ARTCC, Tracon or Airports?

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dispatcher812

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When scanning civilian airlines, which will offer more interesting communications? ARTCC such as Boston New York, Cleveland, Tracons or the Airports themselves? I am more interested in your thoughts on this in a mobile setting. Those who listen to this type do you use a scanner that is GPS enabled?
 
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When scanning civilian airlines, which will offer more interesting communications?
Why not listen to them all and put them under different Quick Keys?

What you'll hear will vary, because the range varies. Some traffic you can only hear close to the tower.

Some aircraft can be heard miles away because of the altitude.

I can't see the need for GPS.


Good luck!
 

Trucker700

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I used a GPS with my SDS100 when I was driving over the road. That way I didn't have to worry about making favorite lists for the different airports I was near. It worked really well. Now that I am retired, I don't use the GPS much anymore. I still use my SDS100 in my pickup. But, I find my Icom 5100a dual bander also scans Airband. And it's quite fast. It doesn't have all the features of a regular scanner. But, it does pick up some interesting things at times. If I do go out of town, I just connect my SDS100 up along with the GPS module and let it find the different airports like it did in the big rig.
James
 

W5KK

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For volume of traffic probably Tracon and Tower especially if there is Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) where instrument approaches are required to land but ARTCC (center) can get interesting at times. It was more interesting “back in the day” during IMC when in the air holds were more common. I don’t use a GPS scanner presently but it could be advantageous when traveling.
 

AM909

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I'd want to set up separate zones with channels for each airport I plan on being near. I haven't used an auto-GPS-enabled receiver.

It depends on what is "interesting" to you. If you mean unusual situations, and you had to pick just one channel, I'd say Tower. If you want to add Approach and Departure to that, you'll probably catch most of the unusual situations.

Some airports may also have discrete channels that are used in emergencies between ground vehicles and aircraft, usually when they are on the ground. They are often undocumented, and you find them when you hear the handoff from Tower. You generally need to be close to the field to hear them. You can find archives of some "interesting" situations at LiveATC and the feed info pages are usually useful in identifying the relevant channels.
 

dorkzilla

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Hello Dispatcher812

If your primary interest is being able to hear the pilot side of the transmissions, your radio should be ripe with action 24/7 in the state of Connecticut! However, being able to receive the air traffic control side of things is not quite as easy, whether you are mobile or not.

As far as ARTCC commutations are concerned, familiarizing yourself with the local RCAG sites might help you immensely. There are two such sites in Connecticut; Shelton and Woodstock. These two sites are specific to Boston Center and are tuned to the frequencies of some of the busiest sectors at Boston Center. The FAA tends to position the RCAG sites on the highest point possible in each geographical area, and since the transmissions are intended to be directed upward, one might have to be quite close to the site to hear the transmissions from air traffic control.

Then again, I am by no means a radio communications equipment expert. I am however a current FAA controller who used to work at a facility in the busy northeast corridor. And here is what I recommend for you....

Boston ARTCC.... any and all of the sector frequencies on the aforementioned RCAG sites. Again, these sectors are busy and the low sectors feed and are fed by New York and Boston TRACONS. Depending on where you are in CT, you might be able to receive Yankee TRACON (Windsor Locks) which services quite a bit of low altitude enroute traffic transiting the NE corridor (we call them TEC routes).

In the mid to late evening, tuning in to the high altitude and ultra high altitude sectors at ZBW should afford you a ton of chatter from aircraft heading out over the Atlantic to Europe and beyond. However, I transferred out of the northeast many years ago, so ZBW could be using a lot of CPDLC. If that is the case, high altitude transmissions may be a bit lacking.

For what it is worth, I use a Uniden SDS100 with GPS enabled when I travel in my vehicle. Of course, working air traffic for a living, I have no desire to monitor aviation communications. I very much enjoy the technology of the radio and the ease of operation.

If you were to conduct a thorough search, you might be able to find sector charts from the TRACONS and Boston ARTCC on the web. The FAA does not make a habit of making this type of information public, however you should be able to find something useful!

Have a good day!

S.
 

ctiller

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they can all be interesting at times, but they're really starting to push CPDLC through to the ARTCC's. we are using it a lot more lately, but you'll still hear things. I'd say approach and tower would hold the most interesting traffic usually
 
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