How much storge space is used for aviation comms?

[A330jfk]

Hello all,

I understand that all US ATC communications, as well as FAA radar tracks, are recorded for use in the case of any abnormal flight operations around the US.  The FAA and NTSB investigators then use this recorded data to help piece together the cause of whatever mishap occurred.

My question:  Just how many 10's of terabytes (?) of comm data are recorded in any given 24 hr period?  Does it get compressed for storage after so many days in order to save storage space (and hence, the cost for that storage?)

Thank you for any responses.  As you can tell, I don't know much about the behind-the-scenes operations of ATC when it comes to storage of comm data. 

Happy Landings

[martyj19]

We can't give out that information.   

[KB4TEZ]

Marty can't give out that information, but ask him again in 45 days (hint, hint) 

[wiedehopf]

Storing audio is not that memory intensive.

liveatc.net is not using the best compression and still it's 4 MB per half hour.
That would be roughly 200 MB per day and freqency, so that's 6GB for each feed to save it 31 days.

Compared to other ATC expenses like transmission equipment etc. it's not much. Not sure for how long ATC tapes are saved either.

Radar tracks can be recorded quite space efficient, so i wouldn't think it's a factor storage-wise.