Recording ATC From The Flightdeck

[ABO944]

Hello all

To assist colleagues of mine who's first language is most definately not English, I would like to record ATC transmissions on one of our flights (only about 25 minutes flying time).

We use DC headsets and was wondering if there's any cables which would fit into the plugs which I could then feed into a camcorder or other type of recording device??

Any idea's ?

Thanks in advance

[PENKO]

You know you can log on to one of those live atc websites and listen to ATC for hours and hours. Or am I missing the point?

[ABO944]

You are missing the point

Someone must know where I can get these wires ??

[deltayankee]

It depends on where you are. Without knowing where you live nobody can recommend a suitable retailer. But an almost friend of mine who is slightly not English had a similar problem and solved it by placing a tiny microphone inside the headset -- until someone showed him live ATC websites.

Any largish electronics store or internet retailer can probably supply the cable you need. I can suggest one near Dallas if it helps.

I don't think the duration of the flight is so important. The cables for 25 min flights are actually the same as the cables we use for long haul.

[ABO944]

In the UK actually.

I was informed that I would need 1 metre of cable per minute of recording, luckly it's just 25 minutes or we would have to offload the freight to carry the cable!

There is no live ATC available within the UK on any of those websites sadly.

[Agaricus bisporus]

You may wish to consider the legality - or otherwise, of this enterprise.

Adding home-made components to an aircraft system (the RT/intercom) is most certainly not acceptable, and any form of use or recording of ATC (in UK at least) without a specific permit is illegal.

Perhaps he'd be better with some more language classes?

[Henry Hallam]

Adding home-made components to an aircraft system (the RT/intercom) is most certainly not acceptable

B.S.
Headsets are unregulated.

[deltayankee]

I was informed that I would need 1 metre of cable per minute of recording

Maybe you didn't hear right, but if someone really told you that they were either joking or very strange. Cable length is irrelevant.

[PENKO]

Atcbox Scroll down and on the left you'll find live streams.
Granted it's Amsterdam airport, but the ATC is pretty standard.

If that won't teach your colleague a thing or two about ATC, nothing will!

[ABO944]

I was joking!!!

[Pilot Pete]

Quote:
Adding home-made components to an aircraft system (the RT/intercom) is most certainly not acceptable
B.S.
Headsets are unregulated.

What has regulation to do with it? Just ask your Flight Ops Director for approval to alter/add to the headset and for permission to use the equipment which you have purchased and cobbled together and there should be no problem, apart from the fact that you risk losing your radio telephony licence.

As a captain I would refuse point blank to let anyone use equipment like this without such permission.

PP

[411A]

A fine kettle of fish this is...here we have a guy who wants to learn proper ATC procedures, and we have those who insist to throw up any number of obstacles to doing so....and then might complain that...gawd...why can't the new guys learn how to communicate properly on the VHF.

Pot calling kettle black, comes to mind.

[ground_star]

As someone who these days is more involved with audio\visual than aircraft I suggest a simple splitter.

If your headset connector is just a standard jack or XLR type (most are B gauge jacks or similar I recall...) then it's pretty easy to buy some jacks & sockets, with a bit of cable & with a bit of a steady hand, some solder etc, split the RT audio output at the jack into a tape\minidisc\memo recorder\anything else that will record. The soldering job is a max of 20 minutes work.

In theory you wouldnt even need to connect the TX side up for the recording device as you wouldnt be using it to transmit - one hopes!

Given you're not modifying the RT system & headsets are unregulated, so long as you wire things right & make sure the quality of audio is unaffected (no reason why it should be!) then you have yourself a splitter.

Try Maplins for the bits...

[Jumbo Driver]

If you want ready-made, how about something like this ... ?


JD

[ABO944]

Hey thanks guys.

I may even just wrap the spare DC headset around my recording device and see how the recording comes out.

At the end of the day, I am trying to help my colleagues and improve flight safety in a way ... no harm in that is there?

[Agaricus bisporus]

If you have to do this then for God's sake don't go lashing up something that will be plugged into the aircraft's intercom system, that would be illegal, irresponsible and potentially hazardous for the intercom system, ie a serious risk to safety. Just don't do it! See post above re isolation of voltages etc, this isn't something anyone, electronics amateur or otherwise should even consider.

Just stick the mic inside the spare headset and wrap it up in a coat or something, or put the heasdset around the recorder if the mic is built in. Make sure the heasdset mike remains unplugged.

It is also illegal to record ATC in UK, so as a Professional pilot you wouldn't do that either, would you?

[Piltdown Man]

Get a "stick on" telephone microphone, a sort of phone bug. They don't actually record the sound but instead the movement of the speaker coils in your headset. The output may need a little boost, but then that can be done post-production, so to speak. Something like this would probably do the job. The important thing is that it shouldn't interfere with the aircraft.

PM