I do often monitor the air bands when running an adsb receiver. And yes, it is fun stuff!
pilot to pilot
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I do often monitor the air bands when running an adsb receiver. And yes, it is fun stuff!
Eugene
Member
129.450 is a very active AIRINC (or whatever it's called now with Rockwell-Collins taking over) which I hear on the East Coast (Norfolk VA). You may hear them (at least I do) calling San Francisco. Both Medical emergencies and have pilot to pilot in foreign languages (rarely). The following are covered by 129.450:
BNA 129.45, CID 129.45, CRW 129.45, GSO 129.45, ICT 129.45, ILM 129.45, IND 129.45, MCI 129.45, OMA 129.45, ORF 129.45, STL 129.45
Other area call centers and frequencies may be found here: https://www.rockwellcollins.com/Services_and_Support/Information_Management/ARINC...
1. Call “ARINC” on area frequency shown relative to aircraft position. San Francisco ARINC (SFO) controls all networks
except 130.70–Gulf of Mexico, and 129.90–NE US and Maritime Canada which are controlled by New York ARINC
(NYC). Only the NYC networks are guarded by a dedicated radio operator (RO). All SFO networks are routed to ROs
through a call distribution system which allows control of all networks with only 2 ROs and provides a visual
indication of calls waiting for RO service. During busy periods, initial calls may not be answered immediately.
NOTE: Depicted coverage is for aircraft operating at and above FL200. Coverage below FL200 cannot be assured
on all routes. Gaps in coverage may exist when operating below this altitude.
2. If not answered within 3 minutes, tune and call on adjacent area frequency using above procedures if aircraft position
is near adjacent network coverage boundary.
Eugene KG4AVE
BNA 129.45, CID 129.45, CRW 129.45, GSO 129.45, ICT 129.45, ILM 129.45, IND 129.45, MCI 129.45, OMA 129.45, ORF 129.45, STL 129.45
Other area call centers and frequencies may be found here: https://www.rockwellcollins.com/Services_and_Support/Information_Management/ARINC...
1. Call “ARINC” on area frequency shown relative to aircraft position. San Francisco ARINC (SFO) controls all networks
except 130.70–Gulf of Mexico, and 129.90–NE US and Maritime Canada which are controlled by New York ARINC
(NYC). Only the NYC networks are guarded by a dedicated radio operator (RO). All SFO networks are routed to ROs
through a call distribution system which allows control of all networks with only 2 ROs and provides a visual
indication of calls waiting for RO service. During busy periods, initial calls may not be answered immediately.
NOTE: Depicted coverage is for aircraft operating at and above FL200. Coverage below FL200 cannot be assured
on all routes. Gaps in coverage may exist when operating below this altitude.
2. If not answered within 3 minutes, tune and call on adjacent area frequency using above procedures if aircraft position
is near adjacent network coverage boundary.
Eugene KG4AVE
mike619
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Is there an accurate list of airline company frequencies for the San Diego county area that are up to date?
There is an awful lot of traffic on it for it to be restricted. I hear casual chat almost daily.
Same. Private and Commercial.
majoco
Stirrer
Many airlines have a air-to-ground company frequency and these are licensed and official - often used for arrival requests and pax details, fuel requirements, catering etc.
Nobody can stop the use of an 'unofficial' frequency - many aircraft are now fitted with three or more VHF com transceivers so if one is spare, there's nothing to stop anyone on the flight deck, (including a hostie if she has a need!) calling and talking for a while. All the flight deck crew have passed their ATPL so are allowed to talk and anyone else can under their supervision. Hours of boredom can often be relieved by chatting to another aircraft going the same way over miles of blue water and white clouds!
Nobody can stop the use of an 'unofficial' frequency - many aircraft are now fitted with three or more VHF com transceivers so if one is spare, there's nothing to stop anyone on the flight deck, (including a hostie if she has a need!) calling and talking for a while. All the flight deck crew have passed their ATPL so are allowed to talk and anyone else can under their supervision. Hours of boredom can often be relieved by chatting to another aircraft going the same way over miles of blue water and white clouds!
