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Dxing airborne - Happy Holidays!

L

Lee_T

Guest
Hi does anyone here know if someone have ever tried to
DX airborne from a plane? what if I DX from a walk-man?

I have a little GE walk-man here at home, it's about
12 years old and I was wondering if I can bring it on
a plane to listen to my tapes or even listen to my
radio to see if I can find any stations up in the air
if it's safe to do so?

I'm just curious since i'm flying south in January!

I would be quite interested of what radio signals will
sound like from a plane.

Incase I don't get posting on the DX board here again
this Holiday season, have a Merry Christmas and a
Happy New Year to all!

Take care and all the best!

From Lee.
 
> Hi does anyone here know if someone have ever tried to
> DX airborne from a plane? what if I DX from a walk-man?
>
> I have a little GE walk-man here at home, it's about
> 12 years old and I was wondering if I can bring it on
> a plane to listen to my tapes or even listen to my
> radio to see if I can find any stations up in the air
> if it's safe to do so?
>
> I'm just curious since i'm flying south in January!
>
> I would be quite interested of what radio signals will
> sound like from a plane.
>
> Incase I don't get posting on the DX board here again
> this Holiday season, have a Merry Christmas and a
> Happy New Year to all!
>
> Take care and all the best!
>
> From Lee.
>

People have but it is against most airline rules since the walkmans can interfere with air navigation signals. I wouldn't recommend it without first checking with the airline's regulations.


<P ID="signature">______________

</P>
 
> > Hi does anyone here know if someone have ever tried to
> > DX airborne from a plane? what if I DX from a walk-man?
> >
> > I have a little GE walk-man here at home, it's about
> > 12 years old and I was wondering if I can bring it on
> > a plane to listen to my tapes or even listen to my
> > radio to see if I can find any stations up in the air
> > if it's safe to do so?
> >
> > I'm just curious since i'm flying south in January!
> >
> > I would be quite interested of what radio signals will
> > sound like from a plane.
> >
> > Incase I don't get posting on the DX board here again
> > this Holiday season, have a Merry Christmas and a
> > Happy New Year to all!
> >
> > Take care and all the best!
> >
> > From Lee.
> >
>
> People have but it is against most airline rules since the
> walkmans can interfere with air navigation signals. I
> wouldn't recommend it without first checking with the
> airline's regulations.
>

It has been done indeed... Let me do some research... One of the "Aircheck/DXer sites has actual logs from flights...
 
I have heard FM radio stations from an airplane with permission. You can get stations up to 300 miles from where the plane is. Stations about 60-100 miles are usually the strongest aboard a plane. It sounds like e-skip, with stations rapidly fading into each other, not staying for more than about 20 minutes. When flying over an international country with few FM stations, they were audible for over an hour.<P ID="signature">______________
17-year-old radio geek
Location: Princeton Junction, NJ
AIM: KewlDude471
WWPH 107.9 FM: http://wwph1079fm.no-ip.org</P>
 
> I have heard FM radio stations from an airplane with
> permission. You can get stations up to 300 miles from where
> the plane is. Stations about 60-100 miles are usually the
> strongest aboard a plane. It sounds like e-skip, with
> stations rapidly fading into each other, not staying for
> more than about 20 minutes. When flying over an
> international country with few FM stations, they were
> audible for over an hour.
>
I've done it as well. Just ask one of the flight attendants.

It can be quite exciting. I remember flying back home from vacation, and I received the 25-100kW Columbus, GA local stations clear as a bell over most of North Carolina. It was unreal, especially since I was receiving my local stations over the locals directly underneath me!
 
Range on Sony Walkman - picking it up

My personal best was about 100 feet - using a REAL
Sony Walkman and receiving the 'radiated' signal
that thing put out (the receiver's LO or Local
oscillator) on a hand-held scanner programmed for
a frequency +10.7 MHz higher in the aircraft band.

An old Sears AM/FM radio had an even LONGER range - that
radio put out quite a whopping signal that wasn't always
exactly 10.7 MHZ above station that it was tuned to
though!


I bet using a *real* radio like the aircraft radios
aboard aircraft I could pick up the Sony Walkman
perhaps 50% further away.
 
> Hi does anyone here know if someone have ever tried to
> DX airborne from a plane? what if I DX from a walk-man?
>
> I have a little GE walk-man here at home, it's about
> 12 years old and I was wondering if I can bring it on
> a plane to listen to my tapes or even listen to my
> radio to see if I can find any stations up in the air
> if it's safe to do so?
>
> I'm just curious since i'm flying south in January!
>
> I would be quite interested of what radio signals will
> sound like from a plane.
>
> Incase I don't get posting on the DX board here again
> this Holiday season, have a Merry Christmas and a
> Happy New Year to all!
>
> Take care and all the best! From Lee.

