• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

airchecking in the midwest

A

agreenbe

Guest
hi...just got back from Las Vegas and had a great time. While I was flying, I was listening to the radio (FM) and got some really good stations, especially over the midwest. If there is anyone going to Omaha, Des Moines or smaller towns in NE, IA, MN or WI..would like some airchecks from some of the rock stations. I also picked up lots of country stations over the midwest too. another good place I got stations from was from western CO and the St. George area of Utah. I found the reception to be best over CO and UT.

I did make a tape of the station id's that I got on the route to LV if anyone wants a copy.

I know that it is against the FAA and Canadian Aviation Admin to be listening to radio in the air, but I could not resist as radio is so lousy in Toronto.

While I was in LV...I made airchecks from KOMP, KKLZ, Jack fm, Star 102.7 and some mexican formated stations.
 
I have done that too. I have yet to hear about any kind of misshap due to interference from unauthorized passenger monitoring of a receiver on board.


> I know that it is against the FAA and Canadian Aviation
> Admin to be listening to radio in the air, but I could not
> resist as radio is so lousy in Toronto.
> <P ID="signature">______________
[email protected]</P>
 
The question is would it cause a mishap? First, the odds are quite low, the interference from a AM/FM radio's oscillator is going to be very low in most cases. It also would depend where you are sitting, i.e. upon your proximity to the plane's antenna. But, they are all over the outside of the craft, and not really noticeable as antenna unless you knew exactly what to look for.

The aircraft band sits right above the FM band at 108 MHz. Our little FM radios generate many different signals within them. Most receivers have an IF (intermediate frequency) of 10.7 MHz. That means that amongst others, it will generate a signal at receive freq + 10.7. So, any time your receiver is set at 97.3 MHz or above, you will create signals in the air band. {Caveat: 108-118.7 is the most likely place your FM radio will interfere with. But, some radios have differ IFs and you could get harmonics which will create even more interference}/

Here is a list of air frequencies http://www.jneuhaus.com/fccindex/aviation.html

You'll notice that the ones that could be hit by the IF+freq combo are 108-118.7 MHz. That is primarily VOR and ILS stuff. I don't know much about either except that VOR is a radio navigation system and ILS is for instrument landing system. In other words, DO NOT use your radio on landing in the fog!!

Here's an article to read if you think interference in the cockpit doesn't happen. http://www.rvs.uni-bielefeld.de/publications/Incidents/DOCS/Research/Rvs/Article/EMI.html

Personally, I have been noticing what I see is a dangerous trend. You know that I have been travelling often and inevitably, I see at least one person on almost every plane who refuses to turn off their cellphone or two-way pager. I watched one guy text message his friend, yet, every time the flight attendent came by, he would hide it. Idiot. Any idea what kind of power comes out of one of those phones? Sit it next to your FM receiver and listen to the interference.

Personally, I think that our FM receivers are nothing compared to these. Even nothing compared to a laptop computer or a gameboy (see the article) as there are so many signals coming out of these. Yet, they are permitted above 10k ft.

Don't think I'm an angel because I've done this too... recently in fact.
LOL, this sounds like a lecture. :) It's not. Just know what you may or may not be doing.

Will you ever hear that you caused interference? I doubt it. But, it does happen.
 
John,

I was sitting next to someone on the plane going to Las Vegas and they took out a cellphone to check the time. I heard the announcement about using cellphones come on twice during the flight and during the safety movie. I noticed that when I am tuning my walkman on FM, I can hear the pilot talking to the control tower in the flight path (ie denver)..this can be heard around 105.9 fm?

I think using a radio with an ariel would be of concern.

I did hear that cellphones might be allowed on US flights within a year (I am not crazy about it). This is being tried in Europe.

When I fly, I usually sit towards the back or on the wing.



> The question is would it cause a mishap? First, the odds are
> quite low, the interference from a AM/FM radio's oscillator
> is going to be very low in most cases. It also would depend
> where you are sitting, i.e. upon your proximity to the
> plane's antenna. But, they are all over the outside of the
> craft, and not really noticeable as antenna unless you knew
> exactly what to look for.
>
> The aircraft band sits right above the FM band at 108 MHz.
> Our little FM radios generate many different signals within
> them. Most receivers have an IF (intermediate frequency) of
> 10.7 MHz. That means that amongst others, it will generate
> a signal at receive freq + 10.7. So, any time your receiver
> is set at 97.3 MHz or above, you will create signals in the
> air band. {Caveat: 108-118.7 is the most likely place your
> FM radio will interfere with. But, some radios have differ
> IFs and you could get harmonics which will create even more
> interference}/
>
> Here is a list of air frequencies
> http://www.jneuhaus.com/fccindex/aviation.html
>
> You'll notice that the ones that could be hit by the IF+freq
> combo are 108-118.7 MHz. That is primarily VOR and ILS
> stuff. I don't know much about either except that VOR is a
> radio navigation system and ILS is for instrument landing
> system. In other words, DO NOT use your radio on landing in
> the fog!!
>
> Here's an article to read if you think interference in the
> cockpit doesn't happen.
http://www.rvs.uni-bielefeld.> de/publications/Incidents/DOCS/Research/Rvs/Article/EMI.html
>
>
> Personally, I have been noticing what I see is a dangerous
> trend. You know that I have been travelling often and
> inevitably, I see at least one person on almost every plane
> who refuses to turn off their cellphone or two-way pager. I
> watched one guy text message his friend, yet, every time the
> flight attendent came by, he would hide it. Idiot. Any idea
> what kind of power comes out of one of those phones? Sit it
> next to your FM receiver and listen to the interference.
>
> Personally, I think that our FM receivers are nothing
> compared to these. Even nothing compared to a laptop
> computer or a gameboy (see the article) as there are so many
> signals coming out of these. Yet, they are permitted above
> 10k ft.
>
> Don't think I'm an angel because I've done this too...
> recently in fact.
> LOL, this sounds like a lecture. :) It's not. Just know what
> you may or may not be doing.
>
> Will you ever hear that you caused interference? I doubt
> it. But, it does happen.
>
 
> When I fly, I usually sit towards the back or on the wing.

I hope you hold tight when you are sat on that wing. It must be pretty cold too...
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom