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I always think of George Carlin any time I hear the term, "near miss"...

Wasn't it a "near hit"?!

"...look, they nearly missed..."
"YUP, but not quite!!"

RIP George Carlin...

Rob, I am the one who supplies the "other" 129.9 feed as well, but that one has a different coverage pattern (omnidirectional) and includes 129.4, which can REALLY be annoying when phone patches are going on. This 129.9 has a special phased array to pick up the Caribbean entry points, which means you hear the current HF frequency assignments. I like being able to get both with one feed, but also agree with you that it gets in the way at times. What I will probably do is rig up a priority circuit where the HF audio cuts out the VHF, or I will only add the VHF when the HF bands are dead anyway, or ditch it altogether... haven't decided yet.

As to the addition of 8846 during the day, that has been experimental, but will shortly become permanent when another radio or two arrive. Though 11396 can occasionally come in well, their use of it is not very predictable, whereas 5550, 6577 and 8846 are fairly predictable and come in well during the periods of greatest use... which is always nice.

This is what the setup will be over the summer with the solid-state radios running now (the big tube gear is off until I need the heat in the shack next Fall), and it will take another week or two for me to get there:

1. There will be three radios, each peaked and optimized for 6577, 5550 and 8846, however only two will be active on the stereo feed at any given time. 6577 will always be on the right channel (actually the channels are not discrete, the audio is panned about 45 degrees aurally to the left and right) and either 8846 or 5550 to the left.... that is what is going on right now, but with the addition of VHF 129.9 directly in the center.

2. The radios are rigged with "poor man's diversity", meaning their AGC lines are tied together, so the stronger signal on either radio will actually negatively suppress the weaker signal on the other radio, which makes things a bit more intelligible, however it will not match the seamless performance of the two R-390's feeding the CV-157 converter you were listening to in the first month or so, where you were not aware which frequency they were talking on unless they happened to mention it. That is why I added a bit of stereo separation with these "rice box" radios, because they are each detecting and generating their own audio instead of simply feeding their IF into a single converter. On the positive side, they have significantly better frequency stability than the tube rigs did and do not have to be re-tuned a few times a day like the others did. I don't know if you realized that this HF feed has always been two (sometimes more) simultaneously received channels, which is why there was no need for a schedule... you were listening to 6577 and 5550 at the same time, with others thrown in additionally from time to time.

3. ... But I can't do that type of blending and get the same performance with the cheap solid state radios running now, so we will only listen to two frequencies at a time. The automated schedule is probably going to be, as I said, 6577 at all times on the right, 8846 on the left from about 11:00Z through 01:00Z and 5550 from 01:00Z through 11:00Z. If I am around and 11396 (or higher) is active during the day I may plug that into the center instead of VHF, etc. It's a works in progress and all I am trying to do is put together a nice, busy channel to listen to that has some continuity of traffic.

4. As to the 8846 reception, that is actually going to get better pretty soon, in fact all three channels will because I am replacing my 65m dipole (which is not even close to being resonant at any of the frequencies we like) with a perfectly tuned trap dipole designed to pick up all three with a match under 2/1, so I suspect things will be sounding pretty good in another couple weeks.

Hi "Demon",

Appreciate your feeds, they are good for catching selcal codes.  Could I ask if it's possible to lose the 129.9 VHF feed please?  It is blocking out many of the HF transmissions and selcal codes, plus 129.9 is already provided by another feeder to this site.

What is your frequency schedule please?  I notice it's not mentioned in the listing like the other HF feeds.  It is nice to see that it now runs on 8846 through the daytime instead of 6577.  I am surprised how well you are picking up 8846 from your location actually. 

i know this is an old thread but Near miss is currently available on 4od in the UK, its free might just need to use a uk proxy

I myself love to listen to live ATC. However I always thought I could bring it to the next level. After a little of research, I have found out about an awesome website that can go great with listening to ATC! First, you get into the airport you would like to listen to, next you head to www.flightaware.com . Here, you can actually monitor & see flights via live radar! Once at the website, you can find the airport your listening to. Then you can actually track the aircraft that you hear from the live atc! It's a very cool and fun thing to do. I hope you all enjoy!

NOTE: I found out about this website by one of the links on the top of a Live ATC Chat

Can't get there from here.

Has anyone been able to do some air to air photography while flying?

If yes, what flight & route?

It's something i'm trying to do ..

Anyone hear anything about Korean Airlines bringing in the A380 in to Toronto (YYZ) ?

Current equipment is the 777-2

Typical media over-dramatization... 

I love how the Daily News says that "flames were engulfing the left wing"...

Hello everybody! I'm a student pilot preparing to pass the ICAO level test. I'm not a native speaker and  I've got some problems with the recognition of English speech in radiocommunications, especially if the record has bad quality. I guess listening to recordings and reading of misheard or misunderstood fragments would help me in developing of my skills. I would be very grateful if somebody adviced me any source where I could get such information. Thanks in advance!!!