I took an overnight road trip to Jacksonville from Sunday morning, 21 November through Monday, 22 November to visit Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge, Kingsley Plantation, the Jacksonville Zoo, and Huguenot Memorial Park. I was hoping to see some ducks at Harris Neck on the way down to Jacksonville, but I only saw a couple of Northern Shovelers and Blue Winged Teal from a distance. The only things that were within camera range were an Anhinga and an Alligator. The visit to the Huguenot Memorial Park was to listen to and watch helicopters from Naval Station Mayport. The day started off rainy and foggy and remained overcast, but several of Mayport’s MH-60Rs were flying and I was able to get some photos of three of them. Interestingly enough, one of them was one of the Royal Saudi Navy MH-60Rs that are at Mayport for training Saudi crews (it’s the last photo in the park photo slideshow below)

Photos from Harris Neck NWR

Photos From Huguenot Memorial Park

Radio

Sunday, naturally, wasn’t a very active radio day, but I did hear a little bit of MilCom from some F/A-18s out of MCAS Beaufort; some VMFA(AW)-533 aircraft were working out of Savannah and some VMFA-115 aircraft seemed to be working out of one of the Jacksonville airfields. Monday was much more active with MH-60Rs active at NS Mayport, P-3s an P-8s active out of NAS Jacksonville, and F-15s active out of Jacksonville IAP. On both days, the US DOD TRS was very active with NS Mayport, NS Jacksonville, and NSB Kings Bay radio traffic. More so on Monday than Sunday, the Coast Guard was active on both Marine VHF Ch. 23 and their VHF and UHF Rescue 21 frequencies. The First Coast P25 TRS stayed busy with traffic from Jacksonville Fire/Rescue. Even with Sunday morning’s rain and fog, Marine VHF frequencies were steady with St Johns River Pilots traffic, tugboats, and other St Johns River activity. Two Florida State Parks repeaters were heard as well as the Jacksonville Zoo’s DMR repeaters.

MilCom/Aviation
NS Mayport
118.750/239.300 - NS Mayport Tower
250.900 - HSM-40 Base
273.800 - Unknown Base (only unidentified ground side heard)
274.800 - Mayport SESEF
156.6000 - Marine VHF Ch 12 - Mayport Port Control

AIRWOLF 10 (MH-60R, 166588, HSM-40)
AIRWOLF 44 (MH-60R, 168170, HSM-40)
AIRWOLF 47 (MH-60R, ??????, HSM-40)
AIRWOLF 50 (MH-60R, 166563, HSM-40)
AIRWOLF 801 (MH-60R, 801, Royal Suadi Navy/HSM-40)


NAS Jacksonville
125.150/340.200 - NAS Jax Tower
264.200 - VP-5/VP-10 Base
271.400 - VP-8/VP-26 Base
306.000 - VP-30 Base

TIGER 15 (P-8A, ??????, VP-8)
TIGER 88 (P-8A, ??????, VP-8)
NAVY LL 12 (P-3C, ??????, VP-30)
NAVY LL 818 (P-8A, ??????, VP-30)
NAVY LL 821 (P-8A, ??????, VP-30)
NAVY LL 848 (P-8A, ??????, VP-30)


Jacksonville IAP
118.300/317.700 - Jax IAP Tower
119.000/121.300/124.900/127.000/127.775/132.775 - Jax TRACON
284.600/308.400/322.400/335.600/351.800/377.050 - Jax TRACON
251.250 - 125th FW/159th FS Maintenance/Ops
234.800 - 125th FW/159th FS Aux 5
253.700 - 125th FW/159th FS Aux 6
314.200 - 125th FW/159th FS Aux 7

FANG 0# (F-15C, 159th FS)
GATOR 0# (F-15C, 159th FS)
JAGS 0# (F-15C, 159th FS)


Cecil Field
126.100 - Cecil Field Tower


Marine Corps Support Facility Blount Island
USMC TRS (MCSF Blount Island site)
   TG 2701 - MCSF Blount Island Security; enc
   TG 13715 - MCSF Blount Island unknown; enc


Op Areas
120.950/284.500 - Sealord North Primary
133.950/267.500 - Sealord South Primary
270.600 - Sealord
376.900 - W-137 Discrete
318.600 - Sealord Discrete

BLADE 1# (F/A-18C, VMFA-115)
HAWK 8# (F/A-18D, VMFA-533)
SLIMBIRD 71 (KC-135R, N573MA, Cass Professional Services/Meta Aerospace)


Misc MilCom
324.600 - AR-207

DANTE 15/16 (KC-135T, 58-0094/KC-135R, 62-3498, 6th AMW/927th ARW)


