On the Airbands

Massages are performed on the areas of the head, neck and shoulders, and apparently Virgin research has shown that a significant reduction in the effects of jetlag to such massaged Passengers is the overall result. Who would argue.

It all began, my spies tell me. . . when Richard Branson was actually approached by a female passenger and asked if such a massage service could be considered, Mr Branson listened, and the new service is the result. Good work Virgin Atlantic! The innovative addition is a floater and can show up on any of the airline’s services.

Even more RAAF callsigns just to hand! Some we can’t as yet attach squadron numbers to yet, but someone reading this may be able to fill in the gaps.

LOITERS, DRIFTER (believed to be a Williamtown crash boat based on the coast), SPECTOR (or SPECTRE), MAR- SHAL, SHOGUN, WARLOCK (believed to be from 3 Sqn), TYRANT, and VIKING (possibly from 77 Sqn). One that is confirmed are the 707 refuelling tankers appropriately using the callsign WINDSOR CASTLE, operating in NSW on 301. 5 or 321. 2 MHz.

Another military frequency in use is Kiwi Company (RNZAF) on 322. 7 by the contracted RNZAF Skyhawks. James Smith from Gladesville in NSW fills us in on the Qantas 10 service which was allocated parking Bay 26 at the Sydney International Airport on arrival.

Monitored by James on 122. 3, International Apron ramp channel. . . “We should get some form of cheaper rate for having to park out here! Is the bus ride free Ground? I don’t see any foreign airlines way out here!” Fair enough. Qantas are always very conscious of the distances their passengers have to walk to and from their airline jets in the terminals, and as such, Bay 26 was not seen by this skipper as the “perfect choice”. Qantas are always looking out for their customers and one can quite fully understand the attitude of the skipper on QFA 10.

Another couple from James, an avid monitor. Sydney Control was speaking to Continental 907 inbound to Sydney.

CONTROL: Ah. . . Continental 907, can you possibly call your company and tell me if a controller (name given) is coming in on Continental 15 tomorrow morning? COA 907: I don’t know if I can help but I’ll give it a try! then. . .

COA 907: Err Sydney Control, Continental 907 heavy has been in contact with Continental Ops and they confirm your buddy the controller is booked on the given flight.

UNKNOWN A/C: That should help the staff shortage at Sydney ATC! CONTROL: Yeh! (with added laughter) Just who was the Qantas skipper who inadvertently selected the wrong position on the audio selector on the flight deck and spoke to Auckland Control on the VHF instead of his passengers on the passenger address system? He’s definitely not saying. . . and neither are we. I do hear that the monologue delivered by the hapless Captain lasted some minutes, and included firstly his name, then “welcome to Qantas Flight 44, combined Air New Zealand service for Syd- ney. . . “, and he went on to chat about the service to be dished out that afternoon on board, flight time and all sorts of goodies. Brad Swift of Auckland was monitoring the exchange on his trusty AR-2002 scanner radio, and wrote to tell us all about it. Sorry Captain! The Controller on 126. 0 MHz wasn’t in the least worried about the unusual transmission, and offered no comment, but the crews of several Ansett New Zealand BAe 146s weren’t quite as forgiving! Hey boys. . . ease up . . . we all have a bad day now and again! Been wondering why you never hear Rosenbaum Aviation DC-8s on HF anymore identifying as ROSIE? The reason is the cargo airline became Flagship Express, a US overnight cargo carrier, headed by former FedEx Vice President Judith Rogala. Flagship Express recently collapsed, and until that time operated its three DC-8-71s between Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York. So. . . that’s effectively the end of ROSIE! A great antenna you can use for all aeronautical VHF/UHF is the Archer 20-9600, sold by Tandy Electronics. It covers all VHF HI/LO bands, aircraft, and UHF, and has 4. 5dB gain. The aerial is simply a centre loaded white coloured whip, and screws onto an ordinary CB radio style antenna base.

Pressed into service as a FltSatCom monitoring antenna for the 260-270 MHz band, the performance is excellent. Some monitors who have tried all kinds of antennas for FitSatCom including discones and actives and heard nothing have inex- plicably struck paydirt when they raised the Archer antenna outside their monitoring shacks.

