; a comprehensive country abbreviation list; and the latest Table of Allocations of International Call signs from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) are included in the last chapter on the e-book.

The Teak Publishing 5^th International Call Sign Handbook is now available for purchase worldwide from Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MQWYDPX. The price for this e-Book edition is US$7.49. This book is being released internationally. Amazon customers in the United Kingdom, Germany, France Spain, Italy, Japan, India, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Australia can order the e-Book from Amazon websites directly servicing these countries. All other countries can use the regular Amazon.com website.

You do not need to own a Kindle reader to read Amazon e-book publications. You can read any Kindle book with Amazon’s free reading apps. There are free Kindle reading apps for the Kindle Cloud Reader, Smartphones (iPhone, iTouch, Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry); computer platforms (Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8 and Mac); Tablets (iPad, Android and Windows 8), and, of course, all of the Kindle family of readers including the Kindle Fire series. A Kindle e-book allows you to buy your book once and read it anywhere. 

You can find additional details on these apps at this link on the Amazon website at www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771.

For additional information on this and other Teak Publishing radio hobby books, monitor the company sponsored Internet blogs – The Military Monitoring Post (http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/), The Btown Monitor Post (http://monitor-post.blogspot.com/) and The Shortwave Central (http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/) for availability of additional e-books that are currently in production.

Information on other publications by the author is available on the author’s page at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00G1QMO4C.

New Winter 2016-2017 International Shortwave Broadcast Guide Now Available

Looking for a great holiday gift to give to your radio geek? Do you listen to shortwave radio broadcast? Do you like following international events as they happen, listening to music from other countries or like to learn about other cultures and history? 

In order to hear these types of radio programs and much more you need an accurate and updated guide to shortwave broadcast stations, times and frequencies for these broadcasts. And that important guide is now available for sale on all of the Amazon International websites.

Teak Publishing is pleased to announce the release of the Winter 2016-2017 International Shortwave Broadcast Guide (ISWBG) electronic book by Amazon bestselling author Gayle Van Horn, W4GVH. This all important semi-annual information resource is your electronic guide to the world of shortwave radio listening.

Shortwave radio listeners are routinely entertained with unique perspectives to events, music, culture, history, and news from other countries that you won’t see or hear on your local or national broadcast channels. Shortwave radio broadcast aren’t restricted by country borders or oceans, and can propagate thousands of miles, reaching millions of listeners worldwide, in over 300 different languages and dialects. These worldwide transmissions are monitored on internationally assigned radio frequencies between 1700 kHz and 30 MHz.

There are even broadcasts from the dark side, transmitted from broadcasters known as clandestine or clanny stations. Clandestine broadcasters are wrapped in mystery and intrigue, and they usually exist to bring about some sort of political change to the country they are targeting. Programming may largely be half-truths or sometimes even outright lies, but it is essentially propaganda for their cause.

Listeners who live in the United States can easily hear shortwave broadcast stations from Australia, Canada, China, Cuba, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Iran, Japan, New Zealand, North/South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam, and many other counties if you have an inexpensive shortwave radio receiver, and you know when and where to listen!

If you want to get in on the action, then this Amazon electronic book is your ticket the travel the world via radio. The ISWBG is our exclusive 24-hour station/frequency guide to “all” of the known longwave, selected mediumwave and shortwave radio stations currently broadcasting at time of publication. This unique radio hobby resource is the “only” radio hobby publication that has by-hour station schedules that include all language services, frequencies and world target areas.

New in this seventh edition of the ISWBG is an Introduction to News and Entertainment Programming on Shortwave Radio by Spectrum Monitor columnist Fred Waterer; a feature on Online Radio: The crossroads of old and new technology by former Monitoring Times columnist Loyd Van Horn W4LVH; and comprehensive radio listeners Crash Course on Shortwave Radio Propagation by Tomas Hood NW7US, contributing editor to CQ magazine and Spectrum Monitor columnist.

There is also an expanded special feature on Who’s Who in the shortwave radio spectrum by former Monitoring Times editor and feature writer Larry Van Horn N5FPW. This story covers services and frequencies outside the regular broadcast and amateur radio bands, and includes our new, exclusive Hot HF 1000+ non-broadcast frequency list. The final feature article in this edition is Getting Started in Shortwave Radio, a primer, by Spectrum Monitor managing editor Ken Reitz KS4ZR.

Also new in this edition is increased frequency and station coverage of longwave broadcasters, selected medium wave broadcast frequencies used by international broadcasters, and all known international standard time and frequency stations transmitting worldwide.

The International Shortwave Broadcast Guide (Winter 2016-2017 edition) is now available for purchase worldwide from Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N2RRXV2. The price for this latest edition is US$7.99. Since this book is being released internationally, Amazon customers in the United Kingdom, Germany, France Spain, Italy, Japan, India, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Australia can order this electronic book (e-Book) from Amazon websites directly servicing these countries. All other countries can use the regular Amazon.com website.

This new e-publication edition is a much expanded version of the English shortwave broadcast guide that was formerly published in the pages of the former Monitoring Times magazine for well over 20 years. This one of a kind e-book is published twice a year to correspond with shortwave station’s seasonal time and frequency changes.

