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#1
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AIR BAND on Shortwave radios & scanners.
Some of my radios have the AIR band. I had never picked up an aircraft or
tower. How does one monitor the AIR band? Sometimes I'll heard strange signals that may sound like a fax. But I am not sure what that is. Is there an AIR frequency list around? Now on the Marine band I do pick up boats. Well I live near a river. But should an aircraft fly over my area and I am on it's frequency and a transmission came out from it, well, because of the speed of the aircraft, I am not too sure how long it would last. Boats are much slower. And better for this I think! 73 |
#2
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The frequencies used for aircraft range from 108 mhz to about 130 mhz . You
may be picking up strong pager signals in the area. "Strength and Honor" "S R" wrote in message ... Some of my radios have the AIR band. I had never picked up an aircraft or tower. How does one monitor the AIR band? Sometimes I'll heard strange signals that may sound like a fax. But I am not sure what that is. Is there an AIR frequency list around? Now on the Marine band I do pick up boats. Well I live near a river. But should an aircraft fly over my area and I am on it's frequency and a transmission came out from it, well, because of the speed of the aircraft, I am not too sure how long it would last. Boats are much slower. And better for this I think! 73 |
#3
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S R wrote:
Some of my radios have the AIR band. I had never picked up an aircraft or tower. How does one monitor the AIR band? Sometimes I'll heard strange signals that may sound like a fax. But I am not sure what that is. Is there an AIR frequency list around? Now on the Marine band I do pick up boats. Well I live near a river. But should an aircraft fly over my area and I am on it's frequency and a transmission came out from it, well, because of the speed of the aircraft, I am not too sure how long it would last. Boats are much slower. And better for this I think! 73 Are you near any airports? I hear constant air/ tower traffic on that band. Get the radio Shack scanner frequency guide and lookup the frequencies in your area. -- Brian Denley http://home.comcast.net/~b.denley/index.html |
#4
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S R wrote:
Some of my radios have the AIR band. I had never picked up an aircraft or tower. How does one monitor the AIR band? Sometimes I'll heard strange signals that may sound like a fax. But I am not sure what that is. Is there an AIR frequency list around? Now on the Marine band I do pick up boats. Well I live near a river. But should an aircraft fly over my area and I am on it's frequency and a transmission came out from it, well, because of the speed of the aircraft, I am not too sure how long it would last. Boats are much slower. And better for this I think! 73 If you are referring to the VHF airband (118-136 Mhz), you can hear aircraft when they are within about 100-miles of your location, depending on their altitude. You might not hear any airtraffic controllers talking to the planes, if the nearest airport or ATC site is more than about 50-miles from you. This is because the their transmitters are on the ground. You can hear a lot of air traffic communications on shortwave if you know what frequencies to check. Here's some websites with more info': http://www.geocities.com/dwingrin/home/airband.htm (general information) http://www.monitoringtimes.com/html/mtcivair.html (VHF frequency list. Listen to the "Air traffic control (towers/centers)" frequencies on this list to hear aircraft in your area) http://www.hamuniverse.com/aerofreq.html (These are the HF or shortwave frequencies for transoceanic aircraft) -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- |
#6
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William Mutch wrote in message nell.edu...
