A good book is "Air Band Radio Handbook" ~ David J Smith ISBN:1852606061

Neil wrote:
I've always been a keen aircraft enthusiast, but have only just got
my first scanner (PSR282 from Maplin) for Xmas, having had my
interest re-awakened by watching the final Concorde museum flights.

In the first week or two I've picked up various overhead airband
transmissions from home in southern England, but had begun to
question if it was going to fulfill my expectations. That was until
yesterday when I spent a *great* few hours listening to and watching
arrivals and departures at Heathrow, from what appeared to be common
vantage points with others.

I could work out the general order of frequencies that arriving and
departing planes used, and have a database found on the web of
country-wide frequencies, but would appreciate some thoughts/help on
a few aspects....

1) is there anyway that you can "link" the call-signs that planes
have, with other details about them - eg. registration; destinations
etc? Thus "Speedbird 16" or "Shamrock 21" were a little meaningless
to me, except clearly describing the carrier. Are these flight
numbers as per timetables - i.e. BA016 etc?

2) is there a list somewhere of the call-signs for each carrier, as
some seemed a bit obscure, as did the markings on some less common
airlines from abroad.

3) can anyone recommend a good book to read as a starter? Not
necessarily for frequencies, but more in explanation of navigation,
air traffic control handling; where named beacons are geographically
etc? i.e. anything to help me understand a little more about it all.

4) the Heathrow Visitor Centre advised me that the old Observation
deck at Queens Building is now closed. That's sad. I can
imagine this for security reasons, though don't quite understand what
the issue with security could be there that wouldn't be far worse
elsewhere? Is there anywhere else apart from the HVC or the
runway ends/sides that makes a good vantage point at Heathrow? Or
in fact, where is the best airport in the "South" for GOOD viewing of
fairly frequent takeoffs/landings?

cheers
Neil.
UK

--
Tim Johns
Worcestershire, UK