HFU HF Underground

Loggings => Utility => Topic started by: jasmine on November 09, 2019, 0121 UTC

Title: Speedbird 247 working Dakar 6535 USB 01:09 UTC 9 Nov 2019
Post by: jasmine on November 09, 2019, 0121 UTC
just heard Speedbird 247 in USB comms with Dakar Radio. Dakar told the flight to contact Recife on the same frequency. i looked up the callsign and this is British Airways flight 247 enroute to Sao Paulo Brazil. i could hear both the flight ok at an S3 and the ground station was just above my noise level. do you people on the East Coast hear Dakar often?
Title: Re: Speedbird 247 working Dakar 6535 USB 01:09 UTC 9 Nov 2019
Post by: Looking-Glass on November 09, 2019, 2139 UTC
Great catch there hearing Dakar in Senegal ATC, the Africans are very rare this way for me, as they are less power out than the big EU/NA ATC's, well done... ;)
Title: Re: Speedbird 247 working Dakar 6535 USB 01:09 UTC 9 Nov 2019
Post by: Josh on November 09, 2019, 2240 UTC
Dunno if North African ATC is still on 11300, but back in the day you could hear all sorts of interesting goings on there.
Also and more on topic, Speedbird was the call for the Concorde alone, after they retired Concorde they started using Speedbird for all flights.
Title: Re: Speedbird 247 working Dakar 6535 USB 01:09 UTC 9 Nov 2019
Post by: cj468 on November 10, 2019, 1943 UTC
Speedbird was the call for the Concorde alone, after they retired Concorde they started using Speedbird for all flights.

I think "Speedbird" as a logo and as the R/T callsign dates back much further than that. It was used by BOAC before it was merged with BEA to form British Airways. I think it has always been the callsign for BA international flights with internal flights (eg Heathrow to Manchester using the callsign "Shuttle").