airband radios

[wannabe7]

hi,
I live in the Cobham/Leatherhead area of Surrey and was wondering if I was to buy one of those airband radios, would I be able to pick up the tower/ground etc at LHR and LGW or would I just be able to get london control, approaches etc.
Thanks

[pilotwolf]

Hi..

I have 'proper' radio equipment, (read expensive/professional set up), and can hear the airborne traffic and the tower at LGW easily but anything on the ground is usually barely readable.

So if you are talking handhelds I would say forget it for both LHR and LGW except for the aircraft side of the conversation... even with a big external antenna I think you'd be lucky.

VHF is generally accepted as line of sight comms only. And the height of your antenna makes a lot of difference for that reason.

PW

Edited to add that I live right on the edge of the LGW zone.