airtraffic

Author Topic: Too many frequencies ???  (Read 11050 times)

Offline JetScan1

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Too many frequencies ???
« on: November 02, 2004, 11:28:12 AM »
Just curious what others here think.

I find a lot of the radios, especially in the busier areas, are set up to scan too many frequencies. The more frequencies you scan the more you just end up missing on the other freqs.

Wouldn't it be better to scan fewer frequencies and at least get better coverage of one sector than little coverage of many sectors ?

Maybe focus on certain areas at a time, like say only scan JFK departures for awhile then switch to only JFK arrivals, instead of trying both at the same time ?

This is just my opinion, I'm not trying to complain, this is an awesome site, but just wondering what others think.

JS



Offline dave

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Too many frequencies ???
« Reply #1 on: November 02, 2004, 11:59:39 AM »
My sense from interacting with listeners over a period of time, and in my own listening preferences, is that it's more fun to get a sampling of a lot of things.  Not so much that you can never lock on and hear a busy approach controller, but I'd rather hear more than less, even at the expense of missing things from time to time.

In the busier areas, where possible, I've set up multiple radios and sound cards to split things up.  But I'd rather have wider coverage than narrow coverage.

Setting things up on a schedule, for most of these feeds, is near impossible.  Some of them are run in remote locations and where the scanner has no remote control capability.  The only receiver that currently changes is the HF feed because that radio is controlled from a scheduled script.  And for those volunteers doing everything manually it would become a nightmare for them.  They're already being gracious enough providing a feed in the first place.

This is only really an issue in the busier areas.  Many of the feeds are at low-traffic areas, so this doesn't really matter for those feeds.

It's partly a question of resources, really. If someone wants to have a receiver dedicated to your favorite set of frequencies, by all means make a donation of some money to purchase a receiver or donate some equipment to help make it happen.  I'd be glad to pitch in parts from my end to help with it.

-Dave

Offline IndyTower

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Too many frequencies ???
« Reply #2 on: November 02, 2004, 02:04:53 PM »
For the Lafayette feed, there are times where all freqencies are busy, so yes, it can be hard to get both sides of a conversation at times.  BUT, on days with IMC and at night, there is not enough going on at LAF and not enough going on with Chicago Center to just scan one or the other...it would be incredibly boring.  Plus I think alot of the people who listen to it are flight students at Purdue who just listen to hear their friends etc.  So you just gotta go with what you can.

As for Indianapolis, I was near the computer and the scanner alot over the summer when that feed was up.  Therefore, I could change what I was scanning based on how much traffic there was.  For example, on a Sunday afternoon or in the middle of the night I'd scan IND Tower, Approach/Departure, and Indy Center.  During the day when IND was busy, I'd just scan IND tower and app/dept.

I don't know how much of an interest there is in having a feed for IND, but I'd be totally willing to run that one from a computer in Indy.  I just don't have a second scanner to do so...and I'd need to get another A/C adapter and sound card cord.  So if anyone has some spare stuff I'd be glad to set it up.  I'm willing to put some money into this, but I can't do it all...so if anyone would REALLY like an IND feed, shoot me a message over the site to let me know how much demand there is.  Then, maybe I can start thinking about how to get it going.  

I should probably post that last paragraph on another topic so there's not a bunch of response to it on this one since its not the topic at hand...so just send me a message thru the site if its regarding adding the IND feed...otherwise...back to the topic at hand!

Matt