[kwlug-disc] listening to the airport

[Colin Mackay]

My daughter is getting her pilot's license, so we're out all over listening
to our portable scanner at Stratford, or ATC on LiveATC
<https://www.liveatc.net/> (https://www.liveatc.net/).  You can get most of
the big airports around, including YKF (Waterloo) and YYZ (Toronto).  If
you just want to listen to general aviation on a day to day basis, then you
can get a scanner that has airband, like the Uniden Bearcat BC125AT (
https://www.amazon.ca/Uniden-Bearcat-Channel-Numeric-BC125AT/dp/B00772MR0K).

As mentioned previously an RTL SDR and some software running on your laptop
works, but it's a bit bulky to tote around. (But fun!)

Air Band is 118.000 MHz to 136.975 MHz and is AM, not FM, so you can often
get small planes from quite far away.

On Tue, May 26, 2026 at 9:32 AM Matteo Golin <matteo.golin at gmail.com> wrote:

> It is completely legal to listen to ATC broadcasts (just don't transmit on
> those frequencies!). There are actually lots of websites that should let
> you listen in without having to buy any radio equipment.
>
> What I use personally is the RTL SDR
> <https://www.amazon.ca/RTL-SDR-Blog-RTL2832U-Software-Defined/dp/B0BMKB3L47/ref=sr_1_9?adgrpid=1357897093579801&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.GINbOorF9bamI8N4_J0T0xvo4tuJKY7MLPqOMBT_vCYTFqQLEFQK0EBUwKjRB1INGmy-MO-QMWUoyk-C8Q-oAgXRWdzIw4IUWYlwzW6qH1IDFXT9LmY3wno4RSOV4YZ-490XG8bPi_zVN9Aw63JR6mW60mIrRHsTg3XaeE9ckihT8ezBTESMWKaiWBMo367-vlZlYSlrA-DGwFDr3yRCgzf5lqRIGVoVBWH0B2yDdTj31EYz-ZylCUse-mSZPKna5IVXUYMHNj_-_wXSNv5mOcyCzFnAFSs5rd8LNQPjkN4.57QJmQkK3kLFDOC1Rd2vQ1OFYC_H-8la1ZYtZUWH15Q&dib_tag=se&hvadid=84868723111792&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=124144&hvnetw=s&hvqmt=e&hvtargid=kwd-84868738382124%3Aloc-32&hydadcr=4517_10135798&keywords=rtl%2Bsdr&mcid=4cecfe3edcce379095be562ea7fb88b2&qid=1779802146&sr=8-9&th=1>
>  (https://www.rtl-sdr.com/about-rtl-sdr/) and GNU Radio to decode the
> signals. Seems to be a lot more expensive then when I originally bought it
> :( It's a receiver only.
>
> On Tue, May 26, 2026 at 9:04 AM CrankyOldBugger <crankyoldbugger at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Wifeski likes it when I take her to the airport on a sunny day so she can
>> watch the planes take off and land.  We part on Otter Ct, near the WR
>> International.  It's a good spot with a view of most of the runways.
>>
>> But I was wondering... how does one tune into the chatter between
>> the tower and the pilots?  Is there a special radio I need to buy?  I did
>> manage to no-AI-DDG (notice I didn't say "google") what frequencies they
>> use, and they seem to be way out of reach of my truck's AM/FM radio.
>>
>> Any radio experts in here have any ideas on what I need to buy?  Is it
>> even legal to be snooping on the radio traffic?
>>
>>
>>
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