Air Traffic Where You Live

If any readers are reletively new to airband listening and would like to know what frequencies are in use where you live, hit the comments button and give me an idea of your location and I will provide as much information as I can on the traffic and frequencies in your area.

An Interesting Frequency

One frequency I scan regularly is 313.0Mhz. This is the Wash ATA (Aerial Tactics Area) frequency. It is a Swanwick frequency set aside for aircraft operating in this area only and you can regularly listen in to aircraft such as Lakenheath F15's and Coningsby Typhoons practicing aerial combat.

Just A Note To Say....

I have turned on 'word verification' now, when you want to comment & hit the 'comments' button at the bottom right of any message you can leave your message as normal but you will be asked to enter the letter combination shown in a seperate box. This is to help stop the automated 'spam' messages that I seem to be getting of late, thanks all.

Best 'On Site' Scanner

Hi all, apologies for the delay in replying, I have been a bit busy with work of late. I have been asked by Pete Turner which might be the best 'on site radio' for use at airshows etc.

Well, my favorite at the moment is my little Icom IC-R2, its very robust and truly fits in your pocket. Connect a good earpiece and it's ideal. I know there is now an Icom IC-R5 (which I have owned), but there is very little difference between them (more memories & alpha tagging with the IC-R5). Because the IC-R2 has been superseded, you can get them quite cheap on ebay, I bought mine for about £70 and Im sure it was actually brand new! The only thing I would say is that, because there are very few buttons on these tiny scanners, it can be difficult at first to remember the key combinations needed to enter frequencies into memory etc. and you may find yourself constantly referring back to the manual to start with.

Br warned! the Icoms don't scan nearly as fast as scanners such as the Yupiteru MVT7100. I have measured it at about 10 channels per second (Yupi around 25 channels p/s) but how many frequencies do you scan particularly when your at an airfield anyway? maybe 20 or 30 at the most right? so, It shouldn't be a major problem.

I noted that you would like to listen in on your visits to Donna Nook range Pete, for your info the frequencies I have for Donna Nook are as follows:

Primary Hold: 340.15Mhz

Primary Join: 342.175Mhz

My Airband Listening Set Up

Just thought it worth mentioning my exact set up at home at the moment. I have a Signal R535 which is connected to about 4m of coax cable and that is connected to the antenna from my Yupiteru MVT 7100! (this set up works very well) which is strategically positioned in the corner of my bedroom bay window. It is always worth experimenting with positioning for maximum performance, you'll usually find windows and chimney breasts seem the best place for your scanner or at least the antenna to be positioned. I live just outside Leicester on fairly high ground (city of Leicester is in a bit of a valley) but I get very good results. 6am this morning I was listening to aircraft receiving there final clearance to land at Heathrow on runways 9 left and 9 right. Not bad! Click on 'comments' to share your set up details and any hints and tips you would like to contribute, and thanks for stopping by!