Not Prepared For This..but Should Have Known Better....

I got caught a bit short last night...yet in thinking about it ..I should not have been...I should have known better....

I have a special locker out back wherein I also have hidden a roll up 40 foot piece of wire to function as an antenna....for my short wave set.

When we are caught up and not busy...I let the boss know how to get in touch with me via my cell phone ...and go back there and hook up my shortwave telescoping antenna to this 40 foot piece of wire.

I also take out my Baofeng walkie talkie and tune in the VHF/UHF frequencies and put it on the "Scan Function."


Well...one of the things I do on occasion ..in addition to listening to short wave and the Hams on Single Side Band mode...…..is to listen to six certain frequencies..

On these six frequencies I can pick up airliners...long range.... out over the Atlantic Ocean and communicating with New York air traffic controllers.
They will report in with their flight number....their altitude...their heading...and fuel status....and traffic is pretty busy....normally.


Well last night I scanned between these six frequencies and heard no traffic......at all. I was stunned...nothing...dead air space....nada...nothing!!!

I did this for about an hour while also scanning the VHF/UHF frequencies on my Baofeng walkie talkie.

I was just not prepared to hear dead air space on these six frequencies.

Here....the frequencies.

5.550 MHZ

6.586 MHZ

5.598 MHZ

8.906 MHZ

3.455 MHZ

5.616 MHZ

These frequencies are on Upper Side Band...mode..USB.

I should have better thought this through but did not. I was just not prepared for dead air space...nothing....NADA...nix!!! It was strange..the silence.

It was surely strange to hear nothing when I was accustomed to air traffic checking in regularly going into or out of New York Center.

Strange.....strange..strange..the dead air space...


Just thought I would pass this on to the members.....

Watcherchris
Not an Ishmaelite.

 

I will check this again tonight and should also check it throughout the day before I have to shove off.

Watcherchris
Not an Ishmaelite.

 

I guess all the airlines are grounded. Must have been very eerie!

 

It's like 9/11 except it's everyday.

Yeah, a good majority of airlines have been canceled. You can see airline traffic hear: http://global.adsbexchange.com/VirtualRadar/desktop.html

I'm not even hearing GA (General Aviation) traffic here at all from the local airport.

 

Good point about comparing it to 9/11 ...F 22 Pilot....I'd not thought it through that far.

I should state also that in the days after 9/11...in our building out of which we work.....we would often go outside and get some fresh air when we pause at work.

The sky's here overhead...are like an Interstate highway system for airliners..going to and fro the major airport Hubs..

It is not at all unusual so see contrails criss crossing the skys overhead.....most people hardly notice as they go about their work day on the ground...but not me ...having been raised on Air Force bases.

I made note in the days immediately after 9/11...how strange it was to not see contrails overhead...
We saw very very few commercial aircraft and mostly low flying military planes out and about.

Fortunately this did not last....as long as is what is going on today.

Thanks,
Watcherchris
Not an Ishmaelite.

 

Since I'm pretty observant and have an interest in aviation, I will sometimes hear a solemn prop plane flying over head in the dead of night and wonder about it and wonder where they are going and where it came from. So sometimes I'll look on the adsbexchange website and look and see who owns the aircraft and if possible where it came from.

I once saw helicopters circling he Narrows Bridge in NY and knowing how the media has a lot of online streaming I went to ABC7 NY on the Internet and watched their live stream. Sure enough they showed and reported on the Narrows bridge which was a cattle truck in a MVA.

On the adsbexchange website I've seen FBI planes and DHS planes. I'm sure one day that will change with how they register the plane due to these websites. Although, I think adsbexchange is the only website with unfiltered traffic thanks to people monitoring the traffic in their area and feeding that back to the website.

Those shortwave frequencies you posted are used just for trans-Atlantic flights for ETOPS. Since there is a moratorium on travel out to the UK and Europe you won't hear any traffic.

 

This links-in with satellite data showing exhaust production from industry dropping radically. In China and everywhere on Earth, industries have stopped running.

That which is giving off heat in China is the crematorium business. Crematoriums in China are beyond capacity attempting to burn tens of thousands of bodies ... or more.

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/wuhan-deaths-03272020182846.html

Communist China has urned its reputation of being the lying filth they are.

 

by F22 SimPilot,

Yes...they are indeed..long range Trans Atlantic. The give away is the low frequency bands used and also USB/Upper Side Band mode.