Don’t own a Kindle reader from Amazon? Not a problem. You do not need to own a Kindle to read Amazon e-book publications. You can read any Kindle book with Amazon’s free reading apps on literally any electronic media platform.

The Kindle app is available for most major smartphones, tablets and computers. There is a Kindle app available for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch; Android Phone; Android Tablet; PC; Windows 8; Mac Kindle Cloud Reader; Windows Phone; Samsung; BlackBerry 10; BlackBerry; amd WebOS. This means with a free Kindle reading apps, you can buy a Kindle book once, and read it on any device with the Kindle app installed*. You can also read that same Kindle book on a Kindle device if you own one.

You can find additional details on these apps by checking out this link to the Amazon website at www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771.

For additional information on this and other Teak Publishing radio hobby books, monitor the company sponsored Internet blogs – The Military Monitoring Post (http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/), The Btown Monitor Post (http://monitor-post.blogspot.com/) and The Shortwave Central (http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/) for availability of additional e-books that are currently in production. You can learn more about the author by going to her author page on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Gayle-Van-Horn/e/B0084MVQCM/.

The International Shortwave Broadcast Guide will have wide appeal to shortwave radio hobbyists, amateur radio operators, educators, foreign language students, news agencies, news buffs, or anyone interested in listening to a global view of news and major events as they happen.

Whether you are an amateur radio operator or shortwave radio enthusiasts, and want to get in on the action outside of the ham bands, then this new electronic book from Teak Publishing is a must in your radio reference library.

-30-

Here are some of the public comments from radio hobbyists who purchased previous editions of the International Shortwave Broadcast Guide Amazon e-book.

VERY Useful Guide! By Dave in Ohio

Being rather new to the SW DXing, I needed a guide. Most of them were pretty pricey so I decided to give this one a try. When it arrived, I didn't have a lot of time to review it, just glanced at it and was a little upset. I had expected something with page after page of countries with their frequency listings, much like other guides I'd heard about. This one seemed to have a lot of articles about SWL and only in the back did I find frequency listings. But the next day I had about an hour to sit and review the book on my Kindle and I discovered how clever Ms. Van Horn had been in her formatting. I realized that the last thing I needed was just a list of frequencies. The gem of the book is the section that divides the day into UTC hours and what frequency in which country is likely to be on the air at that time. After all, what good does it do me to know that Radio Slobovia broadcasts on 1305 if I have no idea of when to listen for them? (The book also contains a long listing by frequency for identifying those broadcasts that you stumble upon.) I've looked around the articles towards the beginning of the book and the ones I've read are well written and interesting. I strongly recommend that the new readers of Ms. Van Horn's guide use the table of contents to skip around and become familiar with the format. Very useful book at a good price. Ms. Van Horn has herself a new fan ) 

Essential reference for SWLs By Hundedrek

Gayle knows international SW like few others. She used to write a monthly column and directory in the late, lamented Monitoring Times mag. A big reason why I I subbed to it for years. This guide continues the tradition. The Kindle version is more convenient to use. Now that so many international broadcasters are streaming their programming, Gayle's guide is even more valuable.

Gayle does us a great service by publishing this Shortwave Radio Guide By Tampa

A needed re hash of previous books. Gayle does us a great service by publishing this Shortwave Guide. Many on ships have stopped using short wave as they do not have radio distribution systems for the crews as Satellite takes over. Many ships have wired hanging out of portholes as a result and all kinds of antennas stuck around the ships creating hazards so they can listen to their home countries. CBC has shut down Radio Canada to save money OMG #Stupid. Clandestine Radio is on the Rise and this book lists and explains. That in itself is interesting. Should be of interest to any #SWL or #HamRadio people.

Shortwave LIVES!!!!!! By Walter C. Thurman

The Van Horns are shining stars in the Shortwave Radio and MilComms World.... this read is helpful for us DIE HARD shortwave listener's and Ham Radio folks alike. THANK FOR WHAT YOU GUYS DO!!!!! N0RDC

Great Useful (and highly affordable) Data For SWLs By Randy S.

Gayle's monthly Monitoring Times roundup of shortwave broadcast schedules was always tremendously useful. With the demise of the magazine itself it's nice to see that her massive database (and the years of work on it) aren't going to waste. And at the price (less than the cost of a monthly issue of the magazine) it makes for a fine bargain and is well worth it for shortwave-broadcast listeners with e-reader capability. The twice- yearly updates will keep the project relevant and useful.

Solid for HF listening! By Mr geocacher

Very useful for identifying what you hear on HF. Lot's of good tidbits for listening hints too.

Shortwave Broadcast Guide by Kindle Customer

Since Monitoring Times is no longer in publication, this guide is required for the dedicated shortwave listener. There is information provided that I have found no where else. It will be a welcome addition to any listener's equipment. Gayle Van Horn has been publishing this research for many years and the followers are numerous, from beginners to professionals. The author's work is accurate, concise and thorough. If you have a shortwave radio, you need this publication as much as a set of earphones. There is none better.

Very Good Source for Shortwave Stations Broadcast Schedules by Kenneth Windyka

I've got to admit up front that I don't have a strong interest in this part of the hobby. HOWEVER, Gayle Van Horn makes it easy to determine what one can hear on the short wave bands during a particular time period (in GMT time sorted format). I also like the internet reference available, so that one can listen to programs via the internet even if its' not possible via the shortwave radio.

