Both the flow of air traffic, and air traffic control communication, is interesting to observe - especially during rush hour! You can listen to live air traffic control (ATC) radio communication of many airports around the world, via the internet. These live audio feeds are also good for student pilots: get used to standard phraseology of ground control, tower, etc., at various speeds. As my first flight instructor used to say: "radio work is half the job of a pilot!", especially in a busy corridor of the USA. Likewise, much of the world's air traffic (in particular airline flights) can also be tracked in real-time on a map. On average, over 5000 airplanes are in the skies over the USA at any given time (source: NATCA). Links to ATC audio and flight tracking websites are listed below.
The following website provides (near) real-time tracking of thousands of flights around the world, both of airlines and of "private" aircraft equipped with ADS-B. You can zoom-in on the map, filter on airline name and aircraft type, see the flight track & profile since take-off of the selected aircraft, etc. Coverage outside the USA and Europe is still limited, due to the small number of (accessible) ground-based ADS-B responders in outside those areas.
It is fascinating to see the amount of traffic "pulsate" between the continents, as the day-night cycle progresses. The clip below shows a 24 hour time-lapse of air traffic around the world, compressed into about one minute! In the skies over the USA, there are 80-100 thousand flights every day! Only about 30% are commercial flights (large & regional airlines), another 30% is general aviation (private airplanes), another 30% are air taxi flights (planes for hire, charters), and the remaining 10% are cargo and military flights.
VHF radio communication has limited range. Large areas of the world do not have VHF coverage for air traffic control radio communication - either because they are too far from land (i.e., the oceans), or because they are remote and the controlling countries can not provide coverage for economic reasons. To compensate for this lack of VHF coverage, a number of Major World Air Route Areas (MWARAs) were established around the world. For flights along these routes, air/ground communication is done via shortwave radio, on aviation-specific HF frequencies (3 - 30 MHz) with Single Side-Band (SSB) modulation.
Note that, generally, the pilots do no communicate directly with an ATC-controller of, e.g., an Oceanic Area Control Center (OAC). Instead, the radio communication is between aircrews and intermediary operators at ground stations. The latter radio-operators have no executive ATC authority, and the ground-stations are typically not co-located with ATC-centers. The communications consist of position reports, clearance requests, updates of time-estimate for the next reporting position, and meteorological reports. Here is a list of the HF aviation frequency bands:
2850- 3155 kHz
3400- 3500 kHz
4650- 4750 kHz
5450- 5730 kHz
6525- 6765 kHz
8815- 9040 kHz
10005-10100 kHz
11175-11400 kHz
13200-13360 kHz
15010-15100 kHz
17900-18030 kHz
20005-21000 kHz
21850-22000 kHz
22720-24890 kHz
Click on one of the following regions to get detailed information on the HF frequencies (in kHz):
For starters, you may want to try 5598, 5616, 5649, 8825, and 13306 kHz (USB). These North Atlantic frequencies are typically busyaround 05:00 GMT.
Note: the list below has not been verified, and is not kept up-to-date! It is not to be used for any purpose other than personal monitoring.
Africa - AFI |
General: 2851,2878, 3419, 3425, 3467, 4657, 5493, 5517, 5652, 6559, 6574, 6673, 8894, 8903, 11300, 11330, 13273, 13288, 13294, 17961 |
