Best Strategies For Monitoring and Storing HF Volmet and ARINC Frequencies

This author has been studying commercial aviation communications since at least the early 90s.

Everyone who monitors HF frequencies eventually finds something they like. For some people, it's the CW portion of the amateur bands, for some it's numbers stations, and for others....it's listening to aircraft criss-cross the globe.

If you're new to this, it's important to know that you need a shortwave receiver with SSB coverage. SSB is upper and lower sideband.

If you're going to invest in an HF receiver, choose wisely. This author recommends Sangean, Kenwood, Yaesu, and Icom.

IF you REALLY have money to spend, there are two or three high end models out here that you should invest in. Those brands are AOR, Icom, and JRC.

Which models should you buy? AOR makes the AR - 8200 MK 3-B (Hand portable), and the AR - 8600 MK 2-B (Base). ICOM makes the R-75 and R-9500. JRC is also a great radio! Anything  you buy from JRC is a great investment!

With radio recommendations spoken for, we can now discuss strategies for monitoring and storing commercial aviation HF oceanic communications frequencies.

The first thing you should know is that commercial aviation oceanic comms are spread out by region.

On the west coast is Hawaii Volmet, and San Francisco ARINC. On the east coast is New York Volmet, and New York ARINC. All frequencies used by the two Volmet stations run by the FAA, and all of the ARINC frequencies are used in SSB, specifically USB (upper side band)

The next thing you need to know and commit to memory is that the frequencies used are divided by daytime and nighttime usage. Higher frequencies for daytime, lower frequencies for nighttime.

The BEST strategy this author has found to monitor both of the volmet centers and both of the ARINC centers is to program daytime volmet frequencies first, followed by daytime ARINC frequencies according to ARINC region.

Whether you go west to east, or east to west doesn't matter. Keep in mind that one of these methods is highly recommended so you can keep your memory channels and memory banks orderly.

ARINC regions are organized by "Network region".

New York ARINC regions are:

Network North Atlantic "A"

Network North Atlantic  "E"

Carribean Network "A"

Carribean Network "B"

As you see, the east coast of the U.S. ARINC system has a total of four networks.

The west coast ARINC system gets a little more complicated because they have to break up the Pacific Ocean into more strategic coverage areas.

The west coast ARINC networks are:

Central East Pacific Network 1

Central East Pacific Network 2

Central West Pacific Network

South Pacific Network

North Pacific Network

After much study, thought, and experimentation, this author found that the following memory program will more likely work for most people. All said and done, you'll need 90 memory channels since we're also going to add U.S. HF-GCS frequencies. An explanation for that will come later.

Memory Channel Assignment

WWV Daytime 1 - 20.000

WWV Daytime 2 - 15.000

WWV Daytime 3 - 10.000

WWV Nighttime 1 - 5.000

WWV Nighttime 2 - 2.5000

HNL Volmet Daytime - 13.282

New York Volmet Daytime 1 - 13.270

New York Volmet Daytime 2 - 10.051

New York Network "A" Daytime - 13.306

New York Network "A" Daytime 2 - 17.946

New York Network "A" Daytime 3 - 21.964

New York Network "E" Daytime 1 - 11.309

New York Network "E" Daytime 2 - 13.354

New York Network "E" Daytime 3 - 17.952

Carribean Network "A" Daytime - 11.396

Carribean Network "B" Daytime - 11.330

Carribran Network "B" Daytime 2 - 13.297

Carribean Network "B" Daytime 3 - 17.907

SFO ARINC Central East Pacific Network 1 Daytime - 10.057

SFO ARINC Central East Pacific Network 1 Daytime 2 - 13.354

SFO Central East Pacific Network 2 Daytime - 11.282

SFO Central East Pacific Network 2 Daytime 2 - 13.288

SFO Central East Pacific Network 2 Daytime 3 - 21.954

SFO Central West Pacific Network Daytime - 11.384

SFO Central West Pacific Network Daytime 2 - 13.300

SFO Central West Pacific Network Daytime 3 - 17.904

SFO Central West Pacific Network Daytime 4 - 21.985

SFO South Pacific Network Daytime - 13.261

SFO South Pacific Network Daytime 2 -17.904

SFO North Pacific Network Daytime 10.048

SFO North Pacific Network Daytime 2 - 11.330

SFO North Pacific Network Daytime 3 - 13.273

SFO North Pacific Network Daytime 4 - 13.339

SFO North Pacific Network Daytime 5 - 17.946

SFO North Pacific Network Daytime 6 - 21.925

At this point you'll notice a system pattern of grouping east to west and lowest daytime frequency to highest daytime frequency.

