Monday, January 30, 2023

U.S. Military Call Sign Directory 1st Edition Now Available on Amazon

  



For Immediate Release                                                                                 30 January 2023

U.S. Military Call Sign Directory 1st Edition Now Available on Amazon

Webster’s dictionary defines the term “call sign” as the combination of identifying letters, letters, and numbers, or words assigned to an operator, office, activity, vehicle, or station for use in communication (as in the address of a message sent by radio). If you are a ham radio operator, you are issued a call sign used to identify your station to other hams. The concept is the same for broadcast radio stations (AM/FM/TV/Shortwave), maritime vessels or shore stations, civilian aircraft, and most government radio stations. Legally operated radio stations transmitting anywhere in the radio spectrum will identify at some point using a valid call sign issued to them by their national controlling authority.

However, when you start diving into the dark and murky waters of military call signs or words things are not so clear cut. Finding out who and why a particular call sign is being used can be a challenge. You won't find any official databases or publications for these call signs online. The reason for this is simple. In many instances, a military radio call sign/word is designed to keep that unit, its platform identity, its mission, and in some cases even who is on board that aircraft or vessel hidden.

Ask any radio hobbyist what information they consider important during a radio monitoring session and two items will top their list: frequencies and the call signs heard on them. If you hear activity on a military frequency, unless you can fully identify the participants by their call sign, you can’t fully appreciate or document the traffic you are hearing on your shortwave radio or scanner.

To aid the military radio hobbyists in their listening endeavors Teak Publishing has published a series of call sign books/e-books over the last several years. Now the company is pleased to announce its latest Kindle e-book in the series - the U.S. Military Call Sign Directory, 1st edition by Amazon Bestselling author Larry Van Horn, N5FPW.

In this new edition, the author presents the most comprehensive collection of U.S. military station identifications ever published for the radio listening hobby. It is the result of seven years of research and monitoring in the HF/VHF/UHF radio spectrums, by the author. No classified military sources were used in the production of this book, and due to the size of this publication, a printed version will not be available.

In addition to thousands of static and tactical call signs for the major U.S. military services, other types of identifiers such as Automatic Link Establishment (ALE) addresses and marine MMSI identifiers for U.S. Navy and Coast Guard vessels and aircraft are also included in this edition. There is also a chapter devoted to call signs/words used by the Department of Defense including the Military Auxiliary Radio Services (MARS) and the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) auxiliary services.

A whole new chapter in the book is devoted to the latest craze in military aircraft monitoring - decoding Mode-S ADS-B hex code radio signals. The chapter on these hex code addresses includes introductory material on monitoring these unique identifiers and thousands of hex codes identified by airframes. There is also an additional chapter devoted to known hex hole ranges in the DoD ADS-B spectrum.

The last chapter of this book contains a large list of resource information including Navy ship/squadron classifications; Coast Guard cutter designators; a massive list of abbreviations and acronyms that appear in the book and other Teak Publishing publications; a comprehensive country abbreviation list; and the latest Table of Allocations of International Call signs from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

The Teak Publishing U.S. Military Call Sign Directory is now available for purchase worldwide from Amazon.com at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BT658LVL. The price for this 1091-page e-Book is US$9.99. 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 and Mac); Tablets (iPad and Android), 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 https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=16571048011.

A complete list of all the author’s military radio hobby books can be found on his Amazon author’s page at https://www.amazon.com/stores/Larry-Van-Horn/author/B00G1QMO4CAdditional information on this and other Teak Publishing radio hobby books is available on the company website at  https://www.teakpublishing.com/.

Other Milcom Internet resources by the author include:
Milcom Monitoring Post blog http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/
Btown Monitoring Post Blog http://monitor-post.blogspot.com/
From the Static YouTube site https://www.youtube.com/c/FromtheStatic-83
From the Static Twitter feed @MilcomMP

 If you monitor the military radio spectrum, outside of the international shortwave broadcast or ham bands, then there is something in this book for you. This e-book is a must in any radio shack reference library.

About the Author

Amazon bestselling author, Larry Van Horn, a native of San Antonio, Texas, started his radio listening hobby in 1963 when he received his first shortwave receiver.

