34
votes
Why is the quality of radio communication bad?
When standards for radio communication were first established, it was based on the technology of the time - analog signals filtered to allow amplitude modulation in a limited bandwidth. Under most ...
- 3,220
34
votes
Accepted
Why is the quality of radio communication bad?
There is a technical reason for this. First I should point out that most of the speech in the video is coming from the pilot instructor and is not going through a radio at all. It it simply the sound ...
- 28.4k
27
votes
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What is the night effect?
In short
The night effect is actually a mirage. Listening to radio communications originating from below the radio horizon is like looking at a looming:
Looming optical illusion, source: SKYbrary
...
- 70.9k
26
votes
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Do transoceanic airliners monitor marine VHF emergency frequencies?
156.8 MHz
Crews don't listen to channel 16 of the marine band.
Channel 16 is used by marine with FM, while a VHF aviation receiver demodulates only AM, and the upper limit of the VHF band for ...
- 70.9k
21
votes
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Can normal PC headsets replace 'aviation' headsets?
Can you physically make it work? Yes. But you have to have an adaptor that fixes several compatibility issues.
Headphone impedance
Impedance is usually referred to in high and low range. Military ...
- 28.4k
20
votes
Does ATC hear the same poor audio I hear on LiveATC?
The real quality is almost always better, and I'll give a simplified explanation for why.
LiveATC works by an individual volunteering to host a receiver on their house. Aircraft use VHF radio (except ...
- 14k
20
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Do pilots ever talk directly to each other over radio?
Informally, pilots talk to each other quite often, even on frequencies they're not supposed to (link is to a YouTube video of Kennedy Steve inviting pilots to heap verbal abuse on a pilot who hot-mic'...
- 3,408
17
votes
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Why is radio communication still used?
Cellular communication has multiple issues:
When a plane is up more than a few thousand feet, a cell phone would see, and try to talk to, multiple cell towers at once. At best, this is inefficient ...
- 30.4k
17
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How does the emergency frequency work?
You're out of range of you airfield radio operator on the frequency they are tuned, but you almost certainly not out of range of all radio operators.
In the UK, there are military units, LARS, area ...
- 31.6k
17
votes
What format is the output from a GA aircraft microphone? WAV? MP3? or some other format
Analog............................
- 19k
14
votes
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Is there a solution to radio interference?
Firstly, it is worth noting that the blocked radio transmission is only one point on a very long list of factors that caused the horrible accident on Tenerife. There is enough redundancy in aviation ...
- 36.2k
14
votes
How unusual were MH370's final ATC exchanges?
I have not heard the actual audio in context; I've only read the transcripts.
However, from the transcripts, I see the timing between some of their calls as a bit confusing and unusual.
...
- 30.4k
11
votes
Accepted
What's the meaning of underlined frequency in sectional chart nav aid box?
Navigation receivers can be used as a fall back for regular VHF/HF radio transceivers
Before data links, there were essentially two types of radio receivers in the flight deck, and this is still the ...
- 70.9k
11
votes
What radio frequency bands are associated with the long wire antennas, why do some aircraft have them and others don't?
Depending on the aircraft you could be looking at one of a few things.
(source)
On some older aircraft it may be the communications antenna for older style radios (pre UHF/VHF days). Most of these ...
- 100k
11
votes
Why don't transponders have active and stand-by value like radios?
For navigation and communication radios the feature of having a second readout that can be pre-set to the next frequency is useful since the next frequency is usually known in advance. Your next ...
- 82.8k
10
votes
Why is radio communication still used?
As mentioned in comments radiocommunication includes all forms of radio links, hence includes cellular networks.
Cell size
A cellular network covering any land is not realistic, not mentioning water ...
- 70.9k
9
votes
Accepted
Is there an ATC radio backup?
There is always a backup radio system as well as a several backup systems like for example a backup CWP (controller worker position) in case the primary fails. PANS-ATM (ICAO doc 4444) in chapter <...
- 6,970
9
votes
Is there an ATC radio backup?
If the power fails, the tower will automatically switch to backup power generated by local diesel generators. If that fails, there are backup handheld radios. If those fail, the tower has a battery ...
- 36.2k
9
votes
How many antennae are there on a typical small aircraft, and how are they connected to the avionics?
The VOR/Localizer/Glide Slope antenna is usually V-shaped and points backwards on the vertical stabilizer of the plane. On some aircraft, they point forward. They look like old-fashioned wire clothes ...
- 7,371
9
votes
Can I listen to control tower frequencies on a ham radio legally
In North America, just buy an air-band radio and listen to Raleigh-Durham tower all you like, or if your ham unit receives the aviation VHF frequencies, do that. Or find it on LiveATC.net It's only ...
- 126k
8
votes
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How to check if (small) aircraft's radio is working properly?
Here are some things you can do, there are probably more. I'm assuming you're mainly interested in checking COM, not NAV.
Controlled airport
Check if you can hear the ATIS, Ground or Tower; if you ...
- 71.6k
8
votes
Accepted
How feasible digital radio communications would be?
Digital is not always better. Digital modes have been created for amateur radio use; the amateur radio VHF 2m band (144–148 MHz) is very similar to the VHF aircraft band (108–137 MHz). I ...
- 1,389
8
votes
What can cause my radio to transmit nothing but a terrible noise?
Being able to talk inside the airplane is not related to the radios function, the intercom (generally part of the audio panel these days) is what allows cross talk between headsets.
It sounds like you ...
- 100k
8
votes
Accepted
Does ATC hear the same poor audio I hear on LiveATC?
Short version: Poor quality audio on LiveATC is mostly due to obstructions attenuating the signal. Controllers and pilots usually don't have much trouble hearing each other unless there are multiple ...
- 19.4k
8
votes
How does the emergency frequency work?
Besides pretty much every ATC ground station, on airliners, with 2 Comm radios, normally Comm 1 is used for all ATC 2-way communications, and Comm 2 for ATIS, talking to Company ops, possibly air-to-...
- 126k
7
votes
Accepted
Does radar altimeter work over the ocean?
Yes. In the Navy, our primary source of altitude indication under 5,000ft is the radar altimeter. The AGL over the ocean conveniently also happens to be the MSL as well.
- 8,728
7
votes
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How strong would a servo motor need to be to power the control surfaces of a fixed wing ultralight aircraft?
First I'd like to say you are thinking outside the box, not a bad thing...
However for an ultralight aircraft this is impractical. The first problem you have is that most ultralight aircraft don't ...
- 36k
7
votes
Do left and right mic buttons control both headset microphones?
This is the expected behaviour. The other pilot might make some sound or even talk to someone else. You don't want any noise interfering with your own voice during transmission. Two microphones ...
- 10.7k
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