Radio communications at home airfield before opperation

1. Radio communications at home airfield before opperation After climbing into his/her aircraft and checking that everything is working, the pilot switches on the radio and puts on his aviation headset. He can now talk to the Air to Ground radio operator, an unqualified person who is likely to be in charge of radio communications at a small airfield

2. “Anytown Radio” This tells the radio operator which aircraft is calling, and what he wants. The operator is likely to reply by telling him that radio contact is good (or otherwise) and passing on details of the runway in use and the barometric pressure, which allows the pilot to set his altimeter.

3. Before departure the pilot will tell the controller he is ready to taxi, then ready to depart. The radio operator will tell him if there are any problems or any other aircraft, but as an unqualified operator at a small ‘uncontrolled’ airfield, he is not allowed to order the pilot to do anything; the pilot is ultimately responsible for his own decisions.

4. Radio Communications in the Air • When clear of Anytown Airfield, the pilot will call on the radio and say: “G-ABCD is leaving to the west. Request frequency change to Nexttown Radio on 123.45”. The pilot must not leave a radio frequency without passing on this information; it could cause the radio operator to think he had had an accident or radio failure!

5. the pilot now switches to Nexttown Radio, listens to make sure he is not interrupting a conversation, then say: “Nexttown Radio, this is G-ABCD, inbound to you from Anytown. Current position is overhead Bigtown at 2000 feet. Request joining information”.

6. The Nexttown radio operator will now tell the pilot which runway is in use, the barometric pressure at Nexttown, and any other important information, such as a particular circuit join, or that they are very busy and the pilot should keep a good lookout for other aircraft.

7. Radio Communications on Arrival at the Airfield • Unless the pilot has been asked to make contact earlier, he will call Nexttown to tell them he is overhead the airfield, like this: “G-ABCD is overhead and descending deadside”. This means the pilot will descend on the side of the airfield which is not being used by approaching traffic. He will then fly at a safe height to the ‘live’ side of the airfield, making calls such as ‘downwind’ then ‘final’ to let the radio operator and other traffic know where he is. His last call, once safely on the ground, will be to ask where to taxi and park

8. All this seems very complicated to those who do not fly, and to new pilots. But it is actually quite simple, once one has learned the specific terms which need to be used. If in doubt, the pilot and radio operator simply talk to each other in plain simple English

9. The Low Frequency (LF) Aviation Band • Low frequencies were very important to air navigation years ago, but became increasingly less important as more reliable systems operating at higher frequencies were developed and became widely available. Many Low Frequency navigation beacons were decommissioned long ago because of that. The few that remain primarily provide backup navigation in the event of primary navigation system failures, although some are used routinely even today in the execution of instrument landings

10. before VHF Omnirange (VOR) and other superior navigation systems were developed, that band contained AN Radio Ranges and Non-Directional Beacons (NDB's). 344 AN Radio Ranges still existed in the United States in 1959, but none exist today. Some NDB's are all that remain

11. The Low Frequency (LF) aviation band extends from 200 kHz to 415 kHz with some internal gaps assigned to other services. The entire Low Frequency (LF) aviation band can be received by the receiver at this website.

12. Medium Frequency Aviation Band Usage • The only portion of the Medium Frequency spectrum allocated for aviation use is the 2850 to 3000 kHz portion of the 2850 to 3155 kHz Aviation Band. However, most aircraft are equipped with radio direction finders than can receive Medium Frequency AM Broadcast Band

13. Broadcast Band.High Frequency (HF) Aviation Bands • High Frequencies were widely used for domestic aircraft voice communications years ago. Nearly all that traffic moved to Very High Frequencies long ago and domestic aircraft use of Medium Frequencies is now very rare. However, international flights still use the High Frequencies bands routinely for voice communications, because of the much longer distances over which they can be used. All these frequencies can be received by the receiver at this website.

14. List of bands • Frequency Band Allocation SLC Receiver Receivable 2850-3155 kHz Aviation (2850 to 3000 portion is MF) Yes 3400-3500 kHz Aviation SSB (3 KHz Channel spacing) Yes 4650-4750 kHz Aviation Yes 5450-5730 kHz Aviation SSB (3 KHz Channel spacing) Yes 6525-6765 kHz Aviation Yes 8815-9040 kHz Aviation USB (3 KHz Channel spacing) Yes 10005-10100 kHz Aviation Yes 11175-11400 kHz Aviation USB (3 KHz Channel spacing) Yes 13200-13360 kHz Aviation SSB (3 KHz Channel spacing) Yes 15010-15100 kHz Aviation Yes 17900-18030 kHz Aviation Yes 20005-21000 kHz Aviation & International Yes 21850-22000 kHz Aviation Yes 21964 kHz Aviation SSB Aviation Pacific Yes 22720-23200 kHz Fixed Aviation & International Yes 23200-23350 kHz Aviation Yes 23350-24890 kHz Fixed Aviation & International Yes

15. The end