Pretty straightforward question... If I make an emergency broadcast on 121.5 is anyone outside of an aircraft monitoring going to hear it?
Yes, pretty much all of them monitor 121.5. There are a few exceptions and those are usually listed in the AF/D - eg. 121.5 unmonitored or not available. Most military installations monitor this as well, in addition to many airliners.Pretty straightforward question... If I make an emergency broadcast on 121.5 is anyone outside of an aircraft monitoring going to hear it?
Yup. Can't say who, but every time I hear a peep on 121.5, I immediately hear a grumpy voice say "you're on guard".
Don't know the answer to the question - but I'd say it's a definite maybe. Maybe ATC, maybe some other pilot.
I've always wondered about this comment in the AF/D for my class D:
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COMM/NAV/WEATHER REMARKS: Freq 121.5 not available at tower.
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Pretty straightforward question... If I make an emergency broadcast on 121.5 is anyone outside of an aircraft monitoring going to hear it?
I used to be one of those grumpy voices... SAC Command Post 1974-1994
The good news is that if your over water and there is a USN ship within range, it will be monitoring IAD 121.5......assuming they don't have the volume turned all the way down...... If you are over blue water and have an emergency, first priority would be to switch the squawk to 7700 (or 75/7600 as appropriate) - that will trigger our console alarms regardless of what the speaker volume is set to.
Really, that is good to know. Do you pick up/monitor all transponders or just emergency beacon signals? Makes sense, not like you guys don't have the radar power for it....
Not much point listening on 406, AFaIK those are just data signals. No voice or whoop whoop there to hear. Prolly sounds more like "BZZZT" if you can hear anything besides white noise.No such fun with the new birds listening on 406 MHz, since none of us are carrying a radio that will transmit there other than the new ELTs.
Not much point listening on 406, AFaIK those are just data signals. No voice or whoop whoop there to hear. Prolly sounds more like "BZZZT" if you can hear anything besides white noise.
Not always in that order. Last weekend, I was monitoring 121.5 during a XC, and after an hour of silence, I suddenly hear a grumpy voice say, "You're on guard!"Yup. Can't say who, but every time I hear a peep on 121.5, I immediately hear a grumpy voice say "you're on guard".
Not always in that order. Last weekend, I was monitoring 121.5 during a XC, and after an hour of silence, I suddenly hear a grumpy voice say, "You're on guard!"
It was followed quickly by another, more whimsical voice saying, "No he's not!"
It's a 450msec blip of data every 50 seconds. Dont think you can hear it...
The best ones are when someone is actually talking to ATC on 121.5 due to an actual emergency and some Guard Nazi jumps in with the 'You're on guard' comment.