I did DXing on a cross-country flight using a walkman-type radio after getting permission from the flight attendant. For AM, the reception was difficult beacuse of being inside a metal cage. But placing the radio against a window would allow the reception of some AM stations. For FM, the reception was great while flying across the sparsely populated areas like the intermountain region but horrible while over the populated areas of the midwest and east. I think this was due to the capture effect. Because of the multitude of signals in the east, the capture effect was prominent. For instance, the Salt Lake stations were audible for several hundred miles. But, while over Chicago, the FM stations were audible only while over and near the metro area- probably because several stations were within line-of-sight on any given frequency at 30,000 feet in that part of the country. At 35,000 feet, the horizon is 250-300 miles away. So if you were tuned to an FM station, you would be able to receive that signal for 500-600 miles - if the frequency is not crowded. If the FM sticks were located on high mountain peaks, that audible distance would be closer to 700 miles. That was the case with the Salt Lake City stations.

>
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Len14043 on 12/26/05 01:45 AM.</FONT></P>
 
> > I have heard FM radio stations from an airplane with
> > permission. You can get stations up to 300 miles from
> where
> > the plane is. Stations about 60-100 miles are usually the
>
> > strongest aboard a plane. It sounds like e-skip, with
> > stations rapidly fading into each other, not staying for
> > more than about 20 minutes. When flying over an
> > international country with few FM stations, they were
> > audible for over an hour.
> >
> I've done it as well. Just ask one of the flight attendants.
>
>
> It can be quite exciting. I remember flying back home from
> vacation, and I received the 25-100kW Columbus, GA local
> stations clear as a bell over most of North Carolina. It was
> unreal, especially since I was receiving my local stations
> over the locals directly underneath me!
>

It is quite a treat, I remember when I was flying from Dallas to Orlando about five years ago for the spring band trip in mid April, I remember listening to my sony Walkman on the plane and lost the Dallas stations when we flew over New Orleans andn started picking up stuff up out of Florida and Alabama some were mixed of course do to co channel stations. Me and my friend were on the same flight, and I told him about it and he had tuned about in and I also remember that the attendant asked us to turn them off while we were over a certain area and was very nice about it and said that she would come and tell us when it was safe to turn them again, about 20 minutes later since it had been overcast and we were going through storms. I would just ask the flight attendant first before you do anything. <P ID="signature">______________
"I'm a gonna go to hell when I die!" Connan O'Brien

"yay boo, yay boo, it's lots of fun to do, if ya like it holler yay, and if ya don't ya holler boo!"

Connan O'Brien
</P>
 
Re: Dxing airborne is prohibited or illegal on most airlines

> Hi does anyone here know if someone have ever tried to
> DX airborne from a plane? what if I DX from a walk-man?

There was a rather bitter exchange here about 6 or 8 months ago regarding using FM radios on board airliners.

The fact is, most airlines prpohibit the use of FM radios, as they emit a signal that is very near the aviation band as a process of converting the signal to usable audio.

On some airlines, like American, the specific prohibition is even printed in the in-flight magazine.

As a frequent traveller, I would object to the use of a radio on a plane as it puts my life in danger. Yes, I am an engineer (although I do not prcatice) and was board certified in Ecuador and I believe that FM radios can and do interfere with avionics.

Consider it this way: you are putting your own life in danger by turning on a radio on a commercial airliner. You are also endangering all the other passengers.
 
We were flying to Colorado from Dallas. When we were over the Texas/New Mexico border, a couple Dallas stations were barely being heard. Lubbock stations went well into Colorado.

When I flew to Hawaii from California. Los Angeles and San Diego stations were coming in for about an hour before they faded out.
 
DXing From The Ground WHILE MOBILE Can Be Just As Exciting (WAS: Re: Dxing airborne - Happy Holidays!)

Hi everyone:

> > It can be quite exciting. I remember flying back home from
>
> > vacation, and I received the 25-100kW Columbus, GA local
> > stations clear as a bell over most of North Carolina. It
> was
> > unreal, especially since I was receiving my local stations
>
> > over the locals directly underneath me!
> >
>
> It is quite a treat, I remember when I was flying from
> Dallas to Orlando about five years ago for the spring band
> trip in mid April, I remember listening to my sony Walkman
> on the plane and lost the Dallas stations when we flew over
> New Orleans andn started picking up stuff up out of Florida
> and Alabama some were mixed of course do to co channel
> stations. Me and my friend were on the same flight, and I
> told him about it and he had tuned about in and I also
> remember that the attendant asked us to turn them off while
> we were over a certain area and was very nice about it and
> said that she would come and tell us when it was safe to
> turn them again, about 20 minutes later since it had been
> overcast and we were going through storms. I would just ask
> the flight attendant first before you do anything.

DXing Radio & TV can be just as exciting on the ground when you're mobile either in your car (not while you're driving of course :) ) or on board a Greyhound Bus (the latter being the case for me some several years back).

I once took a trip via Greyhound to Waxahachie, TX for a wedding and took along a walkman, my Ham HT and my little portable TV. along with all the other stuff which I had to take along. Suffice to say, there wasn't much I could get on the HT (even on 146.52) once we (my Mom and Dad were with me at the time) left Pueblo and started heading East on U.S. 50.

