Milcom Receiving Equipment
From The RadioReference Wiki
The VHF/UHF Milcom Receiver
A receiver for monitoring VHF and UHF Milcom must cover, at a minimum, the 225-400 and 138-144 mhz ranges. Mil flights sometimes also use the civil air band (118-136 mhz) range. With the exception of the civil air band (where AM mode is the norm) and the VHF Low/162/406 Mhz bands (FM), either AM or FM mode transmissions may be heard in these ranges, so the ability to change mode independent of the frequency being received is very important.
If you are using a scanner, one with a fast scan rate is necessary when scanning a large number of milcom channels. Most milcom aircraft communications are short in duration, and after a while you will be accumulating and scanning a large number of frequencies. What qualifies as a 'fast' scanner is subjective. As an example, the Uniden BC780XLT is a popular mil air scanner which can scan 100 channels per second.
Good sensitivity in the above frequency ranges is a must. You will be receiving milcom aircraft signals originating from hundreds of miles away, and they can be relatively weak. Dynamic range (resistance to overloading) is also important, particularly if you live in an urban area. This will help you avoid hearing signals such as FM and TV where they don't belong.
Antennas
Antennas for milcom cover a large amount of frequencies. Sometimes (especially in urban areas) this can contribute to hearing signals where they don't belong, especially when using radios (or even SDRs) with poor resistance to overloading. Additional filtering is often required in these situations. See our Scanner Accessories page for links for various kinds of filters
Here are a few examples of widebanded antennas. See our Scanner Antennas page for antenna links as well as coax suppliers.
- Homebrewed Off-Center Fed Dipole A homebrew antenna which might be desirable if one wishes to keep the antenna as low profile as possible. There is a version for indoor use at the bottom
- DPD Productions Milcom antennas - including mobile versions
- Sirio SD2000N (via Amazon)
- Icom AH 8000
- Diamond D-130NJ
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- Return to VHF/UHF Military Monitoring
- Go to Searching for Milcom Activity
- Go to Milcom Web Pages and Mailing Lists