Once they get in so close you can hear the air traffic controllers instructing them to go into local radio frequencies and give them the Frequency numbers wherein they go to VHF and FM mode. This is just above the FM broadcasting mode and would be basically line of sight transmissions.


Olde Geezer,

That is very interesting information and for which I would not have thought through in that manner..but it certainly fits from an intelligence gathering manner...and very telling on activity going on.

Thanks,
Watcherchris

 

https://www.flightradar24.com/35.01,-77.98/8

https://tar1090.adsbexchange.com/

 

This thread points out how important it is to be able to have radio communications. Governments shut down opposing views. One must have a backup. We lose internet, then we turn to one of my sons' short wave system.

(Liberty also mandates that we have scoped long-range rifles. I'm not drinking the KoolAid. We're not getting on the trains.)
.

 

I am ignorant on radio frequency's or things such as ham radio usage but have been trying to educate my self on such things as I of lately have been considering buying a radio system in order to keep up with other people as we enter teotwawki . I am not that interested in talking as I am in to simply listening . I certainly don't trust most news outlets regardless whether they are public radio broadcasts , television or written down on a piece of paper . I don't know if a CB system or HAM system or both would be a viable avenue . Any suggestions would be welcomed .

 

That is funny!
China has 50,000 dead in Wuhan alone, minimum. There are reports of 21 million cell phone accounts being shut down. China does not allow citizens to deactivate their accounts as that is how they track and control people. There are lots dead but I don't know the true number. They started with 1.4 billion so there are still plenty to go around.

 

Poltiregist..

I strongly suggest you start with a shortwave set. Most of the shorwave sets also include regular AM/FM Broadcasting bands.

Most shortwave sets come with only AM/FM and then the long range HF bands in only AM mode.

This is the case with my Grundig FR 200 radio...no longer made..

https://www.amazon.com/Grundig-FR200-Emergency-Discontinued-Manufacturer/dp/B000083CUA/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1O3AD635ICG4T&dchild=1&keywords=grundig+fr200+emergency+radio&qid=1586855983&sprefix=grundig+fr200,aps,150&sr=8-3

Now...this is the radio I prefer and have purchased several of them over time and have them pre positioned.....with spare AA type batteries as well.

https://www.amazon.com/Tecsun-PL-660-Portable-Shortwave-Single/dp/B004H9C4JK/ref=sr_1_2?crid=QB6UF0U2ODDI&dchild=1&keywords=tecsun+pl-660&qid=1586856126&sprefix=tecsun+,aps,133&sr=8-2

With a longer external antenna hooked up to the telescoping antenna ...this gives me better reception...as the telescoping antennas are marginal at best for shortwave listening.


Now...Poltiregist..what a shortwave receiver allows you to do is receive both short range and also long range transmissions.

Shortwave being mostly AM/FM broadcast stations.

Long range being the shortwave bands and in my case I also like to tune into the ham bands as hams around the country often have a plethora of more local news and or information's about which they daily discuss.

The less expensive shortwave radios will not have Single Sideband tuning on the receive.

Oh...and though I don't monitor them much...this PL 660 radio will also receive the short range VHF aircraft band.


But that is your choice....your monies ...and your time.

But it helps to understand the concept of both long and short range reception.

Hope this helps you and the other members.


Transmitters are a bit different thing...but my Ham radios will receive all these long and short range frequencies...but are a bit more complex as well as expensive.

Most of what you want to do.....a short wave receiver will make do.


Watcherchris
Not an Ishmaelite.

 

Thanks I will look into shortwave radios , you may have saved me a lot of money as I was looking at Transmitters . ------ Update I bought that shortwave radio .

 

Poltiregist,
You can still get transmitters....
From time to time you will run across them at a good price...

I would recommend you get a shortwave set which can also pick up the CB frequencies....and the Tecsun 660 will do that.
My Grundig Fr200 will not pick up the CB frequencies....as it stops at 22.0 MHZ on the band and the CB frequencies run from 26.965 to 27.405 MHZ on the frequency dial.

Glad to have helped and yes....in particular if it saves you plenty of monies...no doubt!!!

Watcherchris
Not an Ishmaelite.

 

The high winds we had here broke the support line on my long wave/long range wire loop antenna.....high wind rub across a tree limb. I got out my heavy boat rod and reel and shot a line with a 3 .0z tear drop lead sinker back higher up on a tree limb...then pulled back a series of 50 foot lines tied together end to end to make the trip. Then I tied it to a particular spot on the wire loop antenna and hoisted it back up into the tree about 10/15ft higher up in the tree.

