I operate a feed for Airband frequencies near Salina Regional Airport (KSLN) in Salina, Kansas. These are the frequencies used by aircraft talking to controllers in and around the Salina Area.
This is paired with my ADS-B receiver, and I talk about the specifics of the Salina airport on that page. In short, you should expect to hear a lot of pilot training, regular private jet and commercial flights, and some military traffic (see note below).
The scanner recieves airborne aircraft and the ground controller’s radio clearly. The tower controller or aircraft on the ground are sometimes broken or not heard at all. Since controllers are often working both positions, though, you can still hear both sides of the conversation.
https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/45855
I stream this as a combined stream to Broadcastify. This is a simple audio stream with the following frequencies:
The scanner works like the other KSICS scanner, transmissions are recorded and queued into the stream. If two transmissions are sent at the same time, they are queued one after the other.
Both the Tower and Ground frequency are streamed to Airnav Radar, and can be listened via the app or in a browser as well.
This scanner is operating on a Raspberry Pi with a home-built dipole antenna placed near-ish the airport. The Pi creates files for each transmission it hears using RTLSDR-Airband and are assembled and streamed using a helper computer that also handled the KSICS streams.
I only monitor the VHF frequencies as the UHF frequencies in use in the are would require additional SDRs and Antennas (maybe someday, but not today).
If you’re looking at a flight tracking app and see a plane near Salina but can’t hear them, there are a few potential causes:
The ground and tower controller position is often combined and worked by one controller. When they are doing this, the same controller will transmit on both the Ground and Tower frequencies at the same time. There isn’t a way to filter these right now, so those transmissions will be duplicated.
Much of the military traffic in the area operates on a different set of frequencies than other air traffic. When they are talking to controllers in Salina, the plane itself likely won’t be heard as it will only be transmitting on the UHF frequencies I don’t yet monitor. You should, however, hear the controller as they will often broadcast on both the UHF and VHF frequencies each time.
The limitation for monitoring UHF is simply that it requires more equipment and antennas. It’s on my list of things to eventually upgrade, but for the time being I just listen stream the VHF frequencies.