Simviation Forum - Radio Scanners

Jun 2^nd, 2005 at 7:15pm

Liam Offline
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Wimbledon, London, England

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Hi.

I was just wondering if anyone can provide me with some information on the legality of airband scanners and listening to airliners, airports, atc etc.

I understand it is a it of a gray area, and obviously intercepting things like Police airwaves should be avoided at all costs as that is illegal.

If it is legal, can someone refer me to a good place to get a decent scanner (UK)?

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Reply #1 - Jun 2^nd, 2005 at 7:18pm

Craig. Offline
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Birmingham

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its legal enough. we had a long debate on this a while back. I use the maycom ar108 but its not an easy one to use,

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Reply #2 - Jun 2^nd, 2005 at 7:22pm

Hagar Offline
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My Spitfire Girl
Costa Geriatrica

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Hi Liam. We had a long discussion on this subject not long ago. I don't think it's a grey area at all & these scanners are on sale at pilot's shops & stands at most of the bigger air displays throughout the country. They would hardly be allowed to do that if it was illegal.

I don't know much about them myself but you only have to use a search engine to find out where to get them. http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=airband+scanners&btnG=Google+Search&meta=...

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Reply #3 - Jun 2^nd, 2005 at 7:27pm

Liam Offline
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Wimbledon, London, England

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Quote:

They would hardly be allowed to do that if it was illegal.

I did consider this, but then I thought it could be because of loop holes. For example a program like Limewire is hard to prove illegal as people can genuinely use it to download freeware, however the majority don't...I hope you get my point - the program or, in this case hardware, is technically fine if used correctly.

Thanks for clearing it up. I was having a discussion about it with my Dad earlier, and he sid he will show me his some time soon...I'm quite excited about that!

Thanks for the help guys.

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Reply #4 - Jun 2^nd, 2005 at 7:38pm

Hagar Offline
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My Spitfire Girl
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You might like to read this. As usual, the law is a tad confusing. http://www.airsupply.co.uk/information.htm

Quote:

REMEMBER - LISTENING TO AIRCRAFT FREQUENCIES IS ILLEGAL. Owing and using a scanner is NOT.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. I see people using these things all the time quite openly. If you get one just use a little common sense about where you use it. The main terminal at Heathrow might not be a good idea.

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Reply #5 - Jun 2^nd, 2005 at 7:40pm

Craig. Offline
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Birmingham

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as i said last time, that law is very old and hasn't been enforced in a loooong time Wink

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Reply #6 - Jun 2^nd, 2005 at 7:44pm

Hagar Offline
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My Spitfire Girl
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That might be so Craig but it's posted on the site of the Air Supply Store, one of the big companies selling airband scanners. I expect they do that to cover themselves as they go on to tell you how to use them. Check out my link.

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Reply #7 - Jun 2^nd, 2005 at 7:51pm

Craig. Offline
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Birmingham

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just did removing my sentence not worried but i wont risk the piggies finding out Grin

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Reply #8 - Jun 3^rd, 2005 at 10:07am

-sam- Offline
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EDDM

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If you have such a scanner. Can you just type in the
frequencies from fs9 ? I mean are the frequencies included in
Flightsim fictional or real ?

NFo/Simviation Multiplayer Server.&&&&fs.netfrag.org:23456&&&&Stats: fs.netfrag.org&&Teamspeak: ts.netfrag.org

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Reply #9 - Jun 3^rd, 2005 at 10:39am

TacitBlue Offline
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I am pretty certain that the freqs. from FS9 are real. However my scanner is old, and I cant get it to receive anything, so I dont know for sure.

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Reply #10 - Jun 3^rd, 2005 at 10:58am

C Offline
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Earth

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Quote:

Can you just type in the
frequencies from fs9 ? I mean are the frequencies included in
Flightsim fictional or real ?

It all depends, as real world frequencies can quite easily be changed. I imagine they are real as possible, probably taken from data supplied by Jeppeson at a fixed point in time in 2002 . In FS, it tends to be confined to Ground, Tower, and Approach/Departures at each airfield, with regional control once away from the airfield, whereas larger airfields in real life may have more functions such as several approach controllers and a director, particularly at busy military airfields.

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Reply #11 - Jun 4^th, 2005 at 5:35pm

MadDriver Offline
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Anchorage, Alaska

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I know all the frequencies at PANC are correct. And as I understand it... the law was written back during WWII... sooo... it might be a little outdated.

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Reply #12 - Jun 4^th, 2005 at 7:01pm

jknight8907 Offline
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For freqs, you can do one/some of the following:

Go to your local flight school or FBO and ask for some old approach plate books or IFR charts. These have frequencies on them if you know what to look for.

Or, you can go to myairplane.com and look at the same stuff to get the freqs. Also you can use the plates from myairplane for your FS instrument approaches. Cheesy

&&It is better to remain silent and be considered a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.&&&&There were once four people named Everybody, Somebody, Nobody and Anybody. Somebody had to do a job, but Nobody wanted to do it. Nobody could see that Anybody could do it, and Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job. Nobody ended up doing it, and it so happened that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

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