It works fine and tunes fine..... with the tuner I am using. Was able to get radio checks from here on the Chesapeake Bay of Virginia to down in Alabama....as well as upper Virginia and Tennessee. This on 75 meters or in the 3.500 MHZ band...at 90 watts.

Have another two 500 foot rolls of this wire as spares should they be needed to replace/repair the antenna.

My non Ishmaelite .02,
Watcherchris

 

Negative. Aviation all uses AM modulation, not FM. This standard has been set by the ICAO I do believe. Dates back to when AM radios had less electronics and were thus lighter.

Now a days there is talk of bring the aviation radio into the digital era with digital transmissions much like how a lot of public safety use digital now by the APCO standard of P25 phase I or II.

FM may be used by the military though.

 

Go to radioreference.com, find your state and ask what scanner you need for your area. Be advised scanners now a days are very complex and it's best to program them via computer. The Unidens allow you to simply enter a zip code, then from there you can lock out what you don't want to hear.

I'd also check out a good shortwave radio. You need a good antenna preferably in the attic for that. I chose the attic so that lightning doesn't hit it. Well, it can still get hit, but better than nothing. Look int a dipole and they sell them on eBay. Use LMR-400 cable.

For transmitting, check out the MURS radios or get a GMRS license. GMRS doesn't require a test just the 10 year anual fee of some $80 last I looked and it covers 7/8 family members.

 

Check out this site. They use SDRs so multiple people can tune the radio. http://www.websdr.org/

If you want to here France, chose the east coast. Want to here Japan or Hawaii, etc, chose the west coast.

 

I'm not sure this is exactly correct.....

I say this because these long range transmissions out over the ocean are in SSB mode..

But....

I went to one of the Doolittle reunions at the Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson, Ohio....wherein they had a lot of B 25 Mitchells flying in tribute to the last survivors of the raid.

I brought my Baofeng radio and was able to copy them when they formed up for a fly by ..

The Baofeng is a FM radio....I don't think it is set up for AM radio....and I heard them clearly.

Am on an FM radio comes in fuzzy...and vice versa...though both have carriers.


A number of hams and also the Repeaters are going digital now days...you cannot copy them on an ordinary ham rig...


I have an SDR radio here somewhere but never bothered to set it up...having shortwave and also HF rigs.


Thanks,
Watcherchris
Not an Ishmaelite.

 

It is absolutely correct as I've been interested in aviation and radio for many, many years. If you don't believe me then do the research and see that the VHF frequencies in aviation are in amplitude modulation.

That doesn't mean you can't here them in FM. It all depends on your radio's circuity and given a cheap Chinese radio I have no doubt it can hear an AM carrier on FM. And I can sometimes here the local airport's AWOS in FM perfectly fine even though it's in AM.

Here, done some research for you. https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1357995

 

And SSB (Single Side Band) is NOT FM, it's AM.

Weather it's upper side band or lower side band it's AM. I had a CB (AM frequencies) that used SSB as well as normal AM carrier.

 

i hadn't thought about the single and twin prop plane's not flying.I'm not not much into aviation. but yet i do notice the prop planes.their mostly the single props.i guess the twin prop planes be 1 out 30 to 50 planes.then there's the very seldom helicopter. i haven't noticed 1 plane or helicopter in the the last several day's. and to top it off.there's several small airports well within driving distance.in which i can reach on a 1/4 tank of gas or less .and at least most of them can handle leer jets.but yet.no air traffic of any kind what so ever.

 

F22 Pilot...

Thanks for that link...I've bookmarked it.

Understand about the higher frequencies and range limits...

I think single sideband removes the carrier...which is why it sounds so funny on an AM receiver...like insects buzzing....more or less..it is not traditional AM...it is with the carrier removed...

Also I believe single side band circuitry is a bit more complex...than AM circuitry..

If I remember correctly AM tends to vary at an Amplitude rate and FM varies at a frequency rate...looks very different on an oscilloscope.

Nonetheless...thanks for that link and explanation. I've bookmarked it.


Watcherchris
Not an Ishmaelite.

 

What I've noticed about propeller aviation in Turbo prop airplanes is that's this technology seems to have made some leaps in efficiency....

You now see propeller turbo prop aircraft much faster than in the olde days.

I see the Navy flying some kind of turbo prop plane with a saucer on the back. They have been flying them for years now...and I believe they now have some six or eight blades on the propellers instead of the four in the olde days.

