U.S. locations of Ground antennas to pick up ELT signals, can anyone tell me?

[Bart]

U.S. locations of Ground antennas to pick  up ELT signals, can anyone tell me?

[JayT]

U.S. locations of Ground antennas to pick  up ELT signals, can anyone tell me?

What?

[bosshawk]

How about any handheld radio that can be tuned to 121.5.  There are no antennae in the US that are specifically for detecting ELT signals: at least that I know of.

[PHall]

Some FBO's at some airports may have a scanner monitoring 121.5.

[Spaceman3750]

Tower sometimes monitors 121.5 as well.

[RADIOMAN015]

Every FAA & Military Control tower monitors 121.5/243.0 mhz.  (interestingly in the past we've had one response to a joint military/civilian airfield where the tower wasn't picking up the 243.0 signal from their location, which was a fair distance from the military hanger the aircraft was in but the SARSAT was (which of cours isn't possible now)). 

Many if not all of the Air Route Traffic Control Center's remote transmitter sites also monitor 121.5 (and maybe 243.0 mhz).

I believe at one time that PA wing has some remote 121.5 mhz receivers that were tied into their repeater network.

Some CAP squadrons have radio receivers/scanners on 121.5 mhz & 243.0 mhz (along with other typical ATC frequencies for their geographic area).

Some members also have radio scanners/radio receivers in their vehicles that almost constantly monitor 121.5 mhz (or the signal is at a scan priority)while they are in their vehicles.

Some members also have radio scanners/radio receivers, at their homes &/or business office with/or without a large external antennas.

Likely many radio monitoring hobbyists (not associated with CAP) monitor with their scanners throughout the United States.

All USAF transport aircraft while flying in the United States monitor 121.5 mhz & report all transmissions to the appropriate ATC, our local military pilots associated with your squadron have said it's not uncommon to receive 4 or 5 different transmissions as they travel across the US.

I don't think anyone has any 406 mhz ground equipment.  SAR forces:  USCG, USAF, & CAP aircraft do have DF/receivers installed in aircraft.

RM

[PHall]

Every FAA & Military Control tower monitors 121.5/243.0 mhz.  (interestingly in the past we've had one response to a joint military/civilian airfield where the tower wasn't picking up the 243.0 signal from their location, which was a fair distance from the military hanger the aircraft was in but the SARSAT was (which of cours isn't possible now)). 

Many if not all of the Air Route Traffic Control Center's remote transmitter sites also monitor 121.5 (and maybe 243.0 mhz).

I believe at one time that PA wing has some remote 121.5 mhz receivers that were tied into their repeater network.

Some CAP squadrons have radio receivers/scanners on 121.5 mhz & 243.0 mhz (along with other typical ATC frequencies for their geographic area).

Some members also have radio scanners/radio receivers in their vehicles that almost constantly monitor 121.5 mhz (or the signal is at a scan priority)while they are in their vehicles.

Some members also have radio scanners/radio receivers, at their homes &/or business office with/or without a large external antennas.

Likely many radio monitoring hobbyists (not associated with CAP) monitor with their scanners throughout the United States.

All USAF transport aircraft while flying in the United States monitor 121.5 mhz & report all transmissions to the appropriate ATC, our local military pilots associated with your squadron have said it's not uncommon to receive 4 or 5 different transmissions as they travel across the US.

I don't think anyone has any 406 mhz ground equipment.  SAR forces:  USCG, USAF, & CAP aircraft do have DF/receivers installed in aircraft.

RM

No they don't. They monitor 243.0 at all times and may monitor 121.5 if a VHF radio is available.
Typically they monitor 121.5 only when they're flying over the ocean and they're talking to ATC on HF.

 



 

   

[♠SARKID♠]

U.S. locations of Ground antennas to pick  up ELT signals, can anyone tell me?

Why do you ask?

ELTs are listened for by satellites in orbit.  Ground station reception is more of an incidental thing, not a planned part of they system.

[denverpilot]

There was a local radio group that put airport monitors up at 9 local airports in the area 20 years ago. They beat CAP to almost every airport ELT for most of those years. And at least one real one.

Interest in the group has waned, and the monitors have fallen into some disarray but a few still work.

Voice and tone Alert on reception of either 121.5 or 243.0.  Airport name and frequency heard.  Worked on any signal by comparator, dead carrier still triggered them. Audio was passed via UHF repeater so you could hear what the monitor was hearing. DTMF remote control to listen for 30 seconds amongst other modes.  Later firmware gave a calibrated received signal strength in voice in RF microvolts.

Trying to think what else they did. Tons of features. All coded by one guy in a microcontroller.