In 1971 Larry joined the U.S. Navy and served on several 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 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, ham satellites, 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 (especially marine comms), general satellite monitoring, and AM/FM,/TV broadcast DXing.

After his retirement from the Navy, 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 magazine's 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 also the creative force behind the publication of 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 What’s New column.

His current writing assignment is with the radio hobby e-zine – The Spectrum Monitor. He writes a monthly Milcom column and has authored numerous features including the magazine’s annual Air Show Frequency Guide.

Over the years Larry has also written dozens of 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.

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.

Since then, he has authored a series of annual e-Books – The Milcom Archives, which are reprints of his Monitoring Times and Spectrum Monitor Milcom columns.

 

Friday, January 27, 2023

Btown DSC Ship's Log KiwiSDR Cyprus 27 Jan 2023

 After completing some major book projects for Teak Publishing, had a chance to do some Maritime GMDSS DSC monitoring. Hung out on the KiwiSDR located in Cyprus and made the following marine logs.



13:24:22 12576.97 SAFETY Test, 205717000[Flag: Belgium] => 002241022[Coast Station: Spain, Coruna]
13:24:43 12576.97 SAFETY Test, 235102349[Flag: United Kingdom] => 002050480[Coast Station: Belgium, Oostende]
13:25:47 12576.97 SAFETY Test, 308918000[Flag: Bahamas] => 002618102[Coast Station: Poland, (unknown)] Note: https://www.umgdy.gov.pl/en/marine-safety/vts-zatoka-gdanska-en/polish-rescue-radio/ Polish Rescue Radio 

13:32:08 8414.50 SAFETY Test, 248547000[Flag: Malta] => 002241022[Coast Station: Spain, Coruna]
13:39:21 8414.48 ROUTINE SSB call ack 2182.0/2182.0 kHz, 002091000[Coast Station: Cyprus, Cyprus] => 613883000[Flag: Cameroon]
13:40:23 8414.49 SAFETY Test, 354184000[Flag: Panama] => 002241022[Coast Station: Spain, Coruna]
13:46:20 8414.47 SAFETY Test, 248547000[Flag: Malta] => 002091000[Coast Station: Cyprus, Cyprus]
13:47:42 8414.48 SAFETY Test ack, 002371000 [Coast Station: Greece, Olympia] => 538009521[Flag: Marshall Is]
13:55:52 8414.48 SAFETY Test, 636022355[Flag: Liberia] => 002711000[Coast Sta tion: Turkey, Istanbul]
13:56:17 8414.48 SAFETY Test ack, 002711000 [Coast Station: Turkey, Istanbul] => 636022355[Flag: Liberia]
13:57:45 8414.48 SAFETY Test, 636022355[Flag: Liberia] => 002241022[Coast Station: Spain, Coruna]
14:00:41 8414.48 SAFETY Test ack, 002070810[Coast Station: Bulgaria, Varna] => 450548000[Flag: Lebanon
14:04:07 8414.48 SAFETY Test, 636022355[Flag: Liberia] => 004280001[Coast Station: Israel, Haifa]
14:06:16 8414.48 SAFETY Test, 273294380[Flag: Russian Federation] => 002191000[Coast Station: Denmark, Lyngby]
14:07:50 8414.48 SAFETY Test, 273294380[Flag: Russian Federation] => 002371000[Coast Station: Greece, Olympia]
14:09:56 8414.48 SAFETY Test ack, 002371000[Coast Station: Greece, Olympia] => 636013644[Flag: Liberia]
14:18:34 8414.48 SAFETY Test, 538006480[Flag: Marshall Is] => 002711000[Coast Station: Turkey, Istanbul]
14:19:09 8414.48 SAFETY Test ack, 002711000[Coast Station: Turkey, Istanbul] => 538006480[Flag: Marshall Is]
14:21:42 8414.48 SAFETY Test, 620145000[Flag: Comoros] => 002640570[Coast Station: Romania, Constanta]

In 1 hour of monitoring received 

9 Flags: Bahamas Belgium Comoros Liberia Marshall Is Malta Panama Russian Federation UK
4 Coast Stations: Bulgaria Cyprus Greece Turkey