You'll notice that WWV daytime frequencies are listed first, followed by WWV nighttime frequencies. That was done as a good idea in the event you don't have a clock nearby or your clock stops working...you'll always have a quick way to know what time it is.

WWV is also a nice way to test propagation at any given time.

Suggested Nighttime Volmet and ARINC programming / monitoring list:

HNL (Hawaii) Volmet Nighttime 1 - 2.863

HNL Volmet Nighttime 2 - 6.679

HNL Volmet Nighttime 3 - 8.828

New York Volmet Nighttime 1 - 3.485

New York Volmet Nighttime 2 - 6.604

New York ARINC Night North Atlantic Network "A" - 3.016

New York ARINC Night North Atlantic Network "A" 2 - 5.598

New York ARINC Night North Atlantic Network "A" 3 - 8.906

North Atlantic Network "E" Nighttime 1 - 2.962

North Atlantic Network "E" Nighttime 2 - 6.628

North Atlantic Network "E" Nighttime 3 - 8.825

Carribean Network "A" Nighttime 1 - 2.287

Carribean Network "A" Nighttime 2 - 3.455

Carribean Network "A"Nighttime 3 - 5.550

Carribean Network "A" Nighttime 4 - 6.577

Carribean Network "A" Nighttime 5 - 8.846

Carribean Network "B" Nighttime 1 - 5.520

Carribean Network "B" Nighttime 2 - 6.586

Carribean Network "B" Nighttime 3 - 8.918

SFO (San Francisco) Central East Pacific Network Nighttime 1 - 3.413

Central East Pacific Network Nighttime 2 - 3.452

Central East Pacific Network Nighttime 3 - 5.574

Central East Pacific Network Nighttime 4 - 6.673

Central East Pacific Network Nighttime 5 - 8.843

Central West Pacific Network Nighttime 1 - 2.998

Central West Pacific Network Nighttime 2 - 4.666

Central West Pacific Network Nighttime 3 - 6.532

Central West Pacific Network Nighttime 4 - 8.903

South Pacific Network Nighttime 1 - 3.467

South Pacific Network Nighttime 2 - 5.643

South Pacific Network Nighttime 3 - 8.867

North Pacific Network Nighttime 1 -2.932

North Pacific Network Nighttime 2 - 5.628

North Pacific Network Nighttime 3 - 5.667

North Pacific Network Nighttime 4 - 6.655

North Pacific Network Nighttime 5 - 8.915

North Pacific Network Nighttime 6 - 8.951

So far, if you're paying attention and keeping track of the Volmet and ARINC system layouts, you've noticed this overall pattern of system design and usage:

HNL Volmet has a total of 4 frequencies

N.Y. Volmet has a total of 3 frequencies

North Atlantic Network has a total of 12 frequencies

Carribean Network has a total of 12 frequencies

Central East Pacific Network has a total of 10 frequencies

Central West Pacific Network has a total of 8 frequencies

South Pacific Network has a total of 5 frequencies

North Pacific Network has a total of 12 frequencies

Now we move forward to the LDOC frequencies. LDOC is Long Distance Operational Control. These frequencies are used by flight crews who need to send messages to their operations centers.

There are a total of 6 LDOC frequencies, 4 daytime and 2 nighttime frequencies.

11.342 daytime

13 348 daytime

17.925 daytime

21.964 daytime

3.494 nighttime

6.640 nighttime

For an even more detailed technical explanation of these, and other frequencies along with a more exhaustive INTERNATIONAL listing of HF aeronautical frequencies, see the February 25th, 2015 update at the B-Town Wide Spectrum Monitor Blog by Larry Van Horn N5FPW (President Teak Publishing Company)

http://monitor-post.blogspot.com/p/this-international-hf-aero-frequency.html?m=1

With all of that out of the way, let's add the U.S. HF-GCS frequencies to this list. These should be part of monitoring strategy since military aero activity and other military matters impact commercial aviation travel.

U.S. HF-GCS Daytime frequencies:

11.175 - main

13.200 back - up

15.016 back - up

U S. HF-GCS Nighttime frequencies:

4.724 back - up

6.739 back - up

8.992 - 24 hours

That's it! Hopefully, all of you enjoyed this and find it useful!