Just a bit of advice ?

[digitalchaos1980]

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Hi guys. Been listening to public safety and such for many years (like 16 years) but never did much aviation listening. Well, after I aquired my Icom R3, I finished filling my public safety channels and realized I have about 300 channels left. I punched in a few random civil and a couple milair freqs and got some activity and since then I have been jotting down every air freq I can find for my area. Point is, I have tons of freqs now for the airports and bases around me I have found on the net, mostly from this awesome site. First off, I live between Jacksonville and Lake City, Florida (in Macclenny) and instead of sifting through probably 400 freqs I got jotted down, I wanted to ask the experienced listeners what would be the best (read most active) freqs I should program. For instance, is ground control necessary if I'm 30+ miles from a major airport? How about ATIS, or clearance delivery, etc? Should I just stick to tower and app/dep freqs? I have searched the net for specific answers to this but turn up very little. I noticed roughly 107 freqs just for the entire Jax ARTCC area alone, and I doubt I could pick them all up with just the telescopic whip I have, so for that I will probably just program the ones closer to me. I hope all this makes sense and I appreciate anyone's time who reads this and/or replies. I've listened to it all, just not air although it's always seemed quite exciting to me. Thanks!

Chuck

p.s. One more thing, does anyone know if the www.milaircomms.com site from Central FL is or has been recently updated? I programmed his list of most active milair freqs in and only got like 3 regular channels that are active. I thought I read somewhere he no longer updates his site, so I was curious if anyone knows? Thanks again

 

[digitalchaos1980]

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Mr Moderator, I noticed I could have posted this in the Aircraft Monitoring forum as well. If it doesn't belong here, could ya please move it for me? Thank you

Chuck

 

[CalebATC]

Well... this is a very long-winded question! (Which is a great thing about aviation!)

What interest you? Military, civil? If civil,props or jets? Want to listen to them taxiing, approaching, or at cruise level..... Or everything?

 

[kg4ojj]

I wouldn't actively scan the ground or ATIS frequencies. The tower frequencies will be mostly one-sided conversations, as the tower transmits at a low height vs. the incoming/outgoing aircraft. In Keystone Heights, I would listen to KNIP and Camp Blanding tower frequencies.

You have a major airnav route west of you in Cross City and east of you along the Atlantic Coast. The ARTCC freqs in the database are valid. They do change from time to time and careful listening (and/or recording) will help you with these changes.

You will be surprised how much you WILL pickup, as the planes are at 30,000+ feet. That's an incredibly tall antenna!!!

As Caleb suggests, what about military? Is that an interest??? If so, you'll have fun trying to capture the activity in the MOAs around you, including Camp Blanding, Moody MOA, Palatka MOA, etc.

AirNav (AirNav) is a great resource, but maybe you already have these frequencies in your collection.
Also, do you know Al Stern??? His information is solid and timely. Check out "MilRadioComms" and "CivilAirComms" on http://groups.yahoo.com

 

[digitalchaos1980]

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Wow guys, thanks for the warm replies! I do apologize for the long-winded conversation, I tend to over-explain everything :-/

@CalebATC, milair interests me primarily, then would come civil jets over the smaller props. Ideally I would like to get everything but I know there are compromises.

@kg4ojj, I have KNIP and Camp Blanding already programmed in. I've been getting action on several KNIP channels, none on 2CB (Camp Blanding) yet though. I haven't changed my profile yet (can't on this phone) but I'm now about 30 miles by air NW of Keystone in a town called Macclenny so I'm not sure if Blanding will come in as well. Knowing I'm closer to GA now, I've put down Moody AFB's freqs among some bases along Coastal GA, although I'm not sure if I'll get anything there. I have about 12 pages of freqs I've copied down in my book to sift through and I have nearly every major airport and base within 100 miles lol. It's the Jax ARTCC ones that take up most that room. Most of my confusion lies in JUST which of those freqs to use. There's also the RCAG site freqs to check through which make it tougher. Ideally I'd like to program em all, but I only got 300 channels for everything on my R3 after putting my public safety and few other freqs in. And yes I know it's a slow receiver to scan, but it does get the job done. Lastly, airnav is a great site, as is this one! When I get my info, I trust it from either site

Again, thanks ya'll for helping out. I have no issues figuring most everything else out. I'm just a first timer at air monitoring

Chuck

 

[digitalchaos1980]

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I forgot something.. CalebATC, I meant to also say that taxiing, and ground control don't mean much, as I don't expect them to receive well anyways. Is Unicom worth putting in? I'm happy with approaching/departing, cruising, and pretty much in-the-air stuff

Edit: please forgive the double post. My phone's a ding dong at times :-/

 

[digitalchaos1980]

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I forgot something.. CalebATC, I meant to also say that taxiing, and ground control don't mean much, as I don't expect them to receive well anyways. Is Unicom worth putting in? I'm happy with approaching/departing, cruising, and pretty much in-the-air stuff

 

[CalebATC]

Ah, no problem!

