Has anyone tried to monitor the ARINC system? It seems they may have dropped the type 2 for a Cap+ system. Curious if anyone has noticed to the same thing
ARINC DFW Airport
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I've been watching it for over 2 years - my "work" office is in range of it, but we are now permanent work from home, so I don't have a place to set up a monitor for extended periods.
Sadly, with the short monitoring windows I've had, I haven't got enough data to comfortably submit to RRDB, but you are correct, it is a Capacity Plus system now.
854.4125 is LCN 1, DCC 1
The following TG's were observed:
1
10
15
20
25 - This may be AeroMexico Operations
40 - This may be Frontier Operations
41
okay that seems to be what i am getting too I work near the airport and have been getting these too I do get the united ops from my home near the colony I am gonna see if i can get it at home as well to see if we can fill in the blanks. TG 20 seems to be for Quantas. Thank you for sharing this info i thought they were still on type 2 till I dug deeper since the FCC license isnt even licensed for DMR
I'm able to hear it in Bedford. I'll run the SDS200's LCN finder on it for a while, and see if I can contribute anything. Heard mention of Melbourne on tg 40, so that might be Qantas. I'm really not familiar with airline ground ops though, so that may be assuming way too much if many airlines are contracted out to the same ground ops company or something. Other talkgroups heard 20, 25, 40, 41, 70, 71 over the past hour or so.
That would be perfect and who knows what airlines use it there are so many different airlines out of DFW. I do know United nor American use the system since they have there own
Some airports have gate assignments on website with a list of airlines, that might help you if you hear a mention of the gate number.
Also, I believe American has gone encrypted across most of the country.
I have the advantage of 7 1/2 years as a contractor for an airline (I was IT, but was around enough airports to learn how they operate), I also have access to a premium account on FlightAware, so when I was monitoring it the last time, I would hear flight numbers called out, I could look at traffic at DFW to identify the airline (if I couldn't get a gate number called out, since they don't call them out often).
I also know a bit about Aeronautical Radio, Inc. (aka "ARINC") ARINC is a company that provides air-ground communications services for airlines across North America (most of those airline specific frequencies that you see in RRDB are either licensed directly to ARINC, or to the airline by ARINC, and they maintain the base stations - including ADS-B receivers - all over the country). They also provide ground support communications at most major airports, when an airline doesn't have a large enough presence to warrant their own system (for example American at DFW has their own, but a number of other airlines are probably on ARINC's system - particularly the non-US based carriers that don't want to deal with the FCC and licensing).
And if you're interested, on the international side is Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques (aka "SITA"), which provides similar services outside of North America, but they take it steps further by also doing the IT systems in the airports. SITA doesn't have much of a foothold in the US other than interfacing with the US based airlines.
I live in Carrollton, cant get anything at all even with my external antenna....Back when I was in high school I used to be able to hear plenty on that system, (circa 1994)
After a day of LCN Finder running, it's only found the 1 LCN that we know. I guess there's just not enough activity to get anymore thus far. I'll keep it going over the weekend, and see what else comes up. I also have SDRTrunk/Trunking Recording running on it, and below is a list TGs. However I think 1 & 2 are probably bad hits.
Had an all afternoon meeting last Wednesday (March 1) at my office in Coppell, so I brought along the laptop with DSD+ and left it in the vehicle running a capture on the ARINC system while I was there. In the 3 hours it captured before the laptop batteries died, I logged the same groups we've seen in the past, and no additional frequencies.
TG 25 didn't provide enough traffic to confirm my previous suspicions of AeroMexico, so that remains unconfirmed.
TG 30 is some unknown airline operations, I heard gate agents and ramp operations both on the Talkgroup, but in the recordings I captured there was never mention of a gate number or flight number that I could identify.
TG 40 is contracted ramp operations for several international carriers (Air Canada, Air France, and Quantas at minimum, as I heard all three airlines mentioned in the recordings) this finding gives me high enough confidence to report the TG to RRDB.
TG 71 is a services company, (catering, fuel service, lavatory service, cleaning, etc.) that works for multiple airlines, as I heard a call that they were going to a gate in Terminal C (which is exclusively American Airlines), still unsure what service it was.
I had other hits, but they were so few that there was no information to be gained.
TG 25 didn't provide enough traffic to confirm my previous suspicions of AeroMexico, so that remains unconfirmed.
TG 30 is some unknown airline operations, I heard gate agents and ramp operations both on the Talkgroup, but in the recordings I captured there was never mention of a gate number or flight number that I could identify.
TG 40 is contracted ramp operations for several international carriers (Air Canada, Air France, and Quantas at minimum, as I heard all three airlines mentioned in the recordings) this finding gives me high enough confidence to report the TG to RRDB.