And they are noticeably flying faster than in the olde days. This also hints to me of more fuel efficient as well.

Apparently propeller efficiency has taken a design leap of recent.

Watcherchris
Not an Ishmaelite.

 

Twin turbo-prop Dorniers, I've enjoyed being a passenger on these. The engines are as smooth as sewing machines.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=twin+turboprop+donier&atb=v140-1&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

 

The disk is part of the AEW&C system. OK, so I've not read about these (let's say I know some folk), but if you're reading some article and it doesn't say it, in addition to being command and control using the best radar, these puppies can jam the sh## out of the enemies radar and electronics, OK. The crews don't get the glory of the fighter pilots, however without them, the fighters can just be a bunch of sitting ducks. And they have to jump off decks and land on a postage stamp -- in bad weather -- just like the testosterone boys.

https://www.military.com/equipment/e-2c-hawkeye



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airborne_early_warning_and_control

 

Correct.

 

by Olde Geezer...

I expect not only have the propellers increased in efficiency but the engines as well...and working as matched/tuned set....


It has been many many years now since I flew the Atlantic in an Olde C 130 cargo plane to RAF Mildenhall...from here at Langley AFB...and its was a long noisy flight. Then back again.

I know now..today to bring hearing protection....it was very noisy on board. Stopped at Goose Bay, Labrador to fuel up going and at St John's Newfoundland on the return trip to fuel.

Now those were the olde Four bladed Alison engines on them back then. Looks that... in like manner to that Navy plane with the saucer on the back...the C130s today have newer engines and also more blades on the propellers.


The problem with military flights is they do not spend a lot of budget on creature comforts or noise reduction.....as do commercial flights.

I have since those olde Air Force days taken only one flight to and fro Hawaii.....and that was before 9/11 and all the chaos that caused..

Since those days I try to stay away from flying...and stay stateside.....nor fly here across this land...

Besides.....when I go outside my doors...I like to go heeled.....and that does not do well at airports.

I'll stick with Dorothy and Toto and click my heels three times....


Nonetheless....I like turbo props and glad to see them make leaps in performance...including fuel efficiency.


Hmmmm….seems to me I've seen a photo somewhere ...of the German Air Force with a big transport/cargo plane..with T type tail....and it looks like it should have jet engines but has turbo props with a lot of blades on the propellors…..it is a very interesting set up.....and seems to perform well...even on short take offs and landings....like I used to see the Olde C 130s doing here at Langley AFB.


Thanks,
Watcherchris

 

I took the advice some of you guys gave me . I got my shortwave radio in today . An old used shortwave radio made with tubes , " not as likely for that E.M.P. to knock it out " . It has lots of knobs and frequencies to play with and work great . Listening to some of the talk shows on it , I now am beginning to understand the importance of this device to a prepper . I got good advice from you guys .

 

Wow...poltiergist….an olde tube set.....Wow!!! Hang on to that one.

Now that you mention it...I have my mothers olde tube Grundig made back in the 1950s. It only works in limited capacity ...but have not thought of getting it rebuilt..today….but it would be rugged...and has some of the olde shortwave bands on it.

Only AM mode...but it worked well and sounded great when it worked.


Watcherchris
Not an Ishmaelite.

 

In a no electricity situation, maybe you can see about adding an old hand crank generator to it. Such a generator would need a very long arm for the sheer amount of torque you'll need. Solar is another option.

 

Exactly my line of thought also . I got my solar electrical system up and running last week . I have been running my deep freeze on the electrical system . I ordered wire this morning to run electrical wire from the solar system to an accessible location for my shortwave radio .

 

I liked my shortwave radio so much I bought a second one for my son . His is so old it was sold for parts as the owner didn't know whether it worked or not " was his grandfathers radio " . It works fine but it has to warm up about half a minute before it comes on . I wanted old shortwave radios hoping they will be able to survive an Electrical Magnetic Pulse or a Coronal Mass Ejection . It is interesting listening at night , to talk shows being transmitted from around the globe .

 

LOL LOL poltiergist….you have me walking once again down memory lane.

Our olde 1959 Volkswagon Micro bus (6volt system) had in it an olde AM tube radio....and it took some time to warm up before you could receive stations. It was the same with my mothers olde Tube Grundig shortwave radio....warm up time required.


Thanks for reminding me.

Watcherchris,
Not an Ishmaelite.