why you should be scanning at 8.33 khz on the civil airband

the difference from scanning the civil airband on 25khz vs 8.33khz

[@neilcampbell4833]

Thanks for the video very useful . Can I still hear airband channels clearly enough that are using the 8.33 khz frequently on a 25 khz step scanner ?

[@daic7274]

Yes,although you will likely miss some transmissions. If you can scan at 12.5 or 5khz that would be better and pick up more transmissions. I also use an older scanner and am limited to 50,25,12.5 and 5khz. Also, depending where you live and what airport's you can receive this may not be much of a problem, I am in south Wales and pick up Cardiff and Bristol airport's, their main frequencies are located on the older channel spacing i.e they have not changed, so reception with old scanners is not a problem. St Athens airfield uses 8.33 but not very often use any newer channels that fit the 8.33 channel spacing. Some bigger international airports and European flights use 8.33 channels more than some of the smaller airports. Also worth scanning for are ground frequencies in the UHF Band if you have decent reception of tower and radar. Here you can hear aircraft getting instructions before takeoff etc. Usually around 460-470MHz. Get yourself a copy of the UKAGF book, the current 2022 version is out and lists all the airports and frequencies. Ofcom website, licence database you can find uhf frequencies that are licensed to airports.

[@marcel911]

Ok I understand this issue but if I am sat at an airfield and tuned to the tower I will still hear them. I can imagine it might not be as loud if my scanner is expecting a wider signal. Surely aviation frequency allocation is geographically spaced? I’m not likely to pickup any other ground based signal from an adjacent frequency because whoever that belongs to is not going to be close by. The next frequency up or down should belong to somewhere far enough away that the signal is too weak to pick up. Obviously signals from the air to the ground are going to travel further because they are not blocked. Scanning the band for signals is going to be a different kettle of fish and your example is going to be true. I’ve just bought an Icom IC-R2 off eBay mainly for the civil airband. Not got it yet but hope it will be useable. Hadn’t heard of the 8.33khz change until today.

[@paulmorrey733]

Hi Thanks for the video very useful - what program are you using for the sdr ? Thanks

[@UKAFG]

it is sdrconsole Paul

[@paulmorrey733]

@@UKAFG Thanks for the reply is it Ok with the sdrplay 1 ? I use uno but thinking of trying other software just out of curiosity . Would they co exist as I dont want to have to re install uno as it works fine ? Thanks again