Author Topic: MUAC Control frequencies in the Netherlands help  (Read 9786 times)

Offline 777lrf

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MUAC Control frequencies in the Netherlands help
« on: August 21, 2016, 11:02:13 PM »
There are a lot of different MUAC Control feeds in the Netherlands. EHGG has one that sounds to be high traffic in the north. But EHBK Eurocontrol feeds are confusing. Which feeds cover what areas? The MUAC/Eurocontrol Misc sounds like it mixes all the Eurocontrol feeds together, making it hard to hear specific traffic. I don't know what the other locations are, like Sollingen, Ruhr, etc. any help is welcomed thank you.



Offline JetScan1

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Re: MUAC Control frequencies in the Netherlands help
« Reply #1 on: August 22, 2016, 08:22:44 PM »
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There are a lot of different MUAC Control feeds in the Netherlands. EHGG has one that sounds to be high traffic in the north. But EHBK Eurocontrol feeds are confusing. Which feeds cover what areas? The MUAC/Eurocontrol Misc sounds like it mixes all the Eurocontrol feeds together, making it hard to hear specific traffic. I don't know what the other locations are, like Sollingen, Ruhr, etc. any help is welcomed thank you.

You can download the Maastricht UAC Sectorization Chart off the Eurocontrol website. It shows the sector boundaries, sector names, and frequencies with associated altitudes.

https://www.eurocontrol.int/articles/atc-charts

You can see the Brussels area (Red on the chart) is divided East/West, then further divided into 8 different sectors.

Brussels East = Olno Low (FL250 to FL330), Olno High (FL340 and above), Lux Low (FL250 to FL330), Lux High (FL340 and above)
Brussels West = Nicky Low (FL250 to FL350), Nicky High (FL360 and above), Koksy Low (FL250 to FL350), Koksy High (FL360 and above)

On the overnight shift all 8 sectors are combined into one position. Typically during the day shift they will use 4 positions.

(1) Olno Low + Lux Low
(2) Olno High + Lux High
(3) Nicky Low + Koksy Low
(4) Nicky High + Koksy High

Although this can vary and they can be further split into 8 separate sectors if needed.

There is a LiveATC radio covering Koksy Low (132.205) and one covering Lux High (132.315), so during typical configurations they are covering half the traffic in the Brussels area, low stuff west and high stuff east, even less when they split them beyond 4. On the overnight shift all are combined so you are hearing the same controller on both radios.

There is also a LiveATC radio covering the Ruhr Low Sector (listed as 132.615) but you will not hear anything on this radio because Maastricht changed this frequency months ago to 132.515 (correctly listed on the map) but I guess LiveATC has not got around to changing it on their radio yet ? It appears the radio is operating okay but with the wrong frequency set ?

There is also a LiveATC radio covering the Solling High sector (131.380) but this sector is quite a distance from the radio and reception range is very poor so almost nothing can be heard on this radio. It would make more sense to me if they would use this radio to cover one of the closer Brussels frequencies to improve coverage, like either one of the Brussels West High frequencies or Brussels East Low frequencies. They should be able to hear the controller on some of these frequencies ? 132.755, 133.710, 132.855, 133.355  

Attached below (need to be logged on to the forum to see it) is my sector chart for the Brussels area. By noting the handoff frequency and aircraft altitude you can determine what sector configuration they are using at the time on the radio you are listening to.


« Last Edit: August 22, 2016, 08:27:04 PM by JetScan1 »

Offline dave

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Re: MUAC Control frequencies in the Netherlands help
« Reply #2 on: August 23, 2016, 09:51:33 AM »
Added some new feeds on this receiver - we are maxed out now on this one for MUAC:

MUAC Lux Low 133.355
MUAC Koksy High 132.755
MUAC Olno Low  132.855



Offline JetScan1

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Re: MUAC Control frequencies in the Netherlands help
« Reply #3 on: August 23, 2016, 10:29:00 AM »
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Added some new feeds on this receiver - we are maxed out now on this one for MUAC:

Nice ! Good controller reception on the new frequencies and I see you fixed the Ruhr Low sector frequency.

As reception is very poor on the Sollingen radio (131.380), given how far that sector is from the radio, any chance you would consider trying the closer Maastricht frequencies 135.980 or 125.980 or 133.710 on that radio instead ? I think you should be able to get the controller on these as well ? First choice would be 135.980 if you can hear the controller as the other two will usually be combined with one of the others now covered already.

(minor point but 131.380 is the Solling sector, Sollingen is a Rhein sector in Germany).

Thanks dave and whoever helped set up the feeds ! It's an interesting area, lots of traffic.

Offline 777lrf

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Re: MUAC Control frequencies in the Netherlands help
« Reply #4 on: August 24, 2016, 04:28:15 AM »
Very helpful map and thank you for expanding the feeds Dave. I was searching for traffic I was following that was cruising directly over AMS but could not find what feed to listen to it on. I will use the map now and try to listen in.

Offline JetScan1

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Re: MUAC Control frequencies in the Netherlands help
« Reply #5 on: August 24, 2016, 08:13:20 AM »
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I was searching for traffic I was following that was cruising directly over AMS but could not find what feed to listen to it on. I will use the map now and try to listen in.

You can see on the Maastricht map that the Delta sector covers the airspace over AMS, 135.960 from FL250 to FL340 and 132.085 from FL350 and above. There is an EHBK radio that covers 132.085 (aircraft only) but reception is not the greatest, many transmissions are weak or unreadable.

On the midnight shift (around 23 to 04 UTC) these Delta Sectors are combined with the Jever and Holstein Sectors which can be heard 5/5 on the EHGG radio.  (Using the EHBK radio and monitoring the Ruhr sector and any one of the other radios you will get complete coverage of all Maastricht sectors that combine into 3 areas on the overnight shift, all frequencies are cross-coupled so you will hear all aircraft too).

I believe you can hear the controller on 135.960 and 132.085 in the Amsterdam area. There is already excellent LiveATC coverage and resources covering the AMS airport and low altitude airspace (Amsterdam Control, up to FL240). If they could ever accommodate two more radios/feeds over there in AMS for 135.960 and 132.085 I think you would get very good controller reception and aircraft coverage of the Delta High Sectors.

This would free up 132.085 on the EHBK radio that could then be used for one of the closer Maastricht sectors that are not currently covered, 125.980, 135.980 or 133.710 (where you should be able to hear the controller ?). Then the same with the Solling Sector, 131.380 on the EHBK radio. I pulled up 5 hours of random archives and there was nothing being picked up on this radio, the sector is too far away or there is something wrong with the radio ? If that radio could be re-tuned to one of the closer Maastricht frequencies you would have coverage of 7 of the 8 Masstricht-Brussles area frequencies with controller reception.   

As always I'm willing to donate funds to help increase coverage of any high altitude airspace.


Offline dave

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Re: MUAC Control frequencies in the Netherlands help
« Reply #6 on: August 24, 2016, 08:16:19 AM »
I'll look this over in the next few days...thanks for the notes and observations.

Offline 777lrf

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Re: MUAC Control frequencies in the Netherlands help
« Reply #7 on: May 06, 2017, 04:19:44 AM »
EHBK Center frequencies have been down for some time. I am wondering if this is only temporary? Thanks for this great service.