NJ Shortwave listener hears International Frequencies with new guide help by Stanley E Rozewski, Jr.

This e-book is complete and accurate in presenting a low cost SW frequency guide and important must read topics for the new or experienced user. I liked the easy reading format, and understandable frequency guide. I will order the second edition next year.

This is my go-to-first reference by Mary C Larson

When I turn on the shortwave receiver and want to find out what's on and where to look, Van Horn's handy frequency guide is a smart place to begin. The format is not unlike the one Monitoring Times (R.I.P.) used each month. Presumably, updated ISBGs will be published twice per year, but you can check for the updates on her blog, (mt-shortwave.blogspot.com).

Good value by DrP

This is an excellent well-written book that is very affordable when compared to encyclopedic guides, e.g., the WRTH. Much the same information is included. The first part is a nice introduction to SW listening pitched to the beginner. Included is an informative section on purchasing a radio spanning low-end <$100 models up through the most advanced transceivers. The bulk of the book contains a list of world-wide SW broadcasters, organized by frequency band. This makes it ideal for browsing one band at a time, but much less so if you want to search for broadcasts from a particular country.

I like this one by Charles

I have only had a brief chance to scan through this book. From what I have seen of it I will enjoy getting in to it.

Excellent Shortwave Introduction and Program Guide by Don K3PRN

Excellent, very reasonable guide to shortwave radio. As a long time shortwave listener, the listing of all shortwave stations by UTC time is very useful to me. I had previously a shortwave website that listed only English broadcasts rather than an all station listing with the language that will be broadcast. I would highly recommend this e book for all new shortwave listeners and those that interested in a very portable listing of all stations by UTC. I only hope that this will be updated twice a year for many more years.

Good Product by Radio Freq 

Since Monitoring Times stopped publishing shortwave radio schedules, there has been a dearth of resources for radio-heads. This guide nicely fulfills gap. It is very comprehensive.

It is nice someone is dedicated to SWL by Robert K. Mallory 

Very concise and well organized. Not much to choose from these days, it is nice someone is dedicated to Shortwave Radio Listening

Western NC Party Rock Fire Frequencies

All the fires associated with the Party Rock Fire have been using various talk groups on various 800 MHz Viper towers.

Event Fox 1 (TG 51975) has been used for Ops
Event Fox 2 (TG 51976) has been used as a Utility
Event Fox 3 (TG 51977) has been used as a Logistics
Event Echo 1 (TG 51971) is for Multi Agency Ops
Event Echo 2 (TG 51972) Rutherford Co structure protection
Event Fox 4 (TG 51974) Buncombe Co structure protection
Event Golf 3 (TG 51981) Chimney Rock Fire structure protection
Event Golf 4 (TG 51982) Henderson Co structure protection
Event Hotel 2 (TG 51984) McDowell Co structure protection

NCFS VHF Frequencies associated with the Party Rock Fires include

Incident 2 Tac 151.460 Simplex PL 136.5
Incident 3 Tac 151.310 Simplex PL 136.5
Incident 4 Tac 151.265 Simplex PL 136.5
Incident 5 Tac 151.280 Simplex PL 136.5
Incident 8 Air/Ground Secondary Ops 171.575 Simplex PL 131.8
Incident 13 Air/Ground Primary Ops 167.425 Simplex PL 110.9
Incident 15 Air Guard 168.625 Simplex PL 110.9
NCFS Calling 172.275 Simplex PL 131.9

Here in the far west, in the land that Raleigh forgets Event Echo 3 (TG 51973) has been seen on the Murphy/Joanna Bald/Wine Springs towers for fires in the Nantahala. Also TG 60643 USFS Ops 1 has been used by USFS personnel.

Yesterday we had a wildfire break out 1 mile from the radio ranch here in Btown. USFS/NCFS and local county fire units converged in our area to fight the fire. Took some great pictures of the aerial assault of the fire by air tac/recon/tankers aircraft from Chattanooga Air Tanker Base. Helos used 122.925 and fixed wing used 120.025 and comms with CHA Air Tanker base was on 128.425.
Most of the activity here in the west has been on VHF Aero/VHF Hi and UHF links.

Still have lots of smoke this a.m. even though we had some light rain overnight. More as we put it together.

Chief

International Call Sign Handbook e-book now available at Amazon

Ask any radio monitor what information they consider important during any monitoring session, and usually two items will top their list: frequencies and call signs. If you can hear activity on a particular frequency, unless you can fully identify the participants transmitting on that frequency, you can’t fully appreciate or document the traffic you are hearing.

With millions of radio stations furnishing a variety of communication services throughout the world, it is necessary that their transmissions carry distinctive call signs or identifiers. Call signs have a four-fold purpose: They may identify the nationality of the station, the agency operating a particular station, the type of station, and the identity of each individual station being heard on the monitored frequency.

The need for station identifications/call signs can easily be illustrated here in the United States, which leads all other countries in the use of the radio spectrum, that now has some 85 different kinds of radio services operated by the government, military and civilians entities, providing air, sea, land and space communication services. There are hundreds of thousands of stations on the air and call signs and other forms of identification help the radio monitor sort through the various stations that are heard.

