Surronded

[Jambo]

Hi,

Im pretty new to all this but i live in Newry Northern Ireland. I am currently surronded by 3 major airports:
Belfast Aldergrove (EGAA)  -  34 miles
Belfast City (EGAC)             -  38 miles
Dublin Int                            -  51 miles

What would be the best scanner to use that could pick up these transmissions?

Many Thanks for reading,

James Morgan

[Gecko1]

I don't know if any can pick up 50 miles. You would have to have some serious antenna setup going on.

[Gecko1]

Anyway, you would get the best results from a base station if you want to listen from home. Portable units have a smaller range, but they can be brought into the airports to be used in conjunction with plane-spotting, so if you frequently travel to or near the airports, you should get a portable. As for which model you should get, that's a hard question, and mainly depends on your budget. Here's dave's suggestion from the FAQ.

In general, I suggest the following:                                           
                                                                               
1) Bearcat/Uniden BC-780XLT, if you can find one and it fits within your        budget.  One of the best scanners ever made.   Check on eBay since it is difficult to find new units for sale.  The 780XLT has excellent sensitivity, covers the military airband, and has a computer control interface (via RS-232).                                 
                                                                               
2) Bearcat/Uniden BC-350A or BC-350C.  These are great scanners and represent great value.  Lots of them on eBay.  The BC-350C adds 800 MHz to the BC-350A (useful for listening to some public safety agencies).                         
                                                                               
3) Radio Shack has some great base scanners in the $80-$150 price range:

Pro-2052
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=20-432

Pro-2018
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=20-424

[digger]

I doubt that you could pick up transmissions from any of those airports.

VHF airband radio signals are what's referred to as "line of sight". They can be blocked by high  terrain or simply the curvature of the earth. They work well for aircraft, because, well,  they're up in the air. At altitude, there's nothing to block those signals.

You might very well be able to hear any aircraft at sufficient altitude, coming or going from any of those airports, but as for hearing the controllers on the ground, you're too far away.

[Falcon900]

James,

My advice is to start some place with either a base set or handheld and just experiment with setups, aerials and cable.

I knew nothing about it when I started in the hobby and had a basic dial tuning receiver but eventually saved to get a PLL receiver Win 108 and a second hand Tandy Pro-2021 baseset that I still use today.

There is a lot of material to read and receivers to review on the internet as well. The receiver sensitivity is important but sure it will not move terrain objects!

As for the distance  I think that it really depends on the terrain and any radio wave reflection which can be both helpful and annoying. If you listen to my feed ( NZTU-Christchurch New Zealand ) the controller TX locations are 76nm from me and 95% of the time both sides of the conversation are audiable. I am 180 feet above sea level and on one side of a valley and I can hear this transmissions at 76 miles better than the aircraft on the ground at my local airport 5 miles away. Sure the waves may be reflected or trapped but it works. I can pickup aircraft and aircraft tugs on the ground at 76 miles when the atmosphere is good and i am pretty happy with that.

Radio waves have always created strange effects be they VHF, UHf or HF and that is what makes it interesting. I use to listen to the Concorde crossing the Atlantic on HF and that is the opposite side of the earth. No bad reception.

Best of luck and thanks for tuning in.

Hayden