New to Aviation Monitoring

[KG5HHS]

Hello Everyone,
I will start out by saying I'm new to Aviation Monitoring. I live in San Angelo, TX and am interested in not only civil but military. There happens be an Air Force base where I live (Goodfellow AFB) but it is a non flying base.
So far I have the airport frequencies (San Angelo Regional Airport/Mathis Field): 118.3000- Tower, 121.9000- Ground, 125.3500- Approach/Departure, 122.9500- Unicom, & 128.4500- ATIS. ARTCC Frequencies (ZFW): 126.1500- Sector 40 Low, 120.2750 Sector 61 High, 133.1000- Sector 40 Low, & 132.0750 Sector 82 High. And a few others: 121.5000 - VHF Emergency, 243.0000- UHF Emergency.
I'm going to guess that civil aircraft use VHF and Military uses UHF? I want to make sure I don't leave anything out. I've been researching NORAD frequencies and came up with NORAD AICC Primary (364.2000) & NORAD AICC Secondary (384.1000) but don't really know anything about NORAD Comms. Are these nationwide frequencies or just for a particular area? I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction to find more frequencies and help me understand aviation communications a little bit more. I come from a Public Safety back ground so I dont really understand ARTCC's, TRACONS, and pretty much everything else that goes along with aviation comms.

 

[nd5y]

Military aircraft use both VHF and UHF. Air traffic control can be on VHF or UHF depending on the area. Many also have HF (SSB), low band (30-88 MHz FM) and satellite radios.

NORAD AICC is nationwide but you probably won't hear much on it unless there are aircraft near you. I hear a transmission on 364.2 maybe a couple times a year.

The best way to find military aircraft is having extra scanners searching 118-144, 148-150.8, and 225-400 MHz in AM mode in 25 KHz steps.

If you haven't already see the wiki articles
Aircraft - The RadioReference Wiki
VHF/UHF Military Monitoring - The RadioReference Wiki

There used to be several blogs and web sites like Milcom Monitoring Post

If you don't understand air traffic control terminology see the link I posted in http://forums.radioreference.com/aircraft-monitoring-forum/337671-air-lingo-book.html

 

[KG5HHS]

Military aircraft use both VHF and UHF. Air traffic control can be on VHF or UHF depending on the area. Many also have HF (SSB), low band (30-88 MHz FM) and satellite radios.

NORAD AICC is nationwide but you probably won't hear much on it unless there are aircraft near you. I hear a transmission on 364.2 maybe a couple times a year.

The best way to find military aircraft is having extra scanners searching 118-144, 148-150.8, and 225-400 MHz in AM mode in 25 KHz steps.

If you haven't already see the wiki articles
Aircraft - The RadioReference Wiki
VHF/UHF Military Monitoring - The RadioReference Wiki

There used to be several blogs and web sites like Milcom Monitoring Post

If you don't understand air traffic control terminology see the link I posted in http://forums.radioreference.com/aircraft-monitoring-forum/337671-air-lingo-book.html

Thank you for the information. It is greatly appreciated, I will dig through here and see what I can find. From what I've catheter so far, this area isn't really the scanner heaven!

 

[mass-man]

Hey John....good luck with air monitoring. I have done it for decades and love it....albeit I live just a few miles from DFW airport, so there is always something.
Be sure to put 121.5 in something, and make it a priority. Kinda like NORAD frequencies, you won't hear much but when you do it is interesting. I once heard all the emergency comms as a small single engine plane developed problems, got lost at night looking for the nearest airport and eventually crashed. That is something I will never forget.

 

[N9JCQ]

You might also check out Air Refueling routes within 150 miles or so of your location. Always interesting listening https://airrefuelingarchive.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/air-refueling-tracks.jpg

Look up MOAs (military overflight areas) too!

 

[nd5y]

You might also check out Air Refueling routes within 150 miles or so of your location. Always interesting listening https://airrefuelingarchive.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/air-refueling-tracks.jpg

That image linked to is from 2003. A while back somebody posted a link to the current one.