A call sign is defined as any combination of alphanumeric characters or phonetically pronounceable characters (trigraph), which identifies a communications facility, a command, an authority, an activity or unit. To aid the radio monitor in their listening endeavors, the International Call Sign Handbook series of books/e-books has been published.

Teak Publishing is pleased to announce their latest Kindle e-book -- the fourth edition of International Call Sign Handbook by Amazon Bestselling author Larry Van Horn, N5FPW. This e-book represents the most comprehensive collection of military and government station identifications ever published for the radio listening hobby. It is the result of year’s research, study and monitoring the HF/VHF/UHF radio spectrum, by the author. Many different radio monitoring disciplines have been used to compile the listings in this book. If you monitor the HF, VHF or UHF radio spectrum, there is something in this book for you.

The information presented in this book has also been gathered through personal correspondence, material published in the former Monitoring Times magazine, various radio publications, newsletters, public domain government and private internet web sites, but most have been gathered the old fashioned way via on-the-air monitoring. In addition, we have received generous support and contributions from many individuals in the radio hobby.

In addition to international and military/government tactical call signs, other types of identifiers such as Automatic Link Establishment (ALE) and Mode-S aircraft addresses have been included in this e-book. There is a chapter that had basic introductory material, as well as chapters devoted to call sign / words used by the Department of Defense including the US. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. There are sections that cover the various Military Auxiliary Radio Services and the U.S. Air Force Civil Air Patrol auxiliary service.

There is also a chapter that covers call signs and ALE identifiers for the U.S. Coast Guard service. Sections in that chapter include a Coast Guard aircraft fleet list, miscellaneous U.S. coast guard calls, and also their international call signs.

Another large chapter covers various U.S. Government call signs. Sections in this chapter include the U.S. Custom and Border Patrol COTHEN radio system and ALE address list, plus call signs from the following department and agencies - Department of Commerce (DOC), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of the Interior (DOI), Department of the Interior (DOI) Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of State, Department of Transportation, Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Federal Communications Commission, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), General Services Administration (GSA), Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD), Miscellaneous Listings, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Communications System (NCS), and U.S. Marshal Service (USMS) service.

One of the larger chapters is devoted to an international / worldwide call signs list. We have a sampling of government and military call signs from 75 counties and international agencies.

The latest craze in aircraft military is decoding Mode-S/ICAO24 radio signals and is included in this book. Our list in this edition covers primarily government / military aircraft and introductory material on Mode-S monitoring.

The last chapter of this book contains a large list of resource information, useful in interpreting the individual entries listed in the book. Sections on U.S. Navy ship/squadron classifications; U.S. Coast Guard cutter designators; a massive list of abbreviations and acronyms that appear in the book; a comprehensive country abbreviation list; and the latest Table of Allocations of International Call signs from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) are included in the last chapter on the e-book.

The Teak Publishing 4^th International Call Sign Handbook is now available for purchase worldwide from Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VV7NR1U.

The price for this e-Book edition is US$6.99. This book is being released internationally. Amazon customers in the United Kingdom, Germany, France Spain, Italy, Japan, India, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Australia can order the e-Book from Amazon websites directly servicing these countries. All other countries can use the regular Amazon.com website.

You do not need to own a Kindle reader to read Amazon e-book publications. You can read any Kindle book with Amazon’s free reading apps. There are free Kindle reading apps for the Kindle Cloud Reader, Smartphones (iPhone, iTouch, Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry); computer platforms (Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8 and Mac); Tablets (iPad, Android and Windows 8), and, of course, all of the Kindle family of readers including the Kindle Fire series. A Kindle e-book allows you to buy your book once and read it anywhere. You can find additional details on these apps at this link on the Amazon website at www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771.

For additional information on this and other Teak Publishing radio hobby books, monitor the company sponsored Internet blogs – The Military Monitoring Post (http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/), The Btown Monitor Post (http://monitor-post.blogspot.com/) and The Shortwave Central (http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/) for availability of additional e-books that are currently in production.

Information on other publications by the author is available on the author’s page at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00G1QMO4C.

About the Author

Amazon bestselling author, Larry Van Horn, a native of San Antonio, Texas, started his radio listening hobby in 1964, when he received his first shortwave receiver.

In 1971 Larry joined the U.S. Navy and served on U.S. naval warships and in the naval aviation community until his retirement in 1993. He retired in New Orleans with the rank of Chief Petty Officer.

He was first licensed as an amateur radio operator in 1973 with the call sign WH6INU. Later, Larry upgraded to General Class and spent his early ham days operating out of the famed KH6SP ham shack in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, with his his ham mentor and friend Butch Weber, WA4GIF, chasing DX and contesting.

Now a licensed Extra Class ham, holding the call sign N5FPW, Larry enjoys operating digital modes, contesting and chasing DX. Other aspects of the radio hobby that he enjoys include monitoring military communications (throughout the radio spectrum), federal government monitoring, chasing HF utility communications, satellite monitoring, and AM, FM and TV broadcast DXing.

Larry worked for Grove Enterprises in Brasstown, North Carolina, the publisher of Monitoring Times and Satellite Times magazines. His job on the MT staff was the magazines assistant / technical editor and staff journalist. He wrote for Monitoring Times magazine as a freelance writer and full-time staffer for over 30 years until that publication closed in 2013. Larry was the creative force behind a new publication Satellite Times magazine, and was the magazine’s managing editor, a position he held for more than five years.

