Tracon Quest's From Sr. Citizen (very)

[BOBRR]

Hello,

Thanks for previous help.

Live about 20 miles due West of Logan Airport.

Trying to monitor Tracon.

Seems I can, now and then, pick up a word or two.

What would be the most likely, based on usage and my location, for a single
Tracon Freq. to sit on and monitor that would be the most likely to hear
a "substantial" number of conversations ?

Same question for Gander,
and MWARA ?

Thanks, learning, but slowly,
Bob

 

[ATCTech]

Can't help you with Logan info from here near Toronto but with respect to the HF frequencies the rule of thumb is they'll be at the lower end of their published frequencies after sunset and through darkness (North Atlantic Ocean times in the case of Gander and Shanwick) and will move up the bands to 11, 13 and even 17 MHz ranges as daylight takes hold. To that end, they'll use and/or transition the 8 & 11 MHz ranges quite regularly each day so that's a great place to sit and wait for traffic. You can listen for the IFSS operator "Gander" to transmit either an oceanic clearance when an eastbound aircraft is about to enter the airspace or a manual handoff approaching the Shanwick boundary for something like "American 20, Gander Radio, approaching 3-0 west contact Shanwick radio, frequency (xxxx)kHz, back-up (yyyy)kHz". That'll give you and idea of where to listen as the clock moves along.

The same basic time-of-day vs. active frequency bands apply globally, but of course your location and the transmitting site's location are not usually in the same daylight zone so what they're using versus what you can hear (which bands are "alive" for you as the receiver) will only align some of the time. The nature of HF communications I'm afraid.

Here's a "live" updated table for what New York ARINC is using in the western Atlantic for traffic up and down the eastern seaboard and northern Caribbean zones.:

Atlantic HF Assignments

Displays frequency assignments for the Atlantic and Pacific oceans

radio.arinc.net

There's also a tab at the top of the page to see the Pacific active frequencies as well.

Cheers!

 

[AirScan]

What would be the most likely, based on usage and my location, for a single Tracon Freq. to sit on and monitor that would be the most likely to hear a "substantial" number of conversations ?

All should be busy. Depends on what you want to listen to ? Here are the frequencies to choose from.

124.400 - Bedford Sector (SB), North Satellite, combines with SR as required
118.250 - Rockport (SR)
124.100 - Lynch Sector (AL), South Satellite, combines with SM as required
120.600 - Plymouth (SM)
127.200 - Lincoln (SL), combines with ID as required
133.000 - Initial Departure (ID)
126.500 - Final 1 (F1), used when required
119.650 - Final 2 (F2), used when required
126.150 - Backup frequency

All these frequencies are also covered over at LiveATC if you want to compare your reception.

Satellite Sector Chart



The locations of the ID, F1, F2 sectors will vary depending on the runways in use at KBOS.

Here is the chart with 04L/R active.



127.200 SL covers the area 20 west of BOS above the SB/AL sectors, but is probably not as busy as some of the other sectors.

Same question for Gander, and MWARA ?

Gander HF frequencies are 3476, 4675, 5616, 8864, 8891, 11279, 11336, 13291.

5616 and 8891 are usually the most active.

Eastbound, Gander Radio HF frequencies are assigned by VHF. You can monitor this frequency (link - LiveATC) to hear what HF frequencies are being used. (122.375 Gander Radio on the CYYT feed).

 

[ATCTech]

>Eastbound, Gander Radio HF frequencies are assigned by VHF. You can monitor this frequency (link - LiveATC) to hear what HF frequencies are
being used. (122.375 Gander Radio on the CYYT feed).

Normally, yes.

(H1586/22 NOTAMR H0970/22
A) CZQX B) 2206021046 C) 2208311000
E) GANDER OCEANIC VERBAL CLR DELIVERY SVC NOT AVBL.
EASTBOUND OCEANIC FLT WILL RECEIVE CLR BY MONCTON, MONTREAL OR
GANDER ACC. OPR ARE TO REQUEST THEIR CLR ON CONTROL FREQ.
DATA LINK CLR SERVICE UNCHANGED.)

 

[AirScan]

E) GANDER OCEANIC VERBAL CLR DELIVERY SVC NOT AVBL.

