U.S. Military Callsign Directory
by Larry Van Horn
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.
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).
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.
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