He has written dozens of radio equipment reviews and several monthly columns in the pages of the former Monitoring Times including the Signals from Space, Utility World, Fedcom – Federal Monitoring column, Milcom- a military monitoring column, GlobalNet, First Look/MT Equipment/Book Reviews. Service Search, Ask Larry, and the magazine’s Whats New column.

Over the years Larry has also written 10 radio hobby books (some with multiple editions), dozens of magazine features, and numerous technical articles for a wide variety of communications publications and radio hobby club newsletters.

He currently resides in western North Carolina, with his wife Gayle W4GVH. They have one son, Loyd W4LVH, who is married and lives in South Carolina.

Larry is the founder and president of the Teak Publishing Company based in western North Carolina. His first e-book published under the Teak Publishing banner, the North American Enroute Aviation Guide, was an immediate Amazon #1 Best Selling Kindle eBook.

New Summer 2016 International Shortwave Broadcast Guide Now Available

Teak Publishing is pleased to announce the release of the Summer 2016 International Shortwave Broadcast Guide (ISWBG) electronic book by Amazon bestselling author Gayle Van Horn, W4GVH. This all important semi-annual information resource is your electronic guide to the world of shortwave radio listening.

Shortwave radio listeners are routinely entertained with unique perspectives to events, music, culture, history, and news from other countries that you won’t see or hear on your local or national broadcast channels. Shortwave radio broadcast aren’t restricted by country borders or oceans, and can propagate thousands of miles, reaching millions of listeners worldwide, in over 300 different languages and dialects. These worldwide transmissions are monitored on internationally assigned radio frequencies between 1700 kHz and 30 MHz.

There are even broadcasts from the dark side, transmitted from broadcasters known as clandestine or clanny stations. Clandestine broadcasters are wrapped in mystery and intrigue, and they usually exist to bring about some sort of political change to the country they are targeting. Programming may largely be half-truths or sometimes even outright lies, but it is essentially propaganda for their cause.

Listeners who live in the United States can easily hear shortwave broadcast stations from Australia, Canada, China, Cuba, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Iran, Japan, New Zealand, North/South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam, and many other counties if you have an inexpensive shortwave radio receiver, and you know when and where to listen!

If you want to get in on the action, then this Amazon electronic book is your ticket the travel the world via radio. The ISWBG is a 24-hour station/frequency guide to “all” of the known longwave and shortwave radio stations currently broadcasting at time of publication. This unique radio hobby resource is the “only” radio hobby publication that has by-hour station schedules that include all language services, frequencies and world target areas.

New In this sixth edition of the ISWBG is a lead story on clandestine broadcast and broadcasters with the latest schedules and frequencies you need to hear these intriguing transmissions. There is also an expanded special feature on Who’s Who in the shortwave radio spectrum. This story covers services and frequencies outside the regular broadcast and amateur radio bands, and includes our new, exclusive Hot HF 1000+ non-broadcast frequency list.

Also new in this edition is increased frequency and station coverage of longwave broadcasters, selected medium wave broadcast frequencies used by international broadcasters, and all known international standard time and frequency stations transmitting worldwide.

The International Shortwave Broadcast Guide (Summer 2016 edition) is now available for purchase worldwide from Amazon.com at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FV3FL72/. The price for this latest edition is US$6.49. Since this book is being released internationally, Amazon customers in the United Kingdom, Germany, France Spain, Italy, Japan, India, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Australia can order this electronic book (e-Book) from Amazon websites directly servicing these countries. All other countries can use the regular Amazon.com website.

This new e-publication edition is a much expanded version of the English shortwave broadcast guide that was formerly published in the pages of the former Monitoring Times magazine for well over 20 years. This one of a kind e-book is published twice a year to correspond with shortwave station’s seasonal time and frequency changes.

Don’t own a Kindle from Amazon? Not a problem. You do not need to own a Kindle to read Amazon e-book publications. You can read any Kindle book with Amazon’s free reading apps on literally any electronic media platform.

The Kindle app is available for most major smartphones, tablets and computers. There is a Kindle app available for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch; Android Phone; Android Tablet; PC; Windows 8; Mac Kindle Cloud Reader; Windows Phone; Samsung; BlackBerry 10; BlackBerry; amd WebOS. This means with a free Kindle reading apps, you can buy a Kindle book once, and read it on any device with the Kindle app installed*. You can also read that same Kindle book on a Kindle device if you own one.

You can find additional details on these apps by checking out this link to the Amazon website at www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771.

For additional information on this and other Teak Publishing radio hobby books, monitor the company sponsored Internet blogs – The Military Monitoring Post (http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/), The Btown Monitor Post (http://monitor-post.blogspot.com/) and The Shortwave Central (http://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/) for availability of additional e-books that are currently in production. You can learn more about the author by going to her author page on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Gayle-Van-Horn/e/B0084MVQCM/.

The International Shortwave Broadcast Guide will have wide appeal to shortwave radio hobbyists, amateur radio operators, educators, foreign language students, news agencies, news buffs, or anyone interested in listening to a global view of news and major events as they happen.

Whether you are an amateur radio operator or shortwave radio enthusiasts, and want to get in on the action outside of the ham bands, then this new electronic book from Teak Publishing is a must in your radio reference library.