TG 71 is a services company, (catering, fuel service, lavatory service, cleaning, etc.) that works for multiple airlines, as I heard a call that they were going to a gate in Terminal C (which is exclusively American Airlines), still unsure what service it was.
I had other hits, but they were so few that there was no information to be gained.
Code:
; Aeronautical Radio (ARINC) DFW Airport
Cap+, 12261, 1, 50, Normal, 91, 2021/08/02 12:03, ""
Cap+, 12261, 10, 50, Normal, 497, 2023/03/01 11:10, ""
Cap+, 12261, 15, 50, Normal, 3, 2021/08/02 11:36, ""
Cap+, 12261, 20, 50, Normal, 213, 2023/03/01 16:53, ""
Cap+, 12261, 25, 50, Normal, 778, 2023/03/01 13:58, "[AeroMexico] AeroMexico - Operations?"
Cap+, 12261, 30, 50, Normal, 309, 2023/03/01 13:40, ""
Cap+, 12261, 40, 50, Normal, 401, 2023/03/01 16:52, "[Intl Ramp Ops] Int'l Ramp Operations (Air Canada, Air France, Quantas)"
Cap+, 12261, 41, 50, Normal, 24, 2023/03/01 16:59, ""
Cap+, 12261, 50, 50, Normal, 7, 2023/03/01 16:46, ""
Cap+, 12261, 70, 50, Normal, 35, 2023/03/01 13:52, ""
Cap+, 12261, 71, 50, Normal, 36, 2023/03/01 14:03, ""These could be contractors like Swissport (reported to handle Aeromexico and Cayman at DFW) and Worldwide Flight Services (reported to handle Air Canada and Korean at DFW). Just to keep it fun, customer service and ramp may be contracted out separately.
Is there any traffic on the old 85*.8875 freqs?
When I first started discovery on the system, I ran some sweeps across all the licensed frequencies, even using the LCN finder on my SDS100 to try and find other active frequencies. I had no luck at that time, and I've never encountered the system when more than 2 talkgroups are active at once (forcing another frequency to go active).
When I did my logging Wednesday, I didn't run my extra SDR in a "survey" mode, just trying to save battery on the laptop, so I don't know that there's another frequency active (typically if it is used for LCCN location data, it will still show LCCN calls on the "rest" channel of the Capacity Plus).
Honestly, I suspect there is more than the one frequency in use, but the configuration and amount of traffic has them idle most of the time (unless they put out the morse code license at regular intervals, in which case I haven't picked up while in "digital" modes). The license KNEM214 is still active through 2025, but still reflects the Moto Type II system, and doesn't have any of the DMR Emissions Designators (which surprises me for as much radio licensing ARINC has nationally).
Last night I observed another CAP+ frequency licensed to ARINC at DFW airport.
CAP+ 858.8875, Site: 1 Color Code: 13.
I did not observe any traffic other than the rest channel. It was very strong on the meter from the airport terminal parking lot. I simultaneously observed the previously identified 854.4125 in use as noted here before. These appear to be two separate CAP+ systems.
CAP+ 858.8875, Site: 1 Color Code: 13.
I did not observe any traffic other than the rest channel. It was very strong on the meter from the airport terminal parking lot. I simultaneously observed the previously identified 854.4125 in use as noted here before. These appear to be two separate CAP+ systems.
I need to get back down there, but that probably won't be until after Turkey day. I've picked up 855.9125 with LCN 2 and Color Code 13, as well as 858.8875 with LCN 5 and Color Code 13.
What makes you think these are separate systems? Looking at the groups I logged, the talkgroups on 855.9125 were some of the same ones logged previously on 854.4125.
What makes you think these are separate systems? Looking at the groups I logged, the talkgroups on 855.9125 were some of the same ones logged previously on 854.4125.
I think they're separate because there was a rest channel and voice traffic on 854.4125 at the same time as the rest channel on 858.8875
I'm just making an educated guess though. I stand to be corrected
If the system is active the beacon on the rest channel can jump between frequencies, and depending on how they are configured might jump back to a home frequency as soon as its idle. They can seem like they're both transmitting at the same time.
When I go back towards the airport I'll have DSDPlus with me (which is how I normally catch this stuff) and I'll see what I can pick up and determine if there are two distinct systems.
Project25_MASTR
Millennial Graying OBT Guy
Just an FYI, ARINC is now Collins Aerospace.
That happened after I left the industry in 2011, so I may be a bit out of date. But looking at Collins Aerospace's website, their Ground Radio systems, like the CAP+ system at DFW, is still branded as ARINC:
ARINC Radio Technology Solutions
Collins ARINC Radio Technology Solutions (RTS), an industry leader with over 50 years of experience, provides proven and trusted communication systems and services.
www.collinsaerospace.com
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