01/25/21 15:45:38 UTC
291.900 MHz
WAUCONDA, IL
 UPSET11 BUCKY24 FL21 holding over Oshkosh.
 
01/22/21 16:29:45 UTC
284.5 MHz
DAYTONA BEACH, FL
 Navy Lima Lima 87 with Sealord. Request clearance back to Nas Jax for full stop.
 
01/22/21 16:23:59 UTC
273.9 MHz
DAYTONA BEACH, FL
 Gator## has issue rtb Jax. SOF button #9
 
01/21/21 01:03:04 UTC
363.350 MHz
WAUCONDA, IL
 BADGER 1 thru 4
 
01/20/21 23:45:51 UTC
289.2 MHz
DAYTONA BEACH, FL
 Various flts with Pinecastle ops
 
01/11/21 15:56:47 UTC
75.750 MHz
"Elevation 4-7-0 feet, enemy fighting position, 17 Sierra Papa Uniform (grid location outskirts of Ft Bragg), none, friendlies east, 180 meters" PL 151.4. A2G, prolonged voice comms, intermixed with occasional crypto. VIKINGxx (CN-235) orbiting over grid at the time. 01-07-2021 between 1500-1600h. -AJ
 
01/11/21 15:56:21 UTC
75.750 MHz
"Elevation 4-7-0 feet, enemy fighting position, 17 Sierra Papa Uniform (grid location outskirts of Ft Bragg), none, friendlies east, 180 meters" PL 151.4. A2G, prolonged voice comms, intermixed with occasional crypto. VIKINGxx (CN-235) orbiting over grid at the time. 01-07-2021 between 1500-1600h. -AJ
 
01/07/21 17:29:16 UTC
75.650 MHz
"...7-5, lima-charlie, in-the-RED.." 1644h. "..radio check...fire..gonna start for us...prob get a good hour, an hour from when we depart, if we stick around past now its going to delay those guys getting in the air by 1800..." 1700h. "..9-9, VIKING73, came in broken, unreadable, say again...from 73, we want to push SECURE..." 1826h. All Tx's after that sounded like static, with a chirp/beep at the start of each. 01/06/2021. 96-6042 & 96-6043 (common callsign VIKING) active in same time frame Sanford/Bragg vic. -AJ
 
12/22/20 13:09:02 UTC
228.7500 MHz
"ALPHA 5-0-0 and below, southern airspace....3-0-0 and below" 12-21-2020 1433h -AJ
 
12/18/20 15:38:09 UTC
143.300 MHz
"...GECKO07, six jumpers away..." 12/11/2020, 1639h. -AJ
 
12/18/20 15:36:30 UTC
123.475 MHz
"...GECKO65, request winds..." "LIGHTNING6, GECKO65, all jumpers away...flight level 250, flight speed 130 knots..." 12/11/2020, between 0950-1020h. -AJ
 
12/17/20 13:34:43 UTC
32.450 MHz
"ZEUS33, FORECAST BASE, calling in the blind, we are arrival Montgomery County (K43A)" 2145h. "...Ops normal, we are off Montgomery, en route to TTA (KTTA Raleigh Executive Jetport at Sanford-Lee County Airport)" 2220h 12/15/20 -AJ
 

HAVEQUICK Military Radio System:
What it Is and What It's Not

HQ, HAVE QUICK are other names the HAVEQUICK Frequency Hopping system is referred to as.


In this article I hope to give you a better understanding on what the Military HAVEQUICK radio system is, how it works, and what it's not.

It is important to remember that HAVEQUICK is NOT a form nor was intended to be a form of encryption. Many HAVEQUICK transmissions are voice analog and in the clear. Yes, encryption can be used. However the HAVEQUICK radio system was not developed with the intent of being an encryption system. I have personally heard some HAVEQUICK encrypted comms on the scanner however most of the HAVEQUICK transmission were in the clear and you could usually make out a word or two during the transmission.

HAVEQUICK is a frequency hopping system is used as an anti-jamming communication system. Basically the HAVEQUICK system uses a series of 16 UHF AM (225-380 MHz) radio frequencies. During a radio transmission a computer in the aircraft rapidly switches the transmission between the 16 pre-set frequencies, both the length and order of frequency selection are "random" and are based on very precise timing. The the transmitter and receiver must be "in-sync" as to the timing of each frequency switch or the received signal will be broken.

The perfered method of frequency switch timing is via a GPS receiver attached to the HAVEQUICK radio. However GPS is not always a perfect method. GPS signals can be blocked during various maneuvers a jet figher is performing during a dog-fight. GPS signal can also be blocked by another aircraft above, blocking line-of-site to the GPS satelittes. Due to these possiblities HAVEQUICK radios have other methods of getting a "timing-tick" signal.

In the absence of GPS equipment, a Time Signal Set (TSS) can pass Time-Of-Day (TOD) over-the-air to any HAVEQUICK radio. These TSS's are normally installed at Air Force bases or on large surface vessels.

Another method of sending TOD information to a HAVEQUICK radio is from an AWACS or JSTARS aircraft. These aircraft have onboard rubidium oscillators that can pass an accurate TOD signal to any HAVEQUICK radio. I have personally heard these TOD signals, below is a YouTube video I made of such a signal.

Video of Actual TOD Timing Signal from an AWACS during Exercises in Florida


When you are searching the Military Air Band (225-380 MHz) and your scanner stops on what seems like a transmission that was the length of a word or two, that was probably a HAVEQUICK transmission. The table below outlines the HAVEQUICK frequenices. These frequencies are what are known as the "Frequency Managed Training Net".

FMT-Net for Continental United States
Channel DesignationFrequency (AM)
Preset Channel 20:235.050 MHz
Preset Channel 19:225.150 MHz
Preset Channel 18:252.925 MHz
Preset Channel 17:239.950 MHz
Preset Channel 16:271.950 MHz
Preset Channel 15:267.850 MHz
Preset Channel 14:262.450 MHz
Preset Channel 13:257.250 MHz
Preset Channel 12:314.450 MHz
Preset Channel 11:308.750 MHz
Preset Channel 10:303.275 MHz
Preset Channel 9:298.650 MHz
Preset Channel 8:293.550 MHz
Preset Channel 7:289.050 MHz
Preset Channel 6:284.150 MHz
Preset Channel 5:279.750 MHz
TOD AWACS/JSTARS signal 287.450 MHz



I have personally heard HAVEQUICK comms on all of the above frequencies except for 298.650. That could simply be that over the years my searching scanner just never was at the right place at the right time.

The above frequencies maintain a 4 MHz minimum separation and have been standardized for continental United States FMT-Nets. These frequencies are in the order in which they will be used for training by the Tactical Air Command.

You may ask why Preset Channels 0 - 4 do not exist in the above table. I do not know the answer to that question, but I do have some thoughts. There are 2 different types of nets, FMT-Nets as outlined here and are used for training in the CONUS. Then there are T-Nets. I believe the empty channels deal with allowing open memory in the HAVEQUICK radios to allow for the coded "Word-of-the-Day" which are used in T-Nets. Just a thought.

I had always know a little about what HAVEQUICK was and how it functioned. However until doing some research I didn't know the HAVEQUICK frequency order until I found an online non-classified document. Now with this information I am going to try and scan HAVEQUICK and hear the entire transmission. My first thought is to enter the above frequencies into a bank, in the order as listed above without any delay. Next time there are HAVEQUICK transmissions in Florida I hope to learn more.

I hope you've enjoyed this article.