[Scan-DC] Aviation route frequency -- 129.45 MHz

[Punworg]

Similar good listening in middle Virginia with 129.450 on Poor Mountain (near Roanoke) and 129.500 on Tobacco Row Mountain (near Lynchburg).

-Peter in Roanoke



----- Original Message ----
From: Andrew Clegg <w4jecom at w4je.com>
To: scan-dc at mailman.qth.net
Sent: Tuesday, April 7, 2009 1:21:39 PM
Subject: [Scan-DC] Aviation route frequency -- 129.45 MHz

A couple of weeks ago I discovered a cool aviation route frequency, 129.45
MHz. It is licensed to AIRINC, with a base station at National. Planes in
route use this frequency to get phone patches to an aviation services
company in San Francisco. It is used for a variety of purposes, but one of
the more interesting (and more frequent) uses is to report problems with
passengers, such as medical issues. On this frequency, the pilots can be
patched through to a company called "Medstat" that has doctors on call 24/7
who can talk to the pilot and assess the seriousness of the medical issues,
and help decide whether the pilot needs to divert for a quick landing or
have paramedics waiting upon a scheduled arrival.

Over the last two weeks, I have been recording this frequency automatically
using Scanrec. I get about one hour or so of activity for each 24 hours of
recording. From where I am I can hear the base station at National, and
usually I can also hear the planes. However, even if you are not within
reach of National, you could probably hear the plane side of the
conversation for a couple hundred miles, and it is usually the plane side
that is the more interesting ("we are unable to get a pulse; passenger is
unconscious;" etc.).

So far I have heard several serious medical issues, two unruly passenger
incidents, and one pilot that was getting worried because his main and
alternate airports were both rerouting due to weather and the plane's fuel
was running low (they ended up being routed to Allentown PA instead of
Boston).

Anyway, for those who haven't heard this one before, it can be quite
interesting. If you have other specific route frequencies that are used for
equally interesting comms, I would be interested to hear about them!

Andy

______________________________________________________________
Scan-DC mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/scan-dc
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:Scan-DC at mailman.qth.net

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html