ARTCC Frequency Question

[BC2001]

Indianapolis (ZID) Air Route Traffic Control Center Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Indianapolis (ZID) Air Route Traffic Control Center

www.radioreference.com

I live in Southeastern Kentucky and listen to Indianapolis ARTCC almost daily.

Ive noticed that I usually only hear traffic on the VHF frequencies listed on the link above. I very rarely hear air traffic on the UHF channels listed.

Are the VHF channels used almost exclusively or am I just not picking up the UHF channels?

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[AB5ID]

UHF would only be used for military aircraft, and military aircraft have the ability to use VHF or UHF, so there is very little UHF traffic when military aircraft are working with civilian air traffic controllers.

 

[RichardKramer]

Indianapolis (ZID) Air Route Traffic Control Center Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Indianapolis (ZID) Air Route Traffic Control Center

www.radioreference.com

I live in Southeastern Kentucky and listen to Indianapolis ARTCC almost daily.

Ive noticed that I usually only hear traffic on the VHF frequencies listed on the link above. I very rarely hear air traffic on the UHF channels listed.

Are the VHF channels used almost exclusively or am I just not picking up the UHF channels?

Thanks in advance for the help!

I do volunteer work for the FAA in the ZNY area for rfi issues. Most ARTCC sites simulkey VHF/UHF; so if you are hearing the controller on VHF and not on the UHF paired freq, you probably aren't hearing the controller on UHF. Next time you hear the controller on VHF, listen on the UHF paired freq with the sqelch open to see if you can hear a weaker signal.

 

[jaymatt1978]

I do volunteer work for the FAA in the ZNY area for rfi issues. Most ARTCC sites simulkey VHF/UHF; so if you are hearing the controller on VHF and not on the UHF paired freq, you probably aren't hearing the controller on UHF. Next time you hear the controller on VHF, listen on the UHF paired freq with the sqelch open to see if you can hear a weaker signal.

One thing I should add is you need to be very close to the site to hear the controller. I remember being at the millville racetrack to= watch my brother and the RCAG site is right at the Millville Airport. The controller almost ALWAYS transmits on BOTH the VHF and UHF sides. Then the civilian use the VHF and the military uses both VHF and UHf

 

[wtp]

this is why you always can use more than one radio !

 

[BC2001]

Thanks everyone for the answers.

Im not very experienced in aviation listening. But, I believe I am not hearing the controllers. I just hear what I assume is the pilots advising their flight level, identification info, etc.

So, I guess that explains it then?

 

[N9JCQ]

Understand also that the ground transmissions are focussed upward to the sky rather than across the terrain like Fire, PD EMS all are. Think of it as an ice cream, cone standing up on its point. If you are not within that transmission area, you won't hear them. I used to live 20 miles north of O'hare and could hear Approach/departure etc fairly well with a discone antenna up ant 15 feet. I moved to miles further away and I cannot hear them anymore.

 

[nd5y]

Understand also that the ground transmissions are focussed upward to the sky rather than across the terrain like Fire, PD EMS all are.

No they are not. The FAA mostly uses vertical dipoles now.
The reason aviation ground stations often can't be heard far is because most of the antennas are on short towers, rooftops or on top of control towers and most of the ARTCC RCAGs are in remote areas.

 

[n4jri]

You can hear airplanes for a long way, but have to be fairly close to hear ground stations. And, as stated above, ground stations transmit on both VHF and UHF, but the aircraft will only transmit on one or the other.

A similar situation can occur at puddlejumper airports that don't have a tower or FSS, but do have a freq for 'clearance delivery.' In my area, there are two such airports, and that 'clearance delivery' freq is actually a simulcast of TRACON for that area. So if you're hearing TRACON type transmissions on those freqs, you won't hear the aircraft involved--you have to monitor the actual TRACON freqs to hear the aircraft itself.

73/Allen (N4JRI)

 

[Larry51]

No they are not. The FAA mostly uses vertical dipoles now.
The reason aviation ground stations often can't be heard far is because most of the antennas are on short towers, rooftops or on top of control towers and most of the ARTCC RCAGs are in remote areas.

That is correct, plus they usually are low powered.

 

[BC2001]

I appreciate the help everyone. Aviation is currently my third favorite service/band to scan. It may eventually be my favorite if my local public safety and power company goes encryption.

 

[MiCon]

BC2001, there are two situations you might need to be aware of:
One is that many ARTCC frequencies have more than one remote transmitter to cover a large area. Thus, sometimes you can hear the controller, and sometimes you can't, depending on which transmitter he/ she is using for the area that he/ she needs to reach.
The second is that they often simulcast on different frequencies because that controller is handling more than one area. So if you're hearing the controller but not the pilot, you're probably listening to a simulcast frequency of the one he's talking to the pilot on.