That NOTAM refers to the Clearance Delivery function (routing clearances), which is Gander Center (ARTCC). The Radio side (FSS) which is separate is still assigning the HF frequencies. Here's an example from the LiveATC archives from this morning ... Gander Radio Audio

 

[BOBRR]

Hi,

Thank you all for the information.
Really nice of you all, and most appreciated.

Best regards,
Bob

 

[a417]

Hi,

Thank you all for the information.
Really nice of you all, and most appreciated.

Best regards,
Bob

What kind of antenna setup do you have, and what are you listening with?

 

[BOBRR]

Hi,

I have a simple 75 foot, or so, long wire ant. in my backard.
One end goes to a Unum, then a coax run up to the house.
This is for the HF.

For the higher freq's, I have a quite old by now Scantenna ST-2 (or is it a -3 ?) in the attic.

I have a brand new toy, an Icom R-8600. Wow !
Using it with WfView, and CSVUserListBrowser.
Makes for a real nice combination; they all talk to each other.

Am 85 yrs now; hence the dumb questions now and then.
Enjoy listening to most anything I can pull in.
HF of course, and Aero. in particular.

Have had zero, or close to it, luck with anything Marine.
Live about 25 miles due West of Boston, so might be just too far ?

Let's stay in touch.

Bob

 

[BOBRR]

Hello,

In my 80's now, so please bear with me a bit.
Would like to monitor Aero. comms.
Very basic question:

Re the Tracon frequencies:

a. What mode do they use ? AM, or ?

b. True for the 100, 200, and 300 MHz frequencies listed for the different Tracon's ?

Hard to monitor them all.
What might be the most active Tarpon and/or other Boston area frequencies ?

Always confused over modes used for aero.
Might someone please summarize for me if they have a spare minute, the general rules for when AM or USB is used, for what ?
e.g., International, Tracon, etc. modes ?

Thanks, really appreciate the help,
Bob

 

[k7ng]

AM mode.
The 118-136 MHz VHF frequencies used by ATC very often also are paired with a UHF (225-400 MHz) frequency. Many military aircraft don't have a VHF radio so each ATC channel is really two. You could hear ATC on either the VHF ('Victor') channel AND the UHF ('Uniform') channel but only hear the aircraft on one or the other. Unless there's a airbase in the vicinity you are far more likely to hear VHF traffic, so I'd suggest not bothering with the 225-400 MHz band unless you want to hear military flights specifically. The larger military aircraft use VHF also (since civilian aircraft will hear them, and 'hear and be heard' is almost as important as 'see and be seen').

For VHF/UHF, Remember that you may hear aircraft much farther away than you'd hear the ground stations. Most aircraft transmissions are generally more brief than ATC. Boston is a pretty busy area but still: 20 miles from Logan, don't expect to hear 'tower', since that's intended for traffic very close to the airport. I would recommend you look at the charts that AirScan provided and start with frequencies in your general vicinity. Often you'll hear ATC tell an aircraft to change a frequency, and the a/c are expected to read back the frequency given, to make sure they heard it right. Using that info, you can switch around and determine what frequencies you hear well and which are busiest. It's fun to chase a given plane as they meander through the traffic zones.

HF is much less busy but at times the a/c are called one after the other. You'll usually hear a 2-tone selcal signal when ATC is trying to reach an aircraft. That's a good indicator you're on the right frequency. All HF air comms are USB. Most of the time you just hear position reports but occasionally there are real interesting conversations on HF.

 

[spanky15805]

Bob, the wire antenna you mention, is it horizontal or vertical? With aero you will need a vertical if you want to use the 8600 properly.

 

[andy51edge]

The rule of thumb is that for 100, 200

Hello,

In my 80's now, so please bear with me a bit.
Would like to monitor Aero. comms.
Very basic question:

Re the Tracon frequencies:

a. What mode do they use ? AM, or ?

b. True for the 100, 200, and 300 MHz frequencies listed for the different Tracon's ?

Hard to monitor them all.
What might be the most active Tarpon and/or other Boston area frequencies ?

Always confused over modes used for aero.
Might someone please summarize for me if they have a spare minute, the general rules for when AM or USB is used, for what ?
e.g., International, Tracon, etc. modes ?

Thanks, really appreciate the help,
Bob

The rule of thumb is that in 100, 200 and 300MHz all aviation communications are AM. While HF comms are in USB.