Here are a few of the public comments from radio hobbyists who purchased previous editions of this Amazon e-book.

Excellent Shortwave Introduction and Program Guide by Don K3PRN

Excellent, very reasonable guide to shortwave radio. As a long time shortwave listener, the listing of all shortwave stations by UTC time is very useful to me. I had previously a shortwave website that listed only English broadcasts rather than an all station listing with the language that will be broadcast. I would highly recommend this e book for all new shortwave listeners and those that interested in a very portable listing of all stations by UTC. I only hope that this will be updated twice a year for many more years.

Good Product by Radio Freq 

Since Monitoring Times stopped publishing shortwave radio schedules, there has been a dearth of resources for radio-heads. This guide nicely fulfills gap. It is very comprehensive.

It is nice someone is dedicated to SWL by Robert K. Mallory 

Very concise and well organized. Not much to choose from these days, it is nice someone is dedicated to Shortwave Radio Listening.

Shortwave Broadcast Guide by Kindle Customer

Since Monitoring Times is no longer in publication, this guide is required for the dedicated shortwave listener. There is information provided that I have found nowhere else. It will be a welcome addition to any listener's equipment. Gayle Van Horn has been publishing this research for many years and the followers are numerous, from beginners to professionals. The author's work is accurate, concise and thorough. If you have a shortwave radio, you need this publication as much as a set of earphones. There is none better.

Very Good Source for Shortwave Stations Broadcast Schedules by Kenneth Windyka

I've got to admit up front that I don't have a strong interest in this part of the hobby. HOWEVER, Gayle Van Horn makes it easy to determine what one can hear on the short wave bands during a particular time period (in GMT time sorted format). I also like the internet reference available, so that one can listen to programs via the internet even if its' not possible via the shortwave radio.

NJ Shortwave listener hears International Frequencies with new guide help by Stanley E Rozewski, Jr.

This e-book is complete and accurate in presenting a low cost SW frequency guide and important must read topics for the new or experienced user. I liked the easy reading format, and understandable frequency guide. I will order the second edition next year.

This is my go-to-first reference by Mary C Larson 

When I turn on the shortwave receiver and want to find out what's on and where to look, Van Horn's handy frequency guide is a smart place to begin. The format is not unlike the one Monitoring Times (R.I.P.) used each month. Presumably, updated ISBGs will be published twice per year, but you can check for the updates on her blog, (mt-shortwave.blogspot.com).

Good value by DrP 

This is an excellent well-written book that is very affordable when compared to encyclopedic guides, e.g., the WRTH. Much the same information is included. The first part is a nice introduction to SW listening pitched to the beginner. Included is an informative section on purchasing a radio spanning low-end <$100 models up through the most advanced transceivers. The bulk of the book contains a list of world-wide SW broadcasters, organized by frequency band. This makes it ideal for browsing one band at a time, but much less so if you want to search for broadcasts from a particular country.

Shortwave Is Not Quite Dead by James Tedford (Bothell, WA United States)

It was barely breathing as of late, but there is still a lot you can hear on shortwave radio. You need more than a little dedication, and a better-than-adequate radio to hear what remains on the HF bands, but if you have those, you will be rewarded with a lot of interesting audio programming. This book is a good guide to what is currently available over the international airwaves.

Monitored a New Satellite Downlink

While doing some scanning in the shack had a digital signal pop up on 465.9875 MHz. After some additional research I found out that this is a downlink from the EUMETSAT Metop and NOAA polar orbiting weather satellites used to communication with Data Collection System platforms in the 401 MHz area.

There is even a software decoder produced by my good friend Bev-Ewen Smith.
http://www.coaa.co.uk/argos3plotter.htm

BTW Bev has a done of monitor related decoding software packages at

This includes his very popular Planeplotter ADS-B software at
https://www.coaa.co.uk/software.htm  (Be sure to tell Bev that N5FPW Larry sent ya).

Anyway the 465.9875 downlink was very strong and should be easy for anyone to hear even on simple equipment.

Election 2016 Candidate/Famiy USSS Code Names

Each person under US Secret Service protection has an assigned code name assigned by the agency.

Now that we are rolling into the final stretch of the 2016 campaign the news media has uncovered code names for each of the candidates they will be protecting on the campaign trail.

Republican Candidates

Donald J Trump -- Mogul

Melania Trump --  Muse

Mike Pence -- Hoosier

Karen Pence -- Hunningbird

Democrat Candidates

Hilliary Clinton -- Evergreen

Bill Clinton -- Eagle

Tim Kaine -- Daredevil

Signature Flight Support Fxed Based Operator (FBO)

It is Freqy Friday here on the Btown MP and time for some civilian aero frequencies.

  One area of the civilian aero band that I have found fascinating and intriguing over my many years as a hobbyist is listening to and cataloging the 128.850-132.000 MHz aero subband  This subband is assigned to civilian Aeronautical Enroute services. It is where you will find airline company frequencies, private aero services such as FBO (Fixed Based Operators) and digital ACARS transmissions. With the advent of ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System) we have seen a reduction is the amount of airline company traffic in this subband. But it hasn't gone away by any means. Here you will hear airline company traffic associated with sick passengers, maintenance issue reporting, airport gate traffic reports, occasional emergency situation comms and a whole lot more.

