How do *YOU* listen to Air bands?

[exalti]

I am curious about this and would like to initiate an informal survey of how you set up your scanner and monitor air bands. I am sorry if this is seems rather broad but in the short time I have been doing it I have learned a few things but I wstill do not know if I am being efficient or practical in my methods. One thing I do know is that it is counter productive to simply scan all frequencies assigned to an airport. I learned that I can get more meaningful info if I sit on one runway and listen to the approach and if applicable, the departure discussions.

I tried that this morning on the way to work and heard my first out-of-the-ordinary scene from DFW. A craft with four souls onboard was experiencing a gear door malfunction and was circling with flaps down in order to burn fuel before attempting a landing. I waited as long as I could for a resolution before finally having to abandon my scanner to go into my office. Mind you it was not declared an emergency but it was interesting to listen to.

So, how do *you* set up your frequencies and banks or objects? What do you scan? How do you set up scan delays, dwell time, etc? Inquiring minds want to know....

73 de W5ARD (Al)

 

[HogDriver]

I have all my aircraft related stuff in 1 bank, but I will only listen to the tower freq to keep it simple. If something of interest comes up, I may switch to approach or if the plane has landed, switch to the Fire and Crash freq to hear what's going on.

Ocassionaly, I'll scan everything when I'm just out driving around and if I hear something of interest, I'll go to the appropriate freq.

 

[kny2xb]

My air freqs take up two banks, but I have two airports in my reception area. I'm going to review them and trim them down. The freqs that I have on delay are 121.5 (GUARD), 122.750 & 122.850 (air-to-air), 123.025 (for helos), 123.1 (for search & rescue), and 123.45 (long range air-to-air).

 

[DPD1]

I list stuff in each bank based on importance. All general ATC stuff is in one. That stays on all the time. Base and some other stuff I'm interested in stays in a couple more. The AA/mission stuff stays in others, each one organized by the group. Those usually stay off. This way you can instantly turn on or off things that you need or don't need. Catch two planes on ATC, then turn on the bank that has all the possible freqs they can be on. That way you don't have to run everything at one time and it takes an hour for the scan to come back around.

Dave
www.DPDProductions.com
Antennas & Accessories for the RF Professional & Radio Hobbyist

 

[Scott_PHX_APP]

I have 2 banks for Air and 2 for Railroad, (all 90+ frequencies). I also made a 3rd bank with just the local Railroad frequencies. I scan all the local airports at the same time and by scanning 2 banks located about 3 banks apart, I don't seem to miss much that way. That said, I do have all the unused locations locked out and keep fire and EMS stuff all in different banks. With this setup, I can just kill the EMS stuff, (sometimes they talk too much to hear anything else) and keep the main, (Rail and Air) banks hopping. BTW, I have the PRO-95 so I don't have digital, but that's OK anyway, the cops talk WAY TOO MUCH in the area for me.

 

[daedalus]

1 bank for NY Approach, Departure, Center
1 bank for EWR tower, ground, police, etc.
1 bank for ABE tower, ground, police, etc
1 bank for Unicom, FSS,
All banks include 121.5, 243.0

That way, depending on where I am driving, I can just push the appropriate button.

 

[markinillinois]

I presume that many radio hobbiests that don't listen to aircraft have the misconception that you've got to live near an airport to hear aircraft comms. I've listened to aircraft comms almost entirely since 1974 even though I'm located 125 miles from the nearest major airport.

I allocate several scanners to monitor aircraft on VHF frequencies even though a few scanners monitor just one frequency. I'm primarily interested in the three ARTCC sectors above me since 500+ airline flights and 75+ business jets pass overhead on a daily basis. The first two scanners record 24/7*.

#1. ARTCC high sector freq above me *
#2. ARTCC ultra high sector freq above me *
#3. ARTCC low sector freq above me
#4. ARTCC surrounding high sector freqs
#5. ARTCC surrounding ultra high sector freqs
#6. 126 128.85-132.0 airline ops freqs

Mark Holmes
Marion, IL

 

[K4DHR]

I have the departure/approach frequencies for the Atlanta area, tower and ATIS for the controlled fields and ASOS/Unicom for the un-controlled fields in the area.

Generally there's so much traffic around here that listening to approach and departure is pretty dull (mainly a bunch of heading and altitude changes, I guess I heard enough of that in my days flying) unless its IFR. Then things get to be pretty interesting, particularly if someone comes in with an older airplane not equipped with a glideslope or GPS and starts shooting NDB or VOR approaches into one of the local airports (NOT KATL!!)

 

[ImTheWeasel]

I use my ICOM T7H w/ RH77CA, programmed with Kansas City ARTCC Freqs. & local KBVO airstrip freqs. Usually hear alot of alt. changes and ocassionally I might hear something interesting...
:lol:

 

[b7spectra]

Then things get to be pretty interesting, particularly if someone comes in with an older airplane not equipped with a glideslope or GPS and starts shooting NDB or VOR approaches into one of the local airports (NOT KATL!!)

I was at ATL (the BUSIEST airport) the past Saturday taking pictures and lo and behold a single engine prop plane came in for a landing! One expensive landing at that!

When I'm at ATL, I normally have my scanner (Pro93 or 96) set for which runway I'm shooting from (8R/26L, 8L/26R, 9R/27L, 9L/27R or 10/28. Yup, 5 runways in action at one time - 8/26 & 9/27 are set up for simultaneous take-off/landings where 10/28 is a single). That way I know who is landing and can be ready to snap them when in range!

When I'm at PDK, I have tower, ground and the FBO's plugged in. The county is on a TRS, so if they are dispatched, I simply switch to that bank.

At home, I usually keep the BC8500 set on UHF aero freqs.

 

[mpcarlino]

At home, I generally have my BC250 set exclusively on the air bands, with the 396 handling other scanning "duties." This way, a busy day on the Buffalo police frequencies won't null out my chances of catching a milair exercise.

-1 bank is for local general air (local approach, towers/ground/clearance, etc).
-2nd bank is general milair (known local frequencies and general milair frequencies that might be used by anyone transiting the area).
-3rd bank for known local milair operations freqs. This includes Cobra Ops (174th out of Syracuse), Fuzzy Ops (107th out of Niagara Falls), Carbonate (914th out of the Falls), and numerous others further out that I can still monitor. This also includes nearby refueling tracks and milair ARTCC freqs, among others.

In general, I'm scanning all three at a time, but if I hear a training op going on nearby and multiple freqs may be used, I'll just scan the 3rd bank for the time being. Seems to work pretty well for me thus far.

My 396 has a system devoted to air with a similar setup by group instead of bank. If I'm on the go, I can quickly switch to the air system and scan whatever groups I need.

 

[K4DHR]

I was at ATL (the BUSIEST airport) the past Saturday taking pictures and lo and behold a single engine prop plane came in for a landing! One expensive landing at that!

When I'm at ATL, I normally have my scanner (Pro93 or 96) set for which runway I'm shooting from (8R/26L, 8L/26R, 9R/27L, 9L/27R or 10/28. Yup, 5 runways in action at one time - 8/26 & 9/27 are set up for simultaneous take-off/landings where 10/28 is a single). That way I know who is landing and can be ready to snap them when in range!

When I'm at PDK, I have tower, ground and the FBO's plugged in. The county is on a TRS, so if they are dispatched, I simply switch to that bank.

At home, I usually keep the BC8500 set on UHF aero freqs.

Heh heh heh.

I have about 3-4 landings logged at Atlanta in 172s and one in a Cherokee 140. By far the most exciting one was the one in the Cherokee, where my cousin and I came in at about 1430...right in the peak rush time. I wish I had carried my video camera with me on that flight!! I do have a video made back in 2002 of us flying into ATL on runway 27L around midnight. I need to post that to YouTube or something similar sometime.

