FM Reception on an airplane

[KML0224]

A week ago Saturday (September 12th), I flew from Windsor Locks, CT (BDL) to Tampa, FL (TPA) aboard a SouthWest Airlines flight. About halfway into the flight, I had the FM portion of my Panasonic AM/FM/CD "Walkman" on. For what I know, since it only receives and doesn't transmit, it'd be OK. I received nothing on the AM side at all. The FM side, however, was quite the experience. As one would expect, there was a station on almost every spot on the dial and most would only be in for a few minutes at a time. I wanted to know if anybody could help ID this sampling I received:

A station over North Carolina on 107.5 FM carrying the NC side of that day's UNC vs Connecticut football game.
A station from coastal Georgia, possibly Savannah, on 107.9 called "The Coast"?
A couple of stations having the area codes of (843) and/or (912) in them.
A station possibly from the Brunswick, GA area on 107.7 FM. I think there was an ad for the Bone Fish Girll and a (912) code.
A station between NC and FL called Gator Country 107.9 (?).
A Jacksonville, FL station playing modern rock, calling itself Planet Radio 107.3.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

For what I know, since it only receives and doesn't transmit, it'd be OK.

Actually, receivers DO TRANSMIT.... They generate internally what engineering types call an "I.F." (Intermediate Frequency - Interesting reading some night when you need something to put you to sleep.)

I don't know what the current rules are but at one time the operation of such receivers on an airliner were very specifically forbidden!

There was a serious airline accident some 40 years ago or so, somewhere in the northeast if I remember correctly. With the airline navigation equipment of that era, the FAA was able to demonstrate that the operation of an FM receiver on an airlines would cause the navigation radios that pilots were using then when flying in clouds to just "go bonkers" which they blamed when two airlines flying "I.F.R." (Instrument Flying Regulations) had a mid-air collision in the clouds.

Aircraft navigation radios have certainly improved through the years and maybe they will reject such low level radiation of the I.F. oscillator today. I would check with the flight crew next time just to be sure. "The life you save could be your own."

SIDE NOTE: That was one of the techniques used in Community countries in the cold war era. Citizens were forbidden by law to listen to Voice of America and other external stations. Police could drive up and down the street with a receiver that would let them know from your I.F. oscillator in you receiver what station you were listening to. Wrong station? Trip to jail.

 

[charlestondxman]

The Gator Country station is from Myrtle Beach, WGTR 107.9. WPLA from Jacksonville is on 107.3, the Coast is WLOW Hilton Head, SC at 107.9, and that 107.7 is WHFX from Darien, GA.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

My most recent post should say "Communist countries".... not "Community countries".

 

[cheffo200]

The Sports station on 107.5 is 107.5 The Game. Call letters are WNKT. The station is from Columbia SC. They used to be a Country station a few years ago.

 

[frcradio]

As Goat Rodeo Cowboy pointed out, the Local Oscillator in an FM radio does transmit a short distance.

For a radio that tunes from 88.1 to 107.9 MHz,

with an I.F. of 10.7 MHz., the Local Oscillator would tune from 98.8 to 118.6 MHz.

That would cover aircraft navigation and voice frequencies from 108 to 118.6 MHz.,

which is why FM radios aren't allowed to be turned on while the plane is in flight.

 

[DToTheJ]

The Sports station on 107.5 is 107.5 The Game. Call letters are WNKT. The station is from Columbia SC. They used to be a Country station a few years ago.

Judging by their call letters, I would guess they were known as "Cat Country".

 

[LibertyNT]

The Sports station on 107.5 is 107.5 The Game. Call letters are WNKT. The station is from Columbia SC. They used to be a Country station a few years ago.

Judging by their call letters, I would guess they were known as "Cat Country".

meowin' on a tractor...

 

[FreddyE1977]

For what I know, since it only receives and doesn't transmit, it'd be OK.

SIDE NOTE: That was one of the techniques used in Community countries in the cold war era. Citizens were forbidden by law to listen to Voice of America and other external stations. Police could drive up and down the street with a receiver that would let them know from your I.F. oscillator in you receiver what station you were listening to. Wrong station? Trip to jail.

Interesting, as there is an outfit here that is testing a similar technology to collect ratings data from automobiles during rush hour.
They place some sort of sensor at a freeway overpass and register the IF frequencies of each passing vehicle.

Isn't this primarily with FM though? Most of the East Block countries were running FM on the OIRT band (66-74MHz), mainly to discourage
cross-border listening.