AFI 1 Abidjan 6535, 6673, 8861 Bamako 6673, 8861 Bissau 6535, 8861, 13357, 17955 Canaries 3452, 6535, 8861, 13357, 17955 Casablanca 3452, 6535, 8861, 13357 Conakry 8861 Dakar 3452, 6535, 6673, 8861, 13357, 17955 Freetown 6673, 8861 Korhogo 6673 Monrovia/Roberts 3452, 6673, 8861 Nouadhibou 5670, 6673, 8861 Nouakchott 5670, 6673, 8861 Ouagadougou 6673 Sanaa 5658 Sal 3452, 6535, 8861, 13357, 17955 AFI 2 AFI 3 AFI 4 AFI-5 |
Caribbean - CAR |
General: 2887, 3455, 5520, 5550, 6577, 6586, 8846, 8918, 11387, 11396, 13297, 17907 |
CAR Barranquilla 2887, 6577, 8918, 11387 Bogota 8918 Cayenne 5550, 8918 Cenamer 2887, 5550, 6577, 8918, 11396, 13297 Havana 2887, 5550, 6577, 8918, 11396, 13297, (13339) Maiquetia 5550, 6577, 8918, 13297 Merida 2887, 5550, 6577, 8918, 11396, 13297, 17907 New York 2887, 5550, 6577, 8918, 11396, 13297, 17907, (8846) Panama 6577, 8918, 11396, (5520) Paramaribo 5550, 6577, 8918 Piarco 2887, 6577, 11387, 13297 San Andres 6577, 8918, (6532, 6728, 10017) |
Central East Pacific - CEP |
General: 2869, 3413, 4657, 5547, 6673, 8843, 10057, 11282, 13300, 17904 |
CEP Honolulu 3413, 5547, 5574, 8843, 11282, 13288, 13354, 17904 San Francisco 2869, 3413, 5547, 5574, 6673, 8843, 10057, 11282, 13288, 13354, 17904 |
Central West Pacific - CWP |
General: 2998, 3455, 4666, 5652, 5661, 6532, 6562, 8903, 10081, 11384, 13300, 17904 |
CWP Guam 2998, 6532, 8903, 11384, 13300, 17904 Hong Kong 6532, 8903, 13300 Manila 2998, 6532, 6562, 8903, 13300, 17904 Naha 2998, 4666, 6532, 8903, 11384, 13300 Port Moresby 2998, 6532, 8903, 13300 Seoul 2998, 6532, 8903, 13300 Taipei 6532, 8903, 13300 Tokyo 2998, 4666, 6532, 8903, 13300, 17904 |
East Asia - EA |
General: 3016, 3485, 5649, 5655, 6571, 8897, 8942, 10042, 11396, 13309, 17907, 17958 |
EA-1 Beijing 3016, 6571, 8897, 10042, 17958 Hailar 3016, 6571, 8897, 10042, 17958 Guangzhou 3016, 6571, 8897, 10042, 17958 Irkutsk 3016, 6571, 8897, 10042, 17958 Jinan 3016, 6571, 8897, 10042, 17958 Kunming 3016, 6571, 8897, 10042, 17958 Lanzhou 3016, 6571, 8897, 10042, 17958 Pyongyang 3016, 6571, 8897, 10042, 17958 Shanghai 3016, 6571, 8897, 10042, 17958 Shenyang 3016, 6571, 8897, 10042, 17958 Taegu 3016, 6571, 8897, 10042, 17958 Ulaanbaator 3016, 6571, 8897, 10042, 17958 Urumqi 3016, 6571, 8897, 10042, 17958 Wuhan 3016, 6571, 8897, 10042, 17958 Zhengzhou 3016, 6571, 8897, 10042, 17958 EA-2 |
Europe - EUR |
General: 3479, 5661, 6598, 10084, 13288, 17961 |
EUR Beirut 2910, 4689, 8875 Berlin 3479, 5661, 6598, 10084 Malta 5661, 10084 Tunis 4689 |
Middle East - MID |
General: 6625, 6631, 8918, 8951, 10018, 11375, 13288, 13312, 17961 |
MID-1 Aden 5667, 8918 Amman 2992, 5667, 8918, 13312 Baghdad 2992, 5667, 8918 Basrah 3404, 5603, 8847, 13336 Beirut 3404, 5603, 8847, 13336 Damascus 2992, 5667, 8918, 13312 Jeddah 2992, 5667, 8918 Kuwait 2992, 5667, 8918, 13312 Riyan 5667, 8918 Sanaa 8918 Tehran 5667, 8918, 13312 MID-2 |
North Atlantic - NAT |
General: 5598, 5616, 5649, 6622, 6628, 8825, 8831, 8864, 8879, 8891, 8906, 11279, 11309, 11336, 13291, 13306, 17946 |
NAT-A Canaria 3016, 5598, 8906, 13306, 17946 NAT-B NAT-C NAT-D NAT-E NAT-F Gander Volmet - (broadcasts at 20 & 50 minutes past the hour) 3485, 6604, 10051, 13270 |
Other Areas |
NCA (North Central America) 2851, 3004, 3019, 4678, 5646, 6592, 100039, 10096, 13303, 17958 NP (North Pacific) 2932, 5628, 6655, 6661, 10048, 11330, 13300, 17904 SAM (South America) 2944, 3479, 4669, 5526, 6649, 8855, 10024, 10096, 11360, 13297, 17907 SAT (South Atlantic) 2854, 2935, 3452, 5565, 6535, 8861, 11291, 13315, 13359, 17955 SEA (South East Asia) 3470, 3485, 5649, 5655, 6556, 8942, 10066, 11396, 13309, 13318, 17907 SP (South Pacific) 3467, 5559, 5643, 8867, 10084, 11327, 13300, 17904 |
©1999-2016 F. Dörenberg, unless stated otherwise. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be used without permission from the author.