For those that listen to aviation (CHI airports)

[tdel1]

I have a question regarding the clarity of the airport frequencies. I don't have a scanner so I can't test with my own, but I had heard the aviation feed from O'Hare and Midway through a cell phone app and it sounds horrible. To the point where I can't really understand what they are saying. I know that the audio won't be perfect, but the quality is very poor. Is that just how it is or is it possible that the scanner app I'm using is just broadcasting a poor quality feed?

I'm not only interested in aviation feeds, but I did want to add those frequencies to my scanner (if I ended up purchasing a scanner, sds-100).

Thanks.

 

[RTmed519]

I have a question regarding the clarity of the airport frequencies. I don't have a scanner so I can't test with my own, but I had heard the aviation feed from O'Hare and Midway through a cell phone app and it sounds horrible. To the point where I can't really understand what they are saying. I know that the audio won't be perfect, but the quality is very poor. Is that just how it is or is it possible that the scanner app I'm using is just broadcasting a poor quality feed?

I'm not only interested in aviation feeds, but I did want to add those frequencies to my scanner (if I ended up purchasing a scanner, sds-100).

Thanks.

I don't live in the Chicago area, but this applies to pretty much anywhere (including Chicago).

Generally speaking, 99% of aviation frequencies are base stations/base mobiles. There's generally no repeater involved, and the ATC towers aren't nearly as high as repeater towers you'd find for police departments, fire departments, etc. In addition, aviation frequencies are usually between 118mhz and 137mhz. This band doesn't penetrate buildings well. Lastly, streaming audio over the internet through broadcastify (in my experience) lowers audio quality to save bandwidth.

All-in-all, if you're miles from an airport, in an urban area like Chicago, and you're scanning with an indoor antenna, you probably won't have the best luck with scanning any sort of airport frequency when ATC is transmitting, or the aircraft is on the ground. If the aircraft is in the air however (before landing or after takeoff), you're a lot more likely to get clear audio, since there's little to no obstructions.

I live about 3 miles from an airport in a suburban area. I'm able to pick up ATC with a good amount of static, but I can still understand what they're saying. The aircraft sound distant, but the audio coming from the scanner isn't great due to how far they are.

These are just my opinions based on my experience. I am not an aviation expert, I don't regularly scan aviation frequencies, but I have listened in the past.

 

[tdel1]

I don't live in the Chicago area, but this applies to pretty much anywhere (including Chicago).

Generally speaking, 99% of aviation frequencies are base stations/base mobiles. There's generally no repeater involved, and the ATC towers aren't nearly as high as repeater towers you'd find for police departments, fire departments, etc. In addition, aviation frequencies are usually between 118mhz and 137mhz. This band doesn't penetrate buildings well. Lastly, streaming audio over the internet through broadcastify (in my experience) lowers audio quality to save bandwidth.

All-in-all, if you're miles from an airport, in an urban area like Chicago, and you're scanning with an indoor antenna, you probably won't have the best luck with scanning any sort of airport frequency when ATC is transmitting, or the aircraft is on the ground. If the aircraft is in the air however (before landing or after takeoff), you're a lot more likely to get clear audio, since there's little to no obstructions.

I live about 3 miles from an airport in a suburban area. I'm able to pick up ATC with a good amount of static, but I can still understand what they're saying. The aircraft sound distant, but the audio coming from the scanner isn't great due to how far they are.

These are just my opinions based on my experience. I am not an aviation expert, I don't regularly scan aviation frequencies, but I have listened in the past.

I'd be listening primarily while driving near either airport. I am not located close enough to either airport to expect to hear anything (from the tower).

Thanks for the information.

 

[tdel1]

Rather than make a new thread, I'll try in here, first.

I don't have a scanner, yet, but I would like to get a better understanding of programming. I plan on using sentinel for now.

Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW) (Cook County) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW) (Cook County)

www.radioreference.com

Using the entries from the page above, it makes sense to me to create a favorite list for each section. For example, the first list would be called "Tower/Approach/Departure" and I would add all 11 frequencies to that list. ETC...all the way down the list assuming I wanted to program all of that.

If I end up with 10 favorites, I could then toggle each list I want to scan on or off, correct? Meaning, if I wanted to listen to Southwest and TSA I would go to my favorites turn off all other lists and turn on Southwest and TSA and let the scanner scan?

For sake of argument, let's assuming I'm at the airport waiting for someone in the garage or in a nearby lot.

This question isn't taking signal into account, I'm more curious about my thinking of how favorites work and how scanning those lists work.