In article , says... Some of my radios have the AIR band. I had never picked up an aircraft or tower. How does one monitor the AIR band? Sometimes I'll heard strange signals that may sound like a fax. But I am not sure what that is. Is there an AIR frequency list around? The easiest way to find frequencies is to call a fixed base operator (aviation company) or flight school at your nearest airport and ask what is locally in use. 122.90 is a nationwide simplex frequency which may or may not be used at all in your area depending on the size of the airport. Yea, thats a "unicom" freq. Same for 122.7 and 122.8 I think. In cities, many times you will have a helicopter unicom in about 123.025,050,075 range. It will vary, but as a rule most of the VOR's, ILS, etc are pretty low in the band. From about 108 to 117 mhz. Most towers run from 118 to the lower 130's mhz range. Same for most approach and departure freq's. Most center freq's run in the upper part of the voice band. "lower and mid 130's range" "132,133,134.??? are all busy "center" areas in the band. Do a band edge search...The aircraft that are talking to center will be your highest aircraft, as they are at cruise. They will be heard the farthest distances. I'm in Houston, and I can hear aircraft at cruise 250-300 miles away. Same for ACARS transmissions. Most ground control is 121.7,8,9. Maybe lower in a crowded city... If you hear a controller tell a plane upon landing to go to "ground point niner" that means 121.9. "ground point eight" means 121.8, etc.... Most ATIS are in the lower and mid 120's range. ACARS is mainly in the 129,130,131 mhz range..One exception that I listen to is 136.8 mhz.. One way to find more freq's is simply to copy the freq's given to pilots at ATC handoffs. IE: A pilot will take off, and once airborne the tower will tell him to go to departure at say 119.7 as an example. Follow him there, and when he is handed off to center, grab that freq also...You may have to get used to the rapid fire lingo... IE: a quick handoff from departure to center might go something like "Southwest 8, contact center, thirty two point seven seven,.... That means 132.77. They often skip the 1st number as it's a no brainer...:/ Antenna height is important if you want to hear towers. MK |
#7
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Mark Keith wrote:
You may have to get used to the rapid fire lingo... IE: a quick handoff from departure to center might go something like "Southwest 8, contact center, thirty two point seven seven,.... That means 132.77. They often skip the 1st number as it's a no brainer...:/ The altitude readouts can also be confusing. If someone says "one five thousand", it means fifteen thousand feet. The speeds are given in knots rather than miles per hour. -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =----- |
#8
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"S R" wrote in message ... Some of my radios have the AIR band. I had never picked up an aircraft or tower. How does one monitor the AIR band? Basically, you have to find the best air freqs for your area, punch them into your radio, then sit and wait. One of the best air monitoring sessions I ever had was using the air band on my Sony 2010. I picked up a search and rescue during a snowstorm one night many years ago; supposedly a helicopter had crashed here in central New Hampshire. There was a Navy Orion plane that diverted from its original flight path to Maine, and he kept circling right over my head while searching, and I heard the whole thing. Later it turned out that some dipstick faked the distress call, and was sitting in his condo at Weirs Beach the whole time putting out fake calls for help. He WAS caught, and he WAS punished... Craig, WPE1HNS Meredith, NH USA Drake R8B/Alpha Delta DX Sloper Sony SW-77 Sony ICF-2010 2 x Phillips/Magnavox D2935 Uniden CR-2021 Knight Kit Star Roamer (permanently tuned to Turkey on 9460) GE Superadio II/Select-A-Tenna Delphi Ski-Fi XM/3" Antennae Tuning since 1963 |
#9
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starman wrote in message ...
Mark Keith wrote: You may have to get used to the rapid fire lingo... IE: a quick handoff from departure to center might go something like "Southwest 8, contact center, thirty two point seven seven,.... That means 132.77. They often skip the 1st number as it's a no brainer...:/ The altitude readouts can also be confusing. If someone says "one five thousand", it means fifteen thousand feet. The speeds are given in knots rather than miles per hour. Also, they can throw in wind direction and speed, which can almost sound like mix of the other numbers...IE "310 at 8" Also, the speed given in knots will be indicated airspeed. Once they pass 18,000 ft, they define altitude as "flight level" rather than feet. At that point, they also set the altimeter to 29.92. So if they climb to say 37,000 ft, they will call it flight level three seven -zero. Usually just three seven -zero on the radio. Also, at cruise, they can define speed as knots, or mach speed. Usually mach if the altitude is much over 30,000. The air up high gets thinner, and the indicated airspeed will continue to fall as they climb higher, while the mach speed will remain the same. IE: the average climb might be at 250 till 10,000, then maybe 290-300-310-320 knots up to appx FL29 or so depending on the aircraft, where the IAS and the mach speeds "merge". Once at that altitude, they would usually switch to mach speeds which will vary to aircraft. A learjet 31a at FL41 or higher is reading a pretty low IAS "under 250 " ,with the "average" mach 77 speed for a lear. A 747 will do a mach speed in the low to mid 80's usually. The cessna citation X is the fastest commercial plane flying these days. Will do mach 90-92 range tops. Thats a fast puppy...Takes a little listening to weed out all the different, but sometimes same sounding numbers... I'm fairly up on it, cuz I'm a flight sim nut, and fly jets on the sim all the time. When listening to them, it kind of helps to understand what all they are doing, to make what you hear, make sense. MK |
#10
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On Mon, 15 Mar 2004 19:52:27 -0500, "S R" wrote:
Some of my radios have the AIR band. I had never picked up an aircraft or tower. How does one monitor the AIR band? With a non-scanning receiver, your best bet is to find out what the tower frequency is in your area. Sometimes I'll heard strange signals that may sound like a fax. But I am not sure what that is. If they're quick bursts, it's a telemetry system called ACARS. 131.55 is a common frequency for it. |
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