I cant seem to pick up Perth or Jandakot airports. Any ideas

[krell_audio]

Hi All

I am very new to the scanning world. I purchased a Uniden UBC73XLT Scanner this week. The only thing I am really interested in scanning is Air. I put all the frequencies given on this website for perth and jandakot. I live in baldivis so I accept I would not pick anything up down there due to distance. I work in canningvale in between Perth and Jandakot and still cannot pick anything up. Do I really need to be closer to the airports to pick anything up? Would i benefit changing my antenna out for a better one?
Any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers

[yorky]

You should get something.

Which frequencies did you put in?

[Nafenn]

you should be able to atleast pick up the aircraft, not sure about the ATC

[robbage]

Dial up an ATIS. There's always something to hear. Jandakot is 120.900 MHz (AM obviously) and Perth is 123.800 MHz

[Nafenn]

Dial up an ATIS. There's always something to hear. Jandakot is 120.900 MHz (AM obviously) and Perth is 123.800 MHz

or 281.0 kHz if you can dial that low

You might want to check all the frequencies again - Just remember that all airband frequencuies are AM, so make sure that your scanner is set to receive AM, not FM. if your scanner is set to receive FM it will not hear AM and vice versa

Just remember, its all line of sight, so if you cant see the airport, you may not be able to hear them. For example: i live about 5 minutes from Perth airport and struggle to hear App/Dep controllers, but can hear the aircraft that are airborne

[Steve]

Start with two frequencies: 118.7 (departures) and 123.6 (approach). These are busy and will give you an idea of whether you can hear anything.

If you can use and external antenna, do so. A hand-held with the supplied antenna will be hard-pressed to pick up much in the way of signal if it's indoors.

[krell_audio]

Thanks for all the advice I ran up to the airport yesterday and seemed to pick up everything. But that said I did not pick anything up intil I got on horrie millar drive. Would an outdoor antenna pick up the airport from baldivis??

[Steve]

Well an outdoor antenna is better than any kind of indoor antenna, so that's a good start.

Hard to say, but don't be surprised if you can pick up the aircraft, but not the controllers. The planes have the advantage of being airborne, so they have elevation and a better line-of-sight with your antenna.

Give it a go - nothing to lose!

[robbage]

I ran up to the airport yesterday and seemed to pick up everything. But that said I did not pick anything up intil I got on horrie millar drive.

You should be receiving something a LOT further away than Horrie, even with the rubber duckie. Assuming the receiver is brand new (and the rubber duckie) it might be worth checking your settings.. especially make sure you haven't got the attenuator turned on. Make sure the antenna is fully inserted. If possible, try another antenna just to see.
An external antenna high up will help from Baldivis, especially to Perth. You're getting beyond the horizon to Perth.