Other Bands

The CC Skywave really excels on two other bands– one of which is unique in the Ultralight radio class. Its Weather Band sensitivity is far superior to that of the CC Pocket and DT-400W models, and it has the same Weather Alert function and selectable time periods (4, 8 or 16 hours) as those vertical-form models. Weather Band reception which is dicey on the smaller models is usually crystal clear on the Skywave—most likely because of the dedicated DSP chip for Weather and Air Band reception in the model.

If any reader places an extremely high priority on the stable reception of Weather Band alerts during emergencies, this is definitely the Ultralight radio of choice. Not only is the whip antenna far superior to the makeshift wire antenna system of the vertical-form models, but the DSP chip-provided sensitivity is in an entirely different league.

Finally, one of the obvious attractions of the CC Skywave model is its AIR Band coverage from 118-137 MHz—unique in the Ultralight radio class. According to information from C.Crane., the Si4736 DSP chip on the digital board is used strictly for Weather and AIR Band reception—and it definitely provides excellent sensitivity on both of those bands.

To get started in listening to communication between airports and airplanes the owner’s manual instructs the user to check the internet for airport frequency listings, specifically mentioning the http://www.flightradio.com site. After checking that site (and paying a $10 fee for “lifetime membership”) I was able to download a file with airport communication frequencies for the entire USA, which is posted here.

My home town of Puyallup, WA is along the direct southerly approach route for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport—a pretty busy site with lots of air traffic. The frequency listings mentioned a SeaTac tower frequency of 119.900 MHz, which is used by the tower to receive communication from airplanes approaching the airport and requesting a runway assignment. Depending upon air traffic, the time of day and luck, the CC Skywave can receive either a lot, a little or almost no communication on this tower frequency. Since only communication from airplanes is heard, the signal strengths can vary from a thunderous level (for planes directly overhead) down to a ghostly wisp (for airplanes many miles away).

Below, you’ll find a sample MP3 of the Skywave’s reception on this 119.900 MHz SeaTac tower frequency (with communication from three airplanes within two minutes). Click here to simply download this MP3.

The CC Skywave has a Squelch function which will mute the background noise on the AIR band frequencies while you await voice traffic—which is engaged by pushing in the tuning control for two seconds, then rotating the control to choose your desired threshold level. This is a nice feature for those who only wish to hear the voice communication, but it does reduce the radio’s reception sensitivity somewhat. In general the Skywave’s AIR Band coverage is a major plus for those interested in airport communication, although these types of transmissions are almost always brief, businesslike, and to the point. Listeners should not expect any of the emotion and drama typical in airport disaster movies!

Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)

Another good source for air band frequencies is https://skyvector.com/airports, the site also has aviation charts so you can see which airports are nearby your location, the most useful are probably the World VFR and larger scale sectionals. Agree the Skywave is good for air band reception, XHDATA D-808 seems to match it for reception of marginal signals IME, sound quality is better on D-808 (bigger speaker) but does not have any scanning function (unless is is hidden/undocumented).

Dave

Hi everyone,

I read somewhere that channel spacing on the Airband is being changed from 25 to 8 kHz.

Anyone know if this has been implemented anywhere already.

It's likely to be a problem as many receivers tune only in 25 kHz steps.

73, Rémy.

Hi, just a technical note, all the DSP portable radios use an external circuit to receive the air band, it is not received directly from the DSP IC (usually Si4735 in our radios)

The external circuit is a TA7358 receiver ic or similar (LA1185, KA22495, AN7205 or chinese versions).

This is a single chip receiver, PLL controlled in our case, with a MIX output, generally 10,7MHz.

The Si4735 is locked to receive 10.7MHz while the microprocessor controls the PLL for tuning. It's a downconversion of the band to IF

In any case i think that for the Air Band there is nothing better than a RTL dongle (SDR) because signals appear and disappear quickly and you can see them in a wide range of frequencies. With some autotuning software it is simple to receive the strongest signal on the band. 

To summarize i would say that with a SDR you receive simultaneusly all the frequencies in a band but activate the audio on one frequency. This is different from scanning in a circular way a group of frequencies.