My family and I are going to the 50th anniversary celebration airshow at the Little Rock Air Force Base this weekend.  The base rules allow hand held scanners and I'm taking mine but I don't know what frequencies to look for the Thunderbirds on.  Is there a universal "airshow " frequency that all the performers will be using?

I know that the LRAFB tower frequency is 120.6, will the Thunderbirds and their groundcrews be using the same frequency?  If some of you U.S.A.F folks can help me out without compromising security I'd appreciate it.

BTW, if you live close and aren't doing anything else this weekend, this show is going to be a doozy.  Attendance is expected to be about 200,000 folks, a B-2 is flying in Sunday, and there are several aerobatic teams that are going to perform.  Hope to see ya there!

members.tripod.com/columbus_east/airshow.shtml

Tower and ground will also be good channels to listen to.

LITTLE ROCK GROUND: 132.8 275.8
LITTLE ROCK TOWER: 120.6 269.075

make sure to take lots of pics and post them for our viewing pleasure!

The Birds will be on UHF, not the tower VHF. You will hear the tower talk to them on VHF, but never hear a response. At least that has been my experience. You need the UHF tower freq.

Quoted: My family and I are going to the 50th anniversary celebration airshow at the Little Rock Air Force Base this weekend.  The base rules allow hand held scanners and I'm taking mine but I don't know what frequencies to look for the Thunderbirds on.  Is there a universal "airshow " frequency that all the performers will be using? I know that the LRAFB tower frequency is 120.6, will the Thunderbirds and their groundcrews be using the same frequency?  If some of you U.S.A.F folks can help me out without compromising security I'd appreciate it. BTW, if you live close and aren't doing anything else this weekend, this show is going to be a doozy.  Attendance is expected to be about 200,000 folks, a B-2 is flying in Sunday, and there are several aerobatic teams that are going to perform.  Hope to see ya there!

Shit I totally forgot,  I gotta find someone to go with now.  I need a damn truck.  I have a HUGE memory card I'll fill up if I get to go.  Anyone else going from Little Rock that has extra room, let me know.

Quoted: The Birds will be on UHF, not the tower VHF. You will hear the tower talk to them on VHF, but never hear a response. At least that has been my experience. You need the UHF tower freq.

There's really not much to hear on the tower channel once they get cleared for takeoff, the real fun is on the air-to-air freqs.

And the VHF tower freq will give you the warbirds and the civilian teams.

Try Aggie radio, 123.45  You can hear some fun shit on there on occasion.

I can't imagine that they'd be on an unenrypted circuit, if only for safety's sake.

Imagine being in the middle of a maneuver and some yahoo comes over the net going "YEEEEEEHAAAAAA!"

Quoted: I can't imagine that they'd be on an unenrypted circuit, if only for safety's sake. Imagine being in the middle of a maneuver and some yahoo comes over the net going "YEEEEEEHAAAAAA!"

First UHF air band radios aren't something radio shack carries.

And second, they don't really say life or death stuff on their radios.  They use the radios to get teh precision done right.  ie  "Smoke on ready, now"  

Google is your friend :

US Airforce Thunderbird Frequencies

Thunderbird Frequencies
Updated 06/08/2003
Frequency Description Modulation
140.2000 Support Aircraft X-Country Air-Air AM
141.4000 4 Plane Formation AM
141.8500 4 Plane Formation link to PA AM
143.8500 (1), (2) 4 Plane Formation link to PA and Air-Air AM
235.2500 Thunderbird Control AM
269.9000 (1), (3) Thunderbird Control to AirBoss AM
322.9500 (1) Plane 5-6 Solo Air-Air AM
413.0250 (1) Maintenance/Ground Channel 1 FM
413.1000 Maintenance/Ground Channel 2 FM
(1) = Confirmed in November 2001 during Daytona Beach, FL Airshow.
(2) = Confirmed in May 2003 during Patrick AFB Airshow.
(3) = This frequency is also a Jacksonville Center freq. The T-Birds still used it for their show.  

The frequencies used by the US Airforce Thunderbirds. Please take note that US Military frequencies in the 138-144 MHz range are in AM mode. Most scanners will default to FM if programming a frequencies of this range, you'll need to change the mode in order to hear comms on these frequencies.

Quoted: I can't imagine that they'd be on an unenrypted circuit, if only for safety's sake. Imagine being in the middle of a maneuver and some yahoo comes over the net going "YEEEEEEHAAAAAA!"

Yeah, go over the low hard UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH to help keep your blood up.  These guys don't talk to each other much at all.  They do these maneuvers 1000s of times a year.  The once or twice a day at airshows is actually kind of a break for them.

I've done this a few times, so hopefully this will be of help. The newer "mainstream" scanners out there do not cover military freq's anymore. That includes Uniden. So hopefully you have an older one or one of the more expensive ones that covers the 200's and low 400's. All my stuff is stored away, but from memory they will be somewhere around the 220.'s and occaisionally the "boss" will talk seperately around the 411's if I remember correctly. See if you can go to the 220's, if so then you should get them, but if your scanner does not lock in on any 200 numbers, you have a nuetered scanner and it won't get military chatter.    

THEY ARE HEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRREEEEE.  I was just out running around town doing stuff,  got off I-430 at Cantrell and they were flying up the river with two C-130s

Well.....Did you go see them?  I thought they were pretty darn cool.