  This subband is managed by an Annapolis, Maryland, company known as ARINC. Established in 1929, ARINC is a major provider of transport communications and systems engineering solutions for eight industries: aviation, airports, defense, government, healthcare, networks, security, and transportation. ARINC has installed computer data networks in police cars and railroad cars and also maintains the standards for line-replaceable units.

  Previously owned by the Carlyle Group, in August 2013, it was announced that the company would be sold to Rockwell Collins. The sale was completed on December 23, 2013. As mentioned before it is headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland, and has two regional headquarters in London, established in 1999 to serve the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region, and Singapore, established in 2003 for the Asia Pacific region. ARINC has more than 3,200 employees at over 120 locations worldwide.

  If you look in the FCC database for any of these frequencies you will see they are managed and licensed by ASR Inc (Aviation Spectrum Resources) which is part of ARINC. Some listings in the FCC db may even give you an indication of who is using a particular frequency assignment at a given airport. Others will not and you will have to do some research online or extensive monitoring to figure out who is using that frequency.

  One of the more interesting aero communications in this subband is associated with the FBO or Fixed Base Operators. A Field-base operator (FBO) is a commercial business granted the right by an airport to operate on the airport and provide aeronautical services such as fueling, hangaring, tie-down and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, flight instruction, etc.

  In common practice, an FBO is a primary provider of support services to general aviation operators at a public-use airport either located on airport leasehold property or, in rare cases, adjacent to airport leasehold property as a through the fence operation. In many smaller airports serving general aviation in remote or modest communities, the town itself may provide fuel services and operate a basic FBO facility. Most FBOs doing business at airports of high to moderate traffic volume are non-governmental organizations, i.e., either privately or publicly held companies.

  Biz aircraft, private aircraft and even government and military aircraft can be heard on FBO freqs. One of the more interesting comms I am hearing this year (an election year) are presidential and vice presidential candidate aircraft communicating with these FBOs.

  So here on Freqy Friday, the first Fixed Base Operator list I am posting is for a major player in the FBO business world - Signature Flight Support. Future post and a new reference page here on the Btown MP will have other FBOs, airline company freqs, and aeronautical enroute frequencies. So without further ado, let's get with it.