 

[DPD1]

For mil stuff, generally the heavies use HF, and then the more combat type stuff (fighters) use UHF. That's not set in stone, but generally. And then helos can go either way, but those usually lean towards VHF as well. USN AA freqs are usually always UHF, while the AF fighters often use the little special block of VHF in AM. So most radios (if they d that at all), you have to set that manually to AM, because most radios default to FM for that. When it comes to mil freqs, the best thing to do is just find them yourself. When you hear a formation fly over, start searching the appropriate block... You will often get nothing, but sometimes get lucky and find them chatting. And that's always a satisfying feeling.

 

[KG5HHS]

Hey John....good luck with air monitoring. I have done it for decades and love it....albeit I live just a few miles from DFW airport, so there is always something.
Be sure to put 121.5 in something, and make it a priority. Kinda like NORAD frequencies, you won't hear much but when you do it is interesting. I once heard all the emergency comms as a small single engine plane developed problems, got lost at night looking for the nearest airport and eventually crashed. That is something I will never forget.

Thanks for the encouragement. I didnt really expect to get into as planes never really interested me but I had an extra scanner laying around (Uniden Bearcar BC895XLT) and figured I'd give it a shot.

 

[KG5HHS]

Question. What kind of range am I looking at Aircraft on the ground, Aircraft in the air, ATC Tower, & ARTCC. I currently live 9.5 miles away from the airport (Straight line) but will be moving in a few weeks to a location that is 7.5 miles away from the airport. From where I'm at now I can not hear ATIS (Not that I plan on scanning them, just wanted to see if I could pick it up) but can hear the ARTCC "ZFW65 HICOE". I'm using a Uniden Bearcat BC895XLT with stock antenna, I will plan on putting up an external antenna in the future but right now I'm going to have my hands full with setting up 4 mobile/base radio's when I move in. I'm not wanting to listen to everything going on in the Texas just really in my general area.

 

[737mech]

Try an FM Trap

Please try the FM trap insertion to your feedline. You'd be surprised how this little filter opens up airband vhf on your scanner.

 

[natedawg1604]

Question. What kind of range am I looking at Aircraft on the ground, Aircraft in the air, ATC Tower, & ARTCC. I currently live 9.5 miles away from the airport (Straight line) but will be moving in a few weeks to a location that is 7.5 miles away from the airport. From where I'm at now I can not hear ATIS (Not that I plan on scanning them, just wanted to see if I could pick it up) but can hear the ARTCC "ZFW65 HICOE". I'm using a Uniden Bearcat BC895XLT with stock antenna, I will plan on putting up an external antenna in the future but right now I'm going to have my hands full with setting up 4 mobile/base radio's when I move in. I'm not wanting to listen to everything going on in the Texas just really in my general area.

If you're having reception issues, pull up a map of the area surrounding the airport and try to find a high-elevation area overlooking the airport where you can park your car.

I always start by finding the coordinates of the airport or other target radio site, and then I punch the coordinates into a web site that calculates the elevation of said coordinates. Then, on google maps I will look for potential high-elevation areas which may have a decent line-of-site to the airport. Once you find a possible monitoring location, use google maps to find the coordinates and then determine the elevation of those coordinates. You are looking for a monitoring location with (1) a suitable parking spot; (2) a relatively un-obstructed line-of-site to the airport, and (3) an elevation approximately equal to, and preferably greater than, the airport's elevation. Once you find a good candidate, visit the location and see what you can hear. You may be quite surprised how much the reception improves.

p.s. When monitoring from your car, it always helps to have a good mobile antenna. I use a 48" Larsen VHF-band NMO antenna, it works wonderfully for Aircraft monitoring, hearing the in-building repeaters etc. Of course, if you have a good enough monitoring location, you may be fine with a portable whip antenna.

 

[AirScan]

Question. What kind of range am I looking at Aircraft on the ground, Aircraft in the air, ATC Tower, & ARTCC.

Ground reception can depend on a lot of factors, but you should be good within inside of around 10 miles from the airport. Airborne reception is line of sight, if you can see it you can hear it, with a good external antenna and no terrain or other obstructions you should be able to hear out close to theoretical line of sight distance.

