Hearing some planes..

[Cowman]

A friend and I were bored the other day so we grabbed the scanner and went cruising around town randomly searching through channels. I kept picking up stuff on 133.something. Mostly numbers, couldn't figure out who it could be or what they were talking about. Then at one point I heard something along the lines of 'cruise speed of 220 knots' and it became pretty clear it had to be a plane

They seem to come in at night around 8pm- 11pm. Dunno why. I was able to make out "American" and a number at one point, I popped it into google and sure enough I found a flight and was able to see the plane's current location on a map.... right over me. :wink:

I guess you all hear this a lot, but this is new to me. Though it was pretty cool.

 

[xevious]

You are right, it was an aircraft that you heard!! The air band goes from 108MHz to 136MHz in the AM mode.

There are FOUR ARTCC centers that cover the state of Illinois, try programming some of those freqs in your scanner(Check the database for freqs)

I think you will enjoy listening to them.

Good luck


Vince S

 

[mancow]

The numbers you heard were probably their flight number a heading and an altitude.

You will often hear them talk about turning to a heading and it will be a three digit number.

You also hear them talk about their altitude using three digit numbers. They will say something like "Decending to three five zero" which means thirty five thousand feet.

 

[DaveNF2G]

One minor correction. The "air band" goes from 108 to 137 MHz.

 

[Finto]

I bet you heard a pilot filing a flight plan with a Flight Service Station while enroute. Cruise Speed is one of the things that need to be reported during a flight plan.

 

[trainman111]

It could have also been a plane checking in with the ARTCC, especially if it was around 133.XXX. Around here when they check in they state their altitude, sometimes their heading, sometimes their speed, and what waypoint they are direct to.

 

[xevious]

One minor correction. The "air band" goes from 108 to 137 MHz.

I have FFS (FAT FINGER SYNDROME)

TNX for the correction

 

[rbts]

Good link for enroute ATC (Center) freqs: http://microvoltradio.com/ARTCC/ARTCC.htm