Jacksonville ARTCC
254.325/125.375 - Jax Center Taylor Low
256.875/135.450 - Jax Center Keystone Ultra High
269.025/127.575 - Jax Center Waycross Low
277.400/126.750 - Jax Center Brunswick Low
282.200/124.675 - Jax Center Jekyll Low
282.300/135.975 - Jax Center Alma High
285.650/126.125 - Jax Center Statesboro High
290.350/132.425 - Jax Center Hunter Ultra High
307.250/126.350 - Jax Center St. Augustine High
322.475/133.875 - Jax Center Lake City High
323.300/133.700 - Jax Center Baxley Low
346.250/127.475 - Jax Center Green Cove High


US DOD TRS (NSB Kings Bay and NS Mayport sites)
 TG 28053 - NSB Kings Bay Unknown; enc
 TG 28054 - NSB Kings Bay Unknown; enc
 TG 28065 - NSB Kings Bay Unknown; enc
 TG 28081 - NSB Kings Bay Unknown; enc
 TG 28082 - NSB Kings Bay unknown; enc
 TG 28138 - Unknown Squadron TG (NAS Jax or NS Mayport); unenc
 TG 28146 - NAS Jax FD Dispatch; unenc
 TG 28174 - NS Mayport FD Tac 2; unenc
 TG 28264 - NS Mayport Tower; unenc
 TG 28306 - NS Mayport Unknown; unenc
 TG 28313 - NS Mayport Basin; unenc
 TG 28318 - HSM-40; unenc
 TG 28329 - NS Mayport Crash Net; unenc
 TG 28344 - NS Mayport Ship POL?; unenc
 TG 28346 - NS Mayport Ship POL?; enc/unenc
 TG 28354 - NS Mayport FD Dispatch; unenc
 TG 28355 - NS Mayport FD?; unenc
 TG 28372 - NS Mayport Unknown; enc
 TG 28444 - NSB Kings Bay unknown; enc
 TG 28448 - HSM-40?; unenc
 TG 28557 - Regional Fire Dispatch Southeast 1; unenc
 TG 29411 - NAS Pensacola FD; unenc
 TG 29999 - NS Mayport Unknown; unenc



FedCom
US Coast Guard
156.8000 - Marine VHF Ch 16
157.0500 - Marine VHF Ch 1021
157.1000 - Marine VHF Ch 1022
157.1500 - Marine VHF Ch 1023
162.3250 ($293) - CG 111, Sector Jacksonville; enc/unenc
412.9750 ($293) - CG 409, Sector Jacksonville Air Ops; unenc



Public Safety
154.4000 (PL 173.8) - Baker County FD

462.9500 (PL 173.8) - LifeFlight (Jacksonville)
453.0750 (PL 146.2) - Trauma One Jacksonville

159.2400 (PL 97.4) - FL Dept of Forestry Jacksonville

First Coast P25 TRS
 TG 149 - JFRD A-4 Supression
 TG 1085 - JFRD A-1 EMS East
 TG 1087 - JFRD A-2 Dispatch
 TG 1089 - JFRD A-3 EMS West
 TG 1099 - JFRD A-8 Support
 TG 1113 - JFRD B-1 Fireground B-1
 TG 1563 - Jacksonville Airport Authority Events 1
 TG 2503 - Jacksonville Metro ISSI



Misc
151.0100 (PL 103.5) - Fl Parks - Little Talbot State Park
159.1425 (PL 151.4) - FL Parks - Fort George Island Cultural State Park

156.6500 - Marine VHF Ch 11 - St Johns River Piltos Fernandina
156.7000 - Marine VHF Ch 14 - St Johns River Pilots Jacksonville
156.6500 - Marine VHF Ch 13 - St Johns River Navigation Safety
156.3500 - Marine VHF Ch 7 - St Johns River Tugboats
156.5000 - Marine VHF Ch 10 - St Johns River Tugboats
156.9000 - Marine VHF Ch 18 - St Johns River Tugboats 
156.9500 - Marine VHF Ch 19 - St Johns River activity (Tugs?)
157.0750 - Marine VHF Ch 81 - St Johns River Unknown

463.2500 (TG 1, Slot 1, Color 8) - Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens Keeper 1
463.2500 (TG 2, Slot 2, Color 8) - Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens Keeper 2
464.1875 (TG 3, Slot 1, Color 12) - Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens Ops/Security 1
464.1875 (TG 4, Slot 2, Color 12) - Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens Ops/Security 2

Food

Whenever I visit the Jacksonville Zoo and/or Huguenot Memorial Park, I always stop at the Sandollar Restaurant. Not only is their seafood good, the restaurant offers a great view of the St Johns River, the ships traveling the river, porpoises and birds, and helicopters from Naval Station Mayport.

I’ll eventually have a couple of posts up on the Zoo visit and a combination post on the Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation in Brunswick and the Kingsley Plantation in Jacksonville. This will be a busy week at work and home with the Thanksgiving Holiday, so I’ll probably wait to work on them until next week.