Aircraft Band

[KB3SKU]

Hope this is the right spot for this.

Curious i have the GRECOM PSR-600 for some reason i can't pick up aircraft,i do have the stock antenna.

There is a lot of aircraft where i am and a lot of it is pretty low,when i do a scan on the aircraft bands i can't pick anything up.

Please help.

 

[haleve]

Aircraft Band/ GRE PSR-600

Maybe you'd have better luck in the GRE forum since it might be a problem with your scanner but in the meantime let's try this:

AirNav: KABE - Lehigh Valley International Airport

This looks to be the closest airport to you so try programming this airports ATIS frequency in as it is a continuous transmission: 126.975 MHz, you should receive it loud & clear for about 3-5 miles from the tower, you might have better luck if you could skirt the airport perimeter, if nothing, program in the rest of the frequencies & see what happens, I hope this helps.

Here is a list of aiports & their frequencies for Pennsylvania, good luck.

AirNav: Browse Airports

 

[KB3SKU]

Maybe you'd have better luck in the GRE forum since it might be a problem with your scanner but in the meantime let's try this:

AirNav: KABE - Lehigh Valley International Airport

This looks to be the closest airport to you so try programming this airports ATIS frequency in as it is a continuous transmission: 126.975 MHz, you should receive it loud & clear for about 3-5 miles from the tower, you might have better luck if you could skirt the airport perimeter, if nothing, program in the rest of the frequencies & see what happens, I hope this helps.

Here is a list of aiports & their frequencies for Pennsylvania, good luck.

AirNav: Browse Airports

Oh ok thought this would be better spot cause it being about Aircraft,sorry

I did try 126.975 i do hear something but there is a lot of noise i mean i can hear a voice talking but it is no where near crystal clear

I don't have a car so i cant really get closer to the Airport plus my unit is used as a base.

 

[BMT]

Check and make sure you have it set for AM mode.

BMT

 

[thomas724]

if you hearing a lot of noise its either you need an exterior antenna or you are too far away to hear them either way from looking at the link from above I'd punch in all the freq's for Allentown this seems like you bet bet to hear planes. also input the listed unicom freq foe the airport you want to hear this may be better for you
Thomas

 

[KB3SKU]

Check and make sure you have it set for AM mode.

BMT

It was.

 

[KB3SKU]

if you hearing a lot of noise its either you need an exterior antenna or you are too far away to hear them either way from looking at the link from above I'd punch in all the freq's for Allentown this seems like you bet bet to hear planes. also input the listed unicom freq foe the airport you want to hear this may be better for you
Thomas

Ok thank you.

Well i decided to try my 2m/440 antenna from my mobile radio that i have in the house connected to a power supply.

Well it worked,I tried the Tower frequency,Clearance Delivery and the Allentown VORTAC i think i heard Morse code on it unless it was the UNICOM frequency,they were clear enough to understand.

I did try ATIS again but i still can't make out what the guy is saying it was still noisy.


Like i said the land lord said no about antennas

 

[n5ims]

You might want to check out the frequencies in the links below
AirNav: N43 - Braden Airpark (Braden Airpark)
AirNav: KABE - Lehigh Valley International Airport (Lehigh Valley International Airport)
AirNav: N85 - Alexandria Airport (Alexandria Airport)

Be aware that you probably will be able to pick up the aircraft much better than the tower. The tower's antennas are often quite low (they don't need to talk to folks on the ground beyond the airport and a low antenna helps them eliminate distant signals they just don't need to listen to) but the aircraft are much higher so their signal travels farther.

 

[haleve]

If you are going to focus on VHF aviation only like I once did maybe you should check out this website, there are some very good quality indoor antennas too.

DPD Productions - Antennas & Accessories for the RF Professional & Radio Hobbyist

Dave is the owner & a Radioreference member.

 

[datainmotion]

The PSR-500/600 get easily overloaded on VHF high, including aero freqs. I would suggest turning the ATT on. If you are listening to other freqs not on VHF, I would suggest applying ATT on a per channel basis.

 

[JoeyC]

Listening to AM aircraft is not going to sound anything like listening to anything FM. With a stock antenna indoors at ground level, you are likely to hear a lot of weak(er) sounding signals through alot of noise (if you hear anything at all). Only the really close aircraft (within a mile or so) is gonna come in crystal clear as long as there are not a lot of obstructions between it and your scanner. I think turning on your ATT would only help out if you were using a good outdoor antenna, in a good high up location otherwise you will just be suppressing what is already a marginal signal because of your poor indoor stock antenna.

 

[datainmotion]

Using the ATT on the 500/600, 106/197 actually often allows better reception on VHF High by suppressing un-wanted hash, usually from adjacent carriers .
I use it quite frequently on both my 500 (rubber duck) and 197 (Omni X) for just that reason.

 

[JoeyC]

To answer you original question data, yes, I own a PSR500. The only thing that using ATT on the local aviation frequencies does here (when using the stock antenna at ground level) is attenuate an already weak signal to the point of not picking it up at all. YMMV depending on location and conditions.

 

[W6KRU]

I use my PSR-500 on various antennas including some outdoor external antennas and I have never used the ATT. I listen to VHF-High fire frequencies from multiple counties.

I am in a fairly dense urban area and have some 1KW paging transmitters on 900MHz frequencies that are only about 3/4 of a mile away. I'm amazed I don't have any issues from them(that I am aware of).

 

[Rt169Radio]

Using the stock antenna is not going to help you too.Try using a mag-mount antenna mounted on something metal inside your apartment or get a better handheld antenna.

 

[KB7MIB]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

The GRE PSR-600 is the base/mobile version, so a better handheld antenna probably won't work Try a mag-mount antenna mounted on a cookie sheet (not all cookie sheets are magnetic!) and see if that helps.

 

[Rt169Radio]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; U; en-US) Gecko/20081217 Vision-Browser/8.1 301x200 LG VN530)

The GRE PSR-600 is the base/mobile version, so a better handheld antenna probably won't work Try a mag-mount antenna mounted on a cookie sheet (not all cookie sheets are magnetic!) and see if that helps.

Oops,my mistake.

But the OP still could use a handheld antenna if he got a 90° BNC female to BNC male elbow part and attached that with a good handheld scanner antenna on it to his scanner.

 

[Tech792]

Take it from another past apartment dweller. Try different antennas. Experiment. Use your imagination. Put antenna next to a window. Move it to the 2nd floor or attic if possible. String the proper length of wire up in a closet. Etc, etc.....Also keep in mind, the aircraft aren't constantly transmitting while in transit.

 

[datainmotion]

To answer you original question data, yes, I own a PSR500.

I edited that from my post because it came off sounding rude on my part :wink:

The only thing that using ATT on the local aviation frequencies does here (when using the stock antenna at ground level) is attenuate an already weak signal to the point of not picking it up at all.

An important point (YMMV) - here, I need to use it quite frequently to hear VHF without the noise.

 

[KB3SKU]

Take it from another past apartment dweller. Try different antennas. Experiment. Use your imagination. Put antenna next to a window. Move it to the 2nd floor or attic if possible. String the proper length of wire up in a closet. Etc, etc.....Also keep in mind, the aircraft aren't constantly transmitting while in transit.

Hi i know this was already asked in a different thread but if i use my G5RV wire antenna that i used to use for my FT-897D Ham Radio before i had to sell it to pay bills How effective would it be for Air and other bands? I was told it may work but not great. I mean would it be worth a try?