Air Traffic Control (ATC) antennae. Which one are you using?

[Toastedwaves]

Hello wave catchers,

Trying to receive Air Traffic Control conversations from passing airplanes. I'm using SDR / sdr# / Win10 (not that it matters for the antennae).

So I'm curious to know which antennae is your favorite for that application. The range for Air band voice is from 118MHz - 137MHz, but which one should I build, and what length should it be to cover that band?

I don't expect to hear anything from the airport, as I'm too far from the ATC tower. I should be able to hear one way 'conversations' from some aircraft passing by. I'm using a telescopic antennae now for that application but the results are far from satisfying. It comes in a little higher than noise floor. Need to get fabricating

Cheers!

 

[chief21]

Here's one...

DPD Productions - Aviation Base & Mobile Antennas: Air Band, VHF, UHF, ADS-B, 1090 MHz, ATC, FBO Base, PCL, AWOS, ACARS

 

[majoco]

Make yourself a quarter wave vertical with a ground plane and get it as high up and in the clear as you can.

Quarter Wave Vertical Antenna | 1/4 Wavelength | Radio-Electronics.Com

 

[kodo]

I'm getting into SDR myself. I really like the look of this antenna. It's on my agenda to build.

https://apollo.open-resource.org/mission:log:2012:08:02:active-wideband-receiver-antenna-for-sdr