ATIS

spartacus · Post by **spartacus** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 6:52 pm

i've tuned my scanner to both Jandakot and Perth ATIS frequencies but i can not pick anything up,
Any Ideas why this could be????

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 7:51 pm

It could be your location - the ATIS can be hard to pick up if you're not airborne or at the airport yourself, even with an external antenna. Try winding the squelch right off so it's a continual 'hiss' - if you can hear the ATIS as a weak signal through the 'hiss' then it's your location/antenna combination.

spartacus · Post by **spartacus** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 8:13 pm

that sounds about right
however, i live in Como, near the canning bridge and there are planes in class G airspace above me, surley they must be able to pick it up???

Midnight · Post by **Midnight** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 2:43 am

Neg. What kind of scanner u using? And I hope its an external antenna. I did a bit of research into this while ago and i know the Perth ATIS is made to receive optimal signal while in the air so on the ground you wont be getting anything near full strength so even thought u are situated in the aero space doesn't mean u will be able to get it. Sorry to cut u deep :p i have same problem.

HOWEVER.

If u are desperate to get ATIS u can call this number: ( 08 ) 9476 8800
This number is run privately i understand and only one caller can be connected at any one time. It also cuts you off after the ATIS cycle has been through twice... It costs a local call.

Hope this was of some help

Regards
-Mike

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 1:11 pm

Those aircraft overhead in class G airspace have a distinct advantage over us here on the ground: their elevation gives them a direct line of sight with the ATIS transmitter.

The other thing about picking up aircraft radio traffic is that it's AM, which gets 'quieter' as you get further away, compared to FM which 'breaks up'.

If you're serious about picking up aircraft, an external antenna is essential unless you're within a few kilometres of the airport.

spartacus · Post by **spartacus** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:32 pm

just heard today that the visibility was 1.0km but got down to 100ft,
must have some pretty good pilots up there to bring the planes down in those condintions - even with ILS

wayne · Post by **wayne** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 10:18 am

On Longwave i can hear Perth ATIS on 272khz, Jandakot on 281khz and Pearce on 340Khz quite well down here in Bunbury.

Lino · Post by **Lino** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 4:23 pm

I use custom made commercial antennas for the airbands from Polar & RFI and you do pay a lot of money for these antennas but they are worth it and the civil avation authorities in australia use them and a lot of other countries use them as well and i do have discones but you cannot compare.

Regards Lino.

spartacus · Post by **spartacus** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 6:28 pm

a future investment for our most enthusisastic listeners

Lino · Post by **Lino** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 2:31 am

I have been monitoring the Airbands for 32 years and most of that i always had custom made antennas for the airbands and another option is the Diamond-D777 which i got 2 of these antennas and they work very well and they cover from 118Mhz-300Mhzis very hard to get in australia.

Regards Lino.

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 9:08 am

What's your best performing airband antenna? I see that ZCG, RFI and Polar all make airband antennas.

Lino · Post by **Lino** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 4:49 pm

Steve I use 3/Rfi-GP3 Groundplanes and 1/Polar Dipole and they work excellent and 1/Diamond-D777 and that pulls in some good signals speaking about ATIS i live 85 km from the main airport and i pick them up on a full signal strength and i do not live on a moutain infact its all flat where i live and the civil avation authorities in australia use the Rfi & Polar antennas in airports and other countries too.I wreckin its a good investment to have good antennas specially for the airbands and i have used the ZCG and it didnt come close to the other antennas at all when you consider it was 3 metrs higher up.I also use 2/Icom-AH7000 discones and they are the best antennas around for wide band receiving.

Regards Lino.

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 2:30 pm

RFI have quoted $205 plus GST for the GP3 which isn't bad - about the same as a Diamond discone which is what I use now. Worth considering I think - with the cops going digital I might get more serious about the airband stuff.

Polar do a ground plane antenna for airband at around $600 all up including freight to Perth - that's getting up there price-wise. Is the polar dipole very directional?

Lino · Post by **Lino** » Fri Aug 10, 2007 2:34 am

Steve thats a good price they use to cost more than that and if you are going to buy a discone i have tried all the Diamond discones and performance is not very good at all when you consider that the Icom-AH7000 leaves for dead when it comes to signals on the airbands and the advantage with the Icom you get 50 feet of goodquality low loss cable with 2 N-type connectors.I take my hobby verry serious and a lot of people do not realise that when you are listenning to the airbands if you dont have a good antenna you are going to hear more hiss than clarity and thats annoying and by the way i also use the Rfi/Polar hand helds antennas and they perfor very well and so often i go to the airport and you can hear other people radios they are listenning to all that hiss than voice and a bloke asked me last time how come yous signal is coming in nice and clean from 400km away and i cannot even listen to the block in the tower and i proved to him that you put a good antenna and you will get somewhere and after listenning to the airbands for more than 32 years i got plenty of experience and these are the radios that i use.

RADIOS:ALINCO-DJX2000,AOR-3000A,AOR-8200MK3,AOR-8600MK2,ICOM-R5,ICOM-R-3,ICOM-R20,ICOM-R1000,ICOM-R2500,ICOM-R8500ICOM-R9000,ICOM-R9500,UNIDEN-BCD3500,UNIDEN-396,UNIDEN-785E,UNIDEN-996,RADIO SHACK-PRO96,REALISTIC-PRO2035,YAESU-VR500,YAESU-VR-5000,YAESU-VX7R.

Regards Lino.

Regards Lino.

wayne · Post by **wayne** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 2:47 pm

Hi Lino,

What testing/practices did you use to determine that the Icom AH-7000 is better than the Diamond ( i assume we're all talking about the 130-J ) ?

I used to use the Diamond D-130J and now use a Icom AH-7000 but i read somewhere they were the same antenna - Diamond just made it for Icom and although i did'nt own the 2 at the same time, physically i thought their appearance and construction was identical.

When i lived in Capel ( 180klms south of Perth ) i used the Diamond D-130J and with a home made preamp ( 20db ) that i built i was able to receive Perth ATIS and the Ground stations all the time especially 133.9 Mhz came through very well with no help from atmospheric ducting.