Aircraft Emergency

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btlacer

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I have been monitoring the Aircraft Emergency channel 121.5000 and I have been hearing regular air traffic on the chnnel. I thought that frequency was reserved for emergencies only? Is there a frequency that I should monitor to hear emergencies or "Maintenance Problems"? Thanks in advanced...
 

kma371

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You can search 128.825-132.000 which are usually comms between airliners and company ground stations.

You can hear maintenance issues on those freqs, as well as weather and delay info.


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SYOTT

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121.5 can be used for multiple things (emergencies, military and maitenance)... if you hear an ELT tone on the freq. first thing you should do is make note of the time... you can test an ELT within the first 5 minutes of the hour for no more than 5 seconds. Sometime this can be confused with an emergency
 

GrayJeep

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Another thing I hear on 121.5 relatively regularly are calls to aircraft that Center can't find on the expected channels. Sometimes other aircraft will call them to relay that Center wants them on xxx.xx. Pilots sometimes get lost in the frequency changes.
 

SYOTT

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Another thing I hear on 121.5 relatively regularly are calls to aircraft that Center can't find on the expected channels. Sometimes other aircraft will call them to relay that Center wants them on xxx.xx. Pilots sometimes get lost in the frequency changes.

That makes perfect sense as most aircraft will have more than 1 radio, and when they do, it's a listening watch on 121.5
 

jsoergel

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121.500 has become somewhat of a "calling channel" nowadays. It can be used for brief transmissions only - anything over fifteen seconds will cause satellites to zero in on the position of any beacon or aircraft and transmit the coordinates to rescue agencies. The same is true of 243.000 (UHF guard) and 406.025 (the new ELT frequency).

For maintenance/emergencies, look for the ARINC national frequencies. There's a map for the US somewhere on RR, but I don't remember where. A search should turn it up.
 

wuzafuzz

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121.500 has become somewhat of a "calling channel" nowadays. It can be used for brief transmissions only - anything over fifteen seconds will cause satellites to zero in on the position of any beacon or aircraft and transmit the coordinates to rescue agencies. The same is true of 243.000 (UHF guard) and 406.025 (the new ELT frequency).

For maintenance/emergencies, look for the ARINC national frequencies. There's a map for the US somewhere on RR, but I don't remember where. A search should turn it up.
Satellites aren't listening to 121.5 any longer, the new ones listen to 406. (Not sure about 243.) 121.5 alerting now depends upon aircrews and others who monitor and report.
 

kny2xb

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121.500 has become somewhat of a "calling channel" nowadays. It can be used for brief transmissions only - anything over fifteen seconds will cause satellites to zero in on the position of any beacon or aircraft and transmit the coordinates to rescue agencies. The same is true of 243.000 (UHF guard) and 406.025 (the new ELT frequency).

For maintenance/emergencies, look for the ARINC national frequencies. There's a map for the US somewhere on RR, but I don't remember where. A search should turn it up.

Good Morning;

These should help for the ARINC frequencies. I'm in the Tampa Bay area and I copy comms on 131.175 easily.

I've heard comms about mechanical problems and on-board medical situations, so it can be interesting monitoring.

http://www.arinc.com/products/voice_data_comm/air_ground_radio_svc/jeppesen_charts/ARINC-1.pdf

http://www.arinc.com/products/voice_data_comm/air_ground_radio_svc/jeppesen_charts/ARINC-2.pdf
 

kc9cra

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I live right across the river from the guy who started this thread. I have heard the same thing. They kept mentioning guard. I always thought it was someone's callsign. Now I know it's the channel's official title. He's right though, it does happen a lot. You know, one channel that I read about online once was 123.45. I read that it is kind of an aeronautical cb, used commonly for nonessential comms like chitchat. I know it must have some other designation like a nonemergency calling channel or something, but I wasn't sure. Anyone else hear anything on it? I've heard some stuff, but not very often, and some of it was not coming in well, so it was hard to understand.
 

jaymatt1978

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People assume 121.5000 is for true emergencies only and that's it. I equaite it to Channel 16 in the marine band where folks call each other and switchoff to another frequency, or they should. Peersonally I live in the NY Metro area and have NEVER heardany comms on this frequency
 

Sinister

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As of February 1, 2009, the international COSPAS-SARSAT satellite system will discontinue satellite-based monitoring of the 121.5/243-MHz ELT and the new 406 mhz will take it place but last I knew the date was pushed ahead do not remember the date.
Lots of owners did not like having to shell out the money for the newer ELT's.
Here is an Article from AOPA briefly talking about it.
 
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