Line Of Sight Calculator

If you're not aware of them already, I use these 2 websites to track aircraft and to cross-check distance vs reception range.

https://www.flightradar24.com

ADS-B Exchange – World's largest co-op of unfiltered flight data

Some military flights, transports and trainers, can bee seen on the ADS-B Exchange site.

Also very helpful, if you don't have them already, are the Aeronautical charts that can be found here.

https://skyvector.com/

There are LiveATC radio's that covers the airspace around the San Angelo area so I'm somewhat familiar with how the sectors are set up.

Airport Detail: MAF | LiveATC.net

Low altitude airspace extends form the ground up to 23,000 feet (Flight Level 230). The Low Sector 40 uses 3 frequencies, the one in San Angelo that you should be able to hear the controller on (126.15) plus 133.100 (to the north) and 133.700 (to the west). Sector 40 seems to usually be combined with Sector 63 to the east on 127.45. So if can hear the controller on 126.15 but cant hear the aircraft it might be because they are on one of these other frequencies.

High altitude airspace extends from 24,000 feet (Flight Level 240) and above. In that area you have 3 ZFW high sectors that combine or split depending on traffic volume, giving 3 different possible sector configurations.

Configuration 1) = 132.075 primary for all 3 areas (24,000 and above)
Configuration 2) = 132.075 west and 120.275 east (24,000 and above)
Configuration 3) = 132.075 west and 120.275 east (24,000 to 34,000) plus 128.525 (35,000 and above)

The controller might continue to simulcast on 120.275 even when the sector is closed (?), so if you are not hearing the aircraft you might find them on 132.075.

If you look at the World Lo chart on the Skyvector website you will see the Brownwood MOA's (Military Operations Areas) just to the east of San Angelo. I'm not sure what they usually do in there but you should be able to hear whatever it is when they are active if you can find the freqs. I presume that most of the military traffic entering these Brownwood MOA's is controlled by Sector 63 on 290.30 or 346.30, then after that they would switch to whatever Tactical freq they are using.

http://forums.radioreference.com/texas-radio-discussion-forum/245442-brownwood-moa-freqs.html

Any reception reports appreciated.

 

[stealthradios]

Hello Everyone,
I will start out by saying I'm new to Aviation Monitoring. I live in San Angelo, TX and am interested in not only civil but military. .

Here is a link that has frequencies that others logged in your area. This is within 100 mile radius of San Angelo TX. Military Comms Monitoring. Frequency Log Search by Zipcode

Here is another link that might help you find frequencies for military air. These searches are based on your location. MilAirComms Military & Fed. Frequency Database w/zipcode search.

 

[KG5HHS]

Wow guys, Thanks. Lot of great information! sorry it took so long to reply, im in the middle of moving.

 

[KG5HHS]

I think I've got some of this down but still having a little trouble understanding a few things. So far I've got that the San Angelo Regional Airport / Mathis Field VHF Frequencies are as follows:
118.3000 - Tower
121.9000 - Ground
125.3500 - Approach / Departure
122.9500 - Unicom
126.1500 - ARTCC Low Altitude (FL110-230)
120.2750 - ARTCC High Altitude (FL230-370)
Here are my questions:
1. would the ARTCC Ultra High Altitude (FL370 & Above) be 125.2250 out of lubbock? if not, what would frequency would I be able to hear UH flights on (Not that I expect to hear many).
2. When looking up "KSJT" on air nav, right under the frequencies it says "APCH/DEP SERVICE PROVIDED BY FORT WORTH ARTCC ON FREQS 126.15/322.55 (SAN ANGELO RCAG) WHEN MIDLAND APCH CTL CLSD." When I looked up "KMAF" in airnav i found the following:
MIDLAND APPROACH: 121.1 137-240 124.6 241-136 256.875 137-240 290.4 241-136 [MIDLAND 0600-0000 SAN ANGELO 0600-2100]
MIDLAND DEPARTURE: 121.1 137-240 124.6 241-136 256.875 137-240 290.4 241-136 [MIDLAND 0600-0000 SAN ANGELO 0600-2100]. What does this mean? Mathis Tower is open from 0600-2100. I thought approach and departure was done on 125.3500?

