Airband for receive-only listeners (ATIS, VOLMET, 8.33)
118–137 MHz AM, public information broadcasts, 8.33 kHz channel numbers, and why we are not an ATC frequency dump.
VHF airband (about 118–137 MHz AM) is catnip for new scanner owners: the signals are there, the aeroplanes are visible, and every film has trained you to expect “tower.” It is also where hobby sites get themselves into policy trouble by publishing operational ATC directories they copied from somewhere else.
Cross Reference UK treats airband as public information markers plus a converter, not as a replacement for the UK AIP.
Start with ATIS and VOLMET
ATIS (Automatic Terminal Information Service) is a looped broadcast: weather, runway in use, maybe a bit of airport information. It is meant to be heard. Frequencies change when airports reorganise, so a listing is still a snapshot.
VOLMET is meteorological information for aircraft, on VHF and also on HF USB. HF VOLMET is a gift for a cheap SDR and a wire — you will hear it when VHF ATIS is out of range.
These are the rows we are happy to keep and to explain. They let you verify AM receive, 8.33 tuning, and that your antenna is not deaf.
8.33 kHz spacing
Europe mixed 25 kHz and 8.33 kHz channel spacing on VHF airband. The number on a radio faceplate is often a channel designator, not the carrier you would measure with a frequency counter. Our 8.33 converter implements the public ICAO mapping for 118–137 MHz so you can go channel → actual and back.
If a listing and a radio disagree by a few kilohertz, check 8.33 before you file a “wrong frequency” report.
What we do not build
We do not maintain a full tower/approach/ground/director matrix for UK airports. Those frequencies are operational, they change, and dumping them as a scanner “pack” is exactly the sort of low-value clone Google and Ofcom-adjacent common sense both dislike. Pilots have official publications. Hobby listeners can hear ATIS without a 400-row ATC table.
If an airfield’s ATIS is public and members confirm it, it can live in the aviation pack. “Every London TMA frequency I found on a forum in 2019” cannot.
AM, squelch, and antennas
Airband is AM. An FM-only amateur HT will not demodulate it usefully. Many “wideband scanners” do AM on VHF; many cheap DMR HTs do not.
Squelch on AM behaves differently from NFM. Expect more hiss. An SDR waterfall is easier than a handheld for proving a signal is there.
A VHF airband antenna is still a VHF antenna: length near a quarter wave around 127 MHz, as high as you can, away from wall wart hash. You do not need a roof-mounted aviation dipole on day one; you do need to leave the USB dongle off the PC case.
Lawful listening, again
Receiving public ATIS is fine. Publishing a live operational picture of military or sensitive movements is not a hobby we support. Do not clip ATC audio into the forum with aircraft identities and “look what I heard.” Do not ask us to add a frequency because you want to follow a specific flight as a sport.
How this sits with the rest of the site
Use the converter, the aviation pack, and the abbreviations page (ATIS, VOLMET, 8.33). For the legal frame, read lawful hobby listening. If you also hold an amateur licence, remember airband and 2 m are neighbours on the dial and not neighbours in the licence.
Hobby airband here means: prove the radio works, understand 8.33, listen to information broadcasts, and leave operational ATC catalogues to official sources.