Hand radio to listen to ATC/airports?

Using ascanner to monitor ATC communications is probably the best aid in learning to understand the sometimes fast paced intercommunications betweem pilots and controllers. It will help you in while learning to communicate yourself as you will begin to pick up the cadence of the typical communications exchanges.

As far as picking up local airports, etc, remember that the aircraft band of 118 to 136 Mhz is line of sight communications, so any obstructions, i.e. hills, etc. will not allow the signal to get through. In addition it is an AM transmission technology rather than an FM technology. The FM would be a bit more robust as to interference but still line of sight.

If you are not hearing things, it is either they are not transmitting or the line of sight is obstructed. Frequently all you hear is the aircraft and not the ground station.

The other item is your antenna. The likely antenna on your scanner is probably very inefficient, which means that it takes a strong signal for the receiver to detect and play. An external antenna, if your radio supports one, would gain you... well, some gain! (sorry, electrical engineering joke)

Of course you need to be on the correct frequency(ies). One thing you might try is to monitor approach control since I think you are near DFW or center (ARTCC) frequencies. If you would like some specific frequencies to dial in, let me know where you are and I can give you the approach, center, and local frequencies.

Planeflyr

 

Rob -

The aircraft band frequencies are AM VHF which are mostly "line of sight". If there are a significant number of buildings, trees or hills in between you and the ATC antenna then you probably won't get good reception.

My home is at about 450' and SJC is about 10 miles from me at about 60' and you would think that I would be "looking down" at them and it would work. But the slope is pretty even, so the line of sight just runs through a lot of ground clutter and I can't reliably get SJC tower or ATIS with a handheld (Icom A22), though I can hear the aircraft side pretty well.

If you're serious about making it work, then you really need to get an aircraft band antenna up on a TV mast on your roof and run the feedline to your scanner or handheld. You could test this beforehand by going up on your roof and seeing if a handheld gets better reception with the added height.

 

Or....
Tune in to :

http://www.liveatc.net/feedindex.php

one of the choices is the USA Class D/Center for KAFW

these are actual ATC feeds, (delayed by a few minutes)

No special equipment (except speakers for your PC), needed.....