Transistor Radio Hack!

Take an old AM/FM transistor radio and make a quick modification so it picks up Air Traffic Control, Air Shows and other Civil Aviation Band transmissions. Amazing! Thanks to Cy Tymony for the Make Magazine article. See the Test Results in the video.

Step 1 Get Started

The only thing you need for this project is an AM/FM transistor radio, an older model that has a physical adjustment for tuning rather than digital. This will be a wheel or slider that changes stations. The only tool you should need is a small screwdriver.

Open the radio by removing all the screws. Watch for the hidden screws located in the battery compartment.

TIP: Stick them to a magnet so you don't lose them.

Comments

[arianism]

awsome but umm how is this not illegal?

[Aplonis]

I forget just WHERE in the regs it is, but EVERY citizen of the USA is guaranteed the right to LISTEN to ANY transmitted frequency. What IS illegal, however, is to pass any information obtained thereby along to other parties. So you can receive any frequency whatever but you cannot tell anyone what you learned if it is of a private nature. The transmitting party is deemed to have "spoken in pubilic" by transmitting on the radio bands. This is one of the VERY early rules put out by Congress sometime in the 1930's and has never been repealed.

[mannys9130]

any transmission emmited with in any band other than cellular phone or wireless telephone is able to be received legally. You may not intercept telephone signals. That is indeed illegal, but this is fine because it is in the aircraft bands. You may receive these frequencies, however, on some, you may need a licence, such as marine, amateur, aircraft, and commercial am and fm broadcasting.

[awang8]

It's just listening to people talking aircraft language. I mean, you don't hijack the signal which could be deadly, you're just curious to find out what they say in control towers.

[Aplonis]

I did this once about 30 years ago. After discovering a strong, anomalous blip on my Kenwood TS830S ham radio's 160 meter band, I dialed up out of the ham freqs to discover my neighbor's cordless phone (an uber cheap Radio Shack model) operating there. It was very low power, but right next door so still came in strong.

As I was living in the basement of my fathers house while going to college at the time, my equally cheap AM/FM clock radio couldn't pick up very much. So I marched the AM band tuning out of range and set it on my neighbor's phone. When he would call me, I'd hear it first on the AM radio before it would ring on the handset. I'd answer, "Hello Tom" and he'd be a little freaked on how I knew it was him. I'd say, "I recognized your ring". This was years before anybody had a cell phone and could program that in.

I'd forgotten all about that until reading this Instructable. Thanks for the memories. LoL

[dkulkarni]

Try receiving Airband With WORLD Band radio its highly sensitive.......

[vishalapr]

Kipkay U r amazing!I never knew U were on instructables!!!!

[Tobashadow]

You do know this will never work!

For your information the radio band that radio is made for is 87.5 to 108.0 MHz using frequency modulation hence the (FM).

All civilian air communications occur within the 108 - 137 MHz radio band. And use Amplitude Modulation (AM) mode.

So even tho you can tune to the band you can not listen to it unless you convert the entire radio to AM.

[nibbler125]

i live next to a airport and sometimes it will interfere with my radio instead of music it will cut off and you will hear the piolets voice instead

[Richu16]

Mine didn't have the tuning transformer will it work? Is it possible listen maybe with additional items? And what radio does have the tuning transformer? 1980s? 1990s? Please reply as soon as possible. I need to listen to airband. I lived approximately 3 miles from Brunei airport.

[loy266]

my 70s radio has them , and i think that one is from the 80s

[harry88]

could you mod a 120 volt radio and if so could it expand the range and mabey pick up truck scanners and cop scaneers

[mastermakoko]

mine doesent have that transistor thingy...can mine work!!!