Sunday, January 22, 2023

Teak Publishing e-Books #2 and #3 at Amazon in Radio and Wireless category

 


The 2022 Milcom Files - TSM Edition - Now Available on Amazon

 




Recent world events continue to draw many radio listeners into their radio shacks to tune in on the action using their shortwave radios. software-defined radios, and programmable VHF/UHF scanners. In many cases monitoring the HF/VHF/UHF radio spectrum offers the radio hobbyist an opportunity to hear what is really going on behind the scenes without the filters imposed by news media outlets. Most radio listeners quickly learn that when the world has a crisis, disaster, or tensions rise between countries, the military will usually be the first organization called upon to intervene. It pays to monitor military frequencies when international events heat up.

There is a big radio frequency spectrum out there to monitor if you know where to listen, you can eavesdrop on some of the most fascinating radio communications you will hear on a scanner or shortwave radio.

Teak Publishing Company is pleased to announce the release of their latest eBook in the TSM Milcom Archive series – The Spectrum Monitor Volume 5 (2022) by Amazon best-selling author Larry Van Horn.

Some of the topics covered in this new book during 2022 include:

• Monitoring the Russian-Ukrainian War

• Mystery Russian HF Military Stations

• Monitoring Russia's Long-Range Aviation HF Nets

• Monitoring NATO Stanag 4285 digital transmissions

• U.S. Navy's Area 51

• A Sky Full of E-6Bs Command Post

• E-4B “Doomsday” Aircraft Serve as National Airborne Operations Center (NAOC);

• Fill'er Up and Don't Forget the Green Stamps (US Aerial Refueling Freqs, Routes, and

Anchors)

• Monitoring the U.S. Coast Guard Aviation Fleet

• DoD VHF High Band Air Ops Assignments

• Milcom Military Base Profiles

• Military Callsigns and ADBS Hex Codes

• Bonus Material: The Spectrum Monitor 2022 Air Show Guide

• Bonus Material – The Teak Action Bands (LW-MW-HF) Military Frequency List –

  Hundreds of discrete U.S. and some foreign military frequencies. 

The latest Milcom Files - TSM Milcom edition 273-page eBook is available now on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSB39NFV/ for just US$4.99.

A complete index to all pf Larry’s TSM columns and links to each year’s Milcom Archives E-Books is available on the Milcom Monitoring Post blog at http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/p/the-spectrum-monitor-e-zine-milcom.html

 Larry Van Horn N5FPW has been a radio hobbyist for nearly 60 years listening to world events and monitoring military radio communications. He has spent over 41 years documenting activity in the military radio spectrum in his monthly Satellite, Utility World, and Milcom (Military Communications) columns in the pages of Monitoring TimesSatellite Times, and now The Spectrum Monitor magazines.

During this time, he has published a treasure trove of military communication monitoring information. All his early MT columns have been published into two e-Books by Teak Publishing. The first two books in the Milcom Files series cover his columns published in Monitoring Times and have previously been published at Amazon. Book one of The Milcom Files covers the columns published from 1998 to 2006 and Book Two covers the period 2007 to 2013

In 2017 Larry joined the Spectrum Monitor writing staff where he continues to chronicle military monitoring in his monthly TSM Milcom column. Now he is publishing all his monthly TSM Milcom columns (2017-2022) at Amazon in the Kindle eBook format. All the books in The Milcom Series archives are available at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078MNXGND.

If you are interested in monitoring military comms. own a scanner, shortwave radio, or have an Internet connection for web software-defined radio (SDR) monitoring, then the Milcom Files are a “must” reference for the radio library shelf.

For additional information on this and other Teak Publishing radio hobby books is available on the company website at https://www.teakpublishing.com/. Information on other publications by Larry is available on his author’s page at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00G1QMO4C.

 Other Milcom Internet resources by the author include:

Milcom Monitoring Post blog http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/

Btown Monitoring Post Blog http://monitor-post.blogspot.com/

From the Static YouTube site https://www.youtube.com/c/FromtheStatic-83

From the Static Twitter feed @MilcomMP

 Customer review of a previous edition of the Milcom Archives:

 “Larry has done an excellent job in his books, each and every one of them is excellent material for listeners. You will find nothing better.”