airtraffic

Author Topic: SCANNER RANGE  (Read 10877 times)

Offline CAPcadetJC

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SCANNER RANGE
« on: June 05, 2007, 06:57:31 PM »
Hello,

Im new to these forums, and i just bought a new Pro-82 scanner from Radio Shack, is there any was i can get 120 miles of range out of it, I live that far from DFW airspace and i would love to listen to them.  Also is there anyway I can listen to military aircraft with this scanner?

Thanks for the help, and sorry if this is in the wrong place.



Offline cactushp

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Re: SCANNER RANGE
« Reply #1 on: June 05, 2007, 08:09:26 PM »
There are alot of factors in range, such as your antenna, your antenna height, distance, and transmitter power. In this case, 120 miles is a pretty good distance so you might not even pick up DFW even with a good antenna.

Offline CAPcadetJC

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Re: SCANNER RANGE
« Reply #2 on: June 05, 2007, 09:30:06 PM »
Right now i can pick up air traffic, and thats just with the rubber antena, if i get an external antena, could i pick up the controllers?

Offline MathFox

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Re: SCANNER RANGE
« Reply #3 on: June 06, 2007, 04:56:08 AM »
Rule of the thumb is that your receiving antenna must have "line of sight" to the transmitting antenna on VHF frequencies. If you want to receive ground based transmissions at 120 miles, you need a pretty high tower for your antenna. Also, the signal will be relatively weak and require a good receiver. A good directional antenna will help too. Receiving planes that cruise at 30000 feet is much simpler.
I'ld suggest that you try to find an airfield closer by and try to monitor that. A simple outdoor antenna will improve the quality of your reception.

Offline MIAMIATC

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Re: SCANNER RANGE
« Reply #4 on: June 06, 2007, 09:46:59 PM »
From my vantage my antenna is magnetically mounted on my AC outside a window that is located on the 1st fl of a house maybe 150 feet above sea level and around 18000 i have a range of 150 miles while extremely high levels i can go as far as 180 nautical miles

Offline CAPcadetJC

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Re: SCANNER RANGE
« Reply #5 on: June 06, 2007, 09:55:10 PM »
I live near an air force base, but i dont know if i can pick up those freqs with my PRO-82.  Is that possible?

Offline digger

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Re: SCANNER RANGE
« Reply #6 on: June 06, 2007, 10:51:45 PM »
Radio shack lists:

Quote
Frequency coverage: 29-54, 108-136.9875, 137-174, 380-512MHz

108-136.9875 is what's commonly called the VHF airband. You'll hear some military traffic using that, but there's a lot more military traffic that uses the UHF frequencies that you can't get--the ones that fall into that gap between 174 and 380.

You should be able to get CAP on it though...

Offline MathFox

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Re: SCANNER RANGE
« Reply #7 on: June 07, 2007, 08:09:27 AM »
From my vantage my antenna is magnetically mounted on my AC outside a window that is located on the 1st fl of a house maybe 150 feet above sea level and around 18000 i have a range of 150 miles while extremely high levels i can go as far as 180 nautical miles
What is your range for ground-based transmissions?

Offline MIAMIATC

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Re: SCANNER RANGE
« Reply #8 on: June 07, 2007, 10:49:23 AM »
Ground based I am located between EWR AND LGA airports and which is about 10 Miles from EWR and about 5 from La Guardia and La Guardia I can get all the way to Ground While Newark I can get maybe tower depending on the weather conditions. The other airport namely Kennedy same as Newark but only ARR AND DEP'S. Tracon I can get maybe 2 or 3 freq's being the transmitters are witin 15 miles from me. ARTCC Im can get extremely low the controllers with a squelch broken and the transmitter is about 35 miles away

Offline janetva.net

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Re: SCANNER RANGE
« Reply #9 on: June 08, 2007, 02:36:04 AM »
Ya thats what I was thinking (LOL)

Anyway keep in mind things that get in the way like IE: mountains/buildings/or out of the way like the earth curve just for some examples

However on a more positive note don't give up on it just yet! it can be done but it will take a good Hi antenna and it most likely will not a reliable source to put on a feed unless your on a Hi mountain of course :-D

I remember when I used the 2m VHF band for those of you that are not Hams its around 145.00 Mhz with 5 Watts of power I made many contacts at over 200 and even 300 miles ! but keep in mind the right antenna sunspot number average daily solar flux/UFO research (j/k)  :roll: and other stuff that will go way beyond the scope of this thread plays in part here

O and speaking of mountains I know that I said they can get in the way however they can also help... OK now I lost you right? :-)  remember radio signals are like light if you point a flash light at a mountain it will reflect well so do radio waves here is a IE: of how a mountain can help I cant remember what it was called but it was in the opposite direction of where I wanted to talk into but it was much higher then my antenna and there was mountains in the path to the station I wanted to talk to no matter how Hi my ANT was or how much power I used it just would not work so I  pointed my antenna almost 180 deg at that big  mountain and BAM I got it SIG 5-9+  BTW contact was at 200 miles away on VHF and using FM !!

The point I am trying to make here is have fun with the hobby don't let anyone tell you "You cant do that"

I love this kind of thread thanks CAPcadetJC for the post and enjoy your new radio  :-D




 

« Last Edit: June 08, 2007, 02:48:18 AM by janetva.net »

Offline JetScan1

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Re: SCANNER RANGE
« Reply #10 on: June 08, 2007, 09:36:53 AM »
Quote
if i get an external antena, could i pick up the controllers?

You are not going to be able to hear any controllers transmitting from locations near the Dallas Metro area 120 miles away. However there could be a remote transmitter near your location ? Where are you located ? DJ

Offline CAPcadetJC

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Re: SCANNER RANGE
« Reply #11 on: June 09, 2007, 11:41:54 PM »
Wichita Falls

Offline PHL Approach

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Re: SCANNER RANGE
« Reply #12 on: June 10, 2007, 12:16:33 AM »
I just had a friend that stayed in SPS for a few days. This is what he was hearing controller wise.

SPS 47 HIGH - 134.55
SPS 34 LOW (Not used much) - 133.5
UKW 75 INT - 127.95