Far more effective use of funds than anything CAP spent money on to work the problem -- when piles of airport false alarms were the norm.

All had battery backup, etc. That's the main cause of the failures today... Backup batteries are dead and no one is maintaining them. They still alert from time to time. Probably a few antennas that need TLC/replacement by now too.

Upgrading those to handle 406 wouldn't be worth it.

[Garibaldi]

U.S. locations of Ground antennas to pick  up ELT signals, can anyone tell me?

Why do you ask?

ELTs are listened for by satellites in orbit.  Ground station reception is more of an incidental thing, not a planned part of they system.

IIRC, SARSAT has gone buh-bye. Correct me if I am wrong please.

[Eclipse]

IIRC, SARSAT has gone buh-bye. Correct me if I am wrong please.

SARSAT no longer listens to 121.5 - that is used for DF'ing only.  They only listen on 406.

Our State DOT professes to have the ability to open their receivers for 121.5, however the process for doing that
is not simple.  It's just as fast, and likely less expensive, to simply put up a CAP bird and find the thing.

[sardak]

IIRC, SARSAT has gone buh-bye. Correct me if I am wrong please.

Far from it going buh-bye. As Eclipse said, the system stopped monitoring 121.5 in 2009, but continues to monitor 406.

There are currently 6 operational satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEOSAR), 6 operational, 2 standby and 2 in on-orbit testing in geosynchronous orbit (GEOSAR). These SARSAT packages are all on weather satellites.

There are 9 GPS satellites with SARSAT packages in the development, test and evaluation phase of the mid-Earth orbit (MEOSAR) system. When this system becomes operational, scheduled for 2018, there are supposed to be 72 satellites in the system. These SARSAT packages are being installed on GPS, Glonass and Galileo navigation satellites.

LEOSAR and GEOSAR systems determine beacon location by Doppler shift and/or the encoded GPS coordinates transmitted by the beacon.  MEOSAR will use time difference of arrival (TDOA) and frequency difference of arrival (FDOA)  of the beacon signals to determine location in addition to the encoded coordinates.

Something to ponder 1. The current plan is to drop the 121.5 homing signal from new beacons designed for the MEOSAR system. If all goes as planned, the new beacons should start hitting the market in 2015-2016. Existing 121.5 only and 121.5/406 beacons will continue to be used.

Something to ponder 2. The US Coast Guard put out two solicitations for protoytpe "portable" 406 DF units. One unit cost in the neighborhood of $25,000 and the other around $15k, US dollars. There are existing ground units that can DF 406, but that is not their primary purpose, and they cost even more $$$. There are airborne and shipborne 406 DF units.

Mike

[starshippe]

   not sure where ur located, so this might not do u any good, but, from

      http://www.uscg.mil/acquisition/rescue21/ .........

   "Rescue 21 is operational along the entire Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts of the continental United States as well as along the shores of the Great Lakes, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Marianas Islands, covering approximately 41,871 miles of coastline."


   we taxpayers paid for this system, which, when installed, included the capability to receive and df on 121.5 mhz, in addition to several marine frequencies. it does not have 406 capability, and, to the best of my knowledge, there are no plans to upgrade.
   also to the best of my knowledge, no one is using the capability to detect and df on 121.5, and most are not even aware of its existence.

bill

[PHall]

You guys have noticed that the OP has not posted anything since their orginial post, right?
Can you spell TROLL?

[♠SARKID♠]

According to a search of his email...

Bart J. Crotty is an airworthiness/maintenance/flight operations/safety/security consultant, expert witness, writer, and the maintenance HF chairman for the International Society of Air Safety Investigators.

[cap235629]

U.S. locations of Ground antennas to pick  up ELT signals, can anyone tell me?

I can name one in the area of Brooken Hill Road and Hwy 45 in Fort Smith Arkansas.....

[Bart]

Appreciate all replies. Although some don't have a clue as to an understadnng of the SAR mission and how ELTs are a downed pilots life line.

[♠SARKID♠]

Appreciate all replies. Although some don't have a clue as to an [understanding] of the SAR mission and how ELTs are a downed pilots life line.

Explain?

[Eclipse]

Appreciate all replies. Although some don't have a clue as to an understadnng of the SAR mission and how ELTs are a downed pilots life line.

?

[EMT-83]

Appreciate all replies. Although some don't have a clue as to an understadnng of the SAR mission and how ELTs are a downed pilots life line.

Oops, you caught me!

[LTC Don]

Appreciate all replies. Although some don't have a clue as to an understadnng of the SAR mission and how ELTs are a downed pilots life line.

I chortled 



And, agreed, defintely a troll.