Monitoring 123-129mhz Air Traffic In Texas With SDRTrunk

[Enforcer52]

Since there is very little business or rail traffic in my rural area of Texas, commercial Air is about the only other thing to listen too. But being 55 miles north of IAH in Houston I can't receive the airport traffic, so I have been playing around with monitoring the 123-129 Air Voice band with my SDR's and keeping a list of channels that consistently have traffic on them.

Used SDRConsole to identify the channels for two or three days, and then decided to put the channels into a playlist in SDRTrunk to make it easier to monitor. I have identified 46 regularly used channels from 123.600 thru 128.650.

Using two rtl-sdr's I manually entered the channels and created an Alias list for each one. This took a little time to enter and get them ordered in numerical sequence. On one sdr I have 20 channels 123.600-125.625, and on the second I have 26 channels 126.325-128.650. Turned off all duplicate detection in SDRTrunk, because all channels use 00001 as the TO channel. Made a little airplane icon to display on the screen.

Now I can listen to the traffic, and by using airplanes.live or adsbexchange.com, I can punch in the callsign and see where the plane is located.

Using an OmniX antenna I have picked up aircraft as far away as New Mexico to the west, Oklahoma City to the north, Mississippi to the east and to the south out into the gulf and northern Mexico. But 200-250 nautical miles seems to be the normal range. Audio quality varies greatly between aircraft.

If you are in Texas and would like a copy of my Air.xml file shoot me a PM.

 

[Enforcer52]

Great big SHOUT OUT to AirScan for helping to identify all the frequencies.

 

[AirScan]

I have identified 46 regularly used channels from 123.600 thru 128.650.

Thanks for posting. A good way to check the databases for any new or unknown frequencies. Of those 46 I was able to find 40 of them in either the RRDB or FAA sources. There are still 6 I have not been able to ID or they are questionable.

123.600 - Unknown ? RRDB as a San Angelo FSS but cant find it in any FAA charts/docs ?
124.025 - Unknown ? Shepard AFB Approach - Seems unlikely due distance ?
127.725 - Unknown ? Closest is Kansas City Center (sector 48 Emporia Low) - Seems unlikely due distance ?
127.870 - Unknown ? (should be 127.875 ?)
127.900 - Unknown ? Closest are Dallas KDAL Clearance Delivery and Fort Bliss KBIF Tower - Seems unlikely due distance ?
128.500 - Unknown ? Closest is Memphis Center (sector 12 Columbus Low). Seems unlikely due distance ?

Any further reports (aircraft and location) on any of these unknown frequencies to help ID them would be helpful.

These were found in the RRDB or FAA sources.

123.700 - Dallas Love KDAL Tower. Incredible reception range if accurate !
123.725 - Houston Center (sector 82 Bilee High)
123.800 - Houston Approach (north)
123.825 - Houston Center (sector 68 Sholes High)
124.125 - Lone Star Executive KCXO Tower
124.225 - Houston Approach (west satellite)
124.350 - Houston Approach (west)
124.550 - Houston Approach (southwest backup)
124.700 - Houston Center (sector 36 Beaumont Low)
124.875 - Fort Worth Center (sector 37 Seaver Intermediate)
124.925 - Memphis Center (sector 44 Pine Bluff High)
125.025 - Dallas/Fort Worth Approach (south)
125.125 - Dallas/Fort Worth Approach
125.200 - Dallas/Fort Worth Approach
125.350 - Houston KIAH Tower
125.425 - Monterrey Center (sector 2)
125.475 - Memphis Center (sector 20 Little Rock Ultra High)
125.625 - Houston Center (sector 76 San Antonio High)
126.325 - Fort Worth Center (sector 30 Monroe Low)
126.350 - Houston Center (sector 34 Baton Rouge Low)
126.425 - Houston Center (sector 78 Austin High)
126.475 - Dallas/Fort Worth Approach (south)
126.600 - Mexico Center (sector 1)
126.575 - Fort Worth Center (sector 90 Texarcana High)
126.675 - Houston Approach (west)
126.725 - Fort Worth Center (sector 29 DONIE Intermediate)
126.875 - Houston Center (sector 37 Hattiesburg Ultra High)
126.950 - Houston Center (sector 38 Daisetta Low)
127.000 - Fort Worth Center (sector 20 Millsap Low) also Houston Center (sector 34 Baton Rouge Low) ?
127.125 - Houston Approach (east)
127.150 - Forth Worth Center (sector 62 Acton Low)
127.225 - Austin Approach (south)
127.425 - Memphis Center (sector 43 Greenwood Ultra High)
127.500 - Dallas KDFW Tower. Incredible reception range if accurate !
127.650 - Houston Center (sector 25 Brookley Low)
127.750 - Dallas/Fort Worth Approach
128.075 - Houston Center (sector 83 Cugar Low, also listed as sector 84 College Station Low) ?
128.175 - Houston Center (sector 26 Woodville High)
128.325 - Fort Worth Center (sector 65 HICOE High)
128.650 - Houston Center (sector 74 Llano High)

Corrections or updates appreciated.

AS

 

[nd5y]

I have been playing around with monitoring the 123-129 Air Voice band

Why only 123-129 MHz?
The aircraft band is 118-137 MHz and depending on where you are there could be lots of military traffic on 225-400 MHz.

 

[Enforcer52]

Why only 123-129 MHz?
The aircraft band is 118-137 MHz and depending on where you are there could be lots of military traffic on 225-400 MHz.

This is area of the spectrum that was most active for me, I am checking out the other areas as time permits and will expand my playlist.

Plus only have two sdr's for this computer, all the others are on another computer dedicated to public safety scanning. guess I'm going to have to get more sdr's.

 

[wtp]

how about just going down to 122 ?

 

[Enforcer52]

how about just going down to 122 ?

2 RTL-SDR's will not cover more than 123-129, will be ordering some more sdr's soon. And will build more Playlists to cover 118-123, and 129-137 for the Texas area.