[mason168]

would this radio work? http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2101276&y=7&x=16&retainProdsInSession=1

[sventeeuwen]

 i dont know the link is broken

[lil jon168]

nvm i went to radio shack and bought one and it already had air traffic on it

[cgosh]

No one cares if you listen to aircraft signals. Much of it is garbled and quick.
If you were on an airplane, have an FM radio tuned to 107.3, it could interfere with the pilot's radio if he's tuned to 118.0 mHz, due to the 10.7 mHz I.F. (intermediate frequency) that's generated by your radio to make it work. (107.3 + 10.7 = 118).
Most aircraft frequencies are higher than this, so it's not likely to be an issue.
Your aircraft-modified radio could mess with a pilot's radio, but you'd have to be within a few feet of it. You can do the same with any two FM radios tuned 10.7 mHz apart, or any pair of AM radios tuned 455 kHz apart.

[aircom]

dear cgosh possible you guide me i want buy airband radio thanx. mehtab

[HerrBuckliger]

Is it possible for a transistor radio to operate without the copper coils on its board? Because I recently picked up an RCA brand transistor radio (there's a picture of it here *http://i11.ebayimg.com/07/i/001/29/c1/f96d_35.JPG* if anyone recognizes the model) and upon opening it up, I couldn't find coils ANYWHERE. Is there a way to get around this that anyone knows of? Might I be able to solder coils on to it, and if so, where would I put them? I'd greatly appreciate it if someone could help me out.

[Kasm279]

 could you please post pics of the inside? also try pulling the board out and flipping it, the coils could be on the other side

[cactus2]

I don't think a radio could work very well without a coil, since it's a vital component to filter the incorrect frequencies. You mind posting an image of the insides?

[A good name]

I think intercepting radio signals from a government establishment is jsut saying "harass me please"

[Kasm279]

 listening to airplane traffic control =/= intercepting radio signals from a government agency

[Yerboogieman]

that last song playing sounded like Stairway to Heaven.

[Magnetman]

It was.

[aksuduud]

I think i did something wrong cause it didnt work. But the good thing is that suddenly it got increased antenna power so i could hear normal radio stations better! Thanks anyhow.

[cgosh]

You can get amateur (ham) radio signals on the 160-meter band just above the top of the AM dial (1800 - 2000 kHz, just above the 1600 kHz at the top of the AM dial). Use the two remaining silver screw adjusters on the main tuning capacitor shown in Step 2 (they only go 1/2 turn, then start back again; one is gross tuning, the other is fine tuning). Tune to a station at the top of the AM band and "work" it downward. 160 meters will be most active after dark, can travel 100's or even 1,000's of miles. Higher bands are strictly local (50 miles), just like FM and aircraft. To add an antenna, stretch a long wire (any kind/length, indoors or out) and wrap the end around the entire radio about 20 wraps (inductive coupling) perpendicular to the radio's internal antenna (bar with fine wires wrapped on it). If it's outdoors, take it down during thunderstorms.

[nk dtk]

can this be used to pick up amature radio, like in the 2meter band or anything like that?

[awang8]

Why would you want to listen to aviation signals anyway?

[Derin]

To see what real aviation is like.This might be useful for people who do virtual aviation.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

curios

[mander43]

Would this mess with an airplane if it was used inside of an airplane?

[dude6657455]

does this have to be on a transistor radio?

[kill1234]

what is the maximum range if you don't want to go to the airport?

[mannys9130]

Well, seeing as how this is vhf and it is usually to the farthest point your antenna can see plus one third more of that distance. If you can "see" the area of land that the airport is on, then you should be able to receive their signal. Because the earth seems less curved to radio waves, the horizon of radio waves is a little longer then that of higher frequency light waves. In the case of receiving, it would depend on the height of the antenna, and what amount of power the tower is using. Some ham radio operators(like myself) try to set goals of obtaining low power QSOs and we try to see how far we can get while using the lowest power. QRP or low power has several clubs for people to join if they succed in this goal. To be classified QRP, the transmitted power should be really low, around the area of 5 watts give her take a couple of watts. Take care, KF7AOL

[wethecom]

typically line of site or 5 miles

[ReCreate]

is there any way to under do it to receive signals around 30-50MHZ?

[bwpatton1]

How old is your radio cuz ive got one from like the 1960's or 70's.

[pat1202003]

I tried this and I couldn't get a signal. I live about 1 mile away from my local airport. Am I close enough?

[awang8]

Maybe your airport isn't a civil one?