Uk 5&6 MHz aero websdr

[chrislawton]

Hi everyone. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post this here or not.

I have just built a fully controllable websdr, based in the South West UK, which currently covers the 5 and 6 meg aero bands.
This project is entirely maintained and funded by me. I am not asking for money or anything like that, just someone with an interest in aviation monitoring, offering it to other like minded people.

If there is sufficient interest, I could expand the frequency ranges into the 3, 8 and 11 MHz range too.
This is very much an ongoing project!

http://hfaerowebsdr.duckdns.org:8901

[RonR]

Hey Chris...

Very interesting project!  I'll definitely be checking this out in the evening when this frequency band becomes more active over the Atlantic.  Thanks for doing this!

Ron

[chrislawton]

You are welcome Ron. Not too sure what hf freqs are used by Shanwick at night times now. Will be better when I buy more RTL's for the whole frequency coverage. Also need to add more ground radials on the antenna.
All a work in progress project really, but the sdr will be online 24-7-365.

Cheers

Chris.

[RonR]

In case you're wondering, I'm in New York...

If I'm not mistaken, Shanwick uses a number of frequencies during the day...8879, 8831, 8864 are but a few.  Higher freqs are also used but in the evening you'll hear Gander and Shanwick on 5616, 5649, 8891, and then later at night they may be in the 2's and 3's. 

New York tends to use 6577 a lot during the day but so far haven't heard them on your set up yet.  They could be on 8825 and/or 8846 or higher freqs (11's and 13's)

Just heard Shanwick  on about 6546 or 6547 (tuned to 6546.86)...didn't know about that freq.  The aircraft he was talking to was told to use 8879 as a backup...

Ron

[chrislawton]

Thanks Ron. At the moment I can only do 5 and 6 meg. Depending on the interest I receive on this project, I will expand so every block of freqs are available

All the best from across the pond!

Chris.

[RonR]

No problem...

Shanwick just told a flight to call Gander on primary 8831, secondary 11279.  Should be very interesting later today and tonight!

Greetings from the colonies!

Ron

[JetScan1]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for setting that up and letting us know about it ! I would be very interested in expanded coverage if you can do it.

I wonder if the folks here at LiveATC would ever be interested in putting something like this together at other locations, especially covering the VHF airband ? These SDR setups that allow multiple users to tune a broad spectrum of bandwidth are great in that you can tune whatever frequency you want. (Dave would not have to listen to us complain about what frequencies to put on the radios, everyone could listen to whatever they wanted).

Something like this. Full coverage of the VHF airband in the Czech Republic.

http://sdr.hkfree.org:8901/

Other SDR radios with some limited airband coverage can be found here.

http://websdr.org/

JS

[chrislawton]

That would be a good idea. Im a long time lurker on here, the only thing that always annoyed me was the inability to tune around yourself. You are locked on what the owner of the feed wants you to hear.
Adding the extra bands would be a simple case of buying and installing 3 new t2 rtl sticks into the case. There is plenty of room and plenty of spare cpu overhead. Im feeding this into a 120mb up and down fibre line so bandwidth isnt a worry either.

As long as I get sufficient interest I will go ahead. I dont want to invest time and money when there is no demand.

[JetScan1]

As long as I get sufficient interest I will go ahead. I dont want to invest time and money when there is no demand.

I suspect there would be good demand for the HF stuff. 

My interest is more on the VHF side. I would be willing to donate funds to get VHF coverage (118.00-137.00 MHz). Do you ever monitor VHF ? Can you hear any of the London (enroute) controllers from your location in Tiverton ? On 126.075, 128.815 or even 132.95 maybe ? (Other sites have been providing UK coverage for years and have not had any problems with the archaic laws).

[chrislawton]

Yes those freqs are very busy here, but one way traffic only unfortunatley.

[Rob K]

Best listening site for Shanwick and Santa Maria is the G8JNJ SDR on www.sdr.hu.  Is based in the Southwest UK somewhere but has a monster antenna and has no problem pulling in Gander on 8 and 11 MHz through the UK day time too which is generally unheard of, particularly for 8 MHz.

Current daytime Shanwick freqs are 5649 6547 6595 6622 6667 8879 and occasionally 10021 if the conditions are rough.  8879 and 10021 nearly exclusively used for eastbounds at 30W and the northbounds coming up T9 and T16 from the Canaries and Portugal.

Maria is always on 8825 and 8906.

Gander current daytime freqs are 8831 8864 11279 and occasionally 8891.  They were using 11336 instead of 8831 up to 11 November but have swapped back down to 8831.

Gander night time freqs are currently 2899 3476 5616 and 8891.

[JetScan1]

Best listening site for Shanwick and Santa Maria is the G8JNJ SDR

Thanks for the link !

Wow ! That is impressive. New York booming in 5/5 on 11330 and 11309 (at 14:00 UTC).

JS