Signature Flight Support FBO

Frequency -- State Location (Airport Code) Airport

122.775 -- FL Kissimmee (KISM) Kissimmee Gateway Arpt

122.775 -- WA Spokane (KGEG) Spokane IAP
122.950 -- LA Lafayette (KLFT) Lafayette RAP
123.300 -- MT Belgrade (KBZN) Bozeman Yellowstone IAP
126.800 -- TX Midland (KMAF) Midland IAP
128.850 -- MO Kansas City (KMCI) Kansas City IAP
128.875 -- NV Las Vegas (KLAS) McCarran IAP
128.875 -- SC Hilton Head (KHXD) Hilton Head Island Arpt
128.900 -- FL Miami (KMIA) Miami IAP
128.925 -- CA San Francisco (KSFO) San Francisco IAP
128.925 -- IL Chicago (KMDW) Chicago Midway IAP
128.925 -- IL Chicago (KORD) O'Hare IAP
128.950 -- MN Minneapolis (KMSP) Minneapolis/St. Paul IAP
128.975 -- FL West Palm Beach (KPBI) Palm Beach IAP
129.000 -- KS New Century (KIXD) New Century Air Center Arpt
129.000 -- MD Glen Burnie (KBWI) Baltimore/Washington Intl Thurgood Marshall Arpt
129.025 -- WA Seattle (KBFI) Boeing Field/King County IAP
129.050 -- CA Santa Clara (San Jose) (KSJC) Norman Y. Mineta San Jose IAP
129.075 -- LA New Orleans (KNEW) Lakefront Arpt
129.075 -- NM Santa Fe (KSAF) Santa Fe MAP
129.275 -- TX T3 Dallas (KDAL) Dallas Love Field - Terminal 3 at Alpha 3
129.300 -- LA Baton Rouge (KBTR) Greater Baton Rouge Metro Arpt
129.575 -- MO Kansas City (KMKC) Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Arpt
129.600 -- NJ Morristown (KMMU) Morristown MAP
129.625 -- OH Columbus (KCMH) Port Columbus IAP
129.625 -- VA Charlottesville (KCHO) Charlottesville-Albemarle Arpt
129.700 -- OH Cleveland (KBKL) Burke Lakefront Arpt
129.725 -- CA Palm Springs (KPSP) Palm Springs IAP
129.725 -- CO Denver (KDEN) Denver IAP
129.725 -- CO Englewood (KAPA) Centennial Arpt
129.725 -- FL Ft. Lauderdale (KFLL) Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood IAP
129.725 -- IN Indianapolis (KIND) Indianapolis IAP
129.850 -- FL Opa Locka (KOPF) Opa-Locka Executive Arpt
129.875 -- TN Memphis (KMEM) Memphis IAP
129.950 -- IL Wheeling (KPWK) Chicago Executive Arpt
129.950 -- MI Detroit (KDTW) Detroit Metro Arpt
129.950 -- TX Wichita Falls (KSPS) Wichita Falls MAP
129.975 -- CA San Diego (KSAN) San Diego IAP
130.000 -- FL Tampa (KTPA) Tampa IAP
130.075 -- CA Fresno (KFAT) Fresno Yosemite IAP
130.150 -- NJ East Teterboro (KTEB) Teterboro Arpt-East
130.150 -- NJ West Teterboro (KTEB) Teterboro Arpt-West
130.225 -- AL Mobile (KMOB) Mobile RAP
130.225 -- NJ Trenton (KTTN) Trenton Mercer Arpt
130.225 -- OH Cincinnati (KLUK) Cincinnati MAP-Lunken Field
130.250 -- MA Boston (KBOS) Logan IAP
130.275 -- MD Frederick (KFDK) Frederick MAP
130.275 -- NC Asheville (KAVL) Asheville RAP
130.375 -- AL Huntsville (KHSV) Huntsville IAP
130.375 -- FL Clearwater (KPIE) St. Petersburg/Clearwater IAP
130.375 -- FL Orlando (KMCO) Orlando IAP
130.375 -- GA Savannah (KSAV) Savannah/Hilton Head IAP
130.375 -- TX Austin (KAUS) Austin-Bergstrom IAP
130.400 -- TX T1 Dallas (KDAL) Dallas Love Field - Terminal 1
130.425 -- DC Washington (KDCA) Ronald Reagan Washington Natl Arpt
130.450 -- FL Miami (KTMB) Miami Executive Arpt
130.525 -- MI Grand Rapids (KGRR) Gerald R. Ford IAP
130.550 -- AK Anchorage (KANC) Anchorage IAP
130.575 -- CA Oakland (KOAK) Oakland IAP
130.575 -- CA Van Nuys (KVNY) Van Nuys Arpt
130.575 -- GA Atlanta (KFTY) Fulton Co Arpt
130.575 -- KS Wichita (KICT) Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower Natl Arpt
130.575 -- NC Greensboro (KGSO) Piedmont Triad IAP
130.575 -- NC Winston-Salem (KINT) Smith Reynolds Arpt
130.575 -- NE Omaha (KOMA) Eppley Airfield
130.575 -- TX Houston (KHOU) William P. Hobby Arpt
130.575 -- TX San Antonio (KSAT) San Antonio IAP
130.575 -- VA Norfolk (KORF) Norfolk IAP
130.575 -- VA Roanoke (KROA) Roanoke–Blacksburg RAP
130.600 -- CA Long Beach (KLGB) Long Beach Arpt-Daugherty Field
130.600 -- CA Los Angeles (KLAX) Los Angeles IAP
130.600 -- LA Kenner/New Orleans (KMSY) Louis Armstrong New Orleans IAP
130.600 -- NJ South Teterboro (KTEB) Teterboro Arpt-South
130.650 -- NH Manchester (KMHT) Manchester-Boston RAP
130.750 -- CA Camarillo (KCMA) Camarillo Arpt
130.750 -- TX T2 Dallas (KDAL) Dallas Love Field - Dalfort Fueling
130.800 -- HI Hilo (KITO) Hilo IAP
130.800 -- HI Honolulu (KHNL) Honolulu IAP
130.800 -- HI Kailua Kona (KKOA) Kona IAP
130.800 -- HI Lanai City (KLNY) Lanai Arpt
130.800 -- HI Lihue (KLIH) Lihue Arpt
130.800 -- MA Bedford (KBED) L. G. Hanscom Field
130.850 -- NJ Newark (KEWR) Newark Liberty IAP
130.875 -- TX Corpus Christi (KCRP) Corpus Christi IAP
130.900 -- FL Boca Raton (KBCT) Boca Raton Arpt
130.900 -- GA Atlanta (KPDK) DeKalb Peachtree Arpt
131.000 -- IA Cedar Rapids (KCID) The Eastern Iowa Arpt
131.000 -- IA Des Moines (KDSM) Des Moines IAP
131.000 -- WI Milwaukee (KMKE) General Mitchell IAP
131.100 -- TN Nashville (KBNA) Nashville IAP
131.150 -- NC Morrisville (Raleigh-Durham) (KRDU) Raleigh-Durham IAP
131.175 -- AZ Scottsdale (KSDL) Scottsdale Arpt
131.250 -- FL West Palm Beach (F45) N. Palm Beach Co General Aviation Arpt
131.350 -- MN St. Paul (KSTP) St. Paul Downtown Arpt
131.350 -- MO St. Louis (KSTL) Lambert-St. Louis IAP
131.375 -- CA Santa Rosa (KSTS) Charles M Schulz Sonoma Co Arpt
131.475 -- CA Goleta (Santa Barbara) (KSBA) Santa Barbara MAP
131.500 -- CA Santa Ana (KSNA) John Wayne/Orange Co Arpt
131.500 -- GA Atlanta (KATL) Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta IAP
131.600 -- TX Houston (KIAH) George Bush Intercontinental Arpt
131.625 -- SC North Charleston (KCHS) Charleston IAP
131.850 -- IL Waukegan (KUGN) Waukegan Natl Arpt
131.875 -- CT East Grandby (KBDL) Bradley IAP
131.875 -- VA Washington Dulles (KIAD) Washington Dulles IAP
132.000 -- FL Jacksonville (KJAX) Jacksonville IAP
132.000 -- NY White Plains (KHPN) Westchester Co Arpt