Air Traffic Control Radio Receiver

[dodos9]

Hello guys!

Today, I am looking for some help on choosing a good ATC (VHF I believe) radio scanner, so that I could listen to the local ATC. Also, by saying local, I mean an airport ATC that is about 10-15 nautical miles away from where I live. Is that even possible with the antenna/aerial that is included with most of the receivers? Or maybe there is a possibility to buy a 'massive' antenna/aerial to increase the range? I have done some research already, and from what I have read, Maycom AR108 is quite popular. How much money should I prepare for this sort of device (not necessarily AR108, but any other that you recommend)?

Just please remember that I know absolutely nothing about this type of devices, so any comments and advices (e.g. 'make sure it has this and that' or 'it is worth spending a little bit more so it has this and that') are more than welcome.

Thank you very much in advance

Kind Regards

[Liobian]

Hi there - I hope you're aware that your VHF reception is limited (more or less) to line of sight; thus you'll hear a/c much farther away than the ground stations they're speaking to. I used to rate a mains-powered Bearcat scanner, but you may wish to consider something more portable, should you plan to go visiting airports, etc. Happy listening !

[Rollingthunder]

I use a GRE PSR-262. About 100 pounds. Good range with attached antenna. I can get LHR from Oxford. 200 channels.

[morticiaskeeper]

I have a Uniden Bearcat 30 and live 9nm from my nearest airport.

With the attached aerial, there's no sign of the tower. A couple of quid on wire and I have a diy dipole aerial in the loft attached to the TV coax (wrong impedance) and that gives me a readable tower signal, but not ATIS. Height = 93ft ASL.

I made a dipole inside a Roach fishing pole and mounted that on the side of the shed, using RG58 coax, that gives almost as good signal, probably due to the lack of brickwork in the way. Height = 86ft ASL.

The airport is 77ft ASL with no hills inbetween.

[grobble]

If you go for a handheld, the Yupiteru MVT 7100 is probably the most highly regarded. A few used ones around, but not many.

The instructions are rather 'japanglish' but there is an alternative booklet available.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

<<Height = 93ft ASL.>>

It's not height above sea level which is terribly important; it depends on other terrain/ objects between you and the transmit station. 93 ft asl might only be 10 ft above ground, depending on where you live, which isn't too good. The answer to any radio aerial is to get it as high above ground and as clear of obstacles as possible.

[morticiaskeeper]

HD - yes, I missed a bit!

Ground height at home is 66ft ASL, making the dipoles 20ft & 27ft above ground level. I presume the tower aerials are at about 50ft above ground.

For the cost, it's worth experimenting with DIY dipoles due to the vast improvement in signal.

[dodos9]

Thank you very much for your replies!

Now, a week after I started this thread, I am a happy Maycom AR-108 owner. I won an auction at a very good price and I said to myself that I will sell it if I don't like it. However, I do, but (yes, there is always 'but') after the first day of listening, I feel like I am missing a lot of what is happening up there. I live about 10NM away from EGCC in a straight line and I live on a hill, therefore I can actually see the runway with no objects (except one tree) in between my bedroom (my bedroom's window is where I see the runway from) and EGCC. I still have a lot of background noise sometimes and some transmissions are broken and simply not understandable. I have read quite a few things online and some people mention outdoor aerials. Although I have a TV aerial just outside my window, I am not sure if it would even work for this purpose.

So, what I would be asking you now, is to help me to increase the range of my Maycom AR-108 anyhow it would me possible. It could be an outdoor aerial (as mentioned above, I have one already, but may be useless for this purpose) or any other one (as said above, airport is visible from my bedroom and the receiver is stood at the windowsill; outdoor seems good to catch aircraft around the other sides of my house).

Thank you very much for your help so far, and thanks in advance for help on the next part of the 'project'.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

As it is illegal to monitor the airband, I'm not going to deal specifically with that band.

Transmitters are not necessarily located where you think they maybe so although you have line of site to a particular location, you may not be able to receive transmissions which you think may originate there.

Noise on a receiver can be caused by many electrical devices - central heating, plasma TVs, computers are but three culprits and there is little you can do about it.

Aerials need to be designed for a particular frequency, or a small range of frequencies. Using a UHF TV aerial for VHF will not work! A further consideration is the polarisation of the signal to determine whether the aerial should be horizontal or vertical.

Aerials should be fed with good quality co-axial cable of the same impedance of a) the radio and b) the aerial. Using cheap cable will lose a lot of the signal. Reception will always be better with an aerial as high as possible, preferably outdoors and away from obstructions.

Lastly, the smaller scanner-type receivers are inevitably a compromise so do not expect top quality reception. Many are designed to use the small antenna provided and plugging in an outdoor aerial may overload the receiver. It will not cause damage but you may find that it will receive signals from adjacent frequencies on top of those you are expecting.