6649khz USB (CAR-A)

[SCPD]

Getting good signals tonight from 6649khz:

6649 Aero Caribbean (CAR-A)/South America (SAM-NW/SW) Major World Air Route Area

 

[Alexander_Massa]

I never manage to catch air traffic..is it any good to listen to?

 

[majoco]

What time in UTC? I have no idea what your local time is - "tonight" is pretty meaningless!

 

[SCPD]

Sorry I usually do post the time in UTC, but I presume most people look at the date/time of the post which is shown above my user id.

 

[SCPD]

I never manage to catch air traffic..is it any good to listen to?

It's good for propagation study. I believe international aircraft are required to give their location (in lat/long) for certain waypoints.

As you may see posts from Brandon, he will pick up traffic from Russia, Japan or Africa on some nights. This just helps to know how the bands are performing.

The traffic itself is pretty routine but it can be interesting. A lot of patience is required but I've personally monitored 'medical emergencies' where the radio officer and pilot were talking to the airline company over HF radio to get medical advice and directions for a sick passenger.

Most of these issues will happen over the LDOC frequencies. (Search in Google for the frequencies.)

 

[majoco]

6649kHz less than S0 but intelligable between the static crashes! 0800z.
New York Volmet on 6604 romps in - peaks S2.
NRD515 - 60ft longwire - 9:1 unun.

 

[brandon]

Plugged in 6649 last night (mostly 0700z and later)
CIU4852 wkg Atlantico
Lan Chile 600 wkg Mexico Radio (comms in Spanish) also heard calling Cenamer Radio.
VDA1751 wkg Lima Radio
No copy on Atlantico or Lima but the aircraft were audible. Mexico Radio was heard but their transmitter sounds a bit distorted.

I want to get a second loop for north-south reception in the next few months.
My current setup isn't the greatest for that region.

 

[SCPD]

6649kHz less than S0 but intelligable between the static crashes! 0800z.
New York Volmet on 6604 romps in - peaks S2.
NRD515 - 60ft longwire - 9:1 unun.

Majoco, you may want to focus on your region first. Here's a chart of your local area:

http://www.hfunderground.com/wiki/images/2/25/PAC2.jpg

Here's a complete list of MWARA regions:

MWARA - HF Underground

 

[majoco]

Auckland on 13261/8867/5643 doesn't get as much traffic as the Carib and North Atlantic! Most of the carriers that come to AKL use CPDLC so all you get is the handover at the MWARA boundary and a selcal check! The West Pacific is quite busy airwise but in the evening when they drop back to 6 and 4MHz there's an awful lot of static crashes to put up with!

Thanks for the info anyway!

Brief history - UK Merchant Navy Radio Officer mid 60's - late 60's to mid 70's installing ILS/VOR/DME and other bits for CAA all over UK - Radio Operator in the UK Navy Reserves - emigrated to NZ 1974 - NZCAA instructing apprentices - NZCAA Flight Calibration all over the South Pacific - Aircraft Avionic Engineer Air NZ - Calibration Engineer until retirement. Fitted in a Ham Licence in there somewhere ZL2MC. So if there's any help I can give - please don't be shy!

 

[brandon]

I never manage to catch air traffic..is it any good to listen to?

Most of the traffic consists of routine position reports and selcal checks. Some folks will find this boring but if your into aviation (like myself) then it's interesting to monitor. Even more so when you combine with online flight trackers and lookup details and photos for the aircraft.

As Nick stated, if you have patience you can hear non routine comms such as in flight emergencies, medical emergencies, weather advisories, etc.

For example here is some HF radio traffic from a few months ago regarding a Volcano in Eastern Russia.
solarix.net · Klyuchevskoy Volcano Eruption

And here is a recording I captured last year of a Cebu Airlines flight reporting a broken windshield and requesting a diversion.
8942_Cebu_806_Broken_Windshield.mp3

The most interesting HF aero comms are from Africa. If your in Europe or the eastern USA monitor 11300kHz and you'll wonder how it's possible that more planes haven't crashed :twisted:

 

[Turbo68]

Hi Brandom just beat u to it bought another Wellbrook Loop the 330S cannot wait to do a comperision against the 1530.

Regards Lino.

ALINCO-DJX2000
AOR-3000,AOR-3000A,AOR8200MK3
GRE-PSR400,GRE-PSR400
GRUNDIG SATELLIT-750
ICOM-RX7,ICOM-R3,ICOM-R20,ICOM-R75,ICOM-PCR1000,ICOM-PCR1500,ICOM-PCR2500
REALISTIC-PRO2035
PALSTAR-R30A
TEN TEC-320D
UNIDEN-245,UNIDEN-396,UNIDEN-780
YAESU-VX7R,YAESU-FT8800,YAESU-VR500

 

[Fast1eddie]

Nice thread and some really great information! Aero traffic is one of my favorites!

Good DX!