Skywave Linux: Airband Radio on Internet SDRs

VOLMETs are fixed stations in the aeronautical radio service, tasked with broadcasting weather for aircraft on long distance flights, out of range of typical VHF aero weather sources. They often operate on an hourly schedule, sharing their frequencies with other VOLMET stations. Items broadcast by VOLMETs are typically lists of routine airport weather observations (METARs), forecasts (TAFs), significant weather warnings (SIGMETS), and sometimes pilot reports (PIREPS). To learn more about these aviation weather reports and forecasts, visit the Aviation Weather Center. There is a lot of very careful and specific language in aviation weather data. For example, "Runway visual range" and "visibility" are two different measurements, as "mist" is different from "fog" and "probability" is not quite the same as "chance of..."

Use the list below to quickly tune in the VOLMET stations you wish to monitor. Simply click on the station and frequency, then wait for the SDR to render in a new browser tab. If signals are weak or noisy, try another frequency or switch to a different SDR server. Visit the Skywavelinux SDR Map to find other receiving stations in your geographic area of interest. See the HF Aero Radio SDR List to monitor happenings on the oceanic air routes.

How to use:

1. Select a frequency by clicking a numbered button.
2. Click on a receiver location to open an SDR tab in your browser.
3. Each click on any receiver opens a new tab, so you can listen from more than one location.
4. This list of KiwiSDR receivers updates every three hours.

Since propagation conditions vary between different receiver sites and frequencies, try different combinations to find which ones work best for your desired stations. Most KiwiSDRs have rather high default gain settings, producing plenty of noise, which can cause listener fatigue. Consider reducing the AGC threshold to a setting between -80 and -90 dB. The KiwiSDR default USB filter bandpass is good for VOLMET traffic, though the URLs given here set a wider bandpass for better fidelity. Get VOLMET frequency and schedule updates from DX Info Centre, which does a fine job of finding data deep in several aero references.

Please be a fair listener on these radio servers. Avoid excessive time or opening multiple SDR tabs from the same site at once, as site operators detect and block users or frequencies who draw excessive bandwidth.

If you find interesting action on the VOLMET frequencies, give some thought to making an audio recording or screen capture video to share on sites such as YouTube or Soundcloud

HF Aero Radio by Oceanic Air Traffic Regions

[NAT Tracks West (Gander, New York, Shanwick)] [NAT Tracks East (Gander, New York, Shanwick)]

[Atlantic West (New York, Santa Maria)] [Atlantic East (New York, Santa Maria)]

[Western Atlantic Route System (New York)]

[Central East Pacific (San Francisco)]

[North East Pacific (Tokyo, San Francisco)]

[North West Pacific (Tokyo, San Francisco)]

[South Atlantic (Brasilia, Dakar)]

[West Pacific 1 (Manila, Tokyo)]

[South East Asia 2 (Singapore, Hong Kong, Manila)]

[South East Asia 3 (Brisbane, Jakarta, Singapore)]

[South Pacific (Brisbane, Jakarta, Singapore)]

Backups: WebSDRs for Oceanic Air Traffic Listening

From time to time, the KiwiSDRs listed above may be full of listeners, causing you to be placed in a queue, waiting to get a channel. WebSDRs in the table below have high user capacity - able to serve dozens and dozens of listeners at once. You don't have to wait!

                Western Atlantic - Caribbean

Receivers:      Pennsylvania   Virginia        Georgia
----------------------------------------------------------
[freqs]         [5550 kHz]     [5550 kHz]      [5550 khz]
                [6577 khz]     [6577 khz]      [6577 khz]
                [8918 kHz]     [8918 kHz]      [8918 khz]


                Western Atlantic - Europe

Receivers:      Pennsylvania   Virginia        Georgia
----------------------------------------------------------
[freqs]         [5598 kHz]     [5598 kHz]      [5598 khz]
                [5616 kHz]     [5616 kHz]      [5616 khz]
                [5649 kHz]     [5649 kHz]      [5649 khz]
                [8825 kHz]     [8825 kHz]      [8825 khz]
                [8846 kHz]     [8846 kHz]      [8846 khz]
                [8891 kHz]     [8891 kHz]      [8891 khz]
                [8906 kHz]     [8906 kHz]      [8906 khz]
                [13270 kHz]    [13270 kHz]     [13270 kHz]


                Europe - Eastern Atlantic

Receivers:      Netherlands    Belgium
----------------------------------------------------------
[freqs]         [5598 kHz]     [5598 kHz]
                [5616 kHz]     [5616 kHz]
                [5649 kHz]     [5649 kHz]
                [6622 kHz]     [5622 kHz]
                [6628 kHz]     [6628 kHz]
                [8825 kHz]     [8825 kHz]
                [8864 kHz]     [8864 kHz]
                [8879 kHz]     [8879 kHz]
                [8891 kHz]     [8891 kHz]
                [8906 kHz]     [8906 kHz]


                Central - East Pacific

Receivers:      California      Utah
----------------------------------------------------------
[freqs]         [5547 kHz]     [5547 kHz]
                [5574 kHz]     [5574 kHz]
                [5643 kHz]     [5643 kHz]
                [5652 kHz]     [5652 kHz]
                               [6532 kHz]
                               [6655 kHz]
                               [6673 kHz]


                Central - West and North Pacific

Receivers:      California      Utah
----------------------------------------------------------
[freqs]         ------         [6532 kHz]
                ------         [6655 kHz]
                ------         [8870 kHz]
                ------         [8903 kHz]
                ------         [8951 kHz]

A few airband WebSDR and KiwiSDR sites are up and running. These radios are especially good for tuning for specific frequencies or manually following flights. I have tried ACARS and VDL Mode 2 and was able to decode messages on the KiwiSDRs. It is a pretty slick way to enjoy aero listening for flights on three different continents.

The SDR in Russia has several frequencies blocked, in narrow slices. If you are unable to monitor a frequency because of this, there are no good remedies. HF is easier, as there is usually another SDR from which to stream. No so in this case; Krasnoarmeysk is the sole internet SDR for airband in that area. If you listen to any of the KiwiSDRs and get timed out, try again the next day. If you are geo blocked, evade the blockage by deleting your browser cookies and using a VPN or SSH tunnel for future to connections.

How to use this list:

1. Select a frequency by clicking a numbered button.
2. Click on a receiver location to open an SDR tab in your browser.
3. The list is manually curated; more sites will be added as they are found.

Since VHF propagation conditions vary with weather in the troposphere (temperature inversions), listen around and note which frequencies have weak signals and others which are always empty. You might catch a nice period of enhancement from time to time.

Please be a fair listener on the KiwiSDR radio servers, as they have limited slots for visitors. Excessive time on one frequency or opening multiple SDR tabs from the same site at once may cause site operators to block users or frequencies who draw too much bandwidth.

If you find interesting action on the VHF Airband frequencies, give some thought to making an audio recording or screen capture video to share on sites such as YouTube or Soundcloud