That is still the case. In the CONUS it is assigned for flight test land and aircraft stations and not legal to use as it is being used. 87.303. That said, it's not like anybody is using call signs or tail numbers, so the chances of getting caught are slim to none.
Trucker700
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Airband newbie here. I hear a lot with my SDS100 on airband using GPS and the radio reference database. My question is, are the above frequencies in the database? Or do I need to manually add them to a favorites list?
Thanks
James
AKA Trucker
As previously stated, 123.450 is very active here in the SE US.
During a recent wildfire here in Southern California (Riverside County) 123.45 was used extensively. It was a smaller fire but everyone was on 123.45, fire, media and others!
Trucker700
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I guess I wasn't clear with my question. I was wanting to know if the frequencies I quoted that are listed as being used by different airlines, are already in the Radio Reference database. I looked using Sentinel and could not find listing that named individual airline frequencies.
Therefore, I was inquiring if I needed to add them either to the database or a favorite list manually.
James
aka Trucker
For a custom list like that, it's usually best to add them to an existing or new FL manually.
Trucker700
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Jon,
The frequencies I am asking about are company frequencies used between their respective aircraft and offices and service personnel. I can hear them on my icom 5100a's airband when I scan with it.
But, not on the SDS100 because those frequencies are apparently not in the RR database.
James
Aka trucker
I'm not big into air monitoring either but the way I understand it what I hear is there are indeed frequencies used exclusively by certain airlines.
I don't know if they would show up in a FCC search but I have seen some FCC licenses issued to business in the civil air band.
Companies like Boeing is one example that has a few licenses but that would make sense being a manufacturer.
Several of the frequencies listed in that list are used unofficially for the purpose indicated. I don't know what the FAAs take is on that but it's been going on for ages.
I was just watching an American Eagle jet flying overhead with a SDR stick. I then heard that plane call its company giving the same callsign or flight number I could see from the SDR stick. The pilot was inquiring about what gate they would be using at the airport they were landing at,
With that, it does look like many of the frequencies near the upper end of the civil air band are licensed for exclusive use of certain air band frequencies.
Some of those in that custom list posted in this thread are in the database but not in a single place.
I find some of them in specific cities aircraft sections. Seeing that, I assume many of the listed frequencies may be specific to an airlines home city as far as the license goes. This is why I suggested just adding these type frequencies into a FL that you create.
nd5y
Member
The airline company frequencies are all managed by ASRI (formerly ARINC). They are the frequency coordinator for the frequency ranges 128.825-132.0 and 136.5-136.975 and almost all of those frequencies are licensed to them.
Thanks for the info! I never realized how many licenses exist(ed).
I usually don't know if the chatter I hear is really the airline listed unless the aircraft says some kind of confirming info such as I heard today when I happened to be monitoring ADSB signals.
It is rare I ever here the ground station reply back as the aircraft are usually speaking with a company at an airport far away from here. The exceptions for myself are when aircraft are speaking with a home office or maintenance facility located at one of the airports right here in St Louis. Then I may hear the ground station replies.
I do hear air to air comms between two planes from the same company. It does not seem as commonly used as an aircraft speaking with their home company though. They both usually use their flight numbers and often their company name which made them easy to ID. FDX and UPS are two that are usually very easy to ID as they always have the same three letters preceding the flight number.
Some are obvious such as those that start with AAL or SWA, DAL etc.. I notice not all flight crews will use the callsigns letters though and just use the flight number. I guess this works well for them if they are using a frequency licensed for them. Those can be hard to ID unless you can catch them with ADSB overhead which will show the preceding letters before the flight number.
This kind of makes monitoring air bands kind of exciting now that a lot of PS has gone encrypted. It's a whole new set of terminology and abbreviations to learn.
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