People always say there isn't anything good to listen to anymore. I disagree.
While your (and my own) local LE/Fire/EMS comms may no longer be monitorable, there are still many things to listen to.
Aviation monitoring is what drew me into the hobby in the late 1980s, primarily military - but commercial as well. You can apply this same type of monitoring to railroads, businesses, etc.
Here is just a snippet of random stuff going on today in Florida.
ADSB snapshot... lots of aircraft... commercial and private. another sunny day for flying!
Although mostly mundane, nearly every airport has a staffed Fixed Base Operator (FBO). 99% of these have a frequency assigned for coordination of inbound aircraft. Typically the FBOs service private aviation aircraft up to and including large private jet aircraft - which Florida certainly has plenty of. Nearly all of these FBOs operate in the 129-132 MHz portion of the VHF aviation band, which they sort-of-kind-of share with the large commercial (Part 121) passenger aircraft who also operate around this portion of the aviation band - for Part 121 operators (passenger carriers) these are commonly called 'company frequencies' and are used for gate arrival type communications between the airline and their inbound aircraft. wheelchairs? discussed here. EMS/police needed? discussed here. bad passenger? discussed here. (get the idea?!)
The RR dB is fairly well populated with both the FBO and Part 121 company aircraft frequencies for Florida airports - but as you probably know, you can hear aircraft for HUNDREDS of miles from your QTH. One of the best resources for FBO frequencies is www.airnav.com Here is a screen shot of "Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport" (KFXE) that shows the FBOs and their frequency assignments - but note --- the above referenced 'company' frequencies are NOT published for the public - they are not available online unless you have a subscription and/or are employed by the carriers:
For monitoring these FBO and company frequencies, I use SDR#, an Airspy, and the 'fast scanner' plugin, which scans all the available frequencies between 129-132 MHz in less than a second, stopping only for valid traffic. I suppose I could just scan the known frequencies, but these assignments have a habit of changing often, so I find it easier just to scan the entire range of frequencies
Note the frequency that the radio is stopped on above - "GULFNET" 130.700
this VHF and HF system is all publicly disclosed at Atlantic HF Assignments and is used to link pilots to medical and/or corporate offices. Just this morning - Today, there have been three aircraft with medical 'issues' chatting on 130.700 (!)
For example, today, I had FlexJet 595, coming out of the Caribbean, who came up on 130.700 and requested an HF signal check, so he was directed to 13.348U - where he successfully tested his HF radio with New York Radio (note the "N" and "S" on the frequencies above - New York Radio and San Francisco Radio are common callsigns.
Finally, in the case of MCO (Orlando International) - this airport is managed by GOAA, the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority. As everyone (likely) knows, the LE comms in Orange County are all encrypted, including the Orlando Police Department who (currently) patrols the airport.
However, the fire/ems side of the Orange County system only sees partial encryption. GOAA FIRE ops, at least that I have seen recently, are NOT encrypted.
The details for this system can be found here: Orange County Government Trunking System, Orlando, Florida
So yeah - Florida is rapidly becoming 100% encrypted for LE comms. But yes, there is still plenty of stuff to listen to.
Happy New Year!
While your (and my own) local LE/Fire/EMS comms may no longer be monitorable, there are still many things to listen to.
Aviation monitoring is what drew me into the hobby in the late 1980s, primarily military - but commercial as well. You can apply this same type of monitoring to railroads, businesses, etc.
Here is just a snippet of random stuff going on today in Florida.
ADSB snapshot... lots of aircraft... commercial and private. another sunny day for flying!
Although mostly mundane, nearly every airport has a staffed Fixed Base Operator (FBO). 99% of these have a frequency assigned for coordination of inbound aircraft. Typically the FBOs service private aviation aircraft up to and including large private jet aircraft - which Florida certainly has plenty of. Nearly all of these FBOs operate in the 129-132 MHz portion of the VHF aviation band, which they sort-of-kind-of share with the large commercial (Part 121) passenger aircraft who also operate around this portion of the aviation band - for Part 121 operators (passenger carriers) these are commonly called 'company frequencies' and are used for gate arrival type communications between the airline and their inbound aircraft. wheelchairs? discussed here. EMS/police needed? discussed here. bad passenger? discussed here. (get the idea?!)
The RR dB is fairly well populated with both the FBO and Part 121 company aircraft frequencies for Florida airports - but as you probably know, you can hear aircraft for HUNDREDS of miles from your QTH. One of the best resources for FBO frequencies is www.airnav.com Here is a screen shot of "Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport" (KFXE) that shows the FBOs and their frequency assignments - but note --- the above referenced 'company' frequencies are NOT published for the public - they are not available online unless you have a subscription and/or are employed by the carriers:
For monitoring these FBO and company frequencies, I use SDR#, an Airspy, and the 'fast scanner' plugin, which scans all the available frequencies between 129-132 MHz in less than a second, stopping only for valid traffic. I suppose I could just scan the known frequencies, but these assignments have a habit of changing often, so I find it easier just to scan the entire range of frequencies
Note the frequency that the radio is stopped on above - "GULFNET" 130.700
this VHF and HF system is all publicly disclosed at Atlantic HF Assignments and is used to link pilots to medical and/or corporate offices. Just this morning - Today, there have been three aircraft with medical 'issues' chatting on 130.700 (!)
For example, today, I had FlexJet 595, coming out of the Caribbean, who came up on 130.700 and requested an HF signal check, so he was directed to 13.348U - where he successfully tested his HF radio with New York Radio (note the "N" and "S" on the frequencies above - New York Radio and San Francisco Radio are common callsigns.
Finally, in the case of MCO (Orlando International) - this airport is managed by GOAA, the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority. As everyone (likely) knows, the LE comms in Orange County are all encrypted, including the Orlando Police Department who (currently) patrols the airport.
However, the fire/ems side of the Orange County system only sees partial encryption. GOAA FIRE ops, at least that I have seen recently, are NOT encrypted.
The details for this system can be found here: Orange County Government Trunking System, Orlando, Florida
So yeah - Florida is rapidly becoming 100% encrypted for LE comms. But yes, there is still plenty of stuff to listen to.
Happy New Year!
