The digital era has created no problems for me since all I've listened
to since 1974 is aircraft communications. Therefore, my scanning hobby
is alive and well, not on the verge of death.

Living directly between the three busiest aviation hubs on earth
(Atlanta, Chicago & Dallas), there's no shortage of high altitude stuff
flying overhead for me to hear on a daily basis. A person doesn't need
to live near an airport to listen to aircraft. Many folks may live in an
ideal location to listen to the same thing I do and not even realize it.
Go outside on a sunny day and look up to see what's flying above you.
Each of those white streaks which crisscross our skies are all talking
on the radio with air traffic controllers at an ARTCC facilitity.

There's even airline flight tracking sites like, http://flightview.com
that enable a person to see where a flight is coming from, going to,
flight routing and aircraft type.

Mark Holmes
Marion, IL