Greg Putrich who flies an IFR Beech Bonanza and lives in Richfield, Minnesota USA asks if I would be able to help him with the frequencies for the GPS satellites as used by aircraft and shipping in his part of the world. Yes Greg. . . according to my US Coast Guard records, Ll satellite is on 1575. 420 MHz and L2 is on 1227. 600 MHz, with the satellites transmitting continuously, differentiated from each other by a PRN (pseudo random noise) code. Transmissions are spread spectrum, and as such wouldn’t be copiable on a scanner. Thanks for the enquiry Gregory.

Daniel Csortan from Rostrevor in Adelaide SA say he enjoys Australian Aviation very much and would like to contribute to “On the Airbands”. Daniel is a student who monitors on an ancient Pilot 2 VHF/UHF receiver.

Daniel recently monitored the following exchange: ATC: Speedbird 9, ten miles from touchdown, turn left and make visual approach. Contact Adelaide Tower 120. 5 at five miles.

SPEEDBIRD, 9: (very English pukka accent) Old man, you couldn’t turn the sun down a tad or two by any chance could you? ATC: Naaah. . . it’s a daily phenomena! ATC can do almost anything, but are not quite t-h-a-t versatile.

More on Qantas satellite Aircom. Noticed the low profile white coloured antennas on some of the Qantas 747-400 air- craft, mounted almost exactly halfway between the end of the ‘hump’ on the upper deck, and the start of the tailplane vertical stabiliser? Sleek aren’t they? You would hardly take notice of them they blend in so well! At present, Qantas is the first ever airline in scheduled operations to use the low speed data service provided by Satellite Aircom. This important milestone follows up the ‘data l’access approval granted by In Marsat to a Qantas 747-400 for air-ground satellite communications. The antenna on board the Qantas aircraft is combined with a Rockwell Collins SAT-900 avionics package, and is in fact a low-gain antenna manufactured by Ball Aerospace for Qantas. Satellite Aircom uses geostationary satellites of the InMarsat Organisation, and is the first satellite service achieving world-wide coverage deployment through a network of earth stations. Three more stations are due to open shortly in France and California USA.

Qantas are also achieving voice and high-speed data communications through Satellite Aircom on board their 747-400 series aircraft, using high-gain MASCOT antennas supplied by Canadian Marconi. Satellite Aircom is the result of a partnership between France Telecom, OTC Ltd Australia, Tele-globe Canada, and SITA.

Joe Gatt of Hassall Grove near Richmond RAAF Base in NSW wants to own a Signal Communications Corporation R-535 receiver so he can do a better job of monitoring military uhf air communications. He often drives to a spot near the Richmond Base and listens to the Tower on 257. 3 MHz.

Joe Gatt also advises that the 58th MAS, 13th MAS, and 1403rd MAS of the USAF based at Ramstein Germany, Kadena in Japan, and Yokota Japan all operate the C-12 or C-12/21 Huron aircraft callsigned MOJO, along with a few Lear 35As. The diplomatic C-12 callsigned AIRFORCE 172 which operates mainly on the eastern seaboard of Australia for the USAF is apparently the only C-12 stationed outside the USA apart from the three MAS bases already mentioned.

Thanks to Joe Gatt for taking the time to write to the column.

Paul Thers from Alice Springs monitored VH-CZM (Ansett) tracking direct KALUG/MASDA/SYDNEY climbing to FL 370, but was limited to FL 330 by Control, until visually passing Qantas 31 opposite direction traffic cruising FL 350.

VH-CZM: Control, Charlie Zulu Mike, we have the bogey in sight, can we shoot him down now? ALICE CONTROL: (stern voice) Charlie Zulu Mike, climb FL 370 thank you! VH-CZM: Zulu Mike, recleared FL 370. . . and look. . . err. . . no offence intended. Really.

Brian Cartledge from Rozelle NSW contributed a recent story, but a gremlin got into the works and his name didn’t appear in print even though he had requested credit. Sorry Brian, forgive me! Brian is a regular “On the Airbands” contributor.

If you would like to contribute to “On the Airbands”, write to Bob Bell, PO Box 16 Georges Hall 2198. Please include a stamped self addressed envelope for all replies. The Australian Airband Guide is now completely sold out, so those who did still want to buy a copy. . . our sincere apologies. See you next month!