121.5 is the "VHF GUARD" frequency. It is used for emergency aircraft
communications. If you hear any voice comms on this frequency, it is
because someone is in deep doo-doo somewhere in the skies. RARELY will
you hear anything else other than emergency traffic.

The aircraft band is VHF, so it is pretty much line-of-sight except for
occasional odd propagation conditions. That's why you'll only hear the
aircraft side of the conversation unless you're either using a well-
elevated antenna or you're within ground-wave distance of the airfield.
The higher you can get your antenna, the more signals you'll receive.

If the signal is very faint, it's probably an aircraft at quite a
significant distance from your station.


Thanks Steve for you input on this. I knwe it was a VHF GUARD, but
was unsure of what, if any, voice traffic there was on it. As I said
in my previous post, that voice on it is very faint, and I only use a
rubber antenna or a telescopic whip, so I would probably hear only the
aircraft side of things, or the local ATC here in Calgary. As I
monitor the airport comms here and sometimes I recieve the ground as
well as the pilot.
Fred Burgess