 

[N0IU]

Lots of fantastic information here and there is nothing more I can add except to say that automatic spelling correction can be a real PITA sometimes!

From what I've catheter so far, this area isn't really the scanner heaven!

 

[AirScan]

120.2750 - ARTCC High Altitude (FL230-370)
Here are my questions:
1. would the ARTCC Ultra High Altitude (FL370 & Above) be 125.2250 out of lubbock? if not, what would frequency would I be able to hear UH flights on (Not that I expect to hear many).

From my earlier post above ....

High altitude airspace extends from 24,000 feet (Flight Level 240) and above. In that area you have 3 ZFW high sectors that combine or split depending on traffic volume, giving 3 different possible sector configurations.

Configuration 1) = 132.075 primary for all 3 areas (24,000 and above)
Configuration 2) = 132.075 west and 120.275 east (24,000 and above)
Configuration 3) = 132.075 west and 120.275 east (24,000 to 34,000) plus 128.525 (35,000 and above)

The controller might continue to simulcast on 120.275 even when the sector is closed (?), so if you are not hearing the aircraft you might find them on 132.075.

So 128.525 not 125.225, over SJT. (125.225 covers the airspace north over the Lubbock area). They only use 128.525 when its real busy so not sure how much you will hear on it ?

I can't find 128.525 in any online databases but I have confirmed this frequency from monitoring on other sources. Not sure where it's transmitted from ? Any chance you can hear the controller on 128.525 ? Anyone know ?

Can you hear the controller okay on 120.275 ? I'm wondering if they do simulcast when they combine the sectors and the aircraft are all on 132.075 ? Any chance you can confirm that ?

"APCH/DEP SERVICE PROVIDED BY FORT WORTH ARTCC ON FREQS 126.15/322.55 (SAN ANGELO RCAG) WHEN MIDLAND APCH CTL CLSD.

The Midland Approach facility most likely also operate San Angelo approach remotely (on 125.350). So even though it's called "San Angelo Approach" the planes are talking to a controller located in Midland. This is what they mean when they say Midland Approach is closed, it has nothing to do with the frequencies used in the Midland area.

AS

 

[majoco]

Everything you wanted to know....

Milcom Monitoring Post

...but how up-to-date it is, I don't know.

 

[KG5HHS]

From my earlier post above ....



So 128.525 not 125.225, over SJT. (125.225 covers the airspace north over the Lubbock area). They only use 128.525 when its real busy so not sure how much you will hear on it ?
AS

Ah okay, I guess I missed that. I've got that frequency plugged in now. I'm still having a little trouble understanding how the ARTCC works with the different altitudes.Just to confirm, they only use 128.525 when its busy? so does that mean that they will use 132.0750 for FL350 and above when its not very busy?

I did some looking at the database in RR. One thing I noticed is a lot of unlisted/unverified aviation band frequencies.There is one listed for "West Texas Weather Modification Association", call sign WSR39 for 122.8500, but I thought that was Air to Air for fixed wings. There are several for "Aviation Spectrum Resource Inc" to include call sign WKQI525, Frequencies 129.5250, 130.0250, 131.5500, & 136.9750. Another call sign for WOO8 with frequency 131.9500. The only thing I can think of is that they could be for the Air carrier companies. The only one that I know of that flies out of San Angelo is "American Eagle Airlines". I don't have a clue if there are more than that.

 

[nd5y]

Aviation Spectrum Resources Inc. (ASRI) is the frequency coordinator for the non-ATC aeronautical enroute frequencies in the 128.825-132.0 and 136.5-136.975 bands and holds most of the licenses used by ARINC.

A lot of aviation businesses have multicom licenses on 122.85 and other frequencies in the 122.8-123.5 MHz band.

129.525, 130.025, 131.55 and 136.975 are ACARS data frequencies.

131.95 is used by American Eagle in many locations in Texas.