[Scan-DC] Washington Area Airport Freqs

[Steve Thompson]

There's a lot of dated information out there about air traffic 
control frequencies, so I decided to buy a set of IFR charts and the 
latest edition of "U.S. Terminal Procedures, Northeast," which is the 
FAA's bible on approach, departure, tower and ground frequencies and 
patterns, updated frequently.  Not at all expensive if you want your 
own copy (FAA Product ID BTPPNE from www.naco.faa.gov).  Airnav.com 
is a good source of frequencies but it often omits UHF frequencies 
and I don't know how often it is updated.

The information below gives VHF and UHF tower, approach and departure 
freqs for Reagan National, Dulles and Andrews, and if it's out of 
date, then there are a lot of pilots flying around with out-of-date 
info, too.  I did not lift the ATIS, Ground Control and other, 
specialized channels which are of minimal interest and which don't 
change often.  There will be other frequencies for approach and 
departure which I have missed because of reliance on this publication 
for IFR flying.  Comments based on actual monitoring (not Internet 
listings) are welcome.

Potomac Tracon (approach and departure for the local airports) has 
other frequencies for Baltimore, Richmond and other airports which 
Potomac Tracon also serves.  It's a consolidated facility for the 
region, located out at Vint Hill, VA.  There may be Potomac Tracon 
frequencies which are further from the Washington area which also 
support more-distant flights coming into these three airports.

Remember that when the airports aren't busy, some frequencies will be 
shut down and their function consolidated.  Directions below are 
approximate.  They are more precisely defined in another FAA 
publication, but I've never found a need for that level of precision 
in monitoring.

MilAir listeners, please feel free to post to the appropriate forums 
if you think it will be helpful.  I'd appreciate comments and error 
reports posted on SCAN-DC.  Sorry if the formatting goes haywire when 
this is sent as an e-mail.  Cut and paste it to a word processing 
program and clean it up as necessary.  Here goes:


WASHINGTON DULLES:

Tower for 1R/19L                                120.1           338.25
Tower for 1C/19C                                120.25  348.6
Tower for 1L/19R & 12/30                128.425 348.6
Final Approach, all directions  120.45  343.775
Approach Control from 
South             124.65
Approach Control from North             125.8
Approach Control from North *   126.1           338.25
Departure Control from South            126.65  350.2
Departure Control from North            125.05  350.2

Notes:  * The published Standard Terminal Arrivals to Dulles from the 
north use these two frequencies.

My own monitoring makes me think that Dulles is not simulcasting its 
UHF frequencies all of the time but is using them when necessary.  I 
plan to check this further, but you need to be near the transmitters 
to hear the UHF in many cases.  Comments welcome.


REAGAN NATIONAL:

Tower                                   119.1           257.6
Helicopters                             134.35
Approach Control from South             119.85  323.3 and 322.3 *
Approach Control from South             124.7           338.2
Approach Control from East              124.55  317.425
Approach Control from North             128.7           307.9
Approach Control from West              118.675 343.7

Notes:  *  If these two UHF frequencies are actually one and there's 
a typo involved, it's in the book that way.  MilAir listeners, please comment.

Yes, I know that Reagan National will have Departure Control 
frequencies, but there are none in this book because it lists only 
Standard Instrument Departures and Reagan National has none of 
those.  I must get the Departure Control freqs from another FAA 
publication, which I don't have at the moment.  I'll revise this 
posting when I get those freqs and will also incorporate corrections 
posted on SCAN-DC, provided they are based on actual monitoring and 
not just some list on the Internet.


ANDREWS AFB:

Tower                                   118.4           349.0
ILS, NDB & TACAN Approaches             119.3           355.5
RNAV and GPS Approaches         124.0           269.0
Other Approaches from South             128.35  270.275
Departure Control to N & S              125.65  348.725
Departure Control to West               118.95  257.2


Hope this list is helpful.  If you're hearing frequencies that I've 
missed (other than ATIS, Ground Control, etc.) please let me know by 
posting to SCAN-DC.  I'll post revisions as necessary.

Steve, N4TX