If you want something else to listen to on your SDR, try shortwave aircraft radio listening for trans-oceanic flights.

More than 110 years ago, aircraft started using radio communications. Above, you can see Canadian airplane pioneer John McCurdy, who used a spark transmitter and trailing antenna to send Morse code from a Curtiss biplane in 1910. His spark transmitter is shown at the bottom of the picture.

By World War I, observation aircraft were using CW, and later voice, for communications to ground artillery. Now, to be fair, I must admit these early systems were on Medium Wave, as spark transmitters had limited frequency range. But, you get the idea.

A century later, we can still do shortwave aircraft radio listening as a hobby.

Most of our planet is oceans and icecaps. More than half of the time, trans-oceanic aircraft are out of range of VHF air band systems, or even radars for that matter. So, our airplanes use shortwave radio, as well as satellites, to send data and communicate with ground controllers.

Here in western Canada, I can regularly listen to aircraft over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. You can find most common frequencies here. Most often, I can here them in the 5, 8, 11 and 13 MHz bands. Another source of listening are the VOLMET weather broadcasts. You can also listen to military channels in the High Frequency Global Communications System, as well as Coast Guard radio.

Shortwave Aircraft Radio Listening Declines

Yes, use of HF is declining and many carriers switch to SatVoice. Still, you will find that most trans-oceanic aircraft still require at least one HF radio, and these are heavily used.

When you hear an aircraft on shortwave, you can typically enter its call letters into FlightAware and track its position. Good news is that these transmissions are in English.

You can get a sense of frequencies and coverage zones for Major Routes Air Route Areas shortwave aircraft radio listening at MWARA.