Just curious

[kjfswkr]

Hi all,
just curious about air band monitoring. What do you really listen to? An aircraft stating he is climbing? With police or fire you actually listen to action. To me it seems air band monitoring would be boring.

Thanks

Kevin

 

[kma371]

Hi all,
just curious about air band monitoring. What do you really listen to? An aircraft stating he is climbing? With police or fire you actually listen to action. To me it seems air band monitoring would be boring.

Thanks

Kevin

I monitor the sector above my house or the approach to the nearest airport just because I see the planes so often. There is other stuff to listen to also. Sometimes the 128.8-132.0 segment is worth checking out. The commercial aircraft check in with their ground operations before landing/after takeoff. Sometimes some interesting messages are passed. Same goes for the flight watch frequencies as some crazy weather is reported as well. Mostly, I just listen because, why not?

 

[zz0468]

I listen to the high and ultra high altitude sectors. It can be quite interesting. I've heard U2's loitering above 60,000 feet, a bunch of pilots report a ufo sighting, and what I think was an aircraft read back a clearance for an approach to area 51 from 200 miles off shore.

The low altitude frequencies aren't quite as interesting, but it's not uncommon to hear a controller chew out some poor wayward private pilot.

It's actually quite interesting, and after working on public safety systems all day, airband VHF and UHF is what I listen to, more often than not.

Being into airplanes doesn't hurt.

 

[kjfswkr]

Thanks guys. What are the high altitude frequencies?

 

[kma371]

Thanks guys. What are the high altitude frequencies?

see here:

https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?aid=2248

 

[mark432k]

I once had your thoughts on aviation, boring! However, if you live close to an airport, it can be pretty cool.

Airports can be cities in themselves. And from a monitoring standpoint, challenging and rewarding.

First, monitoring the aircraft. In my situation, once I invested a little time and thought, I was able to monitor the aircraft ground and controller traffic. Much more interesting when you hear both sides of the conversation.

Second, commercial airports to different degrees have public safety, fire, law enforcement, TSA, EMS.

And one aspect that many people overlook is the airline ground operations along with the operations of the airport itself.

Just at my tiny little regional airport, counting the airband, I monitor 4 different systems and now have dedicated 2 radios just for my airport and aviation monitoring.

Most days monitoring the airband can be rather mundane and repetitive, but as the others have pointed out, there can be some real neat gems out there.

 

[rwier]

Airport tower ops can be very interesting. This is especially true when traveling to areas having high volume tower activity. San Diego and Las Vegas come to mind.

 

[KC2zZe]

Most days monitoring the airband can be rather mundane and repetitive, but as the others have pointed out, there can be some real neat gems out there.

Mark, I'm going to offer that the exact same thing can be said of monitoring public safety systems. Car stops, disabled autos, alarm activations, aided cases, you go down the list. Most of what's monitored on law enforcement, fire/rescue, EMS, and most public service channels is mundane and repetitive as well. But, as you suggest, we continue to monitor what we do for those "gems."

 

[dlwtrunked]

Hi all,
just curious about air band monitoring. What do you really listen to? An aircraft stating he is climbing? With police or fire you actually listen to action. To me it seems air band monitoring would be boring.

Thanks

Kevin

One's man's "boring" is another man's "thing." Some enjoy listing to military aircraft in particular. You may not be aware that there are two military bands. The UHF military aircraft band its 225-380 MHz.
One can find Air Force 1 using both bands.

Search and Rescue can be found on VHF when needed. I listen to military tests using a VHF junk yard frequency (won't say which because I know since I used to work for the user).

Many in the hobby enjoy figuring out new things in the hobby like for example how air traffic control works. For them, police and fire, already known, is generally boring. Do not assume that there is a standard for "boring".

 

[poltergeisty]

It's far more fun to live near an airport and monitor tower or ground. I go to the LiveATC website and monitor KLAS and I get a kick out of hearing Janet take off or land. Also, when my friends or relatives have flown to and from here, I look at the ADS-B Exchange website and follow their A/C and monitor the Comms. from Live ATC.

Since I do find listing to the ATC frequency near me boring, I listen to the local airport more often than not.

 

[MtnBiker2005]

One can find Air Force 1 using both bands.

and on the other band(frequency aka 1090MHz). You can also track aircraft that's used for AF1 or watch it on ADSBexchange.com / App.

 

[Muffin]

You may not be aware that there are two military bands. The UHF military aircraft band its 225-380 MHz.
One can find Air Force 1 using both bands

What is the frequency range for the second Military Band?

 

[AI7PM]

If you don't live near an airport, look up the remote radio sites (RCAG) for the en route centers. Example, in the middle of Wyoming you wouldn't expect to hear any controllers, but there are several RCAG sites on high spots that can be heard 50 miles away on a scanner. You hear both sides of the conversation.

 

[Eugene]

kjfswkr: You have several large aerial refueling track near you. They are not active often but can be interesting when active. AR-205 @327.6, AR-204@324.6, AR-212@238.9, AR-631@295.8, AR-616@283.9, AR-80-82@373.6/343.5, AR-20@341.75/349.7 and AR-608@343.5. All AM. If you don't have a scanner which will do Mil-Air, then you may try looking up Cleveland/Boston/New York centers on radio reference for sectors which may near or over you and plug in those frequencies. Also may try AIRINC at 129.45 and 129.9. You hear pilots talking to ground stations Have even heard Russian language plane to plane through this). They also communicate any medical inflight emergency through this. Any way........plenty to listen to.............

Eugene KG4AVE

 

[robertmac]

Just today our local airport had an emergency in a plane with smoke in the cockpits. These emergencies happen almost daily but usually end with safe landings. But it is interesting to hear how they are handled by the company and air traffic controllers. Also can listen to airport fire department on these landings as well. Police traffic is not all that exciting all the time either.

 

[cajunjerry]

Medical emergencies are good listening to on a flight