Tried to get KRDO 13 in for an episode of "Star Trek", but didn't realize they don't reach that far South & East. Going there, I got NOTHING on TV once I lost (of all stations) KOAA 5/30 (I was watching via Channel 5 when we left Pueblo as Channel 30 crapped out). Also got nothin' on radio except for KRDO-FM 95.1 and KKLI-FM 106.3 (Then again, I think those were the only two stations I cared to listen to).

After a stop in Lamar (a small town in the SE corner of Colorado, where I was tuned into the one and only local station on 105.7), I then picked up this country station on 100.3 CLEAR AS A BELL. I mean, by the time I was pulling this station in, THERE WAS NOTHING ELSE ANYWHERE ON THE DIAL!! It was as if my Walkman couldn't tune anywhere else (which it could, but didn't find anything).

We were also going through the Oklahoma panhandle at this time too.

Later, after we entered Texas and began to saw some serious lights (it was dark by this time), I whipped out my TV and started scanning the dial for Amarillo TV stations. Found a CBS station on (what turned out to be) Channel 10 (I had originally thought it was Channel 9). Their calls are KFDA (??). The signal was very weak at first, but gained strength. KVII 7 was next, though due to my determination to catch where the CBS station on Channel 10 was from, I didn't get a very good view of KVII 7 (ABC) from a distance.

KAMR 4 never did come in very good (even when I was in town AND inside the Bus Terminal). Neither did the local PBS station on Channel 2 (??). Channel 14, the local FOX affiliate was kickin' some MAJOR ass. It had a GREAT signal (even as I was first coming into Amarillo and NEARLY AN HOUR AFTER I LEFT Amarillo.

Strangely enough, as I was leaving Amarillo and before losing the stations, I was able to catch a glimpse of Montel Williams on Channel 65 (I didn't catch the calls but I think I saw an ad for a UPN program). Once I lost this station, I went back to Channel 14 before I lost it.

En route to the DFW Metroplex, which would be our bus destination, I concentrated mainly on radio because there was no receivable TV (I tried and tried and tried). Got a weak signal on (I think!) 93.5 FM. I don't quite remember the format or anything, but I assumed that, given where I was and what I had to receive radio signals, it was probably out of the direction of Lubbock.

Coming back was even MORE interesting. Not long after leaving Wichita Falls, I started getting this classic rock station out of Oklahoma on 93.5 FM (I'm certain of this one!). I could hear this station for MILES. As weak as it was, it was VERY audible into my headphones. I didn't catch the calls, but I did hear some ads from local area (to the station) merchants and they made references to being "the best" in what they do in all of Southern Oklahoma and Northern Texas. The station eventually faded away, but not before I was halfway to Amarillo.

After leaving Amarillo and while in Oklahoma, for some strange reason (Having no walkman 'cause the batteries blew or something), I decided to turn on my TV.

GOOD THING I DID.

Not long after we left the final rest stop in Oklahoma and headed up this hill, I started receiving (what turned out to be) KAKE 10 out of Wichita, KS. I was like WTF? Here I was watching an episode of "Walker, Texas Ranger" as I sat on a Greyhound Bus (with a 2 inch TV and telescopic whip no less!) in OKLAHOMA HEADING INTO COLORADO!! I thought that was WAY cool.

I checked to see if I could get Channel 12, the local CBS affiliate in Wichita, but no go. So I switched back to Channel 10 where I watched "Walker, Texas Ranger" followed by another show (I don't remember now) and the beginning of "ABC News Now" before KAKE and KKTV began interfering with one another. I eventually lost KAKE as we travelled further West toward Pueblo and caught KKTV 11 as it was just finishing an encore broadcast of "Wheel Of Fortune" before it signed off for the night. Once that happened, I found myself watching KOAA 5/30 where they were airing (I believe it was) the 1977 version of "King Kong". From there, the rest of the trip was pretty boring.

So there ya have it folks. As descriptive and narrarative as it was.

Just my $.05 worth (I suppose!) :)

Cheers for now & 73 :)

Pat (Ham Call KB0OXD)<P ID="signature">______________
patspodcast03a.jpg

http://patspodcast.blogspot.com/
Radio? Uhh.....What's THAT?? :)</P>
 
KAKE

I remember as a young child being able to watch KAKE on channel 2 (not 10) for a few minutes at home in Mobile, AL-I think this was about 16-18 years ago; my family's neighbors on one side had a satellite dish, which probably helped with the unusual catch. (My neighbor on the other side was none other than WKRG's Mel Showers).<P ID="signature">______________
chargeradioweb.jpg
</P>
 
Re: Link to previous discussion -

Figure it this way:
The FM radio local oscillator radiates 10.7MHz above what the radio is tuned to.
The aircraft Nav band begins just above 108.0MHz.
Let us all promise to keep our radios tuned below 97.1MHz.<P ID="signature">______________
Proud 2 B a pioneering satellite radio subs¢riber
Ai4i is always on the trailing edge of technology
______________</P>
 
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