Airband Reception

Aviation Posters

Airband Books



Hi Graham,

Noticed your comment on the airband news site about my radio. I bought a Uniden Bearcat UBC72 XLT. I use a scanner mainly to identify high level flights over my home in Warrington which I have been doing for years now. I suppose in a way it is my own fault for not really understanding that just because the scanner has the 8.33 step it still might not be sensitive enough to tune into all these new frequencies. I simply believed this to be the case, since the adverts in magazines imply that if a scanner has the 8.33 step then these new channels would be tuneable. I doubt I'd get my money back on that basis, as its my ignorance that is the problem! Funnily enough I could hear the controller again on the default of 132.125 this weekend. I suppose that is due to atmospheric conditions. I'll have to save up for the one Mark recommends and in the meantime just listen to the pilots when spotting. It seems quite odd really. I got my first air band radio off my dad way back in 1978 and 131.05 (together with originally 128.05) has been in use for my sector in all that time. Now its gone!

BTW your excellent air band books are in my collection. Maybe a brief section on this if they are updated may stop people making my mistake again.

Thanks for the interest and all the best

David Jackson


David

Thanks for your message.

If I have understood it correctly, you are saying that you purchased a scanner which has 8.33 channel tuning, but when you tune into the new channels you can only hear the pilots and not the controllers, whereas previously, on the old frequencies, you could hear them both.
If this is the case, it is not unusual. The same has happened with me, where there are separate channels for upper and lower airspace - I have always been able to hear the controller clearly on the old frequency, but I can't hear them on the new channel, even though they cover the same area.

I believe that this is because the signal for the channel is not as powerful, as it is for the higher levels. Therefore unless you are close to the transmitter, you will not pick it up. This will probably be the case whichever scanner you buy. I certainly wouldn't buy another one unless you are sure it will do the job. Also, a major upgrade of the UK transmitter sites has recently been completed, and this could have affected things.

Another point is the aerial. What are you using, how high are you, how far are you from the transmitter? All these things have a big influence on reception.

In my case, since these new channels started up, one of my best, 127.425 has changed to 127.430. I have now lost the controller, who I used to pick up clearly before. It is possible that they are no longer transmitting from two or three transmitters (known as offsets) as 8,33 channels can only be transmitted from one site for technical reasons.

To summarise, I don't think your scanner is the culprit. Other factors, which I have described above, are more likely to be the cause.

I am copying this to Mark Graham as he might think it worthwhile adding this to his site.

Regards

Graham

Thanks for the comments both, there can often be a number of factors such as those Graham has suggested. I can no longer pick up Nottingham East Midlands tower, the frequency has not changed but the location of the tower has changed slightly and in addition the new tower is much taller than the old which you would think would improve my reception but maybe they have reduced the transmitting power? there could be a number of factors, sometimes you can improve the situation by repositioning your antenna etc.