Need help understanding airport frequency list

[dadandson]

Hello I recently purchased our first scanner so my son can listen to local ATC. I found the frequency list on this site at: Erie County - Airports Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference but I also found frequencies listed like the following:

120.5 257.8

and

126.15 ;053-233 126.5 ;234-052 263.125 ;053-233 317.6 ;234-052

I don't understand what the trailing numbers after the semicolon are.
For example on RR I see 126.15000 listed but on the other sites it's listed as 126.15 ;053-233 Does that mean the frequencies are actually 126.15053 - 126.15233?

Thank you for any help!
Ken

 

[drdispatch]

Welcome to the world of scanning!

The trailing numbers indicate the compass heading in degrees that those frequencies cover. 053-233 would be from northeast (053 degrees) to southwest (233 degrees) (going clockwise).
90 degrees would be east, 180 degrees is south, and 270 degrees is west. North is designated as 000.

Runways are designated the same way. If you hear the tower or approach control tell an aircraft that they are clear to land on runway 23, then that plane will land from the northeast (on a heading of 230 degrees).

I wish you and your son good listening!

 

[cajunjerry]

Also what scanner did he get? Also use the search to find even more aircraft frequencies . Does he want to listen to commercial or military?

 

[tvengr]

Runways are designated the same way. If you hear the tower or approach control tell an aircraft that they are clear to land on runway 23, then that plane will land from the northeast (on a heading of 230 degrees).

Each runway is designated by 2 numbers depending on the direction you land. You would be told to use runway 5 (50 degrees) to land the opposite direction on the same runway. Note that the headings are 180 degrees apart. Runway numbers are in 10 degree increments.

 

[dadandson]

Oh wow, that's so cool! Very interesting and very helpful! I found a copy of the airport map and can see what you mean about how those numbers as well as the runway numbers correlate to the heading! He's going to find that interesting when I explain it to him. Thank you @drdispatch!

@cajunjerry -- it's just a simple Uniden BC125AT we picked up on Amazon. Just something to listen to the local ATC and to take to airshows in the summer. He's interested in all things aviation so while he's starting with commercial, I'm sure he would love to pickup military if possible. There's also a local air ambulance that is stationed near the airport that I'm going to try and locate frequencies for to see if his scanner can pick it up.

Thanks @tvengr !

 

[cajunjerry]

Oh wow, that's so cool! Very interesting and very helpful! I found a copy of the airport map and can see what you mean about how those numbers as well as the runway numbers correlate to the heading! He's going to find that interesting when I explain it to him. Thank you @drdispatch!

@cajunjerry -- it's just a simple Uniden BC125AT we picked up on Amazon. Just something to listen to the local ATC and to take to airshows in the summer. He's interested in all things aviation so while he's starting with commercial, I'm sure he would love to pickup military if possible. There's also a local air ambulance that is stationed near the airport that I'm going to try and locate frequencies for to see if his scanner can pick it up.

Thanks @tvengr !

Which air ambulance?

 

[alphazulu]

For a lot of aviation communications, here are the Air Route Traffic Control Centers ARTCC in our region.
For the most part you will hear the "overflights" (High sectors) and transitioning regional arrivals & departures (Low sectors)

If interested, add the locations that are within a 220 mile radius from Erie County New York
ie. New York (all), Pennsylvania (all), Ohio (NE)
In a sense aircraft are a 35,000 foot transmitting antenna

However you have to be within ~10 miles of a transmitter site to hear the FAA Air Traffic Controller side
ex. the nearest RCAG (remote center air/ground) sites to you would be the ZOB Dunkirk and Geneseo VOR's or the Holland RCAG
At these sites ATC is transmitting from Cleveland Center ZOB (WSW of Cleveland, Oh.)

ZOB - Cleveland (ZOB) Air Route Traffic Control Center Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference
ZBW - Boston (ZBW) Air Route Traffic Control Center Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference
ZNY - New York (ZNY) Air Route Traffic Control Center Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

And then there is nearby Toronto CYYZ Airport and Nav Canada....

 

[alphazulu]

dadandson I assume you are looking for the frequencies of Mercy Flight based at KBUF?

Mercy Flight - When Minutes Matter: Emergency Medical Transport WNY

An independent, not-for-profit provider of emergency air medical transport. Rapid, safe and cost effective delivery of expert emergency response teams.

www.mercyflight.org

 

[alphazulu]

Some Mercy Flight frequencies from the RR Erie County database
122.8 - 155.8275- 453.175 - 458.175

 

[dadandson]

Awesome! Thank you @alphazulu for the protip! Yes currently we only hear the Ground & A/D from KBUF, so I will be adding those other airport frequencies into his scanner later today! We will hear the ATC tell the pilot to "contact Cleveland Center ..." so after some googling of what "ARTCC" and "RCAG" are and how they relate, the pieces are coming together. We also hear the ATC say things like "head to KLUMP" so I googled that and found out it's a beacon. We then found it on a map then drove out to see it. I have a lot to learn. My son watches the Mentor Pilot youtube channel so we're somewhat familiar with some of the communications between pilots and ATC, but I had no knowledge of how the ATC system as a a whole functioned, so thank you for your help filling in some of those gaps!

 

[krokus]

I also found frequencies listed like the following:
120.5 257.8

Since no one addressed this part, it shows that function has one VHF (120.5) and one UHF (257.8) frequency assigned to it. The UHF is mostly used by military aircraft, whenever they might use that airfield.

 

[dadandson]

Ahhh ... interesting! Thanks for explaining that @krokus!

 

[SacScanner]

You could also check out LiveATC.net. There might be an airport in your area that streams communications over the web. Note however, there is a delay (perhaps 2 minutes) in the talk.

 

[consys]

Home - Serving the Flight Tracking Enthusiast - ADS-B Exchange for plane tracking. No delay, no filtering of military or law enforcement aircraft.

Have fun!

 

[MiCon]

Does your radio have a search function? Your son might find it interesting to search 128.8000 ~ 132.000Mhz. That area of the aviation band is set aside for commercial and private air carriers to contact their dispatchers with flight information. He can also hear general aviation pilots contacting their destination FBO (Field Business Office) to prearrange for fuel, rental cars, shuttles to a hotel, etc.

 

[ATCTech]

FBO = Fixed Base Operator

 

[dadandson]

Awesome! Thanks for the tip @MiCon! That sounds interesting, I'm sure he will want to explore and listen to those sort of communications as well. If it has to do with aviation, he will be interested. I'm going to check out how to add that range to search. Thanks again!