LANE TALK
MAKING SENSE OF CIVILIAN AERONAUTICAL COMMUNICATIONS
Long Distance Operational Control (LDOC)
By Larry Van Horn
Most VHF civilian aircraft moni-
tors are probably familiar with
the term "company" frequencies.
Hopefully, most of you have had an oppor-
tunity to scan the company frequencies in
the 128.8 to 132.0 MHz range of the VHF
civilian aeronautical band on your scan-
ner. "Company" traffic can provide the
monitor with some of the most interesting
communications in the entire aeronautical
bands. In a nutshell, company frequencies are
where you hear airline companies pass opera-
tional voice message traffic to their aircraft in
flight.
There is one small problem with VHF aero
company frequencies, however; they are line -
of- sight. Have you ever wondered how the
airlines pass company traffic once their air-
craft get outside normal VHF range, say, on a
transoceanic flight? The solution is a simple
one for the airlines. They use the long -haul
frequencies of the shortwave spectrum.
So where do you hear company traffic on
high- frequency radio? On a special set of
frequencies that have been allocated just for
this purpose called Long Distance Opera-
tional Control (LDOC) frequencies.
LDOC HF allocations are available to all
international carriers for long -haul company
operations and communications. Transmis-
sions typically monitored on LDOC frequen-
cies include arrival and departure times, pas-
senger and fuel loads, flight progress reports,
aircraft maintenance problems, and crew
scheduling. Frequencies are often shared by
more than one carrier, and some carriers even
provide communications services to other air-
lines that do not have their own LDOC facili-
ties. The majority of traffic on LDOC fre-
quencies is in English as well as in the na-
tional language of foreign airlines.
TABLE 2
ACARS VHF Frequencies
131.550 Primary ACARS channel U.S. and Canada
130.025 Secondary ACARS channel for
busy areas in the U.S.
129.125 Tertiary ACARS channel for busy areas
in the U.S.
131.475 Proprietary company channel
for Air Canada
131.725 Primary channel for ACARS in Europe
84 MONITORING TIMES June 1995
Common LDOC and Common Carrier Frequencies
3007 3010 3013 3494 3497 4654
6640 6643 6646 8921 8924 8927
10075 10078 11342 11345 11348 11351
13345 13348 13351 17916 17919 17922
21946 21952 21955 21958 21961 21964
21997
All transmissions are normally upper sideband (USB).
Common Carrier
For some airlines the cost of setting up and
operating LDOC facilities can be cost pro-
hibitive. Due to the competitive nature of the
airline business, some airlines do not rent out
their LDOC facilities to other airlines. So,
just what is a long -haul airline suppose to do?
Many companies rely on common carriers
such as ARINC (Aeronautical Radio, Inc,
stations in San Francisco, New York, and
Honolulu), Houston Radio (Universal Avia-
tion in Houston, Texas), Rainbow Radio (Tors
Cove, Canada), Portishead Radio (England),
Berna Radio (Switzerland) and Stockholm
Radio (Sweden).
Airlines subscribe to these message -han-
dling services and are charged by the mes-
sage. Phone patches to airline company dis-
patch offices and engineering information
comprise the majority of the traffic monitored
on these frequencies. Corporate business and
private aircraft are also regular visitors on
common carrier frequencies.
Where to Listen
Table 1 is a list of the most -used LDOC
and common carrier frequencies that have
been monitored recently in the HF spectrum.
There are over a couple hundred frequencies
that have been identified as carrying LDOC
traffic and it would be outside the scope of
this column to provide a complete list. An
extensive list of LDOC frequencies and sta-
tions can be found in two books available
from Grove Enterprises. If you are interested
in LDOC listening then the Worldwide Aero-
nautical Communications Frequency Direc-
tory by Robert Evans or Bob Grove's Short-
wave Directory edited by this month's guest
columnist, are must for the bookshelf.
Most company and common carrier sta-
tions have multiple frequencies in different
www.americanradiohistory.com
Jean Baker, KIN9DD
TABLE 1
4687 5529 5532 5535 5538 5541 5544 6637
8930 8933 8936 10027 10030 10033 10069 10072
11354 13324 13327 13330 13333 13336 13339 13342
17925 17928 17931 17934 17937 17940 21940 21943
21967 21973 21976 21979 21982 21985 21988 21994
portions of the HF spectrum to carry out their
communications mission with civilian air-
craft. This allows the stations a variety of
frequencies from which to choose to accom-
modate the changing propagation conditions
of the shortwave spectrum.
During the 1980s, I monitored critical com-
munications associated with several aircraft
hijackings (especially from the Middle East)
on LDOC frequencies. I often knew what was
happening on board the aircraft and its next
destination long before the news media an-
nounced it to the public. You just never know
what you will hear on the LDOC and common
carrier frequencies.
New HF Datalink Being Tested
Another form of company communica-
tions that has become popular to monitor is
the Aircraft Communications Addressing and
Reporting System (ACARS). This system is
an air/ground network which enables aircraft
to function as mobile computer terminals
linked to a ground -based command and con-
trol management system. Information col-
lected from sensors onboard ACARS-
equipped aircraft are automatically transferred
by VHF radio link to ACARS ground sta-
tions. These messages are then relayed via the
ground stations to a central computer proces-
sor where the data is converted into inter -
airline operational messages through the
ARINC electronic switching system (ESS).
Listeners equipped with a scanner that
covers 118 -136 MHz and a proper decoder
(i.e. Universal M -400, M -1200, or M- 8000v5
decoders) can decode these operational mes-
sages. Table 2 lists the current VHF ACARS
frequencies in use.
Like the previously mentioned company
frequencies, ACARS channels are VHF line-
of- sight. Once the aircraft gets outside VHF
range, ACARS no longer works. So to the