Well.... your in the right place for MILCOM! Florida is where you will hear the most! Theres four main types of military communications: ARTCC (Center), A2A (air to air), TAC (Tactical/MOA ranges)... and everything else! Those are pretty much self explainitory. Individual squadrons use different A2A's, each squadron has about 10 total A2A's. (I also suggest setting up banks for these four groups, too!) My banks are: ZTL UHF, ZTL VHF, A2A, Local Ops, Local Airports, NORAD. As for you, I'd suggest breaking your Local Ops bank into one for different ranges and FACSFAC.

First, I would suggest signing up for Al's groups. He has amazing groups. Don't even think about milaircomms, please! Such outdated information, most aren't even used anymore. FloridaMilcom : Florida Military Radio Communications

Check these too: (updated link) http://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/2008/07/milcom-blog-logs-central-florida.html
I'll hook up with you via PM to send you a list of frequencies for what you need for now! Don't forget to look in the database for ZMA and ZJX frequencies too! Those are where you will find military aircraft (UHF is military ONLY) transiting to ranges and bases, and much more types of ops. The wiki has some stuff for Florida, Drop in on the Florida forum, too.

Civilian is a whole different world! You'll have to do some research yourself to find the structure of the basics of the National Airspace System to understand why some airports have certain things. Refer to this thread for some civilian information: http://forums.radioreference.com/ai...enhorn-wanting-listen-aircraft-need-help.html

Anyways, I'm not sure of your knowledge, so hopefully I didn't totally bombard you with information!!!

 

[digitalchaos1980]

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No, you didn't bombard me with info, I understood it all! The more the merrier haha. Those links were very helpful and now I just need to sort everything into my 6 banks of 50ch each, which will probably take me some time. I should have never tried to start with milaircomms site lol, oh well lesson learned

I do already have all the ZJX stuff jotted down from this site, and maybe I should just stick with the freqs closest to me. Yea I can see where civil air is a whole different animal lol. Now I wonder how the pilots don't go crazy with all that channel hopping haha

 

[KD4JAF]

List of Frequencies

Ah, no problem!

Well.... your in the right place for MILCOM! Florida is where you will hear the most! Theres four main types of military communications: ARTCC (Center), A2A (air to air), TAC (Tactical/MOA ranges)... and everything else! Those are pretty much self explainitory. Individual squadrons use different A2A's, each squadron has about 10 total A2A's. (I also suggest setting up banks for these four groups, too!) My banks are: ZTL UHF, ZTL VHF, A2A, Local Ops, Local Airports, NORAD. As for you, I'd suggest breaking your Local Ops bank into one for different ranges and FACSFAC.

First, I would suggest signing up for Al's groups. He has amazing groups. Don't even think about milaircomms, please! Such outdated information, most aren't even used anymore. FloridaMilcom : Florida Military Radio Communications

Check these too: (updated link) Milcom Monitoring Post: Milcom Blog Logs - A Central Florida Edition
I'll hook up with you via PM to send you a list of frequencies for what you need for now! Don't forget to look in the database for ZMA and ZJX frequencies too! Those are where you will find military aircraft (UHF is military ONLY) transiting to ranges and bases, and much more types of ops. The wiki has some stuff for Florida, Drop in on the Florida forum, too.

Civilian is a whole different world! You'll have to do some research yourself to find the structure of the basics of the National Airspace System to understand why some airports have certain things. Refer to this thread for some civilian information: http://forums.radioreference.com/ai...enhorn-wanting-listen-aircraft-need-help.html

Anyways, I'm not sure of your knowledge, so hopefully I didn't totally bombard you with information!!!

CalebATC,

I'm interested in the list that you have as well, would you be so kind and forward it to me as well? Thanks in advance

 

[CalebATC]

CalebATC,

I'm interested in the list that you have as well, would you be so kind and forward it to me as well? Thanks in advance

Shoot me an PM with your email. Goes for anyone else who wants it, too. It's a list of all ZMA and ZJX UHF's, along with the range frequencies, A2A's, and much more.

It's not mine, so don't shoot the messenger for any inaccuracies! I found this while ago, don't remember where.

 

[digitalchaos1980]

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Just wanted to update ya'll and say thanks for all the help I have received! I have about 200 of my channels set up and organized and have some decent hits for some of the ports and bases around me. I find myself listening more to milair now than public safety =)

Chuck

Edit: I meant to also include that my hits mainly are on KNIP, and a little bit of SEALORD at times. And I did end up getting activity on Jax IAP Vhf freqs too. Getting the lingo down is going slowly =)

 

[kg4ojj]

Should have had a lot to listen to this weekend, especially on SEALORD and BRISTOL frequencies.

Glad you are enjoying this part of the hobby!!!

 

[CalebATC]

Glad you are enjoying it! While you will also get civilian stuff on the VHF, they are still good to get military on too.

 

[digitalchaos1980]

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@kg4ojj, crap, I have been driving most of the weekend, so I haven't been listening much. Sucks to know I missed it. I don't have BRISTOL freqs programmed in. Don't have 'em at all actually. Time to search for 'em!

@CalebATC, it's been fun so far though!

Chuck

 

[kg4ojj]

From MilAirComms, "bristol" via search engine:
Military Comms Monitoring. HF VHF UHF

 

[digitalchaos1980]

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Thank you.