If I remember correctly, the one time we actually did pay a landing fee, it was only about $8-9. Oddly enough the time we came in there in the middle of the day, the FBO never charged us a landing fee. Every other time, we flew in during the middle of the night and never stopped. We were just goofing around and asked approach if they'd clear us for a landing and quick turnaround (they don't allow touch and goes, even in the dead of night). At 0100, there's not enough traffic around to get in the way, so they usually had no problems with us landing then.

 

[BlueMR2]

If I remember correctly, the one time we actually did pay a landing fee, it was only about $8-9. Oddly enough the time we came in there in the middle of the day, the FBO never charged us a landing fee. Every other time, we flew in during the middle of the night and never stopped. We were just goofing around and asked approach if they'd clear us for a landing and quick turnaround (they don't allow touch and goes, even in the dead of night). At 0100, there's not enough traffic around to get in the way, so they usually had no problems with us landing then.

They should call them parking fees I think... I've done a whole bunch of landings at places with "landing fees", but since I never actually parked anywhere, there was no payment required! Most places do have additional tie-down fees, so I guess you can't call it that since you might park without using a tie-down... Hmmm.

 

[Spec]

I have two rigs set up with separate banks for VHF and UHF. And each is set up for high and low altitudes, etc.

 

[K4DHR]

They should call them parking fees I think... I've done a whole bunch of landings at places with "landing fees", but since I never actually parked anywhere, there was no payment required! Most places do have additional tie-down fees, so I guess you can't call it that since you might park without using a tie-down... Hmmm.

Yeah, even though most of those places will waive them if you buy more than a certain amount of gas.

I have allegedly heard of places that take your tail number down at some places with landing fees and send you a bill, but I think that's largely an urban legend, unless you're talking about some county field where they have their own private (read: non-FAA) control tower.

I was just awfully surprised that we got away with it at Hartsfield in the dead middle of the day though, particularly since we even took advantage of their shuttle to the main terminal!!

 

[n4jri]

I have a casual setup for daily piddling and an on-site setup for when I'm at an airport or an airshow. I make them separate V-scanner files in the PSR-500.

In the casual setup, I generally have utility, general aviation, and some standard military stuff, all in the same bank.

In the more serious setup, I keep one bank for tower/ground/clearance, one for approach/departure, and another for ARTCC freqs (usually just the low altitude sectors). Airline company ARINC freqs, airline ground ops freqs, airport ops freqs, utility freqs and military freqs will all be in separate banks.

I also keep a PRO-2055 in my pickup with five banks dedicated to airband. The banks include, utility (both civilian & military), towers, approach & GCA, military base freqs, military interplane freqs, and ARTCC freqs.

73/Allen (N4JRI)

 

[w0fg]

I used the "search and store" function on the old Pro-2045 to store 100 channels that it found active doing a 4-hour airband search. I keep the local Unicom and 123.45 programmed in my main 20 public service channel bank and turn the other 100 on when I want to seriously listen to airband. We're situated close to the main transcontinental flight routes so if I activate those the radio talks nearly non-stop. At dusk, it's not unusual to be able to step outside and count 8 or 10 contrails at any given time.

 

[jay427]

Lots of good info here, now I need to give it another try, did not find a lot the last time
I tried it in VHF/UHF, I do however like the HF Aircraft stuff when they are over the Atlantic.

Jay

 

[SABRE46]

I have all my air freqs in one but when I am on the ramp with a plane, I have another bank that only has Saber ops, ground, tower and whichever departure freq they happen to be using at that time. I can stay with the jet from the time the crew shows to the time they come back from the test flight.

 

[N1SQB]

Hello All!
I am lucky in the sense that I live between 2 small but busy airports. Tweed New Haven and Sikorki memorial! I am also very lucky that I live within a few nautical miles of Sikorki Heliport which is the tower that is at the Sikorski Helicopter Plant. This is used for flight testing of the new helos. I have a separate bank set up for aircraft. I also happen to live next to Shelton Ct.,which has a repeater for Boston Air Center frequencies, high and low altitude. Lots of fun stuff.

Manny