Sr. Citizen Basic Questions, Please

[Bob]

Hello,

Will blame my ignorance on Sr. Citizen (very) status.
A great excuse for most anything.

Would like very much to monitor Aero. comms.  Oceanic control, air to ground, etc.
Have an Icom R8600

Very confused, as there are so many aspects.

I can pick up some Tracon from the Logan (Boston) area,
but have had no luck with any in flight, or air to ground, etc.

e.g.

a. What is HF ACARS ?
    Can I pick it up with a good sw set ?

    *What mode would I use ?

b. And, the same questions for HFGCS

Might someone if they get a few spare minutes outline for me the various comm types used,
some "good" suggested analog frequencies, and their modes. Modes used is really confusing.

Thanks, most appreciative,
Bob

[RonR]

Hello Bob,

I'm curious about your Icom radio... is it connected to an outdoor antenna?  I'm guessing it is.  What kind of antenna is it?  If it is an outdoor antenna, you should be able to receive more than just Boston Tracon.  You could try tuning in some enroute frequencies like 126.225, 118.425, 133.450, 128.750, 133.425 MHz VHF AM for starters.  Keep in mind that you'll mostly hear the pilot's side of the transmissions and not so much the controller side.  That's because the controllers transmit from different remote locations based on the location of their particular sector.  To hear the controller side of a transmission you'd have to be fairly close to the transmitter site.  But I would try the frequencies mentioned above and see if you have any luck with those.

ACARS is a digital data link system that is used to send messages between an aircraft and the ground.

Oceanic ATC transmissions are HF USB.  A wide range of frequencies are used based on the time of day and atmospheric conditions.  A good resource for this is here:

https://radio.arinc.net/atlantic/

I hope this helps for starters

Regards, Ron